Call Reunion 2021

 

Vacation!!! YES! We started our family vacation with a sick Josie. Poor kid had a nasty cough and runny nose. She was a trooper and enjoyed the vacation in spite of being super tired and sick. Don't worry...the rest of us caught her cold, can't enjoy a vacation when you're feeling on top of the world. We could not check into our AirBNB until 4 pm so we were not in a rush to leave. Justin drove his truck loaded with the kayaks and Amelia. I drove the van with the rest of the kids. The boys and I finished listening to the Silver Chair on the drive over. Justin had a rare urge to visit the Idaho Potato Museum in Blackfoot! He literally hugged his roots (the potato) just to be silly. The museum was just as terrible as it sounds. It was a marvel of small town museums. For $30 we got to view the world's largest potato masher collection, a strange couch potato puppet animation, play with 50 sets of Mr Potato Head stuff, and learn all about potatoes. We were impressed by the 3-d set up where one can experience harvest inside a tractor. Instead of eating a baked potato for a treat we walked across the street for homemade fudge. The huckleberry fudge was a huge hit. Everett got carsick just a few miles from Rexburg. I stopped just in time for him to bolt out of the van for a breath of fresh air. Everyone was at Spenser's AirBNB so we stopped there first. We missed seeing Raquel and Melissa plus their families, Raquel had busy kids and Melissa is in Georgia. Bruce and Diana had the longest distance to travel from Virginia. We loved the instant cousin fest with the boys. Josie's poor eyes looked all swollen from her cold. She lasted until a little after dinner. The boys had so much fun vaulting themselves onto a large beanbag...with one of the boys under the bag. We shared our accommodations with Charity and Kenny. Josie fell asleep on the floor while I went to get some food for the next few days at Walmart. 

Tuesday we headed to Yellowstone for the day. Bruce and Diana stayed in Rexburg to recover from their long drive. We met up with Spenser's family at West Yellowstone hoping to tour the park with them. Traffic was horrendous. Spenser decided not to stop at the first designated stop while we did, lack of cell reception prevented further communication. I hear it took them 2.5 hours just to drive 2 miles to Old Faithful. We waited for about 10 minutes before flipping a u-turn and heading north. We passed Ken and Charity (with Mason and Reagan who arrived to Rexburg an hour earlier) as our family headed to Mammoth Hot Springs. We stopped for a picnic lunch at the Firehole Picnic River Area. It's a fun place to eat and enjoy some shallow river wading. Everett was the first to get in the water, with the warning not to get his clothes too wet. Next thing I know he's up to his waist in the water, doh. Oh well, the tepid water felt good. Thankfully the weather was not terribly hot, it was in the upper 70's. I had a fancy time narrating the children's actions while I was taking nature photos of them playing in the river. "Observe: the voracious female teenager, wades in the tepid water with wonder in her eyes. Hark! She gently brushes the water into a glorious ark of droplets. Oh no, in the distance a strange gallomping figure invades the personal space of the female. What will he do? It's a strange male form of the same species...etc" After my narrations grew repetitive and boring we headed north for more fun. Amelia decided she is extremely allergic to Lodgepole Pine, only 90% of the park's trees are Lodgepole. We joked she is allergic to nature and National Parks, except the Sodalicious version of National Parks (that is a drink name). Poor kid was swollen and sneezing for hours. Justin stopped at Gibbon Falls, Artists' Paint Pots, and then Mammoth. Some rude car from Florida blocked traffic for 20 minutes as the passengers oogled two brown bears in spite of numerous honks and yells from those waiting. We went to the lodge gift shop first to pick out souvenirs. The older kids each got a multi-knife tool with their name's engraved. Amelia couldn't find her name but she liked the knife engraved with "Whatever," close enough. Phillip got a plush bison as Squeaky the Bison's new BFF. The little girls fell in love with plush wolves to cuddle and love. The falls had some running water this visit, which made the views even better. By 6:30 we were all ready to head back for some dinner. All the other folks had the same idea to exit the park at the same time, it took us 2.5 hours or more to leave by West Yellowstone exit. We didn't enjoy dinner until 9:30 pm! 

Next day we started a bit later with our plans for a water adventure in Island Park. The kids ate all the snacks I had purchased for the week during our Yellowstone adventure. We had to make a stop at Walmart for cold medication stuff and snacks. I thought everyone had continued on because Spenser and Bruce both left Walmart before I entered the store. Justin and Kenny thoughtfully waited for me. Once again we waited for the longest +5 minute road construction snafu, +5 turned into +45 minutes. Evelyn was thrilled to ride with Charity and Reagan! She spotted some llamas with Kenny's binoculars while we waited. Spenser, Dad, et al were already fishing and enjoying the water when we pulled up. Everett immediately started fishing. The rest of us organized a short river float with the kayaks starting at the bridge by Henry's Fork. It was a large production for just a mile long trip. The kayaks went considerably faster than the slow rafts. Everett hooked a large fish that escaped right when he was about to reel it in! The look of frustration and surprise on his face was priceless. Justin, Kenny, and Mason wanted to kayak the entire 6 miles so went on their adventure. Moments after they started a large storm system moved in with loads of thunder and lightening. Soon we were drenched with rain! We quickly cleaned up our areas and waited in the vehicles until the 3 guys finished. The 4 hour trip by raft took only 1.5 hours by kayak, much faster. I almost died opening the van door, the fumes of 4 boys hit me in the face. Gross. Back at Spencer's place we had a BBQ for dinner and some relaxing chats. I added a wrap to Reagan's hair and braided thread into Mia's just for fun. 

Thursday we met the Calls at BYU-I at 10 for a campus tour. Mia wanted to join and see what the university is like. Oh the humidity...phew, it was HOT and HUMID that morning. Our tour guide was a really cute girl from California. She showed us some of the main buildings and attractions of the campus. Everett is certain he will attend to earn an Engineering degree in 10 years...Amelia was also impressed. I was impressed with the cool bookstore. We drove a few miles to Parker, ID for Uncle Cary's memorial service. He is Diana's youngest brother who passed away in November 2020. The Crapo family hosted a picnic lunch and memorial service in his behalf at the park near the chapel. I enjoyed meeting Justin's aunts and uncle. The stories were nice to hear and experience. After the memorial service we went to the Crapo home to explore. Josie had a barf-isode at the farm. I'm not sure if she was overheated, over tired, carsick, or all of the above? She perked up right after casting her contents. The kids had the best time of their life collecting odd bits and bobs from the house, storeroom, and garage. Evelyn and Reagan discovered a love of vintage sheets and clothes. Ellie found a rare 1st edition of a book worth $200. One of Justin's cousins was flabbergasted about our enthusiasm over junk! Justin found one of Grandpa's fishing reels, I spotted a cute pitcher and some tiny drinking glasses. Evelyn found a vintage sheet, a suitcase, a cup of paper clips, and other strange finds. Josie was thrilled to find an alarm clock (it rang then entire trip home). Phillip and Everett collected tools, packs, and even a motorcycle helmet. We drove out to Ashton, ID for the best burgers on this side of the Rockies in Reagan's opinion. We packed into the drive-in restaurant for some quite delicious burgers, fries, and huckleberry shakes. Laura helped tame the beasts with a fun game of "Nickels" where you pass a coin along one side of the row and try to guess who has the coin, if you save the correct guess for last the other team wins the point. We went back to visit at Spenser's place for the last few hours before bed. We loved spending time with our Call family. Anson, Phillip, Everett, and Gary created the coolest game using square cushions, blankets, and lots of imagination. All I know is the boys were shooting pretend guns, teleporting, and morphing for quite some time. The teenagers held down the couches, we did have interesting conversations about good books to read. 

Next day we packed up and cleaned our AirBNB. The James' family left early for Utah that morning. We took our time packing up the van. We met up with the Rognon family for a couple hours at a nearby park and splash pad. I had lots of sandwich stuff so we enjoyed a picnic while visiting. Morley Haley from our Sidney days was also close by, he stopped for a few minutes to catch up in between work and his school studies. Last time I saw Morley was at his farewell in August 2017. Evelyn and Annabelle made quick friends (again) for the short time we had. All the kids loved riding on the carousel! We headed back home around 2:30 pm. Thankfully, our drive was uneventful except for a strong kick of wind that scared the jeepers out of me an hour from home.  Home was a wonderful place to see after a few days away!  We had time to unpack and relax before it was time for bed. 

Saturday the Primary hosted an Armor of God activity. Amelia, Phillip, and I helped out at different stations. I was team leader for the Courageous group with Everett, Finley, and Benson. The kids visited 6 different stations where an adult had a short 5 minute lesson while the kids decorated a part of their armor. At the end Phillip manned the fiery darts hallway to test the kid's armor! Very well done Primary! We had a great time. The swords were by far the best prop, I think the kids brought 8 home. Thankfully the rest of our day was quite tame. Justin came with me to Winco for shopping, I needed his help with a cart full of home storage supplies. I spent a chunk of our Disneyland money on wheat, oats, sugar, beans, buckets/lids, and most expensive a large bag of powdered milk. Course I beefed up my supply of chocolate chips, that's gold in my opinion.