Bear Lake 2007 - What a HOOT

Hey everyone, Mike reporting about the fabulous family reunion with the Lalliss family up at Bear Lake, UT. Things started out with Mike being incredibly lazy and not getting into gear on Thursday morning. To make matters worse, it was Belle's birthday on August 2 and she was busting up her birthday trying to pack and get things ready to go for the trip. We, I mean Belle, did not get everything packed until the kids were out of school on Thursday. We wanted the kids to be in school on Thursday because it was picture day. We finally got all the crap packed into the car, which with 7 people and their clothes, sleeping bags, air mattresses, tent, crib, dining fly, 2 coolers, blankets, and pillows it is remarkable it all fits inside, and on, the minivan. When we packed it all back in, up at the camp, people were laughing when they saw the pile of stuff and were amazed by the packing miracle.
We finally got driving and we got nailed with a rain storm just before we got to Rendezvous Beach on Bear Lake. It was good we weren't setting up a tent during the rain. The kids scattered as soon as the doors of the van opened and searched out their cousins. We finally sank some $ and bought a new tent this year. It is a 12x15 tent and it has flaps that can create multiple rooms. It was so nice to have a tent I can actually stand up in and move around without tripping over stuff. Of course my boys were gone so Belle and I had to figure out how to get the thing up. It is HUGE! Then we blew up the air mattresses, carried all the stuff down to the camp site, and set up the boy's tent. It was then 10:00pm by the time we were ready to start our, my, Bear Lake experience. It was great to talk to everybody and to play games and see people we hadn't seen in a while. Belle got a big birthday singing and her parents and sibs had a big poster with balloons stating her incredibly old age of 40. I can't believe I am married to such a great looking older woman. (SWEEEET!!!!)
We spent most of Friday down at the beach. The kids had a blast playing in the water and playing with their cousins. We had lunch down at the beach and I read a book and wrestled with Aaron and we all had a generally great time. The wind was strong but the clouds rolled in and Mr. Sun didn't get on us to much. (or so we thought).
Rick and Kim put together a great Dutch Oven Dinner and we had Chicken and Rice and Peach Cobbler for dessert. The Talent Show that night was fun and Josh did a ventriloquism act with his wolf. Kim sang a song and Ben did a skit with the other cousins. All the cousins did a great job with their sand castles and the Lalliss boys and Turner girls and Brian Lalliss Girls all won prizes for their design.
The bright red of the sunburns came out the next morning and Josh was a bright red with blisters on his shoulders. Kim and Emma both had burns on their swimsuit lines. Everybody was really not feeling well and so we decided to pack it in and head back on Saturday afternoon. The $1 table at the auction was a big hit with the kids and it was a lot of fun to see all the people that attended. We got all the stuff from camp packed up, asked for another miracle and it all fit back into the van. We had to wait a while because Kenn and Jolene had some car issues. They finally got their car started and we followed them home to make sure everything was OK.
We got home and got everything unpacked and the last thing I wanted to do was to cook dinner so we went and had some supper out which hit the spot and then we all came home and crashed.
We are including some pics from the festivities. We would like to put a postscript on this note that we are really not bad parents. We caked on the sunscreen on these kids but my albino superpowers have been passed on to my children and they absorbed the sun like a solar cell. If you do have an issue with the sunburns, please send you complaints to: Ura Hoser - 42 Geta Clue - Homerville, UT 0U812.
We did have some great fun. Martin and Jannette were great to talk to and they were always helpful in watching Aaron and giving our mooching children food. Rick and Kim were both reading the new Harry Potter book and it was good to talk with them about life in general. Monique was a lot of fun for the kids with her little pooch. And Kenn and Jo even had some time to go into the city and bring me back Ice Cream and for that they should be given a medal. The biggest thing was that the kids had a great time. They love the beach and staying up late and eating junk food until they are sick. So on the whole it was a pretty fair family whohaa!