McMullin Family Fondness 2013

In the second week of August, we drove down to Raymond for a week of fun times with grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins.

With so many people gathered together (I counted 15 adults and 16 kids), we ate most of our meals in the backyard - luckily we had great weather and not very many mosquitoes either.

We did all kinds of fun activities together.  One day we went swimming at the Raymond outdoor pool.

Another time, the ladies headed into Lethbridge for some dessert at Moxie's and so the Dads took the kids out to the edge of town and they all had fun with our rocket blaster.

Another day, we went to Waterton.  I took this picture of some black bears from our car window.

After lunch at Emerald Bay, we drove up to Red Rock Canyon and some of the adults along with most of the kids hiked up the canyon for a few hours.  My ankle still wasn't healed completely so I sat at the beginning of the canyon and slept/knitted and was only slightly jealous of the fun hike I was missing.

The infamous log jam that I had to get piggy backed under when I broke my ankle was a little different now, a month and a half later.  The water was higher now or else the log jam had extra logs added to it but instead of crawling under, you now had to go over it.

Back at the townsite, everyone played while supper was prepared and after supper, we sang Happy Birthday to Renna since it was her 4th birthday.  Then there was canoeing (of course) until it was too dark and we had to go home.

Another day (and probably the hottest day of the week), we went to Writing on Stone.  There's a nice sandy beach on the Milk River that was great for cooling off and after dinner there was even time for a short walk through the hoodoos.

The last day of our reunion was Spencer and Hannah's wedding reception in the backyard.  There was much work to be done to prepare so some of the parents took the kids into Lethbridge to go see a movie and then play at Henderson Park (and keep them out from underfoot while the other parents helped get ready for the reception).

The reception was undoubtedly the most kid-friendly reception I've ever been to - all the kids had a blast.  There were unlimited sno-cones and cotton candy for all, as well as lots of other delicious food, and there was a huge bouncy slide to play on.  Look carefully at the photos and you'll see all the kids have blue lips from all the sugary treats they were eating.

"Getting Lucky in Kentucky":

Harry Potter Party

It's been a really relaxed, low-key summer so far due to my ankle injury - makes it really hard to go anywhere.  So, while I've been recuperating, I've tried to think of fun things to do with the kids at home.

Thanks to Pinterest, I found the idea of having a themed movie night.

This morning, the kids found the following invitation posted on the wall:

I pulled out a few Halloween decorations for the dining room (I contemplated rigging up a bunch of floating candles from the ceiling but this is a low-key summer, remember?)

Then, I asked them to put on any Harry Potter clothes they could find and come for our feast/supper.

Our menu consisted of:

Shepherd's Pie

Butterbeer

Pumpkin Cakes

with a dessert of

Knickerbocker Glory

I had a slight problem with the butterbeer:  When I tried to stir the softened vanilla ice cream into the cream soda, I had a volcanic eruption.

But it was delicious, once it settled down.

Before we began our meal, we had a sorting ceremony and everyone got sorted into their Houses.  Shae and Maira went to Ravenclaw, Connor to Gryffindor, Hudson to Hufflepuff and I got left with Slytherin.

Maira brought her Pygmy Puff to the table with her.

Hudson brought his Norbert the baby dragon to the table with him.

Shae wore her Hogwarts shirt and Harry Potter glasses:

Here we are enjoying our Knickerbocker Glories.  This is a layered dessert with pudding, jello, ice cream, raspberries and blueberries.

After our feast, we settled down in the living room to watch the first Harry Potter movie.  Hudson and Maira hadn't seen it before.  They really liked it and they just had to cover their eyes for the Voldemort scene at the end...Hopefully there won't be any nightmares tonight!