After the reunion we spent one more day at Dad and Susie's house, and then it was time to go home. Although we love our family and love spending time with them, we were definitely ready to head back. I'm sure they felt the same way. :)
The ride home was about what we expected - LONG. The kids weren't as well-behaved, which is what we also expected. Going home from a trip is always the worst. You just know you're gonna have to get back into the swing of things and deal with real life. Bummer.
We saw this sign somewhere in the middle of Nebraska. Or maybe it was Missouri? At this point I can't really remember, and besides, does it really matter? We were out in the middle of nowhere.
By the afternoon of the second day the kids were going nuts. Lots of bickering and whining and Tess kept having poopy diapers every hour. For the love, Tess, for the love...
Anyway, by the time we had FINALLY made it across Missouri I knew we needed to get out of the car for longer than the 15 minutes we usually took to get gas. I decided that we should stop in Hannibal, birthplace of a certain Mr. Mark Twain. I had actually wanted to do this on the way out, but we didn't need a long stop then.
We parked along the historic Main Street and went into the Mark Twain Museum. Well, the Mark Twain Museum bathrooms. I just couldn't bring myself to spend $10 per ticket to go into a museum with four kids!
We walked around a bit and looked at the free things, like the fence that Tom Sawyer convinced his friends to pay him for the privilege of white washing. (This was right next to Mark Twain's boyhood home. You could tour that as well, but it also cost a bit.)
Happy to just be out of the car! (I'm pretty sure this is the only time Cole stopped running around.)
We took this picture especially for Spencer's teacher, Ms. Wilson, since he read The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn in her class last year. (Don't let the smile fool you. Spencer was pretty grouchy about having to stop. I, on the other hand, love Mark Twain and was quite thrilled! Oh well. Maybe some day my kids will appreciate this.) (I'm not holding my breath.)
Joshie was also happy to just be out of the car - he got right to work on that fence!
Josh next to a cut out of Becky Thatcher. The sign said that the inside of her house was decorated to look as if it were from the time when Mark Twain was a boy, but it was only full of power tools and lumber. Dang.
There's Mr. Clemens' boyhood home. (It's the white one.)
And here's my favorite sign from around the area. I love the part where he says that it was handier to take the sash than to leave it.
After we walked around a bit we paid exorbitant amounts for decent ice cream at the Becky Thatcher shop. You know how the Midwest is famous for really friendly people? The workers at the Becky Thatcher shop didn't know about that, either. They were a surly lot.
Our wiggles out and our bellies full of ice cream, we got back into the car and drove home. The kids were considerably better behaved. It still took a while - I swear the last 50 miles felts like 500 - but we finally got home around 10pm our time. I had asked my friend Heather to turn on our air conditioner the day before so we could come home to a cool house. She did that and left us a gallon of milk, a loaf of bread, and a dozen eggs. Now that's the Midwest friendliness I had missed!
Fair warning - this post is LONG. I have approximately 398 pictures of our family reunion, but what can you expect when it was so very awesome?
We stayed at Heber Valley Camp, which is used as a camp for the Young Women of the church during the week, but is rented out to families for reunions on the weekend. It's in a beautiful location and is staffed by lots of very helpful, very gung-ho senior missionary couples.
About an hour after we arrived most of the adults and older children headed out to participate in a challenge course. The one we chose involved climbing up a 98 foot high pole, walking across a 187 foot long log that was approximately 387 feet up in the air, and then zip lining down. (I may or may not be exaggerating the lengths and the distances here. Let's just say it was high. Very high.)
No matter! We Ropers are a hardy and brave lot! We put on our so-very-attractive harnesses and helmets and got ready.
I have to admit, I wasn't sure how Spencer would do on the challenge course. But he seemed really excited and ready for anything! As was his uncle Kevin.
The missionary couples went over all the safety rules and showed us what we would need to do. And then they asked who wanted to go first. Amazingly, Spencer was willing! I say amazingly because this is the boy who usually freaks out about trying ANYTHING new for the first time. Seriously, the child still cannot ride a bike because he's too afraid to even try it with training wheels on!
Anyway, my suddenly-seeming very tiny, frail, and very break-able first-born son started climbing.
They could tell he was really scared, so they convinced him to jump from the log so he could see how the harness worked. Amazingly (again!) he did it. And once he really did realize that he couldn't fall or get hurt he was a lot more confident.
There goes my boy - climbing all the way up!
Just to give you an idea of how high up it was.
He got to the top and started the long way across.
Again - so high up! My baby - that high up!!
And then it was time for the zip line. I'm pretty impressed, because even though you know you aren't going to fall to your death, it's still a pretty scary thing to jump off!
There he goes! I was so proud of him! And everyone else was pretty impressed. Those missionaries probably knew what they were doing in having Spencer go first, because how could an adult refuse trying it after an eight year old had done it so well?
Unfortunately, I don't have any video of him zip lining, but I have video of him walking across the log, as well as video of my dad, my brothers, Lance, and myself zip lining. (It must be said - those harnesses are not flattering. At all.)
The next several pictures are all of different family members doing the challenge. (I thought they might like to download them.)
My little brother Kyle.
Mr. Lance, the show off. (Look, no hands!)
My littlest brother, Kevin. (Not bad for a guy who broke his femur a couple of years ago!)
My Dad - not bad for an old guy! (Just kidding, Dad!)
Yours truly - who has never been accused of loving heights.
My awesome cousin-in-law, Shanna. (Remember? She came to our house for Thanksgiving last year.)
My also awesome cousin, Kate. She's 13 and really and truly, she is so cool. I can't wait to see what the future holds for her, because it's going to be great!
My uncle Bryce, who is so great. He and his wife, Janee, let us come over to their house for an evening and let my kids run around like crazy hoodlums and play in the back yard. For days after the boys begged every day to go back!
My cousin, Alison. She's extra brave in that she came to the reunion with her two small children but without her husband!
My aunt Janee - way to go!
Josh came up a little later, but was too short to do the actual challenge. (Which was fine, because I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have done it anyway.) But they harnessed him up and let him swing around a bit, which was perfect for him.
First he climbed up a few feet
and then he let go and got to swing for a few minutes.
There's something about harnesses and helmets that makes your children look so much smaller and fragile!
We did a few more activities on the challenge course, but nothing as impressive. Although I did show how graceful I was by taking a rather bad fall during one of the activities. I still have bruises.
Soon it was time to go back to camp and have dinner. J-Dawgs! If you've been in the Provo area over the last few years, you probably know what J-Dawgs are and are now completely jealous. They are so yummy! I have two cousins who work at J-Dawgs, which makes me extra cool by association. I think.
Here's my cousin Jordan, a J-Dawg expert.
After dinner we all got into our t-shirts for the family photo. Here's my Grandma, Reva Roper, with Tess. Tess is rockin those pink polka dot pants. Just sayin'.
Tess and her momma.
Some of the cousins playing in front of one of the cabins.
Then it was time for our big family picture. This should be considered another challenge course, considering the number of people in the picture and the number of rather uncooperative children involved. I think they turned out pretty well, though - what a good lookin' family!
Can you see Josh in the picture? He's the one making the face like Munch's The Scream. Nice one, Josh.
Finally, it was time for the big event: the Rice Crispie Treat bake off! Look at all those entries! I decided to enter my S'mores treats and Baconater treats. (Did you notice that I kinda stopped testing rice crispie treats there at the end? So apparently you can get tired of rice crispie treats, which is something I would have never believed at the beginning of the summer!)
There were lots of entries, but the Roper men were up to the challenge. The judges included the Roper uncles, in order from left to right: Jared Haines (husband of Valerie Roper), Teryl Roper, Bryce Roper, ElRay Roper, and Delwyn Roper.
The crowd looked on in eager anticipation. Not so much to hear who the winner was, but so that they could taste all the treats themselves!
The judges finally finished tasting everything. It was a hard job, but someone had to do it.
Finally, the winner was announced: my cousin Allison, with her Cinnamon Roll Rice Crispie Treats. I'll admit - they were pretty dang tasty. And so, here you go, Allison: ETERNAL FAME AND GLORY (on my blog). Isn't that a great picture of Allison? I had to swipe it from her blog because I was too busy tasting everyone else's treats to think to take a picture of the winner.
My cousin Kate won second place for a concoction called "The Rope", which consisted of Fruity Pebbles, Chocolate/mint marshmallows, fruit marshmallows, and mini Reese's Peanut Butter cups. The treats were pretty good, but the shady thing was that we later found out that my Uncle Bryce - one of the JUDGES - had helped create and make these treats! Hmmm... he is now known as the French Judge of this baking contest and will be looked at with suspicion and mistrust during bake-offs of the future. (And there will be more - we're thinkin' a Jell-o theme is in order for the next one!)
We snacked and snacked and snacked and only put a small dent in the number of treats!
The rest of the evening we spent chatting, visiting, and catching up. Oh, and throwing rocks. At least, that's what the Madsen boys did. It should probably be mentioned here that Cole was his most Coley self at this reunion, which is to say, naughty. Running off, getting into things, and basically never giving anyone a moment's peace. By the end of the two days I relegated him to two of my teenage cousins, who did a great job of reigning him in. (And gave Lance and I a much needed break!)
When it got dark my Dad and Susie broke out the glow sticks. These are always a huge hit!
We also tried to make glow in the dark bubbles by adding the contents of a glow stick to some bubbles, a la Pinterest. No matter how hard Lance tried, it didn't work. Bummer.
My cousins Kate and Ben show off their glow wear.
Kevin decided to show off his Olympic spirit.
Nice bling, Ben!
Spencer got to play "Tron" with my cousin Jen's two teenage boys, Quinn and Ryan. Spencer was in heaven getting to play with the older boys!
Finally it was time for bed. Not time for sleep, just bed. The sleeping quarters weren't too bad - decent cabins with bunks for all. And my dad and Susie did a great job outfitting everyone with plenty of padding and blankets. Each original Roper sibling and their families all shared one cabin, which meant we bunked with Dad and Susie, my brothers Kyle and Kevin, and then all us Madsens. We had plenty of room, which was really nice. The problem, however, of sharing a cabin with that many people is that you're sharing a cabin with that many people. I soon remembered why sharing a sleeping space with my dad is a bad idea - he snores. Not just little snores: he is a master snorer. It's really quite impressive. Just not at 2:30 in the morning. On top of that, Tess decided she needed to wake up several times during the night, one of which with a poopy diaper, which are always fun to change in the dark and with a flashlight.
Oh - funny story. My dad and Susie had brought a large and extra-comfy air mattress to sleep on. There were lots of quilts and blankets and such and it sure looked cozy! So cozy, in fact, that Cole decided he was going to sleep there. No amount of arguing with him would work - he wanted to sleep in that bed! Finally, Lance had to physically remove him and put him in a bunk. Cole was quite offended.
Here's a shot of the cabins and shelter area the next day.
That morning we were able to go out on the lake and do some canoeing. It would have been really fun, except that after about five minutes out Josh decided that he wanted to do a paddle boat instead. This was not an option, but he wouldn't accept that, so for the next 45 minutes Susie and I had to listen to him whine and complain. I was fairly tempted to "accidentally" knock him overboard.
Grandpa and Spencer got to be in one of the fast canoes.
A half-second after this picture was taken I saved Susie from going overboard from an errant Joshie paddle. You're welcome, Susie.
I don't remember much about the rest of the morning. We ate lunch. We chatted and visited some more. We packed our things up, just so we wouldn't have to later. Here's a look at what the inside of the cabins looked like.
Here's my cousin, Jen (of the world-famous Jen's Favorite Cookies) and Tess. It was really nice to talk with her in person, considering all the talking we do online!
Grandma Roper brought us all together later to give us a little talk, share some advice, and bare her testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I really appreciated it.
After that we decided to join some of the others on a short hike. Even Cole was willing to go along, and so off we all went!
You can't really tell in this picture, but he had fallen several times on the trail and was just filthy. It was pretty awesome.
I take my kids on little hikes several times a summer and they always complain bitterly. But they didn't complain that morning - perhaps because we had views like this.
After our hike we packed everything up and decided to head out. We could have stayed to help clean up the camp and get it ready for check-out inspection, but my Dad and Susie figured that it would probably easier to get the biggest mess-makers (i.e., my children) out of the way. They didn't have to tell us twice.
It was a really great reunion and I'm really glad we were able to make it. A big thank you goes out to my aunt Valerie for planning it all. We had a really great time!
I feel very blessed to be part of such a big and loving family. Every time I am with them I am amazed at what good, wonderful people they are, and at how lucky I am to be a part of such a great family!
