The Final Day

All good things must come to an end - weird, I know.

But day 3 of the reunion was still fun even though it was time to start closing up shop and packing up the circus.

There was another Polar Bear Plunge that day and a few people eventually showed up to try it out.

For breakfast we did a cereal and muffin buffet and sat around talking and working up the gumption to start the family service project i.e. "Farm Clean Up". 

 Pregnant Heather was the brave one who climbed onto her husband Brad's shoulders to take some rope out of the tree as part of the clean up.

 Amidst the cleaning there was also one more craft that had to be tried out. Dad had remembered going to the fair as a kid and doing some wax art thing. Basically you pour hot wax into a bucket of cold water but you lower it down with a little paper cup and as the wax hardens it makes crazy shapes.
  So a few of the crew decided to try it out as a last hoorah of the party.

  Once everything was packed up and the Farm was back to it's original state of cleanliness, we all hit the pool! It was the perfect day to spend in the water and ever since I was a teenager I have felt like I never earn my truest summer tan until I've got one from being in Grandma's pool. :)

 Dad was a bit of a "disturber of the peace" and thought it would be funny to drop Mento mints into a liter of Pepsi (or whatever pop you're supposed to use...) and aim it at the people in the pool. Notice all the younger boys hanging around to watch? You can guess what they'll be up to in years to come.

  Summer is officially happening when you've spent at least one day making waves at the Farm. We like to get a huge group of us in there and make whirl pools! We all run as fast as we can in the same direction and pretty soon there's a current going and if you want to you can even stop and ride it for a while, it's so fun!

  Brad took some time to toss a couple of the kiddos into the pool, too, and we were all super impressed with the height he got. The first kid is his own little girl, Halle.

 This is one of Brad's nephews (our second cousin) Korbyn!

 Soaking up some sun!

 That afternoon Mom, Kelani, and Malia all came home to Boise but Dad and I stayed to finish out the weekend at the Farm since we don't make it there as often as we used to. We went fishing down the road with one of my uncles and his family. It was such a gorgeous evening.

 Dad and Ethan, hoping to reel in a big one!

 I think that during the whole fishing trip Dad was the only one who caught anything, but it wasn't very big so he put it back.
  When we got back to the Farm, Lanie, Maddie, and I decided the time had come to take a walk through the cornfield. The corn is nice and high now and since I might not have another chance to go on such an adventure this summer, we knew it had to happen then.
  We just followed the pivot tracks and even caught up to it for a second and got a nice little sprinkling. There's nothing like wading through mud up to your knees and feeling the mud between your bare feet!
  In fact, here's a little side note. When Dad and I got to the Farm on Wednesday evening, I had taken my flip-flops off in the car during the drive and then gotten out to start unloading as soon as we got there.
  Well, Saturday morning I ended up running into town with Malia and Nani to get milk for breakfast - which was the first time I'd left the Farm since we got there. I was in a hurry and could not remember where I'd last left my shoes. I thought back through the days and realized I hadn't worn shoes since we got there Wednesday night so they were still in the car!
    Talk about freedom! Two and a half days totally barefoot, ahhhh! One more reason to love summer!
The girls and I made it back from our walk in the cornfield and by then it was one of those great summer evenings when everything is comfortably warm and peacful and you feel good after a full, happy day.
  It was made even better as I walked back to Grandma's house and saw how cozy and restful it looked inside, especially knowing she was in there probably watching a good movie or reading a book.
   We went inside, ate some leftovers (yum) and Dad even made a batch of chocolate almond ice cream.
That night the girls and I tried to watch "Girl of the Limberlost" but not one of us could stay awake long enough to finish. It was so nice!

 The next day we went to church then got home and Grandma made a scrumptious dinner with all kinds of good things out of Aunt Lisa's garden. Some of the cousins told us to come out and see what they'd done to Gabe. I went out to the sandbox and all I could see of Gabe was his little nose sticking out of the sand! Can you see it there right next to Cody's foot? Yep, there's a live little human being buried in that thing.

 The best part was as I started taking the picture I said to Gabe, "You realize you've just been buried in a giant litter box, right?"
   And ever so slightly his mouth opened enough for him to say in disappointment, "Oh shoot."
After dinner Aunt Lisa, Aunt Angi, and a few of the cousins came over to play games for a little bit. One of our favorites to play is "Password", you never know what will happen with that game!

 Then it was officially time to end the party. When I was little it took everything in me not to cry every time we had to go home after being at the Farm, and it was with a heavy heart that I'd take my last look at it as we drove away.
  Being older hasn't changed that all that much. And as Dad said to Grandma as we walked out the door, "I guess all we can do now is endure to the next party." :)