Gail Halvorsen/The Candy Bomber

On July 3rd, when we went to the Colonial Days, we had the amazing opportunity to see what may be Gail Halvorsen's last candy drop.  He's 94 this year and it's taking it's toll on his body and mind. This amazing man made such a difference in the peace of the world by showing love and compassion.  I admire his loving spirit and hope that someday I can hug him and tell him how much I admire him.  Because there were about 70,000 people and only 1,000 candies being dropped, they said that only kids under 12 could run for them.  Then one of the shutes got jammed and only about half the candy got dropped.  I had told my kids ahead of time that we weren't there for the candy. We were there to see the drop.  And it didn't disappoint.  It was so neat to see.  I got a couple pictures.  Not as many as I would have liked because of bouncing an angry baby on my hip, but here are my favorites.

A few days later, I went to buy extra hot dogs from my neighbor (who is the head person in charge of the freedom festival).  While we were there, I told her how neat it was to see the drop and how we loved it.  She disappeared for a minute and came back for a parachute/candy for each of my kids.  She still had the ones that had gotten caught in the shute! We had a blast throwing the parachutes off the roof and off a ladder. And I loved the fact that my kids had not expected the parachutes but appreciated them when they had them.  Kind mercies all around.

This baby napped through the whole thing.

On this last set of pictures about the Robertson Reunion.  I just wanted to say thank you to all the families that came. I look forward to seeing everyone next year and love you all.  Judy and Jim, you are absolutely amazing!  You put in so many hours preparing your yard, home and pool for visiting from your family. You have visitors for weeks before and weeks after (I know you love it, but I admire your ability to give all). You spend  hours cooking, making homemade ice cream, washing and cleaning up after we're doing making our messes.  You spend hours every sleep deprived day so that your grandkids can have a fun time. I love that many of your kids have a chance to attend church with you at Cove Point where you put in so many hours, love and care for each of the people that you're called to care for.  I appreciate the money that you put towards a reunion every year so that cousins can get to know and love each other.  I love the chance to talk with people, even if it's only once a year.  These are the people we want to see for all eternity, and you make it possible for us to get to know and love them. My Grandma made that effort and I'm still friends with my cousins, 2nd cousins and their families.  My Wilcox Great-grandparents didn't make that effort and I only know the cousins that my Dad made an effort to visit and the ones that we live by.

Colonial Days

We've been to the Colonial Days several years now.  It's always fun and always someone new to pick their brains.  This year was extra large.  They had wartime vehicles display.  They had military cars from WWI, WWII, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Desert Storm as well as tents and uniforms from different wars.  It was so fun to see all the booths, especially with our History major nephew Jacob.  He was definitely excited to see it all.  We didn't end up with too long to look around, but it was just about right with the heat and the little kids.

This one's for you Uncle McKay.  I tried to get them in the Hummer because I know you have your license, but they were hard pressed to just stand still for a picture.

WWII ambulance.  Sam, Millie, Amy and Mariah.  Mariah wants to be a doctor and was fascinated with this one.

living quarters

Learning to spin. Mariah, Ada, Evlyn, Sam, Jeremy, Matthew, Millie, Joseph, Jacob and Joseph.

Blacksmith presentation

Evelyn was less than impressed with the arms display.

The printing press.  Mariah, Aubrey, Sam, Matthew, Ada, Joseph, Jer, Evelyn and Jacob.

Game time.

Reunion Continued

Jer and Jacob

Marg, Judy, and Mariah

Amy, Millie, Suzie, Ellie, Mary, Diane

Ellie

Timp Hike 2015

Jer and his Dad took the Aubrey, Mariah, Joseph and Eli up to the lake this year.  They took another hike a couple days before to see how far some of the younger kids could get.  Ada physically did okay, but she lost it when she found stinging nettle... so not quite emotionally ready to hike to the lake with everyone else.  And poor Jonathan was going to go for the first time and ended up with a broken arm.  They are great hikers and I love seeing Jer and his Dad enjoying it so much.

 

Robertson Family Reunion

The Robertson Family Reunion was made up of 5 of the brothers and sisters (John, Marg, Jer, Amy, and Mary), their spouses (minus Matt), the grandparents and 30 of the grandkids.  It was fun to catch up with everyone.  I can't believe how grown up all the grandkids are getting.  2 of the grandkids are official adults and 2 more will be by next year.

Evelyn, Ruth and Cyrus?, Rachel, Sam, Eli and Joseph, Ada, Arwen and Josh on the edge

Seth and Cy (I didn't go swimming because I was on my period and because this little guy doesn't like it.  He likes tubs and splash pads... does not like swimming pools or lakes).

Sam

Ada stayed in the pool for about 2 days straight.  I swear she's a fish. Even after everyone else was done, she was good to go.

Emma made these light sabers for everyone to play with.  That was fun!

Kate, Adam, Ruth, Maisy, Mariah, Emma, Lizzie... (Grandpa's in there too!)

We had fun just chatting. 

Marg, Mary, Amy, Diane, Susan, Grandpa

Millie fell in love with the Brasher's dog Oreo.

Mini Fencers/Sam's first lost tooth

This week was full of adventure and excitement.  One was the Class Competition for our Summer mini-fencers.  This time we had 6-9 kids in the class.  While that makes for an easier to teach class, the competitions are smaller that way.  It was also Ada's very last competition with me.  Ada, Aubrey and Mariah had their own "grown up" competition in the back directed by Jer and I conducted the round robin with all the rest.  Mariah got 1st, Aubrey got 2nd and Ada got 3rd.  Ada's going to take a fencing break now too.  She's been doing it with me for 4 years and is a little tired of it.  I told her that we were going to have her take a year off while she did soccer. She was glad for that. 

In our mini-fencers competition, Sam got 1st (which he was sooooo excited about), Tayden got 2nd, Kate got 3rd and Josh and Evelyn got participant ribbons. 

While we were eating our snacks afterwards, Sam took a bit of his apple and his tooth popped out.  He was too excited.  He didn't like that it bled, but he went to wash his hands and it stopped bleeding by the time he came back.  He said that it was the best day ever.  He got a trophy and lost his first tooth in the same day.

Bear lake pictures

These are pretty much the only pictures I got of Bear Lake last time.  Thanks Sharon for having a camera!

"This week in pictures" 2

Amy and Marg hosted us and Maida's girls for a tea party.  It was so cute.  All the boys brought a stuffed animal, the girls brought their dolls, and Evelyn insisted on a purple dragon.  They had chocolate milk and all sorts of little "doll" foods.  My favorite was that Aubrey had individually wrapped chocolate chips to look like kisses.

Starting on the bottom left: Maisy, Sam, Cyrus, Eli, Mariah, Joseph, Jonathan, Abby, Madeline, Aubrey, Evelyn, Amelia and Ada.

Even Seth and Isabel were in on the action. Grandma tried to give them whipped cream... Seth wasn't quite sure what to do with it.  For a while, Isabel sat there feeding food to Seth.  It was really cute.

Evelyn, Maisy, Amelia and Cy.  Grandma had put in a bunch of cinnamon into the sand to keep the kitties from using it as a litter box.  Evelyn smelled like cinnamon toast.

Dad had the Stake Aaronic Priesthood Encampment this last week, so I let the kids have a sleepover in Sam and Evelyn's room.  I love that they "circled the wagons" around the trampoline.

My parents, brother Seth and Janelle took us to go see the movie "Inside Out" at the theater.  It was a very emotional movie.  I had to explain to the kids that we don't really have people inside us that control our emotions, but it was really easy to be able to explain about different emotions when we were talking about the movie.