This summer, our vacation was built around the Olson Family Reunion at Duck Creek, UT. I was a little nervous for a road trip with SIX people in our car this time, so I planned on being well prepared. This is only some of the food we packed for the car!
We got up early on Thursday morning, and drove all the way! We met up with Jules and Rick in St. George and stopped for lunch together at Dickey's BBQ Pit. It actually was really good food and had the added bonus of free soft serve ice cream! Rachel ate hers from one side to the other.
We stayed at the Pinewood Resort in Duck Creek, which is near Brian Head (for you people who ski in Utah). Resort might be a bit of a stretch, but there were some decent amenities. My parents had rented a big house where they stayed with my sisters and their husbands and families. There wasn't quite enough room for us, so we opted for a two bedroom suite. There was a kitchenette and a sleeper sofa downstairs and a bedroom with two twins and one with a king upstairs. We put together a bed of sofa cushions for Rachel and the girls slept in a room while Ryan took the sofa bed. It worked out really well.
Thursday night, we played around the resort. There was a playground, a sand volleyball court, ping pong, pool, foosball, and horseshoes. We ate dinner at the campfire with all the cousins and family. Every single member of the Olson family was able to make it for the reunion this year. It was awesome!
One of our traditions is breakfast, courtesy of Grandma and Grandpa Olson. They cooked eggs, pancakes and bacon for any who wanted it. Even Mickey Mouse pancakes. :) The resort also had a continental breakfast.
That afternoon, a lot of us went for a hike out to Cascade Falls. It was about a mile in and then back out along the mountainside, but it was beautiful and the views were amazing. The six of us got a little separated during the hike, although we were with family the whole time, but we got some fun family pictures afterward.
Miriam was especially excited when she found this rock that looked like a dinosaur looking over it's shoulder. Can you see it?
In the afternoon, the kids were happy to explore and play outside and around. It is so great that my kids are just a bit older and can do so much more. Also, it was great having so many aunts, uncles and cousins to play with! One big hit was the track ball set. I think Liz could have played it all day and night!
That evening, we had a chocolate tasting event for the whole crowd! We had 15 different brands of milk chocolate to taste and we scored each one. We then tallied up the results and found the Olson Family Favorite was Dove milk chocolate, with Milka and See's coming in 2nd and 3rd. We were all so busy tasting chocolate that NO one got any pictures of the actual event! But it happened....and it was great.
Saturday was pretty low-key. We did our group picture in the morning and it went well. Some of the family went to the ice caves while others visited Duck Creek Pond. It rained off and on throughout the day though, so we just hung out at the resort. Besides all the amenities there, we also had bubbles, frisbee, puzzles and Yatzee to keep us busy throughout the day.
That evening, we had a family dinner dinner, a dessert contest and some family games. We had five categories for the dessert contest and twelve entries!!! Cookies: chocolate chip cookies, pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, oatmeal bars, Rolo cookies; Cake: Texas sheet cake, maple-bacon cupcakes, chocolate bundt cake; Candy: s'more marshmallow, fudge; Raspberry: raspberry cake, raspberry chocolate chunk ice cream, and raspberry lemonade marshmallows! Holy smokes! It was so fun to try all the delicious desserts and people really got into it. We also gave out prizes for all the entries.
Grandma B had some fun games that involved wrapping some people in duck tape and pelting them with paper balls. I missed this part, but those who played had fun. Aunt Joyce also brought all sorts of fun toys and prizes for the kids and we had a good time playing and visiting with each other.
Sunday morning, we had a final breakfast together and then packed up to head out. Most headed home, but there was more fun in store for us! Stay tuned!!
No comments:
Post a Comment