Emily and Ryan were able to drive down to Arizona with Grandpa Tommy and Grandma Nancy. They left Monday, July 7th and had a great time bonding with the grandparents. They got to stay at Hotel's and go swimming!
Blake, Spencer, Caleb, Grace and I flew into Phoenix on Wednesday (the day the reunion started) and drove up to the house the family had rented for the reunion. Hot, Hot, Hot!!!
Staci decided to go with a holiday theme for the reunion. Rarely do we all get to spend the holidays together. So Wednesday was Thanksgiving!
Thursday was Easter! We drove to Flag and went Rock Climbing, Bouldering and Repelling (Alex and Staci are both trained for all that fun stuff) We also did an Easter Egg Hunt while there for the kids! I did rock climb, but it is defiantly easier when you don't have to find your own holds. (I think I'm more the community center or REI rockwall kind of girl) Blake on the other had has found a new hobby!!! He loved every moment, from putting the climbing lined up, to repelling, he was loving it!
Friday was Christmas! I even help put up and decorate the Christmas tree! To celebrate Christmas we went to the Grand Canyon! Grand tries to describe the canyon, but it was so much more than that! I fell in love! I want to go back and see every inch of it! I remember watching the Brady Bunch when they went to the Grand Canyon! I want to ride a donkey down! I would seriously love to spend a week there and just hike and explore and enjoy the amazing canyon! Maybe some day I'll get back there! We took a big family picture with the canyon in the back!
The kids were able to become 'Junior Rangers'!!! They had an activity booklet that the kids got to do to help them learn about the canyon. They were given an certificate, and a badge!!! They had one huge swearing in of the junior ranges in our family! 17 Perkins grandkids are now official junior rangers!
Later that night after our christmas dinner we played a fun game with dollar store gifts. Blake shared our favorite Christmas story 'The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey' by Susan Wojciechowski. Of course he was crying by the end of the book, we alway do!
Saturday, we were up and packing up to head home. We were all out of there before 9:30.
It was a fun and crazy few days! We enjoyed being able to see Blake's brother and sisters and their families! We haven't seen Alan since they moved 4 years ago! And Shanae only here and there a few years back! Gracey loved playing with her baby cousin Mallory. We got some great pictures of them!!!
It is just so fun to see the cousins playing and getting to know one another better! I am so grateful that our families take the time to do reunions so we can all spend time together!
4 comments:
We miss you guys already. I think our kids really bonded with each other on this reunion--between Gracie and Mallory, Wyatt and Caleb, and Ethan, Zach, Ryan, and Emily. We can't wait for the chance to see you all again.
We loved seeing you all! It was so much fun to finally meet Gracie! It was also fab to reconnect with the other kiddos. They are still as cute and wonderful as ever!
Oh - and you and Blake, too, of course! Hee hee! Seeing your family again made us even more home sick than we already were! Yikes!
Hope to be living close by again soon! Love you all!!!
Wow, I'm jealous! It looks like you had a fabulous family reunion. How fun! I would love to visit the Grand Canyon...and you're right...to relive our "Brady Bunch Days." I'm glad you had such a great time.
~Lisa
How fun! What a great idea to visit the Grand Canyon for a family reunion. You look so cute in your rock climbing gear...are you sure it's not going to be a new hobby for you too?!
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