The Service Family: Corier/Tolman Reunion 2011

This last weekend we went to the Corier/Tolman reunion at Camp Bethel near Humptulips, Washington. We left our dog, Lucy, with Sarah and her family, took the kids out of school Friday and head out for a weekend of fun and relaxation. We sold our RV a few months ago, so we decided to bring our tent (instead of stay in the lodge or cabin) and pitched it right next to my parents tent. Anson bought he and I padded cots to sleep on, and we brought our electric blankets and small portable space heater to keep warm. And we did stay warm! Unfortunately my parents froze all night, so we gave them our heater the second night and they were able to stay warm too.

Saturday we went to Ocean Shores and let the kids go go-carting which is something they do every year. We decided not to go to the beach though because it was pretty cold and we didn't feel like dealing with sand and the kids always seem to get wet when we tell them not to. The boys weren't to disappointed that we skipped it.

Later that night we had an auction. People bring stuff to auction off and we use that money to buy all the food for next years reunion so it keeps the cost down. I brought a framed 11x14 picture that I took of the Portland, Oregon Temple and that went for $38. I only meant for 1 to auction, but people asked if I had more which I did in the car (unframed) and bought the remainder 3 I had for $30 each. That's great and all but that money went into the family fund. Kind of sucks because we won't even be here next year for that reunion and it would have been nice to make a little money to pay for the printing of those pictures but whatever. I know better now.

The kids had a blast like they always do playing on the swings, playing frisbee, capture the flag, canoeing on the lake and whatever else they did. It's total freedom for them all weekend. We did have an incident of Ashton falling in the lake when he was trying to get out of the boat and onto the dock. He came back to the tent completely drenched from head to toe and covered in mud. Luckily the water wasn't too deep and from what I was told he was wearing a life jacket. Somebody falls in the lake every year...