Bradshaw Family Reunion 2009

Hello everyone,

To start, I'm sorry because this is SERIOUSLY long! I wanted some pictures of all the different things we did. This years family reunion was held at Puffer's Lake. Not only was it beautiful, but everyone had a blast. There was canoeing, volleyball, four-wheeling, horse back riding, the kids flew kites, picking wild flowers, and other fun random activities. I can only speak for Kyarra and myself, but we had a blast. I got some amazing photos and it was great to see everyone. I've spent hours trying to get the photos ready to post. I'm sorry if you were there and are not represented in the photos. There were just way to many to put up on the blog. Enjoy... I probably overdid it as it is. :)

I'm going to basically start on Saturday. Everyone got together and went to Red Cliff Falls. We took the large family picture while we were there, thanks dad and Ethan for not breaking my camera in your slide down the hill... We saw the actual falls, the sink holes in one of the small lakes above the falls, and then went to Puffer Lake and saw where the water goes under the rocks to the underground lake. There were several who hiked down to the falls. I didn't get pictures of all of them, but I did of some.

The weekend started out for some, on Thursday night (23rd), with Ethan's Eagle Court of Honor. Congratulations Ethan. One of the highlights from that event, was the picture of all the Eagles in attendance. I've attached a photo of them for you to see. I have a video of Ethan being presented with his Eagle as well as honoring his mom and dad. It's quite long as I don't have photoshop for video's, so there isn't a picture of him actually receiving it and I didn't want to upload that long of a video.

Friday the 24th, we all went to the parade and then lunch at the park. Then we headed back up to camp.

Everyone enjoyed canoeing and the older boys, enjoyed having canoe wars. I don't have any idea who won since I don't know if they considered it a loss to get dumped into the lake. It was fun watching them drag canoes full of water back to shore.

Kyarra and I actually went out canoeing with our dog. She decided to stand on the edge of the canoe and I was a little too fierce with the paddling so she got knocked into the lake. I got her back in pretty quickly, but she wouldn't even go near the edge of the canoe again, and she refused to get out without being carried.

Everyone took turns on the horses and many of the younger kids played in the stream and on the bridge. I felt the water in both the stream and the lake and think that anyone who spent that much time playing in the water must have been half frozen. That water was COLD!

Many got together and played volleyball, regardless of the age. They played for hours. One of my favorite highlights about that was between serves and close to the end as it was getting darker... Randy Atkin and Riley White decided to wrestle. I'm not gonna tell you who won, but I'd be interested to find out who everyone guesses if you didn't see it. :)

Some of the girls got together and danced to Miley Cyrus' Hoedown Throwdown. I got some video of this as well as the final picture. Seriously, that was great.

Everyone enjoyed the four wheelers and Randy's "Mule", I think that's what it was called anyway. All I know is that it seated a bunch of kids on the back and there were two rows of seats in the front. I've been officially asked by Kyarra, "Can we please, please, please, puhhhhleeeeeeeeese get one of those?"

We got some enormous kites out and the kids all spent some time flying kites.
Thankfully, we had use of a cabin about five minutes from camp where people could "use the facilities". The bathroom up at camp was rather gross, understatement of a lifetime. I know for a fact it was cleaned up before camp started, but still... While at the cabin, there were several activities to participate in.

Some had the opportunity to go see the herd of Elk and Deer up at the Flat. Unfortunately, I slept later than planned, so I wasn't one of them and didn't get any pictures of it. I wish I could have seen them though. I did get a picture of some deer that stayed close to camp, it's from a distance (as are many of the pictures), so the detail isn't great, but there you are.

Needless to say, there was something for everyone. Thanks again everyone for a fabulous reunion and hopefully those of you who couldn't make it will be able to come next year. You were missed. Take care!

Love you,
Candace

I thought that these two were pretty funny which is why I included them. (Above Kyarra doing the doggie paddle, below Crinaea doing the doggie paddle)