Hastings Reunion in Ashton, ID - Part 1 (Arrival, River Walk, Mesa Falls)

I made Bagger Vance compile everybody's pictures from our Hastings family reunion in August (she pared them down to 861 photos), organize them by date, burn them to a CD, and mail it to me.  She very kindly did that.  I am nonetheless having problems with dates (next time we MUST synchronize cameras!), and there are soooooo many pictures.  I have to kill the perfectionist in me and let the pictures be mixed up/disorganized if I want any hope of getting caught up before Dean and I go to DC next week.  With that disclaimer, I begin this daunting task.  The good news is that all other blogging family members have already posted about the trip, so I can and will copy what they said. 

On Saturday, August 11, we Kringels flew to Salt Lake out of the Long Beach airport - an easy, dinky little airport that will charge you your firstborn for parking and for that reason will never again be frequented by us.  Bagger Vance picked us up in Salt Lake, and we drove about 4 hours to Ashton, Idaho.  Bags and Ann Marie had found this completely amazing, huge, and recently renovated cabin right on the Snake River:

Photo from the Web, but it was really like this.

Anna and kids were there when we arrived.  (They drove in from Reno.  Rob flew in later.)  We hung out on the giant porch, enjoyed the perfect weather and beautiful view, and waited for the others to arrive.  Clarice gave Bags a super-neat hairdo:

Ann Marie and I got less-exciting versions of the 'do, after which Ann Marie posed for some awkward family photos...



... and I flowered-up Clarice at her request:

The kids enjoyed running around (or crawling, in Dean's case, although the grass was not particularly conducive to her self-transport).

It was cute to see Tristan playing with the Rob Hastings kids.  Someday Ever will be old enough to hang.

Goofy kids:

Sunday morning we went to sacrament meeting, where Pod desperately looked for people with whom to socialize.  Aside from the nice man next to us on the pew, no one would engage.  Pod was disappointed.  It was very cute.  I don't know why his sociability seems to have skipped my generation.

Sunday saw more front porch sitting, as well as a walk down to (and in) the river.

Notice the bloody ear:

Dolly scratches inside her ears when she's tired, I think.  It's sad.

  

Is Anders ever not silly in pictures?

Leery:



Heading out for the river:



Like I said...

  

The boys aborted early and scaled the hill to the house, and Shandie had to follow TKan...

 

 

Pod found a snail.  I think there was talk of his eating it.



Then I spied something I thought might be a bone.  Sho nuff.  Brave Rob picked it up and confirmed it was a backbone - covered in mcnasty little living black things, no less:



There were screams and exclamations from the ladies in the house.  Ann Marie tried frantically to escape from the river but got stuck in the mud and nearly lost a slipper:

 I composed myself and modeled:

Rob spotted the skull nearby:



Bags played paparazzo:



 The river walk was exciting and delightful.  Such a lovely spot, cow bones and all.

 After that, we drove to Lower Mesa Falls and Upper Mesa Falls and took many pictures. 

 

The kids are very good at playing Vanna:



Dolly's balancing-on-the-hand trick: 

Dolly's lift-from-Dirty-Dancing trick:

 









 

As we headed out, Pod spotted some berries and climbed over the fence to get them.  I love Pod and his climbing so much. 

  

 

 

Clarice got gum in her hair at some point during the outing - remedied with peanut butter back at the ranch:



We also played water balloons (fabulous idea by Mamo).

The peaceful look on Jim's face in this picture is so funny to me:

Also priceless:

We played with some tiny little guys that were virtually unpoppable:

 

Let us conclude the pictoral portion of part 1 of the Hastings family reunion with a small glimpse into Dolly's frontal combover:


Sunday night after the kiddies retired to bed, the adults played a trivia game conducted by Cwong Wee.  She had gotten our answers to questions like "What's your greatest fear?" and "If you could go to dinner with a celebrity, who would it be?"  We played Hastings v. in-laws (Mamo was an in-law).  Apparently we blood Hastings are a little self-centered because we didn't know as much about the in-laws as they knew about us.  But we learned lots of fun things and had a great time.  Thanks to Cwanza for the festivities!