Reno Reunion (Back in August)

The goal is to have a Hastings family reunion every two years, so we were due this summer. We convened the first week of August in Reno at the Rob-and-Annas'. Unfortunately Dee, Shan, and keiki had to miss this one because Deetrix recently started a new job and Tristan started kindergarten at reunion time.

Jim and I were the last to arrive. We got in late Saturday night, August 2.  Ever had much fun dressing up with Clara on Sunday (in quite provocative attire):

Anna made us a delicious dinner, and then we enjoyed a glorious sunset:

Because we Hastings are obsessed with treats, Bags made cookies that night. We ate tons of dough and finished off the baked cookies. We have problems.

Monday morning Jim, Ever, Mamo, and I stayed back while everyone else hiked the Sierra Buttes trail. It looked like a really fun hike that I'm going to need to do someday when I don't have a small child.

We were supposed to meet the rest of the gang at a designated time and place (a lake) near the trailhead. When we got to the vicinity, we weren't totally sure where we were supposed to be, and we drove all over and couldn't find their cars. We worried that they had changed plans because of the inclement weather but had failed to notify us for lack of cell service or something. Turned out they were just behind schedule. We were happily reunited for tuna sandwiches, chips, and cookies, which were eaten as we stood under the trees trying to keep warm and dry:

Bags and Dun set the Hastings kids up fishing while the other adults (plus Ever) went for a walk on the nature trail. It appears I took no pictures, but Anna got this cute one of Mamo and Papo:

 And Bags photocized the rest of the gang and the lovely lake:

We joined the fishermen and headed out to an "abandoned silver mine town thing," as Bags called it. I have no better recollection, so we'll go with that. This amazing ranger played some tunes for us (including a Johnny Cash diddy) while the kids and Pod jammed on the old-timey instruments. Pod was my favorite:

We headed up the hill to the old mine building. On the way, we passed a woodworking shop where the rangers were closing up. They were super nice, and one of them did a little demo. The kids got to try out one of the old tools while Dustin chatted with the second ranger in the back:

The old building was cool. I wished we could have gone inside.

Ever took a while to warm up to Lucy on this trip. This excursion was a breakthrough for them:

Dustin gave Clara an awkward-looking ride:

 

Back at the museum/shop, Ever tried her hand at the musical instrument made of spoons:

We looked around the museum and then went on a walk to a lake. Mamo was excited by the pine cones:

The lake wasn't exactly what we were expecting, but the girls posed by it nonetheless:

Lucy patiently walked back with Ever and Clara. Ever was soooo slow. Lucy tried to play games and do other things to keep her motivated and speed her up. Jim and I were a little ways ahead, trying to keep the girls in sight. Then at one point, Clara went running past us. I wasn't sure what was happening. Then Lucy and Ever caught up, and Lucy said Clara was feeling lonely in the woods and wanted to catch up to her mother. I thought, "That's maybe not a good idea. She might get to a fork or something and not know which way to go, or maybe there will be a scary animal." As I feared, we met some of the rest of the gang near the end of the walk, and they confirmed that they'd found Clara lost and crying. In retrospect, I should have made her stop immediately or I should have at least separated from Jim, Lucy and Ever and gone after her. Super sad. In any event, Clara recovered, and we all made it back in one piece and enjoyed a pizza dinner at a nearby restaurant:

Tuesday the weather was still uncooperative - cool and rainy - so we decided on an indoor activity: go-kart racing at Need 2 Speed. (Shouldn't it be "Need 4 Speed"? That bugged me for some reason.) 

Tucker and Anders raced first. Anders was lightning fast. Tucker was more concerned about playing to the crowd, and he waved at the cheering section every time he went by. It was cute. Blurry Anders in the lead:

Results from the boys' round 1:

Eventually the big people (including Lucy) got to race. Dustin was my favorite part of round 1. By the end of the race, he looked as if he were on a leisurely Sunday drive, and he had a trail of cars behind him that couldn't pass. He said afterward that he thought he was winning. Probably Pod in the lead, then Bags, then me:

I was OK with the results of round 1:

But then Dustin realized the error of his ways, put on his game face, and stepped it up for round 2:

Turns out I'm not so good at go-kart racing. And the non-family who raced with us in round 2 were total jerks. They kept ramming me, and then the workers slowed my car down as if it were my fault. I dropped in the rankings:

After Need 2 Speed we decided to try a famous hole-in-the-wall burger place called Awful Awful, located in a casino. The location of the entrance did not disappoint:

The 1/2-lb burgers were served with a pound of fries. So many fries! The best part was the delicious shakes, which the kids devoured:

Dustin, Bags, Anna, Udon, Tucker, and Anders went up to Marilyn's Pond for some fishing that afternoon. We stayed back and let Ever nap. When I saw the pictures of the cool fog, I was bummed I missed out:

After dinner, we made s'mores on the grill. Everyone had a delightful time . . .

. . . until Bags burned her finger trying to rescue a marshmallow she thought was going to fall off the roasting stick. She forged ahead with the making and eating of the s'more:

Dustin went to get her some ice, but it blistered nonetheless. Cwanza was a real champion about it.

She went on to bake a two-layer cake for Pod's birthday (to be eaten the next day). Something went awry. I believe there was a substitution of a leavening ingredient, and possibly incorrect-sized pans were used. In any case, the cake overflowed all over the oven. Then the cake did not want to come out of the pans. Bags got bitter about the whole thing and washed her hands of it, leaving Mamo and me to remove the cake from the pans. We lost about half a layer but were happy to consume the part that broke off:

Wednesday started out with Donner Lake. I think my fascination with death and cannibalism may not be healthy, but I was pretty intrigued by the stories of the people who got stuck there. Turns out the whole Donner Party debacle was caused by a shady character named Hastings who convinced the Donner party to take a "shortcut" that turned out to be a total disaster. They only ate people who died naturally - with the exception of two Native Americans, whom they killed to eat. Also they took pains to ensure that no one had to eat his relatives, so that was nice. Jim decided he would eat me if it were between that and leaving Ever an orphan. He began surveying people about whether they would eat their spouses. Our family universally said no. The survey extended to the Oceanside 4th bishopric and others in our ward, however, and Jim did find some who agreed with him.

Checking out the Moses Schallenberger cabin site (Mamo in the background on the left):

After the museum, we went on a walk where we passed some historical sites. We failed to get a map, so the significance of almost all the sites was lost on us.

This rock formed the north end and fireplace of the Murphy cabin, and it now displays a list of those members of the Donner Party who died (39 of 87) and those who survived (48 of the 87):

Pretty:

Then we walked along Donner Lake for a bit:

The Homers and Kringels lagged behind everyone else. Ever was begging to get in the water. After a lengthy discussion, we decided that Jim and Dustin would stay back with Ever and let her get in the water while Bags and I went ahead and tried to catch up to everyone else. Bags and I had gone about 20 feet when we saw the rest of the gang stopped at the water right there. Once we all reconvened, Dustin pretended he was going to throw Clara in with Tucker's help:

Ultimately Ever was the only one who got wet, necessitating the removal of her pants and the wearing of this ensemble for the walk back to the car:

In the interest of time, we decided to forgo lunch and just snack in the parking lot. Next up was Emerald Bay at the south end of Lake Tahoe. Lovely:

We posed for pictures before beginning the rather steep walk down the hill to the beach:

On the way down, we learned that ponderosa pines smell like vanilla and Dustin loves them:

Lucy hadn't realized we were going to the lake and had therefore failed to bring her swimsuit. Mamo took her to the store by the beach and bought her the biggest tourist t-shirt they had, and Lucy wore that in lieu of a suit. We rented kayaks and took turns taking them out around the little island in the bay. Dustin and Clara in the yellow kayak, Anders and Tucker in red, and Bags and Lu in green:

Mamo entertained Ever on the beach and helped her build some sort of stick structure:

Jim, Ever and I took a kayak out after the initial crew returned. They had stopped on the island, but we just kayaked around it. We were freezing most of the time, but the sun came out as we rounded the island and helped a lot. The view as we headed back was gorgeous. 

After kayaking, we did a short walk to a waterfall. We bundled Ever in Jim's sweatshirt to try to warm her up, and she insisted on being carried. A half-mile walk feels really long when you're carrying a 28-lb toddler. Jim and I took turns.

Then Rob took over:

Rob said the waterfall was directly below where we had parked, and he suggested scaling the cliff. I really wanted to go up that way, but Ever obviously couldn't. Dustin and Jim volunteered to take her back the long way so Bags and I could go up by the waterfall. I felt really bad about that, but I let them take it for the team. Mamo and Anna took the long way back, too. That meant that all of us who were born Hastings (and none of the non-Hastings born) went up the waterfall. Cornyee and I were pretty in love with our family and its adventurousness - 7-year-old Clara in a swimsuit, Anders with his slippers slung up on his arm, Pod right before his 68th birthday. Good times.

There was a bear sighting around here:

I thought I saw something brown move out of the corner of my eye. Bags missed it entirely because she was bringing up the rear taking pictures. We lingered briefly hoping for a better look, but the bear had disappeared.

The view from the top:

By that time we were famished since we'd skipped lunch. We drove to a lake-side restaurant to which the Rob-and-Annas had been before. We had to wait a while for tables. The Homers and Kringels were at one table; the Rob-and-Annas and Mamo and Pod were at another. We ordered appetizers, and they took forever. We watched jealously as the other table enjoyed their chips and salsa. Ever passed the time by playing walrus:

Meanwhile Dustin staved off starvation by breaking into the honey packets on the table:

We were much pleased when the food arrived. 

Back at the ranch, Bags put together Pod's ill-fated birthday cake. She used the half-layer to fill in the sunken center of the other layer and then frosted the heck out of it. 

Ever-supportive Mamo said she didn't see anything wrong with it:

We inserted as many candles as we could and sang a very poor rendition of "Happy Birthday":

(Pod's birthday was Friday, but we had to celebrate Wednesday night because Jim and Dustin were leaving Thursday.)

Thursday we enjoyed the best weather of the week. It was a perfect beach day, and we headed to the lake. Ever enjoyed being buried in the sand:

The other kids (including a friend of theirs we ran into) enjoyed building sand castles with Dustin:

We took the rafts out on the crystal-clear water:

I went out for a long swim. It was cold but refreshing and nice. And then it was just cold. My body is abnormally unable to recover from cold. Kind Mamo buried me in every towel and sweatshirt available, but it still took a long time for me to return to normal. I was a little worried I froze the fetus in my belly, but it survived. 

We walked down to the snack shop and got some ice cream. Dolly much enjoyed:

Jim took our rental car and left from the lake to go home, pack up, and drive himself to the airport. He flew out late afternoon to LAX, where he met Sam Hawkins and went on to Mexico for the annual surf trip. (Sam and Tatum came back from China for a couple weeks in August, and Sam and Jim decided to take the trip - which usually occurs in October - when Sam could make it.) Dustin had to leave later Thursday night. The rest of us got to enjoy one more day.

Friday morning we went for a walk at Galena Creek Park. 

It was an easy hike, but no hike with a toddler is easy. We trailed behind everyone. Ever wanted to step on each rock that lined the path. 

Tutu told the little girls stories. Clara insisted that the stories be happy, which meant that there could be nothing sad or troubling in any way in any part of the story. It's hard to make an interesting story when there can be no mention of anything negative whatsoever.

Rob helped the kids climb some boulders. Ever wanted to participate but was a little scared.

Group shots:

Tutu wanted to sponsor a Baskin Robbins trip in honor of Pod's birthday. We hurried to squeeze it in before Tucker had to leave for a camping trip with the scouts. Yum:

There was a TV behind me. Hence the odd expressions.

After we got home, I realized I had left my purse at BR. Mamo and Cornyee went back to fetch it for me, which was awfully nice. I think I got out of going myself because I needed to put Ever down for a nap.

Mamo and Papo flew out that afternoon. Jim's dream had been to go to BJ's while we were in Reno. We waited until he was gone (poor guy), and then Friday night Cornyee, the Rob-and-Annas, Ever, and I went to BJ's for dinner. We had to wait about an hour for a table, so we just hung out outside. The kids were good and entertained themselves. I photocized my little love:

Dinner was delish, and we topped it off with a bunch of pizookies. Ever made sure no drop of melted ice cream was left behind:

Ever and I flew home early Saturday morning. It took FOREVER for our shuttle to pick us up. Ever pointed at every shuttle that went by and asked if it was ours. It never was.

At long last, we made it home safely. 'Twas a lovely trip. It's always great to see the family. Thanks so much to Rob and Anna for hosting! And thank you to me for finally finishing this post that has been plaguing me for the last 3+ months.