Harker Family reunion

Just a couple short days after arriving here in Washington, Daddy flew out to be with us and then we headed to N. Idaho to meet up with his folks and all his brothers and their families.

It was SO great to be with all the Harker boys. I love C's family and it has been hard these last five years to not be close to any of them. It was tough to see that my kids didn't really know their Harker cousins or uncles and aunts very well at all. BUT we are closer now and hope to see LOTS more of the Harkers. It was a great way to have my kids re-introduced to their uncles/aunts and cousins. They had such a great time playing with their cousins (who are just the same ages as them) and to be with Grandma and Grandpa Harker who they missed very much and were happy to be with them.

C's Parents rented a "cabin" in Northern Idaho where we all stayed at for that last week in July where we had a small little Harker Family reunion. C had to stay in Indy to work on school stuff so he didn't not do the long drive out West with me and the kids. I did the drive out here with my sister (as stated in the few posts below) but he then flew out to be with his family at the reunion and then had to fly back to Indy to finish things up there. It was so nice to be with C again at the "cabin" and to be as a family again (with his family there too, of course). I say "cabin" because it was more like a nice house, a VERY nice house, located off in the woods of N. Idaho. It was spacious enough for all 17 of us with room for more! It included three small separate cabins out back that were like mini hotel rooms, for more privacy and lots of room to accommodate families.

This place was beautiful, the location, the house itself, the people we were with, it was all just so beautiful.

There was a nice living room/dining room space where we gathered in the evenings, a cute little breakfast nook/bar area that the kids loved to eat in, a huge kitchen with room enough for more food than the Harkers could ever eat, a screened in lovely porch, nice little game rooms (yes, rooms) with arcade games, a pool table, b-ball hoops game, bowling game, pac man and a hunting game my kids would not stop playing, lots of ways to stay entertained inside that large house. Then there was the out door entertainment, it had acres to explore, a large back yard with a soccer field, volley ball net/court, a hot tub for the evenings with out children (if you didn't mind mosquitoes eating you while you relaxed) a good sized play ground with swings, and two play houses (one cutesy girly one and a cute little fire station so the boys wouldn't feel left out). The kids were in heaven just to be outside and explore in nature and play "tea party" in the Play house, and the adults had fun lounging around and watching the kids enjoy it all. Well there was a little friendly competition between brothers with soccer, Frisbee golf, bochee ball and I'm sure a few other recreational activities. It was so fun to see C spend time with his brothers especially since he doesn't get to see them very often.

It was such a great get-away cabin. I learned so much about C's side of the family as we spent nights staying awake late, listening to all their stories about growing up and reminiscing about their Harker History, looking at pictures and seeing some of Celia's Dad's slides (He was a Dentist too).

I loved it, all of it. The days of playing, the nights of chatting, it was just so good to be around the Harker clan. I truly have missed them while we lived so far away from them.

I have so many fun pictures of our little reunion but of course I am not in my own home with my own computer where I can sit there and sort through pics edit them etc. So in the hopefully soon to be near future I'll have a place to call my own and I can catch up with pictures on the blog. Until then, or until I decide to brave exploring this computer that is not mine, my thoughts will have to do for now.

Thank You to my In-laws George and Celia for setting up the reunion it was amazing!