Reunion at Deadwood Reservoir

A few weeks ago Josh, Eli, and I drove to Idaho for the Mendenhall family reunion consisting of 8 adults and 7 kids - it was a fun bunch. We started the week off by going to a water park. Eli didn't like going down the water slides but he had fun in the wading pool and watching Josh and I go down the big slides. Two of the water slides were the ones where you stand up in a tube (that strongly resembles a coffin) and then the floor drops out from under you and you drop down the chute. The lines on those slides were pretty short so we did them several times and after each time Eli would ask, "Was it good?". It was good. We didn't take any pictures at the water park but we played a little ping pong later that day and we got some pictures of that.

Note the ball hitting him in the forehead. Serving is not as easy as it looks. 

He got this one.

The following day we went camping and white water rafting. Eli and the rest of the kids stayed with my mom, sister, and aunt, who volunteered to babysit while the rest of the adults rafted "Staircase" on the south fork of the Payette River. Josh was thrown out twice, which may have been scarier for me than it was for him, but overall it was a lot of fun.

That night we stayed at private campground owned by the Starlight Mountain Theater. They put on musicals every evening in an open air theater and afterward you can either drive back home or camp in their campground. The theater is pretty remote and the show ends late so we opted to stay in their campground. Our campsite was large and right on the river. The river was shallow and slow-moving and Eli loved "rafting" down it. There were also lots of freshwater clams which we gathered and cooked. They tasted really terrible. After a fun day of playing in the water we were off to see "Calamity Jane" under the stars. Eli was enthralled by it. It was entertaining to watch him as he watched the show.

This is the river that ran by our campsite.

Lunch at the cousin table.

Waiting for the show to begin.

The next morning a few of us went on a early morning fishing trip, after which we packed up and drove to Deadwood Reservoir, where we stayed for three days. My mom's family was having a reunion, so there were about fifty of us there, camping together. It was a lot of fun to see cousins I hadn't seen in years and to be together with my family. 

Fishing in the morning before going to Deadwood Reservoir. The fishing was not fantastic during our trip, Josh caught four fish the whole week and I didn't catch anything. No one caught anything on this particular occasion but we love being out there together.

My favorite fishermen

Flying solo. He can't cast by himself, but he did pretty well reeling by himself.

View from our tent at Deadwood - a hint of irony here in the dead tree partially obscuring our view of Deadwood Reservoir

The Reservoir

Standing on top of the dam, peeking over the edge. My mom (in the background) is trying to get the attention of some of our family who were fishing in a boat below us. 

The water is about 40 feet below us.

Huckleberries!

How many people can you fit on a boat? We fit nine, five of which were fishing. That's a lot of casting going on in a very small area. Luckily, no one got hooked by a passing lure. Having two toddlers in the boat together may have been a bad choice though. For a good portion of the trip Eli and Alice (cousin who is about 9 months younger than Eli) shouted "Mine" at one another. Even when there wasn't really anything to be shouting "Mine" about. Hopefully they we be friends one day, but it definitely wasn't that day (or week). 

Getting read to head out on the paddle boat for some more fishing. 

After camping we drove back to my parent's house, ate at the local drive-in, and played volleyball. The following morning we drove back to Seattle and jumped back in to regular life. We love the time we get to spend with family and the adventures we have together. We look forward to seeing you all again!