Thatcher Family Reunion: Day 1

 July 22, 2016 

The first day of our 2016 Thatcher Family Reunion!

We met up at Uncle Karl's place in Otis, before heading over to the beach with everyone.  

 Went spent the afternoon, into early evening, hanging out with family at Neskowin Beach.  The boys had so much fun playing with their cousins in the waves.

 And of course, they had a great time playing in the sand too!

 Here they are helping Aunt Joy with one of her sand creations.  

 We enjoyed relaxing and chatting.

 Some of my greatest memories growing up were one's spent with cousins at our family reunions.   

 After the beach, most of the family went over to Aunt Becky and Uncle Leo's for dinner.  

 Mom and Dad took our boys with them.

 Josh and I went out to a lovely, kid-free dinner at Black Hawk Cafe with my sister Julie and her husband Michael.  And after dinner, we relaxed while enjoying the view from our beach house rental.  

Pre-Reunion Zoo Trip

 July 21, 2016

We met Aunt Joy, along with my cousins Andrea and Kelsey and their kids at the zoo.  Here are the boys and Aunt Joy with Marin, posing for pictures in front of the tunnel built by our Grandpa Thatcher.  

 Marin wanted to be held, until I suggested that the boys hold her hands while she walked.  She loved this idea and spent the majority of the time walking hand in hand with them.  They were so sweet with her.  

 One of my kids favorite animals to see is always the polar bear.

 Kelsey and Aunt Joy.

 Cousins!

 No zoo trip is complete without yummy treats! 

Marin took an instant liking to Paxton.

Right as we were getting ready to leave, we got to say a quick hello to Anna and her little girl Nicole, who had just arrived. 

Oh Versii!

 July 14, 2016: Versii slipped on wet concrete at our church Primary Activity and split his chin open.  One of the adults at the activity was a nurse and thought he would need stitches.  Well, long story short, we were at Urgent Care for over 3 hours and although they said it would heal best with stitches, we left with his face super glued.  The second Versii saw the needle the nurse was going to use to numb his chin, he flipped out and we never could get him to calm down or be still after that.  So they said our only option was glue.   

If you look close at his chin, you can see how swollen it was.

Cavalia!

 July 9th, 2016: Cavalia with Mom and Dad, Kerry (Josh's Boss) and his wife Kandy.  After Josh and I saw Cavalia the first time they came to Portland, he promised that if they ever came again, we would go.  The show was just as amazing as ever!  It's just spectacularly done!  We all loved it!  

Kaden's Merit Badge Swim

 July 6, 2016

Josh is one of the Scout Leaders, so we seem to get great pictures of Kaden's scouting activities.  Here he is working on earning his Swimming Merit Badge.

Cub Scout Camp 2016

 Versii's Cub Scout Camp: July 8th, 2016

I volunteered on his first day of camp.  One of their favorite activities of the day was Bow and Arrow.

Versii's targets.

Versii's group was assigned the name "Gracious Generals" and the camp theme was Super Heroes.  Our ward Cub Master brought Super hero t-shirts to use for the team flags.  We got Superman.  Versii came up with the idea to turn the "S" into a "G" for the Gracious Generals.  They had a great time decorating their flag. 

Versii being pulled to "safety" in Super Hero Training.

Goodbye Sweet Lizzy!

July 5th, 2016

Although Aunt Gail and Lizzy didn't fly home until the 6th, we dropped Lizzy, Kaden and Paxton off for the night at Mom and Dad's so I could take Versii to Cub Scout Camp the next day.  But before that, we met Mom and Aunt Gail at Shari's for lunch and then Lizzy just had to go through the car wash.  She claims the ones in Utah don't have colored soap and spinning brushes.  So here's her cute video clip of the car wash.

 I enjoyed getting to know you better Lizzy!

We had so much fun!  I love you so much and I can't wait to hang out again.

Lizzy didn't want to let me go haha!