Our family reunion...
Every year we go up to Ophir this once booming mining town, now ghost town/vacation spot... my parents have been bringing me up since I was a little girl.
It used to be that my grandparents & parents would plan things, Grandma & my Mom would interface with the family and pack up the motor home. Grandpa and my Dad would get the motor home tuned up, water the yard, and do other miscellaneous tasks. Then we would all pack into the motor home and ride up to the reunion together.
On the way my grandma would keep us entertained by asking us to count sheep, horses, cows, etc... plus she would play games with us and tell us stories. My Mom or Dad would drive a secondary vehicle and we would get up to the reunion without too much fuss or problems.
The planning genes have fizzled away...
After my Grandparents passed on my parents made a good effort. They started fixing up the motor home which needed to be renovated and we got a couple of years use out of it... and now it sits idly on the back patio along with a camping trailer that we also used once upon a time.
This year the only trailer available was my little utility trailer. I bought it for $300 dollars from a guy who was selling it on the side of the road. I was planning on fixing it up a bit since the construction of it wasn't completely sound but I've never had time to get around to doing any thing with it.
So Thursday night my Dad came and got the trailer, he said he needed to check out the lights the next day to see if they were working. I got the kids to pack their things and let them sleep over at Grandmas house.
Friday I got off work and ran over to Lub Docs to get the oil changed in my Yukon. I had packed before work but had forgotten some things so ran home to get them. I took a shower because it was hot (and the Yukon has neither the capability of heat in the winter nor air conditioning in the Summer) and packed some more. Then I went to help out and got stuck with the 3 little girls of the family and Sione as traveling buddies.
No one had fed them dinner so I cut up some hunks of cheese and gave them some apples, cheese and water figuring that we would give them something to eat when we got up to the campground.
Then I took off, I had left my family in what I thought was a state of readiness so assumed they would be there before me.
When I got up there, at 10:00ish at night, I found that my family had not arrived. I let the kids play around for a bit and then decided to go down the mountain to see if I could get a signal on my phone. It kept giving me a message that it was "Roaming" and wouldn't call out so I took off to Tooele to get some food for the kids. Unfortunately one of the little girls, Arisa, needs gluten free food so I had to go to the only open grocery store in town, Wal-Mart, to search for something suitable. That was much the oxymoron, suitable food at Wal-Mart.
The girls were on a night time, up to late, naughty streak and kept running around the store grabbing things and generally getting in peoples way. My son Sione got sick of it and started complaining about the little girls. We finally found some cheese and lunch meats (that weren't toooo bad) and some grapes as well. I bought the food and told the girls to go wash up in the bathroom and washed up the grapes as best I could by squirting water on them from the water fountain. I went into the bathroom to find my daughter had climbed up on top of the bathroom stalls. I got her down and spanked her, then made her clean her hands again.
Finally my mom got a hold of me by calling from the satellite phone in the car. They had finally made it to camp, delayed because the lights on my trailer had been messed up and my Dad had a hard time getting them to work.
It was about 12:30 AM when I got back to camp and helped to unpack. My Dad kept shushing us and making occasional comments about how we were like Gypsies. Things finally got set up, I got my kids to bed and then washed up in the little wash house on the property. I ended up sleeping on a flat air-mattress sandwiched between my moms blown up air mattress on one side and my daughter on the other. Sione was right next to her and both Sione and Roxie were snoring like chainsaws. The ground was rocky, I was sore all over... but I lived.
Last night wasn't quite so bad... but I'm still very tired from hustling this morning to break camp. My Dad was off chatting things up until the last minute and then came and complained that we weren't taking down the tents... we were not happy with that... :(
I am frustrated with my family. I'm frustrated.
My mom is getting a lot more feeble than she will admit to and I'm worried about the fact that the only trailer we had available was my little bitty thing. Ironically it has come apart in some places on top and needed a quick patch job with some sheet metal.
I am VERY grateful to have been hired on full time with Adobe. I will finally have benefits, I can finally join a gym (Adobe will pay for it) and I will be able to see a doctor about my right shoulder, it's been aching for quite some time now.
I wish that I could buy a nice camping trailer but I plan on saving as much as possible for my own security.
Otherwise I had a nice time at the reunion. I relaxed in the tent yesterday until late and ate the wholesome foods that I brought up which has allowed me to keep a clear head.
The boys went on a hike and brought back some milk crystal and we had a nice discussion about the mines around the area.
We also had a good discussion about what I've learned about investing and finance, though I'm probably the only one who's going to benefit from my research.
It was overall a good time to bond with my family.
Next year I will at least have the ability to ask for the day off on the Friday before the reunion. Hopefully we will all be a lot better situated as well...
I'm tired... off to wash off the campiness.
Every year we go up to Ophir this once booming mining town, now ghost town/vacation spot... my parents have been bringing me up since I was a little girl.
It used to be that my grandparents & parents would plan things, Grandma & my Mom would interface with the family and pack up the motor home. Grandpa and my Dad would get the motor home tuned up, water the yard, and do other miscellaneous tasks. Then we would all pack into the motor home and ride up to the reunion together.
On the way my grandma would keep us entertained by asking us to count sheep, horses, cows, etc... plus she would play games with us and tell us stories. My Mom or Dad would drive a secondary vehicle and we would get up to the reunion without too much fuss or problems.
The planning genes have fizzled away...
After my Grandparents passed on my parents made a good effort. They started fixing up the motor home which needed to be renovated and we got a couple of years use out of it... and now it sits idly on the back patio along with a camping trailer that we also used once upon a time.
This year the only trailer available was my little utility trailer. I bought it for $300 dollars from a guy who was selling it on the side of the road. I was planning on fixing it up a bit since the construction of it wasn't completely sound but I've never had time to get around to doing any thing with it.
So Thursday night my Dad came and got the trailer, he said he needed to check out the lights the next day to see if they were working. I got the kids to pack their things and let them sleep over at Grandmas house.
Friday I got off work and ran over to Lub Docs to get the oil changed in my Yukon. I had packed before work but had forgotten some things so ran home to get them. I took a shower because it was hot (and the Yukon has neither the capability of heat in the winter nor air conditioning in the Summer) and packed some more. Then I went to help out and got stuck with the 3 little girls of the family and Sione as traveling buddies.
No one had fed them dinner so I cut up some hunks of cheese and gave them some apples, cheese and water figuring that we would give them something to eat when we got up to the campground.
Then I took off, I had left my family in what I thought was a state of readiness so assumed they would be there before me.
When I got up there, at 10:00ish at night, I found that my family had not arrived. I let the kids play around for a bit and then decided to go down the mountain to see if I could get a signal on my phone. It kept giving me a message that it was "Roaming" and wouldn't call out so I took off to Tooele to get some food for the kids. Unfortunately one of the little girls, Arisa, needs gluten free food so I had to go to the only open grocery store in town, Wal-Mart, to search for something suitable. That was much the oxymoron, suitable food at Wal-Mart.
The girls were on a night time, up to late, naughty streak and kept running around the store grabbing things and generally getting in peoples way. My son Sione got sick of it and started complaining about the little girls. We finally found some cheese and lunch meats (that weren't toooo bad) and some grapes as well. I bought the food and told the girls to go wash up in the bathroom and washed up the grapes as best I could by squirting water on them from the water fountain. I went into the bathroom to find my daughter had climbed up on top of the bathroom stalls. I got her down and spanked her, then made her clean her hands again.
Finally my mom got a hold of me by calling from the satellite phone in the car. They had finally made it to camp, delayed because the lights on my trailer had been messed up and my Dad had a hard time getting them to work.
It was about 12:30 AM when I got back to camp and helped to unpack. My Dad kept shushing us and making occasional comments about how we were like Gypsies. Things finally got set up, I got my kids to bed and then washed up in the little wash house on the property. I ended up sleeping on a flat air-mattress sandwiched between my moms blown up air mattress on one side and my daughter on the other. Sione was right next to her and both Sione and Roxie were snoring like chainsaws. The ground was rocky, I was sore all over... but I lived.
Last night wasn't quite so bad... but I'm still very tired from hustling this morning to break camp. My Dad was off chatting things up until the last minute and then came and complained that we weren't taking down the tents... we were not happy with that... :(
I am frustrated with my family. I'm frustrated.
My mom is getting a lot more feeble than she will admit to and I'm worried about the fact that the only trailer we had available was my little bitty thing. Ironically it has come apart in some places on top and needed a quick patch job with some sheet metal.
I am VERY grateful to have been hired on full time with Adobe. I will finally have benefits, I can finally join a gym (Adobe will pay for it) and I will be able to see a doctor about my right shoulder, it's been aching for quite some time now.
I wish that I could buy a nice camping trailer but I plan on saving as much as possible for my own security.
Otherwise I had a nice time at the reunion. I relaxed in the tent yesterday until late and ate the wholesome foods that I brought up which has allowed me to keep a clear head.
The boys went on a hike and brought back some milk crystal and we had a nice discussion about the mines around the area.
We also had a good discussion about what I've learned about investing and finance, though I'm probably the only one who's going to benefit from my research.
It was overall a good time to bond with my family.
Next year I will at least have the ability to ask for the day off on the Friday before the reunion. Hopefully we will all be a lot better situated as well...
I'm tired... off to wash off the campiness.
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