Fish and Company

How are fish and company alike?

They both smell after three days.

I hope we don't smell yet, but I think we're wearing out our welcome.  Like I said earlier, this reunion has lasted much longer than originally planned.  The good news is that this family enjoys being together!  The bad news is, too much fun is too much fun.  The parents want to be together, but the cousins cannot seem to get enough of each other.  The kids know that cousins are in town and they want to play! 

AND PLAY THEY HAVE!!!!!!!!  But tomorrow we are really going to try to have one last calm day at Fox Hill before we head home.  Calmness is not something we have experienced much of on this trip. 

This afternoon was 2nd cousin, Moses's 10th birthday party.

He is the boy in the green shorts.  It was a weenie roast and orienteering adventure party.  All except the girl in the navy blue shirt are 2nd cousins or siblings to Moses.

And they were pulled in a wagon.

And there was a squirt gun fight.

But because that wasn't enough fun for one day...

We headed out to Lake Couer d'Alene for a bit of swimming.

And a bit of hunting for beautiful pebbles.  Cute little froggy girls!

This makes me happy.

Abe wasn't planning to go in the water, but he couldn't help himself.   How is it even possible to have this much fun in one day?  It makes me want to go home and be bored:)

Abe's youngest brother, Baden, and his wife Mary invited us for dinner this evening.  She is a really good cook and the kids were looking forward to going because they remembered her last meal she made for us this past Thanksgiving.  That's a good reputation to have.

Our nightly mom walks have been a real treat for me on this trip.  After our first couple of walks I decided I wanted to walk down and up the entire hill.  It is 1.3 miles each way, but it's pretty steep.  Tonight was the night and it was great.  It was nowhere near as tiring as I was expecting.

Marjorie is on the right and is due with baby number four on Saturday.  This Saturday!  She joined us a little late, but she in no way slowed us down.  That was my job!

About half way down we ladies found this little beauty of a snake on the road.  We immediately called up the hill and Abe raced down with a minivan full of snake hunters.  They captured "Monster".

However, since we already have a giant snake captured from the wild, and WE DO NOT NEED another one, Alexis is the proud new owner of this lovely bull snake.

Don't worry, we'll be leaving with a tree frog and a fat toad, so Clark is good with letting "Monster" go.  Whew!