Summer Fun--Tolman Reunion

This year we celebrated the 4th of July in Idaho as part of the Tolman Family Reunion.  Sadly, Josh wasn't with us again (he has missed a few with our family) as he was in Provo having a great experience at EFY.  But we had fun anyway.

We started the morning off with Breakfast on the Boulevard (a tradition with my parents--so funny that while we were in IF for Kris's family reunion, my parents are so close, they kind of mesh together.  So we spent time with them as well.)

Then off to the parade.  After a great BBQ, we tried to see the fireworks.  But alas, someone tried to swim in the Snake River to the firework island and went missing.  They were busy searching for him into the night, which delayed the fireworks to close to 11:30 pm.  They finally happened, but too late for our crew.  And sadly, the young man died in the swim.  So sad, but a good lesson and reminder to my kids to be smart about what we choose to do.

As part of our reunion, we went to a beautiful lake somewhere in Idaho to canoe. Kris's brother Jonathan is the outdoorsman of the group and somehow knew of this little out-of-the-way place that was breathtaking--

that is, of course, until the temperature dropped from 80 to 42 degrees in a matter of 10 minutes and we had to rush to the cover of our cars to wait out the hail storm and descended upon us.  If you want an adrenalin rush, be out in the lake in canoes with frightened children as a storm suddenly blows in and it becomes very difficult to paddle against the wind to get them to shore and safety.  I'm sure Olivia won't forget the experience any time soon.

We also had another fun afternoon playing games at the park.  It was a great time to spend with extended family--especially since Josh made it just in time to join us.  We were sad Kris's brother Jordan and his family couldn't join us, but the rest of us had a lot of fun.