The Peterson Family Reunion was in Washington this year! I loved having it in the beautiful Pacific Northwest and showing my family some of my favorite places. I planned lots of fun things to do and we loved our time together.
I loved the kids gathering on the street as we waited for everyone to arrive. It was so much cousin time for the girls, and they loved it so much.
Monday evening we went to the lake to enjoy some swimming, kayaking, and paddleboarding.
We watched the sunset at the lake, and it is always so beautiful. It was a fun way to kick off the reunion. Derek and Amy's family stayed at our house and then everyone else stayed at Dale and Margaret's house. It was so kind of them to let us use their house as our Airbnb this year. It was wonderful having our two houses and the kids just walking back and forth and enough space for everyone.
Tuesday, we had a lazy morning and then back up a lunch and went to Dash Point State Park for low tide and a fun afternoon at the beach.
We always had extra girls with us, and it was a lot of singing Benson Boone at the top of their lungs.
It was wonderful being there at low tide. We had lots of beach to play on. The kids immediately got in the water and had so much fun splashing, swimming, and finding shells.
McCall did have a swimsuit on but then got cold and wanted to get her clothes back on but of course she got wet with her clothes on too. :)
The kids had so much fun digging in the sand and just being at the beach.
Juliette and I made such a cool sand castle, and it was such a wonderful way to spend the afternoon.
Once we got home, everyone painted a gnome inspired rock for our adventure for the next day.
Then we ended the day with some Oreo taste testing.
Wednesday, we went on two "hikes". First up was the gnome trail in Maple Valley. Everyone had a gnome rock to hide on the trail. Everyone enjoyed seeing all the different gnomes, and we even saw some deer.
I painted everyone as a gnome on a big rock with their first initial on the hat. It turned out cute but was pretty heavy to carry around. All the grandkids got a picture with the rock before I found the perfect spot for it on the trail.
Then we got home and had pizza and fish and chips from Ivars for lunch, and then we had some water balloon fun.
Emily's reaction on the left is pricless. :)
Tired girl from all the fun.
My cousins came to visit for the afternoon. Cameron lives in Seattle with his wife, and they have a little one. His sister, Heather, happened to be visiting so it was fun to see them.
Then we all enjoyed some snow cones.
Then after dinner we left, and the plan was to go to the Green River Gorge. We drove all the way out there and we were told there was an accident earlier in the day, so the trail was closed for the rest of the day. It was a bit disappointing but then we just decided to go to Flaming Geyser State Park and it ended up being my favorite part of the whole reunion.
The trail to the bubbling geyser is always so pretty and embodies what a hike in the PNW is like.
Then the real entertainment happened when a whole bunch of us climbed up to the big tree with all the roots and made the steep trek up and around. The took a lot of encouragement from adults to the kids to make it up the initial hill. There were a few tears because of fear but they all overcame their fear and made it to the top. Then the tricky part was sliding down the hill because it is so steep. I ended up going first with Emily, Baylor, Bria, Parker, and Tannin all behind me. I was afraid that it would be too steep for them, so I had them all line up behind me in a train. It was tricky and I went really slow down and with their weight I had to use all my strength to just keep them all in control. There weren't a lot of footings so I had to dig my heels deep and grab any roots I could to keep us all from crashing down. We were all laughing and those that didn't go were all taking videos and pictures. At another point, Amy saw a mouse that ran right by her, and we all laughed as the adults navigated their way down the hill, and at one point Mom got off balance and almost fell down into the bushes, but Charlotte and Michelle caught her. We were all laughing at the end of and even though it was messy and chaotic it was so fun and was so memorable for all of us.
We made our way down to the river and the setting was gorgeous. We stayed there while the sun set. The kids had fun throwing rocks in the water and exploring. The dads and kids were all skipping rocks together and Paige caught a little fish in a bag. It was such a wonderful way to spend the evening with some incredible views.
The sunset while we walked back to the car was stunning!
Thursday everyone was pretty tired, and they aren't quite used to my energizer bunny ways. So, some people stayed home, some went to the Goodwill Outlet, and my dad and I took a few kids and decided to go hike the Green River Gorge.
We had Parker, Bria, Baylor, and McCall and the hike was so pretty. The kids did great and Parker and Bria both said this was the best hike ever. They loved going behind the waterfall, climbing over the rocks, and exploring.
Then we stopped in Black Diamond to get a donut which was delicious like always.
Then almost everyone drove to the Sounder train station and we got to experience the fun of public transportation to go up to Seattle to a Mariners game.
The game was so much fun! Our girls got some cotton candy and others got other snacks to share. The game took a bit to have some excitement but then the Mariners started really played and there were some home runs and stolen bases to home. We tried so hard to get on the jumbotron with lots of dancing and yelling. It was so much fun, and the Mariners won! We were some of the last to leave the stadium because we were enjoying the incredible views of the Seattle skyline at night. The train ride back to our cars was crowded, but it was an experience and everyone had so much fun.
Friday was our ferry ride day. Originally, we were going to go to Vashon Island but as I looked at traffic there was a road closure because of an accident so it would have taken us hours to get there so I made a last minute decision to go to Bainbridge Island. So, it was back to Seattle and we didn't get there in time to get on the ferry I wanted but we were able to park our cars at the ferry terminal and enjoyed walking along the Seattle pier and we all went to the Curiousity Shop. Nate even got pooped on by a seagull and it was a good thing he had a hat on, or it would have been way more disgusting. Everyone enjoyed the ferry ride across. Ferry rides are one of my favorite things about living here. The day felt a little rushed since we didn't get on the ferry I thought we would, and Nate had to get back for work, but it was still a good day and we saw some cool stuff on the island.
Our first stop was the Japanese American Exclusion Memorial which is always pretty memorable to look at and read about their stories. Then we walked down to the beach to enjoy some time on the water.
We made a quick stop to see Pia, the troll on the island, before getting in the ferry line. The ferry ride back into Seattle has a million dollar view and is always one of my favorites.
Saturday everyone packed up and left and I helped make sure Dale and Margaret's house got cleaned up. It was a wonderful reunion! Karlton and Michelle ended up staying with us one more night, so we went and walked along the Soos Creek Trail Saturday evening and had smores to end the night. I loved having my family in Washington and showing them why I love living here.
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