lots of Blanchards

Last weekend, we had a Blanchard family reunion at my Grandma's house in Leavenworth, WA to celebrate her 90th birthday. She lives on a beautiful property surrounded by the cascade mountain range and much of her property is looped by the icicle river. Growing up, my cousins and I would start with rafts or inner tubes at one end of my granparents' property and loop around. It used to take us about 15 minutes. When I was about 12 there was a drought and I could walk almost the whole way around the river. This year the river was really high, fast and cold because of the large amount of snow that fell in the mountains.

I really enjoyed seeing my grandma, cousins, and aunts and uncles. My mom and 9 year old sister Emma were the only ones able to be there from my immediate family because of Girls camp and work schedules. There were 7 2-3 year old boys and 3 1 year old girls so my kids had a terrific time playing with their cousins. I slept at my aunt Lynn's house for two nights and then Paul joined me and we camped out on the property. Madeleine woke up as soon as the morning light hit at 4:30am. Paul, the Saint that he is, walked around with her for 2 hours while Asher and I slept. Paul even met his very first bear while walking around with Madeleine! Luckily he only heard grunting noises and the bear running away. Paul's favorite part was the sandy beach and making a warming pool for the kids using his engineering skills.

Me, my mom, Asher Maddie and my Grandma Blanchard. I know I look awful, but keep in mind I was camping. Do you see how curly Madeleine's hair is becoming?

This is the view of the back of Grandma's house from the sandy beach.

Madeleine, her second cousin Eliza, and Emma in the background

This is part of the front yard

I really think that it took Paul an hour to finish his pool. He used boulders and driftwood for the structure and then piled it with sand it make it water tight. The boys were fascinated with the construction. The water warmed up enough that they were able to splash around a bit. And then they were delighted when they got to help demolish Paul's creation.


This is my sister Emma