We were fortunate that we arrived at the Golden Bear Ranch before everyone and had first dibs on the rooms in the bunk house. The main house had two guest rooms, which we had been outdibbed on, and the newly finished bunk house had four guest rooms. One room had a queen bed and a bunk bed. That was my first choice because my kids would have a quieter place to sleep, but my ever romantic husband wasn't thrilled with the idea. He finally gave in to my suggestion that we should take that room with a "whatever" kind of comment, and we moved in. (He apologized the next day as we listened to the cousins who had been sleeping in the main area wake up at 4:30 am BC time).
Main House:
Bunk House:
Becky and Kyle finally straggled in after many of us had gone to bed, having gotten stuck in traffic soon after they left home. With their arrival, we were set for a party. Our hosts, Keith and Elyse (as I am trying to remember to call her), graciously opened up their home to a large bunch of us:
Grandma and Grandpa Ball
Our five
Kevin and Candace and four children
Becky and Kyle and four children
Lori and Sam and one child
Jenni and Kenny and one child
With a couple of rainy days, that was a lot of people to deal with. We played games, read books, ate, cleaned, rode horses, had a talent show, swam, boated at Big Heffley Lake, ate, some of us cleaned some more, played Wii games, had a treasure hunt, went for walks, took pictures, posed for family pictures, and ate some more.