Family Reunion 2008 (3)

This is the cabin that we spent the week in. It is is the town of St. Anthony, ID where my sister-in-law Teresa and her family live. This house is amazing!!! It was owned by a doctor who raised a huge family here. Now one of his daughters has converted it into a family reunion house and rents it out. The house is huge and my kids got lost more than once the first day. There were 17 adults and 22 kids in the house and we all had plenty of room to move about. There were 8 bedrooms and the room Brian and I were in was the bunk room and could have slept at least 20 people in our room alone. Not all the bedrooms were that big but we all fit comfortably in the space. We were surrounded by farms and fields and had a view of the three Teton peaks from the house. Hence the name "Three Peaks Lodge".These are the horses that lived in the field right behind the house. Aidan wanted to pet them, he even tried to climb the barb wire fence but quickly discovered that was not a good idea.One of our beautiful views.The three peaks of the Tetons. This is the view from the backyard.The tennis/basketball court. Many egos were built up or bruised here:) The garage of the house was also converted into a huge game playing, trike riding space, full of balls and roller blades galore.This is the playground for the kids in the backyard. This is where my boys spent most of their time. The creek is right behind the playground and was full of little fish and water bugs. Plenty of mud and dirt to go around, grasshoppers everywhere and even a wild cat and her kitten for Aidan to love, basically it was little boy heaven.Preston in the creek trying to catch fish.The pool. We never filled the pool up but Aidan managed to climb in there one day but he could not figure out how to get out.The huge kitchen equipped with industrial size refrigerator and freezer. The dining room where all of us could sit and eat. Three tables that each sat 8 and a bar that sat at least 8 more. This is the game room. Shuffle bored, air hockey, ping pong, a closet full of board games, this room was well used and rarely quiet. The climbing wall was a huge hit with all the kids, but the best part of the house was the indoor slide. You can see the entrance to the slide in the game room. It looks like a door way on the right hand side in front of the climbing wall this is the twisty slide that began upstairs and came out downstairs into the bunk room.
Here is the wonderful slide. All of the kids, yes even some of the big kids, spent hours going down the slide, or sending toys down the slide. My kids came home and tried to figure out where they could put a slide in our house. The best part was to get back upstairs to the game room you did not have to climb the boring, old stairs, oh no, there is a cat walk that also began in the bunk room and went up to the game room.
Preston standing next to the cat walk that took the kids back up to the game room. This is one of the best family reunions we have been on. Never once did my kid complain that they bored or that there was nothing to do. In fact 50 percent of the time or more I didn't really know where the kiddos were, I just knew they were having fun with their cousins somewhere in the house or outside, who knew! With the kids occupied so completely there were lots of time for adult conversation. Something that is sometimes lacking in my daily life. So it truly was a vacation for me and Brian and for the kids. The kids fell into bed every night after washing off all the days dirt. They slept like logs and were ready for more fun in the morning. More highlight of the family reunion to come.