Bingham Family Reunion

August 1-8 was a fun week with the Bingham clan in Lincoln City. With 22 children and 10-16 adults (varied by day and activity), it was pretty crazy at times. We saw a lot of great places and I enjoyed spending time with them. Bry wished he could have stayed the whole week but with having started a new job this summer, it wasn't feasible, so he just came for the first couple days over the weekend. After he left I tried to take plenty of photos to fill him in.

On Saturday, we did family photos on the beach and watched a slideshow of families' photos from the last 2 years. Sunday we mostly took it easy.

Monday was our first day of adventure/travel. We went to two cheese factories up in Tillamook - Blue Heron and Tillamook. At Blue Heron we were able to browse the shop, feed some animals and the kids got to climb around on old farming vehicles/equipment. At Tillamook we walked through the factory viewing the process of making and packaging cheese, sampled some amazing cheese, and ate delicious ice cream. I would have taken a picture of mine because it ended up being a huge cone of ice cream, but I was too busy trying to lick it down to a less messy size.

In line for samples: "This is where our religion begins." ;)

Tuesday we drove over to Devil's Lake and hiked down to a waterfall and bridge. It was beautiful and it felt great to be outside in the woods.

Wednesday morning the kids/cousins participated in some "Olympic" games.

Award ceremony. 

Watermelon-eating contest. 

Wednesday afternoon we visited tide pools.

 

Thursday the cousins got to play some more games, the Bingham siblings went out for lunch, and we made a final trip down to the beach.

Our short walk to the beach.

See the faces in the sand? :)

 

"Tender-hearted sweet soul" - he's a cutie!

Birthday boy!

Friday was the pack-up-and-leave day, so we all said our goodbyes. BIG thank you to those who finished cleaning up the house at the end of the trip and to all those who helped with the preparation and planning of this big event. It was wonderful and I look forward to more reunions to come. :)

Teaching moment fail

Last week when my family was in town, I had a conversation with Aiden (who is almost 4.5 years old) that went something like this:

Aiden: There are TWO grandmas here.
Me: Oh?
Aiden: Grandma, and ME.
Me: You can't be a grandma, you're male - a boy.
Aiden: Huh?
Me: You're a male and grandmas are female, so you can't be a grandma. You're a male like dad, grandpa, uncle Patrick and Bry. Grandma and mom and auntie are female.
Aiden: Male? I can fit in a mail box?
Me: No. That's a different kind of male, this is spelled differently.
Becca (from the other room): It has different letters.
Aiden: Letters? In the mail box!

...Somehow I did not anticipate him making those connections.

Funny Bingham reunion quotes

1. Kurt walks Damon (who is 3) downstairs and Damon wants to walk on the ledge next to the stairs.
Kurt: "Damon, I don't want you walking on that ledge because you could fall and break your neck and die, and lose your mortal life."

2. Mark (Bry's dad) describing something he wouldn't want to do: "It would be like straining gnats' teeth."

3. Rochelle let me borrow a sweater of hers when we went to some tide pools because it was really cold and she had an extra. Liam, who is 3 years old, walks over to me and grabs a corner of it, looking up at me with a puzzled expression.
Liam: "Why are you wearing my mom's sweater?"

4. Many of us are sitting outside the house at the picnic tables. Dave pulls up to park alongside the house.
Liam: "Daddy's home!"
Zach (about 1.5 years old): "Dada!"
Liam, turning to look at Zach next to him: "No - it's my dad."

5. Roxanne to Will (who is about 3): "Are you Will-Will Chayne?" (Chayne said sh-ay-n)
Will: "No. I'm Will-Will Chayne Bingham."

6. Bry and I ask what food Evan likes (he's 4).
Evan: "I like a lot. I can't name all of them."
Me: "Name a few of your favorites."
Evan: "Cantaloupe, grapes... strawberries and watermelon."

More chocolate chips?

So today Bry and I went online and filled out a health assessment through his work so that we can avoid being charged a weekly fee. It asked common health-related questions about your health history, lifestyle, activity, diet, etc. In taking it I started thinking about how we need to go grocery shopping and buy more fruit and tried to think of ways we could incorporate more vegetables into what we eat.

Within 15 minutes of taking it, Bry's in the kitchen and as he goes to eat some of the brownies I baked last night he says "we should add chocolate chips next time."
Me: "They already have chocolate chips!"
Bry: "We could add more!"

These are the brownies I bake:

I think they have enough chocolate chips.

4th of July in Portland

Bry and I drove down to Portland to spend the holiday weekend with family. We greatly enjoyed seeing the Plasters and Corkrans for a few days and were grateful we were able to be there.

I wasn't very good at remembering to take photos while we were there, but here's what I did get.

Some pictures from when we went to the beautiful rose gardens.

This is a fountain we came to for an outing so the kids could run around in the cool water on a hot day.

Horses and mules that we fed carrots to.