July 31st was the last real day of the reunion as Aug 1 was just packing up and getting out.
I tried to take some family pictures, but what I got was poor quality. The plane of focus was skewed from the group. Jess and I ended up really out of focus. Too little light. Needed to take it outside during the day or bring a flash.
I’m trying to remember what else happened that day. I’m pretty sure more music bingo was played. And I think some of us played a game of Hardback.
Day 3 started with a trip up to the Ben & Jerry’s factory in Waterbury. We were there a few years ago on our way to Quebec, but we weren’t able to take a tour then. We caught a tour this time and got to eat cookie dough bites and cups of Americone Dream.
By the time we got back and had lunch it was raining so the planned field day activities were postponed. To try and make something happen other than sitting around with everyone looking at their phones I cajoled a group of kids into a game of Camel Up.
The older boys did the treasure hunt with some help from Michael. Megan & Chad ran another music bingo for the kids. And people otherwise hung around waiting for weather to clear.
Then the weather did clear and we hopped outside for some field day activities including sack races, balloon tosses, 3-legged races, and something called horses and riders (which is vaguely similar to musical chairs).
That evening Megan and Chad ran “The Price is Right.” I won a prize basket of snacks and treats. But I lost to Mike in the Showcase Showdown.
Day 2 of the family reunion (July 30) was spent mostly around the house. Some of the group attempted to go tubing. The water level was low though and it involved sections of walking. I took the girls to what was supposed to be a good wading spot, but it was a bust. Jess caught a cold along our travels so then the girls and I took a trip to the nearest pharmacy (25 minutes away) to pick up some pseudoephedrine for her. By the time we got back it was lunch.
In the afternoon I ran the treasure hunt I designed for the little kids, but I apparently didn’t take any pictures (I was taking video though). After they finished, I ran the harder treasure hunt for the 13-year-olds. Over several hours they managed to complete it (with a little help nudging along the way).
Some of the kids played kickball for a bit in the yard.
And in the evening was the first round of music bingo.
On the 28th we loaded up for a meandering day across the rest of New York to Ticonderoga. Sadly, the fort is closed on Mondays so we didn’t get to visit that. But we ate lunch at a pizza shop across from the street from a place which has painstakingly recreated the sets from “Star Trek: The Original Series.” Why this is located in Ticonderoga I couldn’t tell you, but it’s there. We did not visit. The girls wouldn’t have cared at all and Jess and I both watched “The Next Generation” so we didn’t really care either.
But we did stop at the Dixon graphite company’s little museum. They make the “Ticonderoga” brand pencils, but they never made them in Ticonderoga. But they did mine graphite all around that area.
From Ticonderoga we took a ferry across the southern edge of Lake Champlain into Vermont.
Once in Vermont (there’s really nothing on the Vermont side of the crossing, which I found odd) we made our way to Rutland and looked at animals in a pet store while we waited until we’d be able to get into the house for the family reunion.
We arrived at the house in Killington, not the first to arrive, but it took some kerfuffling to finally actually get into the house. Then lots of shuffling about moving luggage and trying to figure out where everyone would be sleeping.
Erin ran an glow-egg hunt for the kids (plastic eggs with little glow sticks inside–and prizes also).
The only picture I seem to have taken that evening is Heather sitting on the couch with a bag of ice on her head. Don’t remember why though.
