#Jonesfamilyreunion2015 Day One

How do you gather 13 adults and 13 kids for 5 days and 4 nights of fun?

You rent a fabulous, enormous. antique-filled cabin somewhere in Colorado.

Thanks to Ken for finding this place.

From the outside, our cabin looked small. I was worried, but they promised 4864 sq ft,  5 bedrooms, 7 bathrooms, with a couple more rooms with pull out beds. 

I was relieved to find the inside was enormous. 

 The view from every single window was breathtaking. 

I must move to Colorado soon. Every place we visited was gorgeous.

No wonder they call it "Colorful Colorado".

The bedrooms were all huge and included the canopy room,

complete with bunk beds for kids,

the fish room,

the master bedroom,

the cow room,

and the bunk room. 

There were also amenities like massage chairs. Get in line if you want a turn!

It wasn't long before cousins of all shapes and sizes began 

to arrive and reacquaint themselves.

We learned that some people are getting uncomfortably tall. Say good-bye to being taller than the younger generation, Megan. Kailyn will tower over you by next year.

There were climbers

riders,

a cute little fella who is not quite walking, unless he can use something as a walker, Clever boy!

and snugglers.

There were plenty of best buds

and good pals.

The first day started out a bit cool, and we got rained on for awhile. A perfect day for Granby Lake, right?

 It was so cool, towels turned into blankets.

But after some rain, the sun came out and things warmed up.

We had some lunch before swimming (always a good idea, right?). The kids all volunteered to make/help make/contribute to meals. This day we had Shelly's chicken barbecue salad, one of many delicious meals we ate.

Hey Brinlee, can I borrow your jacket?

I love the way kids can find something fun to do wherever they are.

Nora is anxious to get the show on the road. A little sunscreen

 and she's off to the lake with Mom.

 The grandkids set about building their own little lake off of the big lake.

Every project needs a supervisor

 and a dad to relieve you of supervising duty.

 Hang on, Jordan!

Kailyn doesn't seem to worried about an unscheduled dump.

 Myla, on the other hand, looks a little worried that she might be next.

The lake outside the lake is coming along.

A cute family

and a cute photo bomber.

Another cute family.

It looks like Ava has prepared herself for the first dive into the man made lake.

Hannah is content just sneaking some chips.

 Koen was ok with the chips, too but

he was happy to trade those for the lime his dad provided.

Ignore that cute little face. His parents insist he loves limes, and loves to eat them.

The lake had paddle boats for rent, and agreed to let us swap peddlers half way through the hour rental. 

That allowed just about everyone to burn enough calories to

 go get ice cream.

 It looks like the lake turned into an inlet.

At the end of a fun day, we drove the 40 minutes back to the cabin. There was a large farm on our way, with newly shaved llamas (Each time we passed by I broke into one of our favorite books: Llama, llama, red pajamas....)

except that David told us they were alpacas, not llamas. I was so impressed he knew the difference, and then he confessed there was a sign that said it was an alpaca farm. I wish I was smart enough to read the sign.

Alpaca, alpaca, red pajamas just doesn't have the same ring.

Back at the cabin, we had fun with our own personal playground/horseshoe games.

I'm sure this was a ringer.

A few of us got a fire going

Kelsey and Scott pulled out this bouncy house they just happened to bring. 

The kids had so much fun with it. What a great idea, Joneses! Thanks for being so prepared with fun and games.

Parents decided it was safer to give the 1 year-olds their own time to avoid trampling.

The fire is looking good, but Ava looks a little stressed.

It seems the neighbor's dog stopped by to say hi, and Ava is terrified of dogs.

Once again, Scott and Kelsey came to the rescue: they stopped in town to pick up the all-important s'more makings.

Caden demonstrates how to turn the perfect roasted marshmallow 

into the perfect s'more.

Hailey and 

Brinlee mastered the art of burning your marshmallow into an inedible crisp.

Hailey just peels off the burn and eats the melt.

These two are all about priorities:

Brinlee prefers the whole enchilada and Myla goes right for the chocolate.

 Brinlee and Myla take me back a couple of decades. These two look SO much like their moms.

Cooking up a storm.

Argh! Who's running with sharp marshmallow-covered sticks? Better let Grandma take care of that for you.

We ate

and ate

till we couldn't eat any more.

And then we ate some more.

Is Chase feeling a little discomfort after having eaten some more s'mores?

Thanks, Kelsey and Scott, for thinking of s'mores. It was a lovely ending to a great day.