MasonFam Reunion Part 3

Sunday morning found us all rushing to get ready for church. We were planning on going to a ward in Bend, and then afterwards, to take some family pictures in a nearby park. It had been almost 4 years since we'd had a complete family picture, so we had to take advantage of this gathering, even though we were missing Steve. The day was perfect and the pictures turned out great.














Later that day, after lunch, we had a little early celebration for Mom and Dad, whose anniversary is in July. For that, I had quickly printed a picture of the grandkids from earlier that day and put it in a very cute picture frame that I had bought previously. You can't see the frame very good here, but you get the idea.



After our little gathering, a few of us older girls decided to go on a little bike ride.

We rode all the way to the river, and as we were quite hot, a few girls thought jumping in would be a great way of cooling down. So, they did. We unfortunately didn't have a camera on us, so we had to snap one after we got home.

Now since the rest of us were extra hot, having ridden both ways with out the benefit of a refreshing dip, we decided to head back to the river to cool off ourselves. It was about 9pm by the time we got back there, and by then, it had cooled off enough that jumping into a cold river no longer sounded that appealing. So, we just stood in it and splashed each other instead. Needless to say, we got just as cold and wet as we would have had we actually jumped in. :)




And here are the smart girls of the group, who weren't quite as excited about the whole jumping-in-a-lake thing. They're still cute though!



Back at the house, we jumped into the hot tub to warm up a bit, and then it was time to start packing up so we'd be ready to leave for our various homes the next morning.

We sure can't wait for Jared and Denise's Masonfam Reunion in 2010!!

MasonFam Reunion Part 2

Now, the half-marathon wasn't the main reason we all drove hundreds of miles. We did that because we love each other SO MUCH!!

I know what you're thinking. You think I'm joking, but I'm not. Our family is fairly abnormal in the fact that all 8 of us siblings actually like each other, and are willing to get together on a biennial (Thanks, J) basis, just to hang out and laugh (usually at each other :)). And to play Risk, of course.

Well, this reunion was no different. Most of us arrived in Sunriver on Thursday, June 26th. Since we were there early enough, after settling in, we decided to go swimming at the resort's South Pool. It was awesome! The little kids had lots of fun going down the little slide as well as the BIG slide!



The bigger people had fun dunking each other and gabbing along the pool edge.



Back at the house, we all feasted on delicious pizza from a local pizzeria. After putting the younger punkins to bed, we gathered for some quality bonding time. The big house most of us stayed in had an huge living room, so it was perfect for this. It also had a loft above it where I stood to get this awesome picture!


Friday morning brought us a delicious breakfast, made by Jared and Denise. We all had a meal assignment, and of course the only pictures I got were of the first two meals. Oppsie!





After breakfast we decided to visit the Newberry Crater National Monument, so we piled into a couple cars and took off. As I was driving I realized the cool caravan of cars we created (<-- nice alliteration :)), so I snapped a few pictures.

The Big Obsidian Flow at the Newberry Crater site was so awesome! Not only was it a beautiful day, but the sun shining off the obsidian rocks and the nearby piles of snow made it all the better.





Just outside of Newberry Crater was Paulina Creek Falls. The double falls were amazing!




After arriving back at the house, a bunch of us decided to go swimming again. And then for dinner that night, we enjoyed a ginormous pasta feed, to help the runners prepare for the half-marathon Saturday morning.


After dinner we had a small birthday party for Cameron, whose 5th birthday was that day. Here he is with his "birthday cake". Cutie boy!




This post was also huge, so stick around for Part 3, coming up next!

Mason Family Reunion in Sunriver, OR

The Mason Family reunions take place every other year, and we all take a turn planning it. This year was our year, and so in thinking that I wanted it to be as centrally located as possible, to give those families that live further away a real chance to make it, I decided I wanted to do it somewhere in Eastern Oregon. I wasn't sure exactly where to do it, but when Kara brought up that she and John would be in Sunriver the last weekend in June, for John to run in the Pacific Crest Marathon, I thought what a good idea! We've got quite a few runners in the fam, and surely they'd be interested in participating. And so it was talked about and finally settled that we would rent a few houses in that area, and use the running events as a way to do something fun as a family. Those of us not running being the photo-taking/ cheering section for all the runners! And what fun that all turned out to be!!

We had Dad (Grampa Mason) running his first half-marathon! At 70 years old, this was quite an amazing feat. He was joined by Diane, who has been the marathon-running champion of the family for quite a few years. They were also joined by Diane's husband, Kevin (Ehle), Jared and Denise (Mason), and Kara (Aexel). Craig (Mason) and John (Aexel) both competed in the Duathlon, which consisted of biking and running.

Here they are, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, just before leaving for the starting line.


A few of the rest of us raced to a spot where we'd be able to see them just after they started. First to come by was Jared.


Next was Kevin.


Then Denise and Kara, who fortunately ran at the same pace and so were able to stay together the whole time.


Last, but not least, Dad and Diane. YEAH!! We were definitely one of the loudest group of supporters there. :)


After seeing them all come by, we ran off to a spot about halfway from the start to see them pass by us again. Once again, the first to pass was Jared.


Next came Kevin again.


Then Denise and Kara again.


And then Dad and Diane. So far so good!


After they passed, we ran home to pick up everyone else and headed for the finish line.

What an awesome morning we had cheering for everyone, family or not. It was very inspiring to watch the different runners come by. Some looked like they weren't even bothered, and some looked as though they'd be lucky to make it to the end, but they all were there, doing whatever they had to do to keep going. It made me a bit sad to not be a part of it all, but I know that I'll be there someday soon. :)

We arrived at the finish line, bursting with excitement to see our runners! We didn't have to wait long before seeing Jared.


We had figured out that our runners were running about 10 minutes behind each other, so we knew when to expect Kevin, and he didn't disappoint us!


About 10 minutes after that we saw Kara and Denise gracefully run by. :)


And then, even with tears in our eyes (at least mine:)), we saw Dad and Diane come into view and then cross the finish line! Whew! They all made it!


After a little food break, we were able to get them all together for some pictures.


Here they are in their Team Ganbatte shirts that were designed by Craig and John for their duathlon. It was decided that they would be the Masonfam runner's team shirt as well. (Ganbatte is Japanese for something like hold on, persevere, do your best, go for it. Craig served his mission in Japan, hence the Japanese word.)


And then we had to take some pictures of our "couple runners". Here's Kevin and Diane.

Jared and Denise.


And Daddy and his girls, Kara and Diane.


John and Craig finished their duathlon later that afternoon, so here's a picture of them all, after they arrived home.


You'll notice Dad has 2 medals. One was for finishing the half marathon and the other was for coming in 2nd in his age group. WAY TO GO DAD! :)


And here's our last couple, John and Kara.



Well, this post ended up being ginormous, and this was only Saturday morning, so keep a look out for the rest of the story coming up next.