Our busy August 2008

August is our birthday month, so we were busy putting on 2 birthday parties and making cakes, etc. But there were also some other fun things that happened this month: we had our Griffin family reunion in Sacramento, we drove to Roaring Camp to visit Thomas the train, we went to the Ringley Bros, Barnun & Bailey circus in San Jose, and Emma began Kindergarten. So all in all, both a busy month and a very fun month. Here are some of the photos we took of the festivities.

Everett Family Reunion, Park City

We had a really great time with Becky's family in Park City last month. We were able to rent a big enough cabin to fit us all comfortably -- a real feat, considering there were something like 23 people. Surprisingly, we were able to coordinate the activities so that nearly every day, all of us were able to go to the activities together.

One day we visited the Park City resort, where we rode the alpine slide, the alpine coaster (kind of like a roller coaster build on the mountain), and the smaller children bounced around on these kind of enhanced trampolines that made you bounce higher than usual. Some even tried out the zip line spanning several hundred yards.

Another day, we all congregated by a lake, where we played football, and some games the smaller children enjoyed. But the most intense activity of the day was capture the flag. Among other interesting aspects, the game included jail breakouts (legally and illegally), spies (my team would have won had Jessica -- an 'observer' -- not tipped off our entrapment of Nate, leading to a mass jail breakout), covert operations (Jeremy took off his shirt & tried to imitate the local fisherman to get close to the flag), police investigations (the 'real' police -- what would an Everett reunion be without one), and injuries (Nate and Jeremy at least). The game eventually ended in stalemate after an hour and a half.

Also, it snowed. Emma and Bryce's first experience in the snow -- in June. Fortunately, it was just one day -- I think we packed a windbreaker for each of us. 3 days after that, it was 95 degrees. Um, I think we'll stay in California. But I must say, it was very fun for a day; we made snowmen, snowballs, and got to use the hot-tub outside in the snowy weather.

Emma's dance recital

On Saturday, Emma had her tap and ballet performance. I thought this was a good opportunity to figure out how to transfer my video to the computer and how to post it to the blog. Enjoy!!