Booren Family Reunion 2012
The Booren clan--40 strong--all gathered at grandma an grandpa's house for a short reunion on their new homestead in Spotsylvania, Virginia. Meg's parents moved here last fall, leaving behind their home of nearly 20 years in Oregon--a move not exactly welcomed by us. Of the eight Booren siblings, four now live on the east coast, one just moved to Utah from Oregon, and three (including Meg) are still strongly rooted in Oregon (right, guys?). We divided up the families between two houses, which made for getting to know each other very easy.
We started Wednesday morning driving 20-30 miles north to the US Marine Corps museum (Meg's dad and youngest brother are Marines). Edward and I had a good time looking at the exhibits, including a re-enactment of the landing at Iwo Jima. Meg got stuck with Ian and reported that he was a pain and a half. We got stuck in traffic on the way back. Rant: I can't believe how bad traffic was in Virginia. It was the middle of the day, and the freeway--at least three lanes worth--was backed up to a stand-still, and there were no signs of any accidents. We were out in the middle of what I would deem "nowhere," and yet there were endless number of cars going who-knows-where. End of rant.
After lunch and swimming at Uncle Philip's house, we went into town for some high-action bowling. We upset the manager by not staying in our lanes (i.e., Aaron bowled with his cousins)--we're never without controversy. Somehow Edward beat us all, although I think I failed to eclipse the century mark, which is about my average.
After feasting on Kalua Pig (thanks Meg!) for the evening gathering, the kids (and some of the adults) held a talent show, which include Aaron playing his trombone.
Thursday morning we departed south to King's Dominion, a theme park with lots of crazy-action rides. We left our rental car at home, opting to find empty seats in the rest of the caravan. We are all familiar with my inability to handle scary rides, but we learned the hard way with Edward, who puked all over Uncle Jared's rental car (you the man, Jared! thanks for being such a good sport, even though I don't blame you if you never want one of my kids to ride with you again). That was the lone mishap, though, and everyone had a good time as we hit as much as we could in the park until it closed at 9:00 p.m. I hung with Ian and Edward for much of the day, which included having Ian stuck to me when he fell asleep in the early evening. I actually went on a ride rated a 5, the scariest they have. The ride was probably pretty tame to most, but I screamed the whole way, which apparently entertained all of the other riders. My screams were genuine for the most part, but even if I hammed it up a bit, my fellow riders enjoyed their two minutes all the more because of me.
We woke up early yet again to head north this time, our destination the national zoo in D.C. I made sure to ride with Edward this time, but he was fine the rest of the trip, despite all of the time spent driving in packed cars. The national zoo sits on a hill north of the downtown area, and we all parked our cars at the bottom of the hill. Kids love hills, so I carried Ian for much of the time on my shoulders (I loathe strollers). I asked Aaron to compare the DC zoo to the Oregon zoo, and he though the DC one was much better. After returning home and visiting the one in Portland a week before school started, he changed his mind and realized what I thought: this zoo wasn't that great. But the kids did enjoy it, and I got a good workout (Ian fell asleep once again on me, and didn't wake until lunch time). Meg was felling rotten, so she opted to return home with some of the others late in the morning. The funny thing was that three or four hours later--while we were at Arlington--she called to tell me that she had just arrived home (see--traffic is horrible).
After lunch along a river/sewer/canal feature near our cars, we drove back across the Potomac to Arlington National Cemetery. To distill the place into two words, I would choose "massive" and "humbling." I am a huge critic of war and its pointlessness, but that detracted zero percent from feeling something profound for the sacrifice that those buried there had to give. I also felt impressed at my boys (even without Meg around to help corral the stampede that is our children) behaving so well--no running around wild, no disrespectful comments, no whining.
Evening was soon upon us, and we crossed the Potomac once again to find some open greenspace to hold a soccer match and eat dinner and celebrate nephew Joel's birthday. While driving the caravan around the national mall, trying to find a place to park, Aunt Sara, who was leading the caravan, turned left onto a road that had no left-turn signs posted and right into a pack of cops hanging out, and who immediately walked over and gave the caravan a stern talking-to before letting us silly tourists go on our way. Aaron and Edward both enjoyed the official Booren pastime, while Ian cried at not being able to join the real game. Nephew Jacob twisted his ankle at one point and had to be helped off the field (that family plays with such an intensity that someone always gets hurt).
Finally: a day without having to wake up early and travel somewhere in the car. But it was photo morning, which is traditionally one of the most agonizing moments of family reunions because my kids loathe having to pose for formal pictures. But the process seemed less agonizing (maybe my kids are maturing). We later ventured to Uncle Phillip's house for another game of soccer and swimming and lazy-lounging around the pool. Uncle Paul finally snuck away from the Marines after being gone all week, and Aunt Sara's husband drove down the night before, so we finally hit the full 40. I talked with Paul a lot at the pool, and it was funny to hear him speak so fondly of the summer of 2000 (he was 12) when I was at the Booren house all the time
The rest of the day felt like we cleaned and packed and hunted around for all of our stuff. I was only there for a few days, but Meg and the boys had stayed for over a month, so it was a bit of an effort corralling everything while keeping the kids from killing each other. We all entered dreamland that night anxious and excited to travel home.
We left grandma's house around 6:30 in Sara's large chariot, as she was headed north to her home in Pennsylvania. There was a bit of traffic, but being able to take the HOV lanes--which are physically separated from the rest of the highway traffic--proved an advantage, but we still arrived at the Baltimore airport with plenty of time to spare. After checking in and going through security (Aaron got dinged for having a toy cannon in his carry-on), Meg walked the older boys around and bought them breakfast at McDonald's. Our flight home was pretty uneventful and simple, as we stopped in Albuquerque to drop off most of the passengers (we stayed on board). Ian nearly drove Meg to tears with his radical behavior (I had Aaron and Edward in the seats behind), but after trading for Ian in the second half he almost immediately fell asleep. A friend from church picked us up and drove us home--and oh how sweet it was. We were all so happy to be home, and the top reasons included:
Wednesday
We started Wednesday morning driving 20-30 miles north to the US Marine Corps museum (Meg's dad and youngest brother are Marines). Edward and I had a good time looking at the exhibits, including a re-enactment of the landing at Iwo Jima. Meg got stuck with Ian and reported that he was a pain and a half. We got stuck in traffic on the way back. Rant: I can't believe how bad traffic was in Virginia. It was the middle of the day, and the freeway--at least three lanes worth--was backed up to a stand-still, and there were no signs of any accidents. We were out in the middle of what I would deem "nowhere," and yet there were endless number of cars going who-knows-where. End of rant.
After lunch and swimming at Uncle Philip's house, we went into town for some high-action bowling. We upset the manager by not staying in our lanes (i.e., Aaron bowled with his cousins)--we're never without controversy. Somehow Edward beat us all, although I think I failed to eclipse the century mark, which is about my average.
After feasting on Kalua Pig (thanks Meg!) for the evening gathering, the kids (and some of the adults) held a talent show, which include Aaron playing his trombone.
Thursday
Thursday morning we departed south to King's Dominion, a theme park with lots of crazy-action rides. We left our rental car at home, opting to find empty seats in the rest of the caravan. We are all familiar with my inability to handle scary rides, but we learned the hard way with Edward, who puked all over Uncle Jared's rental car (you the man, Jared! thanks for being such a good sport, even though I don't blame you if you never want one of my kids to ride with you again). That was the lone mishap, though, and everyone had a good time as we hit as much as we could in the park until it closed at 9:00 p.m. I hung with Ian and Edward for much of the day, which included having Ian stuck to me when he fell asleep in the early evening. I actually went on a ride rated a 5, the scariest they have. The ride was probably pretty tame to most, but I screamed the whole way, which apparently entertained all of the other riders. My screams were genuine for the most part, but even if I hammed it up a bit, my fellow riders enjoyed their two minutes all the more because of me.Friday
Saturday
 |
| Eddie doesn't realize what is about to hit |
Sunday
We all attended church together Sunday morning, which included seeing nephew Parker ordained an Elder and nephew Zach be blessed.The rest of the day felt like we cleaned and packed and hunted around for all of our stuff. I was only there for a few days, but Meg and the boys had stayed for over a month, so it was a bit of an effort corralling everything while keeping the kids from killing each other. We all entered dreamland that night anxious and excited to travel home.
Monday
We left grandma's house around 6:30 in Sara's large chariot, as she was headed north to her home in Pennsylvania. There was a bit of traffic, but being able to take the HOV lanes--which are physically separated from the rest of the highway traffic--proved an advantage, but we still arrived at the Baltimore airport with plenty of time to spare. After checking in and going through security (Aaron got dinged for having a toy cannon in his carry-on), Meg walked the older boys around and bought them breakfast at McDonald's. Our flight home was pretty uneventful and simple, as we stopped in Albuquerque to drop off most of the passengers (we stayed on board). Ian nearly drove Meg to tears with his radical behavior (I had Aaron and Edward in the seats behind), but after trading for Ian in the second half he almost immediately fell asleep. A friend from church picked us up and drove us home--and oh how sweet it was. We were all so happy to be home, and the top reasons included:- Michael: riding his bike (or just about anything that didn't involve having to get in a car and drive somewhere)
- Meg: privacy and her own bed
- Aaron: Oregon drinking water
- Edward: clean, fresh air
- Ian: his toys
Comments
Post a Comment