Eyre Family Reunion 2009

The month of July is going to be split up into 3 or 4 posts. It was a busy month! We started off with an Eyre family reunion out here in South Dakota. All of my siblings and both my parents were able to make it for at least some of the time. We had a great time camping, getting rained on, swimming, seeing my nephew Theo get baptized and confirmed, eating lots of great food, watching 4th of July fireworks, seeing the Black Hills, visiting Mt. Rushmore, roasting marshmallows, and of course catching up with each other around the campfire every night!


This was our makeshift little kitchen area and our circle around the firepit

Don't you love our new BIG tent in the back ground? It makes camping SOOO comfortable! LucyMae sure loves it too....as well as chillin' by the fire.

I had the best time taking a million pictures of her. She was absolutely in HEAVEN up there... wide open spaces, lots of dirt and rocks and logs, and a dozen different moms and dads to play with!

She is such a happy girl!

hmmm...maybe I can climb on this log....

another view of our luxurious camp headquarters

hooray...it's not raining! we really were lucky to cook and eat our breakfast in the sunshine, because just a couple hours later we were in the biggest downpour I've ever seen.

don't you love that little jacket too?

The best part about camping is the time to just hang out in the great outdoors with nothing to do but just enjoy!

LucyMae pulling one of her classic faces. We had a BBQ at our house before the baptism on Friday night.

My mom and Don and Tenille and Clark arrived just in time for the baptism. Reunion with Grandma Michelle.

The whole clan after the baptism (Don is taking the picture)

Meeting up with my Mom and Don the next morning at their hotel. It was the 4th of July and we sure packed A LOT into this one day that Don and my mom and Tenille and Clark were here.

We started off up at Sylvan Lake up in Custer State Park. It was chilly, but great for hiking around the lake.

This is the way we roll on hikes these days.

Sisters, sisters...oh how we all love each other

climbing around on the rocks and bridge by the dam.

More climbing

Theo wanted to go everywhere that Howie went...his parents weren't always fond of that idea...

Lots of cool rock structures in the Black Hills


sisterly love....

and so cute too!

you probably shouldn't try to climb up that with LucyMae on your back.

blocking the entire path for pictures...the other hikers loved us.

a cool semi-cave we found

Clark (a boy) borrowed LucyMae's extra jacket...doesn't he look adorable in pink?

Moms with their strollers on the hike...before we got to the not-so-stroller-friendly portion...

the Sylvan lake dam...these kids were enthralled with every part of this hike! it was great!

Thanks for carrying her the whole way Sam.

This is where Sam took Theo and Addie to pacify them when they realized they couldn't go up where Howie went....


It was a bit higher, steeper, and more dangerous.

But Howie started a trend that his sisters had to follow...

King of the Hill!

These kids were even happy about scrapes and bruises (after we convinced them that battle-wounds are cool!)

A cool hole in the rock/frame.

This was Clark's idea of fun...and that water was COLD!

And finally, to Mt. Rushmore, after we enjoyed a delicious picnic by the lake.

the South Dakota residents!

All the kiddos, spouses that were there, and grand-kiddos.

And this is the whole gang!

my cute sister Brittani's family

LucyMae staying entertained while we took a million pictures.

Can't you just feel the love?

Always keeping us entertained

me and all my cute siblings. We're a pretty good-looking bunch eh?

Man I miss living close to family!

A cold little dip in another lake we passed by...go for it Aubs!

like this....

oh, how we Eyres love water!

anywhere we can find it!

then we headed down to the Flying T Chuckwagon and show. The food was good (but not worth the money), but the show made up the difference.

This band was pretty dang awesome. We all thoroughly enjoyed it....except for maybe LucyMae who hadn't had a good nap all day, was sunburned (I forgot to take her hat), and was ready for BED!!! But did we put her to bed? Of course not...it was the 4th of July, so we had to go watch fireworks...which didn't get over until 10:30ish. By the time we were done, she was SOOO tired and grouchy and impossible. Man, was she happy to see her bed that night.

After church on Sunday we got to just spend the day hanging out at our campground enjoying all sorts of fun.....like playing on logs...

and ladderball.

Can you tell she's got quite a knack for it?

LucyMae and Emerson just chillin'....

cousins are sooooo great!

Sure wish LucyMae could play with these guys more often!

She was thoroughly entertained

Bandaging up one of several scrapes on the kiddos.

Hammock time! Man, I'm glad we got that thing!

It was a big hit with everyone

especially LucyMae

ugly face contest around the campfire.


boring!


so, who's the winner?

aren't campfires captivating? I could stare at that all night!

ready to go swimming! Monday was the last day of our reunion. We rounded it off with cleaning up camp, saying goodbye to the Mitchells (Brittani's fam), going swimming, and then eating a delicious lunch at Alpine Inn in Hill City.

how can you not love those fat-rolls? She's definitely a future swimsuit model don't you think?



And, have we mentioned that she LOVES dogs? oh yes....LOVES them.

She also loves sand



and water!







Do kids get any cuter than this? I love the sunblock hair!

This is a swing that Sam built for her...she LOVES it.

Even though she looks a little mad for some reason in this picture...she really does love it!

And that finishes off our family reunion. It was so great to have everybody together again, even for just a short time. I loved having my dad, Rennie, Aubrey, and Howie all arrive a day early and leave a day later than everyone else....it just gave us more time to hang out. I love my siblings and miss them! And it was so fun to have them all around for LucyMae too! She had no shortage of attention, I can assure you that! So, after my family all left on Tuesday, we finished off our responsibilities with work and cleaning and stuff around here, and then headed out on Friday to Utah for another 10 days of FUN!!! That post is next!