Gwilliam Reunion: Golden Anniversary Celebration!

Joyce and Jerry celebrated their golden anniversary during the reunion.  We had a "How well do you know our golden couple?" activity, a variety show put on by the grandchildren, and a video presentation.  I think the best part for them was having everyone together to celebrate!  One tender mercy came in a photographer.  Kris and I had both tried to find one in the area to hire, but had come up with nothing affordable.  I walked across the street to ask a neighbor if they would mind taking a picture for us.  The neighbor happened to be a photographer with all her equipment.  She did some touch ups and I think the picture is fantastic of all of us together....it almost looks like we planned it :)

Gwilliam Reunion: Yellowstone Take I

Tyse looks happy enough here with cute cousin Macy, but following this short hike, we took him on a hike that was too hard and strenuous for him.  As a result, he refused to get out of the car to do anymore hikes in Yellowstone the rest of the trip!

Gwilliam Reunion

This year we were in charge of organizing the Gwilliam Family Reunion.  Bruce wanted to do something extra special since it was his parents 50th anniversary as well.  With help from Laura Clark we found some great cabins in Island Park which were in the general area where they spent their honeymoon 50 years earlier.  The first two nights we spent in a smaller cabin with Joyce, Jerry, Scott, and Karol, Eric, Keith and their families.  It had a fire pit and a hot tub which the kids loved!  It was more rustic and in the pines.  On Sunday we moved to a larger cabin / house on the golf course and Brian and Jeff and their families joined us.  

Reno Tournament

Megan, Tyson, and Lindsey picked us up at the airport from our trip to Costa Rica and we hit the road to Reno to watch Kyle play in a basketball tournament with the high school kids.  Joyce, Jerry and Scott met us there to cheer him on.  We took a field trip to see the temple during some down time.

Costa Rica

 Iguanas everywhere!

 Our all inclusive resort:  The RIU

 We went on an excursion to one of the closer National Parks.  We white water rafted down a river in a beautiful area, rappelled down a gorge a couple of times and fell into a river, climbed up a waterfall, swung in and out of another waterfall, covered our bodies in volcanic mud and sat in a warm spring, went to a reptile farm where I held a boa constrictor and watched it eat a rat.

Outside our room.  Every afternoon it would pour.  We welcomed it.  The rain was warm and it did cool down the temperature a bit!

Costa Rica

 Our second excursion, we went with a guide on a tour of the coast. 

This was my favorite of the 3 beaches that we went to.  It was called Shell Beach.  Instead of sand, the bottom of the ocean was covered with smoothed pieces of shell.  As a result, the water was clear and brilliant blue.  

We continued our excursion by doing a zip line tour through the trees of the rainforest

The excursion ended with a visit to an animal refuge.

Riding back to the resort.

Costa Rica

 Can you spot the monkey in the tree?

 There isn't much that beats a nice afternoon nap!

It hadn't rained in months until we got there.  The first afternoon, it poured for quite a while, but the rain was warm and was comfortable to walk in.