2016 Buchon Reunion

My last year of college I lived with three lovely ladies that I absolutely adore. After graduation we had a reunion every year and took turns hosting. We dubbed it the "Buchon Reunion" (the street we lived on) and it was always such a fun weekend. We managed to keep them going through the first round of kids (2012 Reunion) but over the last four years we just haven't made it work. We had Kieran, Molly had her second and now third child, Jonna had twins (making her total 3 kids) and moved from the Central Coast to very Northern California, and Katie moved from Southern California to Colorado. Even though we've stayed in touch and seen each other individually from time to time we decided we had to make a reunion happen this year. Katie had a business trip to Napa planned during the week and the other two roommates live in Northern California so it was decided Truckee would be a fun destination. We rented a place and for three days we all got to be under one roof again. It is quite a trek to Truckee for us (like 5 hours) but the boys rocked the drives. Kieran only got carsick once and it was pretty minor and happened as we were getting out of the car so the damage was minimal. Everyone was great about Reed's allergies and avoided bringing anything with nuts. They let me dictate what we would have for meals while still contributing to the shopping, cooking, clean-up - they really are awesome gals!!! Our little family got the bunk room. Reed slept on top with Jon on the bottom and they both slept pretty well. The first night, I tried to sleep above Kieran but he was obsessed with me sleeping in the same room and kept waking me up so I gave in and shared his twin bed with him the rest of the weekend - slightly uncomfortable to say the least!

Saturday was our only full day together, so we spent a good chunk of it outside sledding and building a snowman with the kiddos. There was a spa at the cabin but it was a bit on the green side so we sold the kids on getting in the jetted bathtub in the master bedroom instead. Once we crammed all seven of the big kids in we found out the jets didn't work, but I think they all had fun anyway. With eight kids ranging in age from 6 years to 6 months it was really fun to watch them all play together and interact. 6 of the 7 big kids are boys and it was also pretty interesting to see just how calm and sweet Alana was compared to the brood of rambunctious boys. We  have vowed not to let another 4 years go by before we are together again so hopefully we will have another reunion in our near future.

Back Row: Jonna, Sean, Grayson (almost 4), Mario, Molly holding Harper (6 months), Katie, Kieran (2.25 years), Sarah
Front Row: Reece (almost 3), Grayson (6 years), Keegan (5.5 years), Alana (almost 3), and Reed (4.5 years)
 - not pictured photographer Jon

 

There were about 20 attempts at this photo and these are the best two!

Sometimes building a snowman can be quite upsetting!!!

All the big kids in the bath and Harper watching from the sidelines

Party, Party, Party!!!

Over the last month we've celebrated a couple of Birthdays and, of course, Valentine's Day. Up first was Cambria's 2nd Birthday Pow Wow at the end of January. She's such a sweet little girl and the kids had a great time playing in the teepee, making things out of playdoh, and eating the yummy party food. It was also pretty entertaining to see all of the Dads in feathered headbands!!!

Dad photo - Russell, Mikael, Jon, and Cameron

The Kauk Family

Shannon, Clara, Emmett, Laurie, and Bailey

So many Little Ones!!!

Reed had a class party on the Friday before Valentine's Day and had so much fun stuffing goodie bags for his friends and making a big batch of heart shaped sugar cookies that we had a blast decorating. He can really be such a sweetheart these days!

Next up was Rory's first Birthday party. Unfortunately Reed wasn't feeling well the morning of the party so Kieran and I went solo. He was totally shy and didn't want to play in the ball pit or bounce house. The only things he was interested in were eating and whacking the piñata.

Birthday Boy Rory

Clara

Connor

Lyla

Eden

Eli

Carver

The next day was Valentine's Day and Jon and I decided to copy our friends' Shannon and Kevin and adopt zoo animals in the boys' names. For weeks Reed kept telling me his favorite animals at the zoo were the flamingos and Kieran said his were the Rhinos. I made the appropriate adoptions and within 5 minutes of them opening the gifts they had switched (at least they were both in agreement on this). I also decorated the house with Valentine's stuff and made all my boys an extra special pancake breakfast.

Valentine's falls just a couple days before Pepe's Birthday and since he was getting ready to head out of town we hosted a Birthday dinner at our house that night.

Beach Bummin' Part 2

Coincidentally while we were at the coast so were our good friends the Kauks (Cameron, Bri, Emily, Kirby, Kathi, and the kids). We made plans to meet up on the beach Sunday morning and let the kiddos play. Reed was excited to have Parker and Cambria help with his hole digging, little Brin slept so sweetly in her beach shelter, and a couple games of spike ball were fit in by the adults. We are all so busy at home it was fun to spend some time together even if it was a few hours from home!

After a few hours of beach play we made our way to the little local aquarium just in time for the kelp tank feeding and the shark petting. We actually learned quite a bit from the docents and the boys thought touching the sharks was so cool.

Sunday afternoon Pepe and Nonna put together an awesome Super Bowl spread and Aunt Di Di and TJ came over to watch the game. The kids adore them both and TJ spent most of the time entertaining them, which was so sweet!

Monday before we headed home we were able to fit in one last smoothie run to our new favorite place Krava-bowl and some more time on the beach. It was a wonderful trip and we are hoping to make it back over before the end of the month.