And So It Begins . . .: 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