Caviness Reunion 2007 - Sun Lakes Resort

It has been a very busy and exciting summer (and lets not forget to mention full of drama too). We just got back from our (hopefully) last adventure of the summer - our annual Caviness reunion. This year it was held at Sun Lakes Resort just outside Coulee City. (And if you are like me - never heard of it or Coulee City before.) It was a beautiful resort and full of water-filled activities. It was nice to catch up with family and see how it has grown and changed. I have not been able to make a Caviness reunion the last three years (Sean was born, clashed with the Hansen reunion, and out of town).

View of the resort as you drive in. We stayed in a little cabin by the side of the lake.

We arrived Friday night - just in time for everyone to take a quick dip in the frigid swimming pool (except for me - I am deathly allergic to cold water! and being in a swimming suit!) We then had a great time at a huge potluck dinner and meet up with all the Caviness family.

Saturday started early for the Caviness clan. The golfing tournament started at 6 am. (Golfing is very serious business in the Caviness family!!!!!!!) The day started all too early for me. The kids were also up at 6 and ready for some fun. After making them stay in bed a little longer (although I don't know if it was worth the effort - I didn't get any extra sleep) I cooked breakfast (yes that is right I cooked breakfast - I do do that every once in a great while).


Luckily Grandma rounded up the kids and took them all on a walk. That gave me time to clean up without interference and lay down again for a 10 minute cat nap. When the kids came back they were ready for swimming suits and for a whole day of activities.



First on the agenda was Water Wars. A little built up area for major water balloon fights. There are two cages across from each other, each with two catapults in which you load your water balloons into and then fire away. We of course had the girl cousins (Halle and Lindsey) against the boy cousins (Chad, Sean, Justin and Jackson).

Lindsey and Halle on the girl's side. Lindsey was the only one big enough to really launch the balloons all the way to the other side.

The boys on their side. Sean gets help from Grandma to load up his balloon.

After using up three free buckets of balloons and buying four more buckets it was finally time for the water balloon fight to end. The kids could have done this all day!!!!! (Too bad our wallets couldn't.)

Next we went to the designated swimming area of the lake. It was pretty nice - except it was really rocky, so the kids didn't have too much fun walking around. Chad and Justin were brave enough to jump off of the dock. And Sean had fun trying to throw rocks when we weren't looking (he knew he wasn't supposed to do that).

After getting sore feet from the rocks we decided to head over to the pool. We had big hopes that the water wouldn't be so cold and would feel good after being in the hot sun. Well, it was still freezing cold - but the kids didn't seem to mind as long as they were having fun.

Kayla, Cindy (Chris' cousin), Justin, Lindsey, Sean, Chad, Grandma, Jackson, and Halle.

I was so grateful for life jackets and Grandma - that way I didn't have to go in with the kids.

After an exciting morning of being wet - I finally got the kids dried off, warm clothes on (to help the blue lips) and then got them all down for a nap. (You know you are old when all you look forward to in your day is laying down for a nap).

After napping Chris was home from golfing and took Chad out fishing with his brother Jeff and his kids. Chad came home with a brown paper bag. In it was the prize fish he was dying to show mom. My husband was also proud of the fish since it had been be-headed and gutted by him. I was going to take a picture of it - but by the time I located the camera someone had thrown away the discarded brown paper bag. (I wonder if they looked inside to see what was there before they threw it away?)

While Chris and Chad were away Sean and Halle and I played cards (Old Maid and Crazy 8's) and then went swimming again. (Those crazy kids!) Halle just couldn't get enough swimming in. She has been deprived all month long because of her picc. But luckily she had the picc removed just a couple of days before we left. She enjoyed showing me all her swimming tricks (with the aid of her life jacket) and also proudly showed me how she could put her face under water - something she didn't like doing until she took swimming lessons from Tyler Porter.

When it was time for dinner we again had a huge potluck - this time there were over 50 people in attendance. While we sat around and ate and talked the kids had fun just running around. Sean also observed some people playing a game where you toss metal rings into holes (any one know the name?). So Sean decided to join in too. It kept him quite busy (thank goodness!!!!).

Sean, trying to figure out how this game works.

That night the winds kicked up pretty fierce and howled all night long. The kids had such a long day that they actually slept in the following morning.

Sean and Chad still sleeping at 7:00 am. A very unusual occurrence.

Sunday morning meant it was time to go. After cleaning up the cabin and packing the van we stopped by for a group breakfast and group pictures (but I didn't put my camera amongst the 20 other cameras lined up - figured I could use someone else's picture as soon as they send it my way - so I don't have those pictures yet). Then it was time to go home. We stopped by a nice scenic view on the way home - just a few miles east of the resort we where at.

A pretty view.

My four kids, oh I mean my three kids and my husband, standing out on the ledge.

It was lots of fun. But I am also glad to be home. I am hoping for a little boring and normalcy around here for the next week. But all too soon school will have started up and then I will be missing that I can't go have fun with my kids when ever I want.