Goonies Reunion

So this year I was in charge of My family Reunion, since it was at the Oregon Coast and I am the one who lives here.

It is now over and boy was it a blast. Here is a picture of my little family looking down on Cannon Beach.
The weekend was actually packed full of three reunions. The first 2 and a half days were my immediate family. I have 8 siblings in my family plus my parents...so it tends to be a huge event.
The 3rd day was for extended family on my mothers side of the family.
The 4th day my brother blessed his new baby and then we had a reunion with my fathers side of the family.

The week was full of super fun events.... I will give you a small pictorial/descriptive view of the reunion. Considering we have over 800 pictures to choose from that should be fun.

The Theme of my immediate families Reunion was "Goonies." We all grew up in the 80's and loved that show so we stared out with a yummy meal and watched the movie.

Our accommodations were fantastic, most of the family stayed in a great little Inn, that had adorable condos. Each had a kitchen, living room, and bedrooms. Several family members were in spa rooms and had large jetted tubs. Oooh la la. Our inn was a block from the beach, and had an super convenient courtyard where the kids played and we met for a few activities. Here are the cousins playing at the inn. Each morning the kids would come to our condo and play games and hang out until we started up the festivities of the day.


My eldest brother, Jason got a great beach house, which was handy when we just needed to run up to use the facilities, or have a child take a nap.

Now the Oregon Coast weather is pretty awful even in the dead of summer and the weather forecast called for clouds, cold, and sprinkles. The great part...The weather turned out perfect. Those weather men don't know anything. Thank goodness. We all brought warm clothes and coats, but it was nice for the Oregon coast and we all even got sunburned.

The guys got up early on the second day and went crabbing, they had a blast and caught 3 crab, which they then ate. They did not even share with the rest of us, they said that the people at the placed cooked it up for them to enjoy, what could they do but sit and enjoy the delicious crab?
The second day we told all the kids that they were each part of the Goonies Club and they started a treasure hunt to look for a buried treasure. This took all day and was so fun. Here they are being told about their adventure. Throughout the hunt, my brother Jonathan filmed and directed our own version of A Goonies movie. I may even post it here when it is edited. As we were searching we ended up in Ecola state park at Indian beach, Emma (my sister Tammy's daughter) and her dad and new mother were able to come and they blessed us with a great giant bubble display.
The bubbles were enormous and many tourists stopped to take pictures. All the kids loved popping the bubbles, some as big as a small car. The treasure hunt took us to Grandma's condo where she had set up a Chinese market out in the courtyard. The kids had been earning pennies during the reunion to buy things at the Chinese market (for those that don't know, my parents have been teaching English at a university in China and come home in the summer with amazing treasures for all. Click here to see their blog ) This Chinese market is a way for us to have fun getting the Chinese souvenirs we want, and to learn how they barter in China.
Following a great lunch, where Abby tried to catch seagulls by hiding under a towel and putting bread on her tummy. She never did get one, but it made us all laugh.
Then Our Little Goonies ended up on the beach by following another clue and there was an X marks the spot. They dug and dug until they pulled out a treasure box.

The chest was full of treasure, the girls each got purses, found inside, and the boys had small treasure boxes. They divided up their treasure and put it all inside their purses/boxes. There were jewels, real pearl necklaces from China, rings, a 100 of real Susan B Anthony dollars, and tons of yummy chocolate wrapped in Gold.
That evening we had a yummy Cookout at Jason's Beach house and ate wonderful steak and salmon.
The dinner was followed up with a fire on the beach and making smores.



The next morning we got up and started My mothers side of the Family Reunion. It was so super fun. My cousins and their kids came as well as my aunt. We had Olympics on the beach, a sandcastle building contest, flew a million kites and bask in the sun. We had yummy pizza lunch and a delicious cook out that evening.





Trenton loved to find holes to jump into and then act like he was stuck. I would pull him out and we would be all dramatic like he would never make it.
Here are some cousins playing on the beach.
Here is a group shot at Cannon Beach with the whole clan.
Our little family left that night but the rest stayed at the beach til the next day when they drove up to our home for James, my brothers, baby blessing. It was such a wonderful experience. James named his new daughter, Tammy, after my sister who passed away two years ago during a family reunion. So now we have a new little tammy in the family. I still remember when my baby sister, Tammy, was that little.

Following the Blessing we headed out for a barbecue with my fathers siblings and my cousins. It was super great too.
All in all, it was a Long fantastic, busy, fun, and enjoyable family week.