Family Reunion Opening Ceramonies

I think I may have forgotten to mention that Melanie picked a theme for this years family reunion as "the Olympics." So the first night we were all there we did opening ceremonies.

Melanie had us check in for our packets which contained our bib numbers and schedule of events. Then we got a cool "stuff" bag that she had made and filled with great stuff. Things like a small light, note book, pencil, pedometer, granola bar, sunscreen, rescue whistle, pennate, etc. We were able to decorage our stuff bags, and pennate's so here is Joel showing his off:

And each person got their family reunion t-shirt which was yellow, of course. If I get around to it I may post about doing the design.

We started with the parade of flags. Each family was to create a flag. Umm I didn't get around to it.... yes I'm a looser. Melanie was busy making stuff bags so didn't get hers done either

I missed a picture of the flag my mom made but you can see it in the video. Its got each of the kids' names on the spokes.

Here is the Texas family flag:

Here is the Idaho family flag (they all had matching t-shirts too!)

Here is the Montana Family Flag:

Here is the Wisconsin Family Flag (see if you can figure out what it says)

Aaron made a flag too!

Here is the setup for the parade

First Half of the Parade

Second half of the parade (my phone only does 30 seconds worth)

After the parade of flags, dad held the torch and took the oath. The rest of the evening was spent settling in, eating dessert, and enjoying each others company. It would be an early start the next day since we needed to leave by 8 to make it through before they closed the road- fortunately after Wednesday they stopped closing the door, but traffic was still bad at times....

After we would return from our days outings we would have "olympic events" which were way fun. No one is competitive in the family. (thats sarcasm for those of you who haven't met me or my family). I didn't get any pictures so I'll have to wait till others post so I can steal =)