July Fourth - Let the Explosions Begin!

    The day started off pleasant enough, a community pancake breakfast and old fashioned games at Fort Missoula.  Little did I know it would end in with crazed Firework Frenzy.

    Here Sylvia and Greydon realize that they are not the same weight to make a teeter-totter work properly.  Maybe Sylvia didn't eat enough bacon at the breakfast. 

     Sheep and pig petting were also favorite activities.   Here Mattias and Greydon are taking the sheep for a little walk.  Mattias feels bad he missed the 4-H sheep raising experience the older kids got.

      Sylvia also thins we should get some sheep... I don't think she understands that they aren't all as friendly as this little lamb.

    We spent a long time playing several games of jacks outside the old school-house.  Asher and I switched back and forth as the reigning jack-champ.  Greydon improved quickly and was a good sport.

I love seeing my smiling boys.   This was a game called Squish Everyone into the Backseat.  I don't think they will play it again soon.

     Mattias made a killer chocolate cake from scratch, and I decorated it.  We used fresh serviceberries and strawberries from Brad's garden, with cream.  It was delicious!!!!!   (The sparkler did burn out before we finished singing the national anthem though.  We will have to sing faster in the future.)

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      Jesse and Sarah brought out some almost-military-grade smoke cover canisters for the boys to have fun with during the day.

       Little did we know the surprise that they had in the basement. Hundreds of dollars of mega-fireworks they picked up at an indian reservation (from "Pyro Paulie") on the drive here.

      We became experts in artillary shells, "cakes", and Roman candles.   - Although after having a couple roman candles explode in peoples hands... we decided to not hold them for shooting any more.
   

It was like opening gifts at Christmas... Jesse was Head PyroManiac, and Mattias became his loyal apprentice.

Greydon enjoyed opening the boxes, but prefered to sit farther away from the debris fall-out zone  for viewing them.

      Sylvia was also a little uncertain about her first sparklers... but was a pyro champ by the end of the night.   She was able to light off several fountains we had picked out including the very prettily packaged "Unicorn" fountain.  (Sadly, no unicorns shot out when she set it off.)

   Below is the McMullin Pyro Team.  You may wonder where Grandpa Brad is?  Taking Liz to the town show... because they did not realize how truely astounding aflame their front driveway would become in their absence.  The local show paled in comparison to our near death experiences.

Wasn't it Uncle Colin who first  wondered "What happens if you toss a lit Bee in the canal?"   

     The canal in front of the house soon become a whole new venue for the pyro team.  The spinning Ground Flowers were truly magical when Uncle Jesse lit them and tossed them into the water.  It was really beautiful!  It kind of looked like pictures of a nebula that you would see through the Hubble telescope.
     Anyways,  I thought it was even cooler than the war zone exploding over our head.  The team worked their way up to having four people lighting double combos of shells at the same time.  It was very exciting to see if the last person left at the end of the driveway would actually get their fuse lit before the other shells exploded right next to them.

      Everyone ended the night in one piece, and smelling like gunpowder.  The kids giggled on the living room couch past midnight, trying to wind down.  It was a very amazing Fourth of July.

Surviving Family Pictures

      Family pictures can be painful, especially if you have lots of little children wiggling about or crying.   Thankfully, there were only a couple wiggly children this reunion, and one face-licking dog.

   The group picture went quickly.  This is a shot of everybody getting lined up for it.

The core McMullin family (without children, spouses, or dogs) looked pretty handsome together.

     I thought the attending cousins had a cute picture, although it was sad to notice that all the families had siblings missing for some reason or another.  - Mostly because they were older and cooler teenagers now with lives that are more exciting than family reunions.

      This picture is for Noel.  McKenna and Shandon were very sad to note you were not at this reunion.  Hopefully they will train out and visit us sometime in the future.

Cousins Hiking the "M"

   On our first day back in Missoula, we thought a little bonding time was needed with our cousin, Greydon.    So, while all the VIP's in the family were off playing golf,  the kids and I hiked the "M" and went to the carousel.

   For those of you not familiar with the M mountain, it is on the  edge of town, behind the university.  A giant M (now made of concrete) has stood on the side of the mountain for a hundred years or so.  The trail up usually has a steady stream of joggers sweating and huffing and puffing their way along. This morning though,  the weather  was cool and windy, so all the fair-weather hikers stayed at home.

      The trail zig zags up 11 steep switchbacks, gaining you 620 feet in the half hour or so it takes to hike it.   The view from the top is impressive.  We also saw a fox catching it's breakfast along the trail.   Here Greydon and Mattias are trying not to topple down the mountain.

     Unfortunately, Sylvia did topple down the trail on the final switchback.  After washing off her knees and hands we decided the Carousel was the perfect medicine for skinned knees.  Here is a goofy faced picture of some goofy cousins.

    I love the artistry of the carvings on the horses.  Sylvia branched out from her usual ponies (Pal and Avalon) and rod a new one, "Cherished Angel"  It had an adorable dog carved on the back, and lots of butterflies all over it.

    Here is our smiley carousel expert. The horses go a top speed of 11 mph, so it is an adventure for the big kids as well as Sylvia.

     Greydon figured "Paint" would be his lucky horse, but unfortunately none of the boys were able to catch the brass ring and win an extra ride.

     It was a fun was to start the South-of-the-Canadian-Boarder McMullin reunion.  Hanging out with cousins is always an adventure.

Family Time in Canada

    Last weekend we went up to Raymond, Alberta to celebrate July 1st (Canada's version of the Fourth of July) with Sean's side of the family. The best part of the weekend was getting to know cousins and second cousins the kids had never heard of before. I feel like we discovered a hidden treasure.

 I  enjoyed the scenery on the drive up. We went through a corner of Glacier National Park. I developed a new way to pass time: trying to take speeding pictures with my camera out the window as Sean zipped along and around corners at high speed. You never knew what the photo would turn out like.

 Here is my favorite shot from the game... a train going along the east side of Glacier.

Sean and I went to the Cardston Temple together Saturday morning.  Back in Raymond, Grandpa Brad took the kids to a community pancake breakfast, and on a walking tour of the Center of the Universe (as determined by Great Grandma Jane.)

That afternoon we enjoyed watching Sean's uncle Ron and other cousins play for the Walker Family softball team.  Various families from the town formed teams and held a tournament over the weekend.

 In the evening, we had a small family picnic at a nearby lake.  Unfortunately there were no pictures of the fierce water fight battles in the lake afterwards.  Asher said that was his favorite part of the Canada trip.

Sylvia made friends with a second cousin, Maira McMullin, from Edmonton.  It was so fun to watch them playing together all weekend.  Here is Great Grandma Jane (Walker) McMullin, age 91,  with her two cutie girls after church.

     We found the words to some of the old songs Grandma Jane's husband (Nolan) had made up 70 years ago.   He played in a dance band when they first met. .  The problem was, that we don't have the music, just the words.  So, we got Brad and Grandma Jane to sing the melodies of a few songs.  If I  figure out how to load clips of video... I'll put it here.

     Nola joined in, with tears, as she remembered her mom singing her the songs half a century ago when she was a little girl. This was my favorite time of the trip. It was like a look back in time.  Grandma said Nolan would make up the songs at work, then sing them to her in bed at night. It was very romantic.

     Another fun time was after Sunday dinner, we got Grandma talking about things like hanging up laundry properly, and singing Happy Birthday to President Hunter.   I secretly turned on my camera, and got some fun video of it.  Here is a shot where Brad is describing hanging up the laundry to freeze dry in the winter.

 
     Sylvia enjoyed the attention her second cousin, Shay McMullin gave her.  Shay is a great gymnast and cheerleader in Canada.  She is showing Sylvia how to "Monkey Stand" here.

     Sean's cousins, John and Spencer were at home (Ron and Mary-Roses's house) for the summer.  They are so tall!  Paul is 6' 6", so when they decided to join the gymnastic fun, it was pretty funny to watch.  Here is Paul trying to get up on John's back for a piggy back ride.

I couldn't believe Shay had the muscles to hold a backbend with Sylvia sitting on her!

Shay taught her two cousins how to hold her in a cheerleading pose.   It was a good thing the living room has a vaulted ceiling.

Jess McMullin (Sean's cousin) joined the boys in the kitchen to play test a new card game Sean has been working on, Deck of Thieves.  Jess gave Sean some good feedback.  But, they missed the gymnastic show going on in the front room!

     Monday morning found everyone dressed in Canada colors and wearing stickers on their faces.  Below is Hudson, Maira, and Sylvia McMullin, ready to get a lot of loot from the parade.

      Ron and Mary-Rose's house is perfectly situated on the parade route, we had front row seats.  The big boys had Shay spray paint their hair red and white... Asher wasn't quite ready for that level of patriotic expression.

We were only a small group of the all the distant cousins who put up chairs on the lawn for the parade.  It was a Walker-relative-only front lawn... but it still filled up quickly. Chairs were set up two days in advance.

     The parade was fun.  I loved all the horses and carriages.  In other parades I've been too, it has become just cars driving with a sign on the side.  Raymond had clever floats, and lots of horses.  It was fun to watch. 

      After the parade, the backyard filled up with hundreds of people, all claiming descent from Sean's Great-Great grandpa Walker.  This has been going of for decades.  There were several  long tables  with meat sandwiches, salads and desserts.  There were several kiddy pools full of soda pop.  The food was great, and it was fun to see Sean's extended family hugging and exclaiming over each other.

     
     Uncle Ralph, Grandma Jane, Uncle Faye, and Aunt Mary shared the center tent.  It was funny to see them yelling at each other to turn their hearing aids up.   I had a good time listening to Uncle Ralph telling horse stories.

      We were sad to leave, but felt richer for the trip.  What a neat family to be married into. We definately hope to get back sooner in the future.  I think it has been at least 10 years since we've been up for the 1st.  

 On the way home I found more scenic places to try high speed car photography with.

Beautiful scenery, great people... my favorite part of the trip so far.