Clumsy Sue, by Jake

What was your favorite moment at the North Carolina family reunion?

My favorite part of the reunion was when clumsy sue tripped and fell at volleyball.

The Ballad of Aidan and Jake

When a problem comes along...

Making good memories, by Sandy

What was your favorite moment at the North Carolina family reunion?

A favorite memory of mine is from one of our charade games. Grandpa doing his "lizard face" was great! Wish I had a picture of that, but I don't.

I also really enjoyed the hikes, the whole group and the two hikes I did with the adult kids. It was also great to see the cousins all interact with each other. Lots of good memories were made!!

What's hot and what's not for August?

The weekend after we got back from NC, Craig was baptized. The picture is of him giving his testimony to the congregation and his mentor in the background.

School starting....well, mixed feelings. Craig's senior year and Allie moving back to BC for her junior year. Very proud of both of them, but where have the years gone? My schedule with the special needs kids has changed a little. I spend all morning with elem. kids and afternoon with middle school kids. In the mornings I will be responsible for traveling to several schools and some of them will be on my own. I like being given that responsibility--makes me feel more like a teacher again!

The Hiebert family had a good trip to Oklahoma. This is a picture of the whole family in front of the house we stayed in.

Weird Little Laughs, by Audrey

What was your favorite moment at the North Carolina family reunion?

There were a few, like the one in the pool with Natalie and sand volleyball, but since those have already been taken, I have a new one: I don't remember exactly how this happened, but on the last night at the resort, on the way back to the cabins after our marshmallow fun, Allison and I asked Jake to take a picture of us. He was taking a long time and, for some reason, Allison and I let out some weird little laugh as we were smiling waiting for the picture to be taken. Anyway, all I remember is that Jake laughed and laughed, telling the story over and over imitating us. =)

What's hot and what's not for August?

Umm... school, AP, dance, church, and trying to find time to rest and hang out with friends... This year is gonna be really busy.

Comment about the video

Yesterday we went to a "churrasco" (barbecue) at a friend's house... We go every year. It's fun because she has a really nice pool and jacuzzi and their backyard is a golf course. This is a video my friend and I made while we had nothing better to do. I don't know how much you guys know about gymnastic things, but a roundoff is basically a cartwheel where you land with both feet together facing backwards instead of to the side. We kind of messed up the whole feet together thing, but we loved this video because of how in-sync we look.

Lazing on the Lazy River, by Mary

What was your favorite moment at the North Carolina family reunion?

There were a lot of things about the reunion I really enjoyed and have good memories of. Among them are floating around in the lazy river with my grandchildren, Jake's response to Christine's revelation of her taking something from a department store, loved the sibling game the first night and the times spent with Jim and Judy in our cabin just visiting and the two women figuring out how to plug in a lamp so Jim could read in bed. Also vote for the best meal were the thin pancakes that Steve and Sandy made. A real treat!

What's hot and what's not for August?

Nothing major going on in August but Cathy Nachtigal and I have planned in trip in September for five days to Mackinac Island in Michigan - off of Lake Huron. There are no automobiles allowed on the island (get over there by ferry). You get around by walking, riding a bike or taking a horse drawn carriage ride. Should be a relaxing time and Cathy and I always enjoy our trips together. There are 14 fudge shops on the island so that should satisfy our sweet tooth.

Tonight, we dine at K-State, by Craig

What was your favorite moment at the North Carolina family reunion?

i enjoyed making fun of natalie.

What's hot and what's not for August?

the weather is hot.

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Pleasant Teamwork, by Jim

What was your favorite moment at the North Carolina family reunion?

There were lots of favorite moments, and among them were these two: Susan and I tried to convince Steve and Sandy that making “thin pancakes” for the Banman army was a step too much and maybe they could do something simpler. Nope, not a chance. It was a joy to watch the S&S team at work making this family favorite for 13 people, and doing it with panache, apparent ease and much pleasant teamwork.

My second favorite moment was Jake at work on our evening games. He leapt into action with enthusiasm and came off with one hugely winning response (both in the competitive and pleasing senses), which I shall not elaborate on to protect the guilty. And they know who they are!

Extra! What was your favorite moment in July?

One of my most fulfilling experiences was the Fourth of July celebration at Four Mile House the morning of the departure of the five of us for North Carolina. I’ve been a docent there for a year. Four Mile House is a historic structure, the oldest remaining building in Denver, and makes an enormous effort to attract guests to this historic event. There are Civil War enactors shooting off a cannon every 15 minutes, quilters, a beekeeper, speeches by Lincoln and Jefferson actors and a band playing patriotic songs. I was on a planning committee for tours of the house. It’s a sauna in summer and our traditional 40-minute tour is simply out of date for the occasion.

This year we decided to have “actors” portray historic events as a “guide” swiftly takes guests through. Audrey and Natalie consented to help in period costumes and they looked charming in long dresses and bonnets. But as we began the day, we learned an actor or two failed to show up and Susan swiftly became an actor in the 1883 parlor sewing suffragette banners and pretending to be Mrs. Booth, who with her family lived there from 1863 to her death in 1926. Audrey was with her, soaking her hot feet in a basin with fake ice cubes as she tore apart cloth strips; Natalie joined “Mary Cawker” in the 1860 parlor packing for the arrival of the stagecoach. I was so pleased, and proud of Susan, Audrey and Natalie.

What’s hot and what’s not in August?

It’s been mercilessly hot in Denver. That is, until last Friday (8/15) and we’ve actually had the furnace on. It snowed in the mountains and they’re a touch white. Paul and Eldine Harder, who live in North Newton, were with us three days and we enjoyed that. Paul and I were best men at each other’s weddings. Eldine and Mom/Mary were childhood playmates in Buhler. The two of them made mud pies together. Boy, do we need a picture of that! We’re looking forward to a day with T.J. and Jennifer in Grand Junction in early September.

My mother the criminal, by Judy

What was your favorite moment at the North Carolina family reunion?

Jake's exclamation after hearing his Mom confess to stealing.

Sandy gets it, by Sue

What was your favorite moment at the North Carolina family reunion?

Oh, there are too many to choose from. But I loved our night of beach volleyball. Within that, a little thing that never fails to make me laugh is a moment when I was playing next to Sandy and a ball came our way. I headed towards it, tripping and drooling in my own private sandstorm while Sandy stepped up firmly and announced, “I’ll get it.” My only response was, “OK! You do that!” as I stumbled off blindly in another direction. She’s the Clint Eastwood of volleyball, I swear.





I also dearly loved the two hikes we middle-aged parents made. Hours and hours of walking and talking did me a world of good. I want more! (Picture of Steve and Chris getting ready for the initial descent from the Appalachian Trail.)



What's hot and what's not for August?
I’m enjoying my new volunteer class of 26 six-year-olds. It’s never an issue of not having enough enthusiasm or energy, believe me.

A good friend bought a quilt I’d given to a charity auction. While it didn’t sell for the millions I feel it was worth, her joy at taking it home made up for it. It couldn’t have found a better home.

I’m back to working out and limping around most of the week as I struggle to work off North Carolina pancakes and Dad’s homemade pizza and beer.

We Were All Together, by Natalie

What was your favorite moment at the North Carolina family reunion?

I think my favorite moment at the reunion was probably playing sand volleyball. i liked it a lot because we were all together, in a sport i like to play. yes, it was painful, but it was all worth it. chasing craig with a hand full of sand, getting hurt, meeting the new people wanting to play (the two girls and the guy). yeah, that was pretty fun.

What's hot and what's not for August?

hmm, basketball and soccer are going on. last night, we played a basketball game against another american school. we lost. duh. but i mean, it was pretty close. we tied at the end of the 4th quarter, then went into over-time. they beat us by three points. but we played hard, and had a good time. i started, and played most of the game. not too well, but it's okay! we then practiced after the game, and slept at the coache's house. it was hard, we then woke up, ate breakfast, and practiced some more. so painful. my legs hurt. a lot!

so, yeah. that's basically it. high school sucks. love you all.

Allison's cool, Allison's pretty, by Allison

What was your favorite moment at the North Carolina family reunion?

I think my favorite moment at the reunion was playing volleyball (or falleyball in our case) with everyone, watching Sue do ballet routines was entertaining :) I do not have a picture of this, which is too bad.

I think another great moment on the trip was when Natalie, Audrey, Jake, and I were at the pool and we were all floating around the lazy river. There was a little girl with a really ugly hair cut, she pulled the hose out of the water (which was squirting ice cold water) and made a fountain-type thing for us to float under, we didn't like this idea. Natalie said in a really stern voice “Put that down now! Like NOW!” then realizing how harsh it sounded said “You're cool, you're pretty.” I don't think it made a difference, but the girl didn't seem bothered. Then next day at the pool we met this girl again only on the stairs going into the pool, the girl swam up to us and popped her head out of the water, and sprayed this mist all over us with her mouth. Natalie looked at her and said “Thanks for spitting in my face” then again, to make it better said “You're cool, you're pretty.” This probably isn't funny to anyone but the ones that were there, but that moment was good enough to make it onto my facebook quotes.

What's hot and what's not for August?

Whats hot and whats not in August is a hard question, but one exciting thing is me and Craig just got a REAL cell phone plan by ourselves, no more prepaid phones!!! What isn't hot is that I have to go back to school to volleyball practice (in a really hot gym).

This picture means nothing to anything i talked about, we just had fun making a new workout, it was actually sort of hard.

Dog Days, by Chris

What was your favorite moment at the North Carolina family reunion?

My favorite memory is the "Sibling" Honeymoon game with Steve! Here is my memory of that moment - Steve said he would compare me to a very noble breed. Great choice, Steve! Gorgeous dogs. Highly intelligent.


Then, we got to reminisce about past pets... Texy, we love you man.

And for our efforts, we won the most lovely prizes! Thanks Sue. Cheers.

Sudoku Challenge from the Estado de São Paulo, by Sue

I thought I could handle all sudokus after hours on planes and my little sudoku book in the States, but this one I can't do. There's a prize for the first to get this right! (I have the answers here but refuse to look. I'm still trying.)

A Special Sing-Along With Jake!