Starting My Own Business and the Keyes Family Reunion

 Before we left on our Priest Lake camping trip I gave my employer of nearly 12 years notice that I was leaving to start my own law practice. When we returned from Priest Lake it was time to make that a reality and River City Law was born. Nixon and I went in that Monday to start setting up my office with the little furniture I have. 

Mason accompanied me to the bank one day and then to my office and got a frosty afterward

Lyza had an end of summer beach day with some of her school friends

The boys tagged along of course

We had a fire in the backyard and let the kids burn their school papers

Then it was time for s'mores

If you know Mason, you know this is a happy time for him

He also loves making pinatas

Two days before we were supposed to leave for our family reunion I got an email from a roofing company that we chose to re-shingle our roof asking if they could come the next day because a job fell through. So the next day they were up on the roof making a ruckus

We packed up our van the next morning while there were people working on our roof and set out to the family reunion near Parson, BC

We stopped at Wasa Lake along the way

Then we killed some time in Radium before check-in

Nixon with his giant jaw breaker he bought at the candy store

We also worked on our fitness at an outdoor gym

Then it was time to get to the lodge. You enter the ranch, then drive a while more to arrive at the lodge.

We rented God's Peak Lodge near Parson, BC. It was right on the edge of an active an out of control wildfire so the week leading up to the retreat was a little stressful trying to watch the progress of the fire and efforts to get it under control. Fortunately, we were able to hold the reunion without any problems.

Each of the rooms were named and we felt a connection to this one

The kids liked the bunk beds

The kids had so much fun reuniting with the cousins

I got to spend lots of time with this handsome little man

Lyza was happy there was a keyboard there

There was a play structure

One of dozens of chess games that Peter and Mason played

The rehearsals for the talent show began immediately

It was good to see my mom

Jane printed out iron on transfers so we could all have matching t-shirts

I taught Alison and Richard how to play Sky Jo

I flew the drone to get some pictures of where we were and it was a beautiful location

Here's a little video of where we were

More rehearsals

And more chess

This climbing wall was fun for the kids

An impossible puzzle

On Sunday morning we had a musical worship service that was really nice

Henry's retro game system spoke to his Uncle Peter

More fun games together

Playing at the playground

A few of us had the bright idea to drive to a nearby hike called Quinn Peak that was suggested by the lodge host. What he failed to mention was that the road going there was extremely rough and should not have been attempted with low clearance minivans ;) Well, we made it to the trail head, doused ourselves in bug spray, and started off

We didn't make it very far before we decided to value our blood supply and turn back around. It was a bonding experience?

Meanwhile there was some more relaxing activities taking place at the lodge

Sunday was a birthday celebration for Johannes so everyone helped make camping themed treats

Cute

We had a yummy birthday dinner

Megan is now taller than Kim and the same height as I am

Happy Birthday Johannes!

We took some group photos that evening

We really missed David and his boys and Hannah and Christian

The mosquitoes were ferocious so it was very brave for this many people to hold still to get a good photo

And a silly photo for good measure

They are both so beautiful

These two were pretty much inseparable the whole time

We then got a sibling photo

Then added in mom and dad

But she is my favorite

There were some presents for the birthday boy

And some cousin reading time

We played some group games together

Then Lyza led some rounds of Werewolf

We were in charge of breakfast on Monday morning and we made huckleberry pancakes with eggs and bacon

Some more Werewolf

And Henry enjoying some chocolate

More chess

And more games

So much fun

Some sandwich prep for the next day

Playing with toys together

We had a movie (Wonka) with lots of treats

Some more game time

This was the view from the upper balcony

And a tree that stood out above the rest

Then it was finally time for the main event, the show that everyone had waited a year for...the TALENT SHOW!

Lyza got to show off her piano skills while others sang

Nixon played the recorder with his nose (that's my boy!)

Kim and Mason performed this lovely number

This was a fun little skit

I'm Just Ken

The whole show can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2je-dYZWlxw&t=18s

The kids had lots of fun!

The there was some karaoke

Lyza and I sang a song together

More games

So close...yet so far...

The moon on our last night

When we woke up on Tuesday morning there was lots of low fog

Megan and Lyza had so much fun together

We all packed up Tuesday morning and some of us met up at the Radium Hot Springs

The diving board was a lot of fun

This cold pool was also very refreshing

We stopped in Radium to have lunch and to get the bottom of our van fixed before we made the drive home (thanks again to the lodge host who recommended that hike ;)

We really enjoyed the reunion and spending good quality time with family. We look forward to the next one and hope that everyone will be able to make it.