The Grady Family: June 2013

Talako Lodge

We just got back from the our first ever official Grady Family Reunion in Broken Bow, Oklahoma and it was such a fun trip! We rented a huge, beautiful cabin called Talako Lodge not far from the entrance to Beavers Bend State Park and Lake Broken Bow and had a great time catching up, eating junk food, playing games, hanging out, and enjoying our beautiful surroundings!

We had ten adults and seven kids under the age of six, so it made for one crazy place! Thankfully there was plenty of space to escape to with a hot tub, pool table, play ground, air hockey, and lots of TVs and movies for the kids to watch.

Sunday

We arrived on Sunday and didn't waste any time getting out and ate dinner at a great pizza place that everyone recommended - The Grateful Head. So yummy!

During the course of dinner, a major downpour and thunderstorm started and it was so much fun to enjoy the rain from one of the expansive covered porches our cabin offered.

Aunt Leslie enjoying the rain.

After dinner, Grandma and Grandpa surprised all of us with reunion t-shirts, per tradition :)

And then we celebrated Father's Day and Karen's birthday with cake and presents

I made the cake and Aunt Leslie decorated it - don't you love the ruffles?

It rained all night and then the next morning - isn't there something so peaceful and relaxing to waking up to rain and not having to go anywhere? It was also a great way to start a vacation - we could all sleep in a bit and hang out in our pj's until the sun came out and it turned in to a beautiful day.

Monday

We headed over to the Beavers Bend Train Depot for the cute kids train ride, but when we got there it turned out they were closed on Mondays! We salvaged the outing with a trip to the nearby park to let the kids get the wiggles out a bit.

Tuesday

We finally rode the train on Tuesday and I have to say it was overpriced and several minutes shorter than advertised (and when the advertised time is only 15 minutes, every minute counts!!) but the kids loved it!

Later that day, we headed over to the lake to swim for a bit

On Tuesday night, Artis surprised us ladies with a craft night to recreate one of the beloved Grady Christmas decorations from their childhood. She had all the pieces prepared and cut out for us and I think our little bears turned out adorable!

Wednesday

On Wednesday, we drove in to Idabel to the Salt Creek Lodge for some awesome ATV riding! The property boasts 1800 acres and over 25 miles of trails and we were not disappointed! We rented four ATVs and had a blast exploring the property, and since it was the middle of the week, we had it completely to ourselves! There were streams, hills, open land, and lots of fun terrain.

While we took turns riding, the kids played at the playground - a perfect set up!

It was the in-laws first time on a four-wheeler and even though they were a bit nervous, I think they had fun!

Thursday

Thursday took a small group of us horseback riding. The views were gorgeous (Oklahoma has small mountains - who knew?) but the ride was a bit tedious, to tell you the truth. See the lady in the red shirt behind Kevin in the picture below? She cried the entire ride and then towards the end, she told the leader she was done and wanted to get off, like it was some sort of ride at Disneyland! It was frustrating because she held up the whole ride and put everyone on edge. I am pretty nervous around horses myself but love to ride...if you have a debilitating fear of horses, don't sign up for a two hour ride! Holy Cow!

After our ride, Artis literally flagged down a driver passing by to take the traditional family pictures in our reunion shirts...It is pretty impossible to get 17 people to look at the camera at once, but I think we got close!

It was so hot that day, but by golly we had brought all the stuff to do s'mores and we were going to do them no matter what! So the men worked hard on starting a fire with wet wood (from the rain earlier in the week) and no lighter fluid or newspaper.

As good as the s'mores were (we even brought Reese's to make them even fancier!), the best part of the night was cooling off with a family water fight! Aunt Lisa bought everyone squirt guns and we had a blast! Thanks Lisa for such a fun and memorable night!

Grandma with the babies in the only safe zone!

Friday

Our last day was spent on the water and it was perfect! From the weather to the views to the water - it was all just amazing.

But do you know what wasn't amazing? Figuring out how to break up 5 hours on a boat between everyone that wanted to tube, ski, ride, and then figure out who would watch which children when and how to transport people back and forth between the marina for their respective rides while making sure that all the children were properly supervised while not overtaxing any one babysitter.

No joke, it took all of us debating and then Aunt Leslie diagramming the permutations for 3 hours to finally figure out the best solution (seen below during hour 2). But in the end everyone had a great time and our schedule worked out flawlessly!

Doesn't he look like he should own a boat? Kevin and Mike took turns driving and did a great job!

Colin was a little young for the boat and was nervous the entire time. We tried to give him a tube ride, but he screamed, so that didn't last long!

Hanging Around

Colin loved his little "pool"

Beanbag Toss

We were running pretty hard the whole week!

These two cuties are only two weeks apart! Reagan was not a fan of Connor at first (she cried every time she was sat down next to him!) they soon became fast buddies!

Leslie Grady I & II

The kids loved riding in Grandpa's new van!

Every day Grandma had a new fun activity for the kids - they loved playing play dough, coloring, collecting bugs, and blowing bubbles! Yay for Camp Grandma!