Cabin, Hiking, and Labor

Jared and Alicia are in charge of the reunion this year, and they have a lot of fun things planned for every day. Today, the plan was to stay at the cabin and play games, compete in a caroms tournament, and hang out together.

Behind the cabin was a playground where several of us bonded while we watched our kids frolic in the filth:

McKenna and Autumn kicking it with sippy cups and Dora chairs:

 The intense caroms competition:

 and other games:

Andy wanted to hike up the hill to see what was on the other side, so the two of us went for a walk. It was a short hike, but pretty steep. On the other side it was beautiful. We found this:

Each of the families were in charge of meals for different days. Andy and I were in charge of dinner tonight with the help of Matthias.  We took a trip into town to get some groceries, and then we spent a couple of hours preparing the meal for everyone (taco salad and fruit). Mom and Bek pitched in, too:

After dinner, we took family pictures. Here are my favorites:

Then Andy wanted to take the kids back to the meadow we had found earlier, so we went for a hike. We had a lot of fun. On the way back, Calvin was running down the mountain and suddenly disappeared into a hole. It ended up being a drain of sorts, and he was fine, but it freaked me out. He was scraped up a bit, but was happy once we got back to the cabin to play with his friends. I hiked. I ran when he fell. I carried him back to the cabin. I was having serious contractions by the time we made it back.

We took this picture at the meadow. I love it. Me and my kiddos and the beautiful mountains.

Back at the cabin, we played charades. Each of the adults had two children helpers. It was hilarious.

And then Carrie and Sam made us s'mores. We ate and watched a movie and played some more.

At 10:00 we were putting the kids to bed and my contractions kept getting stronger, so we started timing them. I didn't know for sure if this was it, but my doctor had said not to take any chances, so we decided to go. We kissed the kids, talked to my mom about taking care of them, said a prayer that everything would be okay, and rushed out the door.

And then we were trapped by cars. Andy tried to get out, but the drive was a steep hill with slippery gravel. We were blocked in on all sides and couldn't get any traction. We backed into my brother's car and tapped the front grill. Everyone laughed because they had hit a deer on the way from Virginia and had just gotten the car back from the repair shop. Andy was frazzled. I was in pain. Everyone was staring. It was stressful.

By 11:00pm we were on the road, winding down the mountain, racing toward the hospital. We checked in at exactly midnight.