Every spring, for over a dozen years, my family has set aside a weekend to get together. Partly it is the annual shareholders meeting for our family holding company. But it is also a sort of family reunion at the same time. My brothers and their families, as well as me and my girls, and my Mom all head out together. My Dad used to come along when he was still alive. This has helped my girls to remain close to their cousins over the years, as well as to get some time with their aunts, uncles and grandparents. We have traveled to various places in the past but in recent years we have always made Jasper our destination.
This time around we stayed at the Bungalows at Patricia Lake. Margarit and Hailey were not able to join us this time as they stayed behind to deal with my mother-in-laws apartment. Margarit's Mom is in the process of being moved to a long term care facility and can no longer stay in her independent living apartment. Margarit's sister has driven up from her home in Washington State for a few days to help with the cleanup. So the two younger girls and I were the only ones that made it out to Jasper this time. I was up until past midnight on Thursday making enchiladas and preparing food and stuff for the weekend. I had to work most of the day Friday, but managed to step out of the office a couple hours early, around 2:00PM. By the time I got home and packed the girls and our stuff into the truck, we managed to hit the road around 3:30 or 4:00. We arrived out at Jasper around 8:30, just shortly after all the others arrived. We unpacked and settled down for the evening.
The next day we all had a big pancake breakfast together, and then held our shareholders meeting. It took a few hours for my brothers and my Mom and I to address all of the things we needed to discuss. By mid afternoon the kids were getting a little bored so we took them into town to the candy store, and for an ice cream. Once they got their sugar fix they settled down a little. By the time we got back up to the bungalows it was time to get started on preparations for our big Mexican pot luck dinner. My enchiladas and Mexican rice went into the oven and I prepped a tex-mex salad and some re-fried beans. The others set about making quesadillas and salads, guacamole, and a number of other dishes. We all had a big feast and then just relaxed into the evening. The guitars came out for a while. The others played charades for a while... though I opted out as I just can't stand the stupid game.... We finally turned in around midnight.
The next morning most of the younger crowd slept in. I was up just slightly later than usual, at around 8:00AM. We had breakfast and everyone packed up. We checked out of the bungalows around 11:00 and headed out. Wes and his family hit the road for their longer drive back to Calgary. The rest of us wandered around town for a while, had another ice cream, and then made a stop out by Jasper Lake for a while. Then it was that rather long and uneventful drive back to the city. My Mom got a ride back with us, so we dropped her off at her place before heading home. We arrived back at around 6:00 and got everything unpacked before Margarit got back home from working at her Mom's place.
No comments:
Post a Comment