A Reunion at the Farm

On Sunday, we packed up our car and headed down to Eeott and Papa's house again to see our uncle (my dad's brother), aunt, and cousins.  We hadn't seen them in over a year and a half because they were stationed in Guam. Now, they are moving to the east coast, so this was our only chance to see them. We stayed Sunday through Wednesday and it was a WONDERFUL time reuniting with family.

The night we got there we had a little birthday party for Aunt Diane. She opened gifts and we had blackberry cobbler with vanilla ice cream made by Eeott and Auntie Sharon-yum!!

Heidi & Me

Dad, Uncle Chadly, & Papa

Aunt Diane opening gifts

Lillian & Natalie enjoying their cobbler

The next morning we were up bright and early. We (the kids) played until it was time for our guests to arrive for lunch. Great Aunt Carol, Great Grandma, cousins; Phil, Joy, little Sarah and Joy's sister, Nargiza, and cousin Aaron all came for a visit. They stayed all afternoon and it was great to see them.

I played Croquet with Dad, Natalie, Lillian, Heidi, & Sören...

Heidi & Sören having fun!

The cows decided to join us :)

Myself, Lillian, & Natalie 

In the middle of our game, we stopped to take a few group photos:

All the girls: Eeott, Aunt Carol, Nargiza, Madi, Aunt Diane, Natalie, Auntie Sharon, Joy, Sarah, Mom, Heidi, Esther, Lillian, Me, Great Grandma

All the boys: Uncle Chad, Papa, Sören, Dad, Cousins Aaron, & Phil (and Jincey decided to hop in the picture, even though she's a girl :) )

All the Shooks (not including our cousin Jake, his wife Carley, and baby Roman): Uncle Chadly, Aunt Diane, Papa, Madi, Eeott, Heidi, Esther, Auntie Sharon, Natalie, Sören, Lillian, Mom, Me (Grace), Dad---and Buster wanted to join the picture :)

Esther & Sarah :)

Early spring daffodils

Chatting

Natalie & Esther

 

Eeott, Madi, & Joy

Great Grandma with 7 of her great grandkids

After everyone left, we had another little party for Dad and Heidi. Heidi is turning 8 and Dad is turning 40!!!! We didn't really take pictures this time. After that, we said good bye to Auntie Sharon.

The Birthday People...& Esther :)

The next day, Mom went shopping and so did Papa, Dad, & Uncle Chadly. Eeott, Aunt Diane, and Madi stayed home with the rest of us. Natalie and Lillian wanted to make a movie that day. They asked me to film it on my tablet, and then use my video editor to put it all together. I agreed to do it. 

PLOT: 3 kids (Heidi, Sören, and Esther) were obsessed with technology. Their parents sent them to a camp at a farm to get away from all the technology. Their counsler was Natalie, and the farm historian was Lillian.

 I would have posted the video, but it's too long-12 mintutes!  Here is a collection of photos taken during our video shooting:

Heidi

Sören, Esther, Heidi

The Cast: Heidi, Lillian, Natalie, Sören, Esther

Time to get muddy!

Sören

Esther

Silly cows :)

Jincey :)

Bijou & Buster! :) 

Here are some Super Mario playing pics:

Esther vs Dad

Mom vs Sören (I think)

Papa vs Sören 

The goats:

Brownie, Chestnut, & Mario

Mario is SO big now! He's a happy little guy running around the farm and laying on the grass :)

Overall, we had a wonderful time with everyone. I am thankful that we were able to spend that time with our cousins before they move to the East Coast next week!