7 July 2024

Helen and friends got the week off of work for the 4th of July holiday. They spent the first half of the week camping on the Oregon coast. This is a photo of Whit and Riley at the restaurant they ate at Wednesday night in Coos Bay. They ate dinner at the dock where the day's catch was brought in from the fishing boats.

Helen had gluten free fish and chips with the freshest fish possible.

On Thursday the friends drove from the coast to our house to finish out their week. From the left are Angela, Gareth, AJ, Alex, Riley, Anne and Whit

Meanwhile, Brandan, Becky and Gibson were 800 miles away at Bear Lake, Utah. The border between Idaho and Utah passed through the middle of the lake. We stayed on the Utah side for a family reunion with Brandan's family.

Abe finished his first week of FSY and then flew to Salt Lake. He spent a few days with Dan and Martha and rode with them to the family reunion. We loved spending a few days with Abe.

The cousins worked on a sandcastle together. From the left are Abe, Maks, Sasha, Logan and Niko. Emma is in the background.

This is a photo of Abe making the moat deeper.

We loved catching up with family. It has been seven years since our last Hull reunion-- too long! This is a photo of Jon ad Brandan.

Bear Lake may call itself the Caribbean of the Rockies, but the water is too cold to stay in for long. The cousins enjoyed soaking up the sun on the beach. This is a photo of some of the cousins competing to hit a rock thrown by Aaron with their own rocks. From the left are Xander, Sasha, Logan, Gibson, Abe, Dallin and Niko.

Emma led them in an ab workout while Sasha buried their feet in sand. From the left are Maks, Becky, Niko, Abe, Gibson, Logan and Emma.

The water in Bear Lake is a brilliant blue that makes a gradient from blue to brown as the water gets shallow near the shore.

Gibson created the same gradient using rocks on the beach.

After the lake it was time for a shake. Bear Lake is known for growing raspberries and every gas station, restaurant and snack shack advertises world famous raspberry milk shakes.

On Friday evening we went shopping at the Blue Clothing Company which has the best T-shirts.

Our second day at the beach was a lot like the first. There were two soccer tournaments being played while we were in Bear Lake: the Europa League and the Copa America. Drue made sure we could watch the maximum number of games from both tournaments. This is a photo of the family huddling around Parker's phone to watch the end of the England/Switzerland game. The game ended in England's favor after a shoot out. A remarkable number of games this weekend ended in shootouts.

Back at the house we organized a cornhole tournament. Everyone sat out on the porch to watch the final match with Abe and Dallin playing against Wade and Jon.

Abe and Dallin were the champions.

Here are the brackets (and our house rules) preserved for posterity.

After dinner, we tried out another raspberry shake at a different spot.

Here's a photo with most, but not all, of the people at the reunion, taken outside LeBeau's Famous Shakes. Back row: Jon, Logan, Nate, Gibson, Emma, Abe, Brandan, Becky, Dallin, Xander, Maggie and Sutton. Seated row: Dan, Martha, Parker, Becky, Make, Drue. Front row: Sasha, Salem and Halie. Not pictured, but still at the reunion are Aaron, Niko, Axel and Amber. We're thankful for the few days we spent together with our beloved family.