A Week Well Spent

"Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!"

Psalm 133:1 (ESV)

The 2008 Shaw Family Reunion is now history. It will undoubtably be remembered as one of the most spectacular.

From the mountains that were climbed to the vistas that were all around, from the big bucks to the little fawns, from the wild flowers to the growing grand-children, my mind is filled with images that bring a smile to my face. Over 28 years we have enjoyed 15 family reunions. Here is the list, each entry complete with memories of its own.

1980 - Brandywine Meadows Camp in Honey Brook, Pennsylvania

1982 - Shaw family home in Middle Simonds, New Brunswick

1984 - Dean and Dorinda's home in Hamilton, Ontario

1986 - Alton Bay Christian Conference Center in Alton Bay, New Hampshire

1988 - Shenandoah Acres Resort in Stuarts Draft, Virgina

1990 - Will-O-Wood Campground on Lake Willoughby, Vermont

1992 - Clearview Cottage Resort at Youngs Point, Ontario

1994 - Mountain Top Cottages on Parker Moutain, Nova Scotia

1996 - Cabwaylingo State Forest in Dunlow, West Virgina

1998 - Dunrovin Cottages in Victoria, Prince Edward Island

2000 - Richibucto River Resort in Rexton, New Brunswick

2002 - Magog Mont Orford in Quebec

2004 - Lakes Resort Cottages and Campground in Margaree, Cape Breton

2006 - The Lakeside at Loon Lake in Chesterton, New York

2008 - Alpine Resort Village in Kimberley, British Columbia and Mark and Teresa's home in Wycliffe, BC

Now we are back home in Windsor Locks, CT. A thundershower is moving by outside and will bring down the temperature that was over 90 degrees earlier today. Shawn attended his youth group this evening. We all miss being with our family but must face the reality of returning to the routine of living.

We are looking forward to having David and Marianne visit with us in early August. But for now, we look back on being together as a family, both our Dean family (shown here)

and the larger Shaw family shown below.

DAY SIX - Winding Down

After my bear sighting of yesterday, I had 6 people join me on my early morning walk today. We did not see any bear, but what a joy to come upon these two spotted fawn who were following their mom but stopped long enough to look at all the curious camera carrying tourists!

This year's Shaw Family Reunion is now winding down, and that is probably a good thing, I'm exhausted. But I couldn't relax until after I took part in our now traditional omlet breakfast. It has become a tradition for me to cook omlets for everyone at the reunion who would like one. This year I cooked 29 3-egg omlets over 2 and 1/2 hours.

Barb assisted in getting the plates prepared and served and everyone seemed to enjoy this year's installment. I think this is a tradition we may continue. After cleaning up from breakfast I took Jennifer and Erin into Kimberley so they could take an afternoon white-water rafting trip. Then I took Robbie and Kelley and we went to see the Marysville Falls. It was a beautiful sight as you can see from the photos below.

At lunchtime the Shaw children all went out with their mom for some apple strudel and conversation, another important traditon at Shaw Family Reunions. But as always happens, we began to say our goodbyes as Dean Shaw and family were the first to leave at 4:00 pm as they began to make their way back to Massachusetts and New York. The condos that have been home since we arrived began to be less crowded.

Supper was leftovers as we attempted to use up the food from our various condos. We had more tacos, hamburgers, salads, kabobs and the remains of the desserts. After supper, Jay and Holly headed back to New Brunswick. When we had cleaned up from supper we headed off to spend some time at Mark and Teresa's. There I got to sample some of the area's famous apple struddle and watch more of the amazing scenery as the sunset on the day and another family reunion.

DAY FIVE - Adventures Aplenty

On Wednesday I went for an early morning walk. The first part of the walk was with my wife and brother-in-law. When we got to the end of the paved road, they renturned to the condos but I continued on taking a walk on a cross-country trail through the woods. The views were breathtaking. About half-way through the long loop I met a mountain biker who told me he had seen a small black bear and suggested I keep my eyes open. You can bet I did. Just about 5 minutes later I saw the bear pictured below. The bear is hard to see, but I was not about to get any closer since it was large and brown, The bear is behind a tree in the upper left quarter of the picture and it is heading up the hill. My walk was at a much brisker pace following that sighting. My son Josh and I returned later that morning for a second walk but never saw the bear again.A large portion of the reunion group headed to Ft. Steele for part of the day. Ft. Steele is an historical site with life re-enacted from the early days in the Canadian west. There was far more to this than could be enjoyed in the time they alotted but most seemed to enjoy it. My son Robbie, and his wife Kelley, spent the day on a white water rafting trip.

After I returned from my two walks in the woods I took advantage of the hot tub on our deck.

Then it was time to transport a group of the younger reunion group members to a paintball field and take my granddaughter and daughter-in-law Jennifer for some ice cream. Now that is my idea of a good time. Let's hear it for Dairy Queen!

After our ice cream and some shopping for supplies, we returned to pick up the "Shaw malitia" following their war games at Echo Field.

When everyone got back from their respective adventures and excursions, it was time for the cousins and their spouses to prepare the meal. The kids did a great job putting on a Mexican feast. Food included 2 kinds of dip with tortilla chips, salad with salsa, and soft tacos made with the finest ingridients. David's Delight was the dessert for the evening.

Just before we ate dinner we shared in our traditional picture taking event and here is the group who attended this year's Shaw Family Reunion.

God has blessed me richly with a wonderful extended family and I thank him for the opportunity to have been able to share in this adventure with them. I wonder where our next reunion will be in two years, rumor has it, maybe in western North Carolina!

DAY FOUR - Golf and More

For the 10 golfers in our group, morning came early as we left for golfing at 6:00 am. We drove to St. Eugene Mission Resort to spend the morning playing that most frustrating game. We had as much fun as bad golfers can have on an expensive course. Below are pictures of Shawn and Steve as they played their round of golf. The course was beautiful and well maintained.

When we finished up the golf we returned to the condo to join the others, many of them then went off to Mark and Teresa's to enjoy their refreshing swimming pool. For Barb and I it was time to join Dean and Dorinda because we had responsibility for the evening meal, which would double as the 19th wedding anniversary for Mark and Teresa.

Mark and Teresa have done most of the work on arranging for this year's reunion and we wanted to say thank you by honoring them at our evening meal. The meal, which featured 2 salads, roasted potatoes, rolls and butter, kabobs and a frozen strawberry dessert, was used as the occasion to honor them on their anniversary.

When the dinner was over, it was time to watch the MLB All-star game that went on until the wee hours of the morning with the American League finally winning 4-3! Barb could not stay awake until the end.

Oh So Delicious!

Since we have arrived in Kimberley we have learned that it has been developed as a Bavarian town here in the Canadian mountains. They have many features patterned after a Bavarian Village. Near where we are staying is The Old Bauernhaus Restaurant. It is an actual farmhouse from Germany that was built in the 1600's and in 1987 it was taken apart and shipped to Canada where it was reassembled in Kimberley. It is now an authentic German restaurant. This was where Ruby Shaw decided she would like to take her family for a special evening together.

Our reservations were for 5:30 and for the next three hours we enjoyed a wonderful time of family fellowship and excellent German cuisine. The feast included meat, cheese and vegetable trays with various breads and butter. We had two different tasty salads. My personal favorite, a baked brie with a cranberry/pear compote. We had sauteed prawn in a rich white wine and garlic sauce. The entrees were schnitzel, and stroganoff with fresh garden vegetables (asparagus, carrots, roasted red peppers, "zoo-key-knee"squash) we also had roasted potatoes and a traditional German noodle for the stroganoff to go over.

When our meal was completed, everyone seemed happily stuffed and truly blessed to be a part of the Shaw family. It was one of those special memory making events we have come to appreciate at our reunions.

Day Three - Hot and Cold

Day three of this year's reunion began with the group traveling about 100 kilometers into the mountains to a small river that is fed by a melting glacier. After traveling 17 kilometers on a dirt road into a valley we came to a spot where there are several hot springs along this glacier fed river. We traveled down a dirt path to arrive at this wonderful oasis.

When we got down to the rivers edge we found three hot springs that all flowed into the river.

The challenge was to see who could go into the hottest hot spring and who could go into the glacier fed river. The hot spring was very hot and the river was VERY cold! We had people who did both. Most however, most of our group just sat in the warm hot spring. Here are some of the scenes. Below are three of the cousins, Steve, Andy and Joshua who braved the hot spring.Joshua found the glacier fed river to be very cold, as you can see in this picture.

Following our hot springs adventure we headed off for lunch and then our reunion mini-golf adventure in Cranbrook. Below are some pictures from the mini golf tournament.

The golf tournament ended in the early afternoon and some of us were left to wonder what tomorrow's real golf would be like. But it was not yet time to return to the condo, we had to go see Mark and Teresa's home and some folks took a dip in their pool.
This is the front of Mark and Teresa's and below is a view of the back.

When our pool time was finished it was back to the condos to get ready for our dinner out courtesy of Grammie Shaw, shown below surveying her brood.
I will report on our German dinner in my next installment.

Another Close Encounter

With the deer being protected within the city limits and the population being so numerous, it is not surprising that they have become very accustomed to having people around. The new condos are taking away their habitat so they have adjusted by making themselves at home throughout the development where we are staying. As we finished our supper this evening, we observed some deer coming by behind our condo and some us made our way out for a closer look, here's what happened.Supper was prepared by Mark and Sherry Atwater and Danny and Dianne Neale and was enjoyed by us all. The menu included potatoes, carrots, "zoo-key-knee" squash, rolls, grilled chicken or chops, salad, drinks and ice cream bars for dessert. It was awesome!It is always a challenge to find room for 32 people to eat and so we need to be creative.

It was Grammie Shaw who found a seat on the hot tub (below) who first spotted the deer behind the condo.

Jennifer got a closeup view of this resting big boy.

And so did Joshua, Jeffery and Grammie Shaw (below).

And when he had had enough, he got up and left!