Family Reunion - Red River, New Mexico

my family went camping last weekend for our family reunion. we were headed to red river, new mexico for four days and three nights. it was an 10 hour trip to red river. we had a seven car convey. we had planned to meet at a gas station on the outskirts of town and leave town by 6 a.m. with 32 people (half being children), i wasn't completely sure we would leave before 8 a.m. however, everyone arrived on time and we were on the road by 6 a.m.

each car had walkie talkies. this was one of my most favorite parts of the trip for me. i have only used the walkie talkies for BFS, but i have to say i think this was almost as much fun! my cousin, jamin, assigned call signs for each car/family such as scrooge, glacier, rancher, elders, bombers, beamer, and last but not least donut (can you guess whose that was?) it was a lot of fun to be able to talk back and forth to each car. cell phones would have done the job, but this way each car could hear communications and no one got lost or left behind.

the time in the car wasn't too bad. we had the portable dvds, coloring books, toys and leapsters/gameboys. we all had a map of where we were going and we stopped every hour and a half for diaper changes/bathroom breaks.

this is one of the signs we saw on our way into red river. it's a warning sign about falling rocks and cows. see the cow??

as we got closer to red river, the thermostat in our car continued to go down from 96 degrees to 65 degrees. it was awesome! one of the families was traveling down from colorado. they arrived within 30 minutes after us. as soon as we arrived, everyone set up their camp. three families (ours was one of them) were camping in a tent, one was in a pop-up camper, one was in a travel trailer, and two were in cabins. once camp was set up, we had a delicious hot dog/frito chili pie dinner.

after eating banana boats (bananas sliced almost in half with chocolate in the middle and heated over the fire)for dessert, the long day in the car gotten to everyone. we were all in bed by 10 p.m.

it was about 40-45 degrees overnight. we were cold, but it wasn't too bad.when we woke up the next morning, there were deer hanging around above the campsite. there were a lot of signs about not leaving food out around camp because of bears. we were very careful of that. however, the deer didn't seem bothered or scared of us.

we decided on friday to go up the chairlift. my mom, my uncle, my sister and her family went with us. the officer and my son were in the first chair. my daughter and i were in the second chair. i was a little nervous for my son and daughter. i wasn't sure how they were going to like it.

on the way up, i repeatedly asked the officer how it was going. he would just shake his hand and do a thumbs down. it was a 30 minute ride up to the top. there was a restaurant at the top that we were going to eat lunch at. when we got to the top, the officer told me he did NOT like the chairlift. he felt like it was tilting backward and that they were going to fall. i was surprised by this because the officer is not bothered by heights whatsoever and he has been on a chairlift before and it didn't bother him.


before we got to the top, we saw a lot of our family on their way down. some people (my cousin julie) weren't so excited about the trip down. she was very brave to go on it at all. she doesn't like heights. the worst part about the chairlift was when it would stop. people would use the chairlift to get to the top and they would bike back down. they had to stop the chairlift to load the bikes. there were several groups that did this, so the chairlift stopped several times. every time it stopped or started, the chair would sway. that wasn't so much fun!

while we ate lunch, the officer told me he was going to go back down in the chairlift. his plan was to walk back down the mountain. my son wanted to go with him. i thought it was going to take all afternoon. it was a 30 minute ride up! the officer and my son left about 45 minutes before the rest of us. my nephew got sick at the top. he threw up several times so he and his dad went on down before the rest of us. we saw the officer and my son on our way down. they actually beat us down to the bottom.

we spent the rest of the afternoon eating ice cream, shopping in town, and playing at the local park.


on friday evening, we had a progressive dinner. we went to one campsite for appetizers, another for salad, and another for the main dinner and desserts. it was fun to go to each other's campsites.

my nephew became "obsessed" with my son. whenever my nephew came around he asked everyone where my son was. he would put his hand by his mouth and yell his name. when he saw my son, he would run to hug him. if anyone was in his way, he would literally push them out of the way to get to my son.

my nephew and my son. best buds.

on saturday we went on a hike to a little creek. it was kind of hot, but the creek was nice and cold.

the kids cooled off by sticking their heads in the water.

the officer and my cousin, john, decided they would go on a "hard" hike. i dropped them off at the bottom of the mountain. they were going to hike up the mountain and take pictures at the top. i was going to pick them up when they were done.



i took the kids into town waste some time. we saw a group of kids who were building boats. they were building the boats, painting them, and then going to launch them down the river to see if they would float. we started building the boats, but then it started to rain. then the lightening came. i was a little nervous for the officer and john. we didn't launch the boats because of the lightening. we headed back to camp and waited for the officer to call. i called the officer to check on them and he told me they were almost to camp. they had not found the trail they wanted to hike so they just walked along the mountain and back to camp. we hung out in the tent for the next hour and a half.

all weekend there were moths everywhere. my son decided he wanted to take one home with him. he called him "killer moth". a moth did actually make it's way into our car on the way home. don't know what's happened to it now though.

my son and his "killer moth" friend

the officer took my daughter fishing. my son was too busy climbing on the mountains. you had to keep whatever you caught. i was secretly any fish caught would be "too slippery" to hold onto. my daughter didn't catch and the officer caught one but it came off the hook before it was reeled in all the way by my daughter. my daughter said it was the most favorite part of the vacation.

my cousin, jennifer made some fantastic food in her dutch oven. she made peach cobbler and a beef stew. it was great!!!! who knew you could cook food like that over a campfire. makes me want to try. :) yeah - did you smile at that statement too?

after dinner we sat around the campfire and had jiffy pop (popcorn you pop over the fire) and smores.



we used to have family reunions every three years where we traveled somewhere. however, for the three or four years, we've only had reunions locally. we decided last year to go to the mountains for the summer. our families held garage sales to raise money for the reunion. we were able to raise almost $900. this covered all groceries and a 1/3 of the fees for all the camping. it was nice to get away from the heat and spend long amounts of time together.

we took the opportunities to take family pictures.

all the "great grandkids"

"my mom's family" - sans my sister, gina and her family

the whole family