August 16, 2008

connell family reunion











We had our annual reunion at Mandi's parent's home at the Lake of the Ozarks. All 6 of the Connell girls were there with their families including 14 grandkids. We were only missing Mandi's brother who is serving a mission in California. It was a blast! Activities included: 4-wheeling, swimming, boating, fishing, wake boarding, wake surfing, tubing, hiking, eating, playing games, scavenger hunts, bon fires, treasure hunts, bike riding, cliff jumping, hot tubbing, craft making, pinata hitting, playing the wii, and watching movies, and of course, a whole lot of talking! It's quite a ordeal to organize such a reunion, and it turned out great! Thanks to all who helped pull this together and especially to Mandi's parents who housed us all. Jonah is still begging to go back to Grandma's house. We had a little scare one morning when Jonah and his cousin Anna walked into the house after being outside (something they were not supposed to do without an adult). They were still in their pajamas and we thought they were playing inside. Jonah confessed that he and Anna were just sitting on the paddle boat! They had no life jackets on and had walked down the 45 stairs to the lake and climbed into Grandma's paddle boat! We know that they had guardian angels with them that morning. After that, we made sure that the doors leading to the dock were not only dead-bolted, but toddler proof and we had a very long talk with the two culprits.


Special thanks to my brother-in-law, Matt Kimball, for taking these great pictures. He's so talented!