Mason Family Reunion Day At The Park

It wasn't the park we were originally going to play at (found out the one behind GG-Ma's house does NOT have a baseball diamond, for future reference), but it is one fantastic park! The playground is right by the baseball diamond, so the kids can play and us Mommies don't freak out trying to see everybody all at once. Plenty of well-placed trees for shade, and a nice picnic pavilion. Of course, we had to wait for the people who had reserved the baseball facilities to be done before we could play. And towards the end, a big family (another reunion?) showed up and said they had reserved the picnic pavilion. But no one seemed to care much. We had fun. Cindy lugged buckets of water over so the kids could have a water fight (that amazing woman), and most of the dads went out on the field - the non-reserved one - to warm up playing catch. There was much slathering of sunscreen, and lots of water bottles. We had such amazing weather while we were in Denver. It was sunny-but-cool pretty much the entire time. Perfect for a reunion. When the baseball game got into full swing, all the children who wanted to play joined in. Seth pitched to the kids, and pretty much every one of them got a hit. It was cute. The rest of the children played on the swings and in the sand and roamed free. I spent my time counting heads and sitting in the shade, and helping with potty emergencies for little girls.


Eliza has her sunscreen, her "Mater" sunglasses, and is good to go.

Ruth hanging out by the playground..not everyone put on sunblock, and it was obvious later.

Hyrum checking his "gear" after the water fight

Yvette targets Uncle Caleb - repeatedly - in the last dregs of the water fight

Cousin Spencer Galbraith had this great game going on in the shade with the kids too little for baseball: he was a ninja, Laurelin was a princess, Eliza was a dragon, and I think Grant was just watching in wild wonder. They were happy and self-contained for hours.

After the water fight ended - which didn't take long, since Cindy hauled three buckets of water, and no one seemed willing to go back and get more when those were gone - Hyrum lost interest in group activities. He spent the rest of his time in the creek, trying to catch crawdads. He never did (thank goodness! I want a pet crawdad like I want a whole in my head...and on vacation, no less!), but he found several dead ones, and claimed their claws as souvenirs. That gift shop is looking better and better.

Lucy and Yvette on a blanket in the shade, watching the baseball game

Sarah Beth and Jason. He's the cutest kid, I swear, it was so fun to watch him.

Annie, under a pine tree, mad at herself for striking out. She's so good at everything she does, that she just can't forgive herself for not being perfect at something. But, we worked at it, and after she'd gotten it out of her system, she went back for a second try, and did awesomely. What a girl!

Oh, the joy! More water! The sprinklers left a few puddles here and there, and Yvy just couldn't get enough of them.

Of course, after she's wet and muddy and sandy, what does she want more than anything in the world but to have Mommy hold her so she can watch Daddy play baseball

Wayne brought a laptop and hung out in the shade of the picnic pavillion...not sure what he was working on.