Reconnecting on Spicer's Reservoir

It is one of those wonderful blessings when you have the opportunity to reconnect with family, where there has not been that much connection in the past. One of the incredible benefits of moving to Reno is that I was able to reconnect with a part of my family that I don't know very well. My Dad has a brother named Ron and his family always has a family reunion every year at Spicer's Reservoir, high in the Sierra Nevada's. Amazingly enough, the campsite was only about 2.5 hours from my house.

So I had to go.  Unfortunately, Rinar had to work, so I braved it alone.  I spent one night there and it was great to see everyone. However, it was not great sleeping in a tent with my kids. Julia had a hard night, therefore so did I. She fell asleep at dawn right when the birds started to sing. Hence, I got about 1 complete hour of sleep. It was a very long night.  What can I say? She is my sleeping beauty.

Here is my Uncle Ron, cousin Sue, and her daughter Cassie. I think you know those little tikes.

Uncle Ron is on the right, with Dino, my other cousin Debbie's boyfriend.  The lady on the left is a family friend.

This is another family friend, Jeff, holding a distraught Harry. Everyone was so welcoming and inviting and they all were very happy to help  my with my kids.

Cassie is standing, then her dad Chris (Sue's husband) is sitting behind  his oldest son C.J., and next to my other cousin Debbie.  Sue's family owns a restaurant in the Monterrey area called New Awakenings. It was actually featured on an episode of "$40 a Day" with Rachael Ray.

Let's get dirty, oh yeah! My Dirty Harry. Don't worry, it got much worse.

Dino was so good with the kids.

There you go...me and my cousins, Debbie and Sue.

Debbie and Cassie

This is Peggy, my Aunt Vicki's sister. Vicki passed away almost a year ago from cancer. I first met Peggy when we went to Ron's house to pay our respects.

Chris and C.J.  C.J. was so cute with the kids.  Harry and Julia loved playing with him.

On the way home, we drove on hwy 4 through Ebbett's Pass. It is an incredibly beautiful and  harrowing road.  My pictures do not do it justice.  It must be one of the beautiful places on the entire earth...truly God's country.

I actually think I have been on this road before. I have a childhood memory of driving with my dad and sister's up a really windy road. There was snow everywhere and then we had to stop because at this point, there was a huge avalanche of snow piled right here and we had to turn around. If it wasn't at this specific spot, then it was at a place that looked exactly like this.  Weird.