Gathering of The Buhler Clan 2012

Getting together with the Buhler cousins is always a summer highlight.



Exploring the beach and all it's creatures entertained these guys for hours.

Our "Sherpas."



Learning new skills.

Their Badminton effort was better than some Olympic teams.

Perfect picture of the goodness of summer.

He tried to get away from my camera.

Who needs a motor boat when you have muscles?

Olympic syndrome.

Playing "Bang" was a big hit

Can't get better then this, sharing meals with family in such a beautiful setting!

 The matriarch with her handsome offsprings!



Reunion

Many good times, many great memories, many priceless pictures.

Tio Fred barely made to our home when the boys thought he needed to cool down!

"Not quite as warm as the Gulf of Mexico"

Sisters reunited

Cousins

To celebrate my mom's 70th birthday, we took her to Leavenworth

where the nuns sang "Happy Birthday" to her before a beautiful performance of Sound of Music.

Sightseeing and stopping for ice cream

Playing in the park

Jumping from bridges

The "jumpers"

The "floaters"

Games and fun

Picking some cherries during the trip back

The trip back

Getting a little silly since for "another" picture, yet one can't have enough.  The next time they are all together, they will have grown many more inches again.

Trading Sand Dunes for Snow Fields

I asked Stefan which was one of his favourite experiences while visiting us.  He said he liked it all, but one of his highlights was the hike Uncle Shawn took him on.

We enjoy having you and feel blessed with the opportunity to get to know you better. 

Bem Vinda Oma

Oma was sent off by her youngest grandson

and welcomed to North America by her oldest grandsons.

Her trip was long and exhausting but uneventful,  until we got to US border again.  

We were rushing out of the house that morning and I grabbed what I thought were my and Christian's passports.  I made sure I had parental permission to cross the border with the two boys.

We had no wait at the border and got to the Vancouver airport with time to spare.  Once my mom arrived and received many welcoming hugs, we were on our way back to the States.  Again I was surprised to see no lines at the border, but even more surprised, actually utterly shocked would be a better description of how I felt, when I saw Shawn's picture on the passport I thought was mine. Until then my mom was a little anxious about her documents.  I told her not to worry, hers would be a piece of cake compared to me trying to enter the USA with my husband's passport.  Interesting that it did not get noticed on way into Canada, but now here I was.  Fortunately, all the officer we spoke with were in a very good mood, as we entertained them with our eclectic group.  I had my nephew who was born in MA, lives in FL and was now visiting us in WA.  My mother had cleared costumes in the States once already that day when she flew in to Dallas, but they had taken her visa entry away when she left for Vancouver.  Then there was me with no passport.  Christian was the only straight forward case, I had managed to grab the right document for him.    It could be a recipe for disaster, but the officers were so gracious and comical that we ended up having a great time with many laughs. 

Welcome Mom!

 

Our Big "Small Group" Camping

 Gathering our four families makes for a nice size group, even though we still had two members missing.

We all loaded our cars up to the brim, and headed for a weekend of camping.

Much time was spent around the fire; singing, talking & solving riddles.

 
Lots of time was also spent playing.  We had a spirited and animated game of fresbee, where the adults had no mercy on the kids.

Neither did the kids take it easy on the adults. 

Beach combing, treasure hunting, fort building and rock throwing were good past times as well.

No party is complete without some good stick fighting  . . .

 . .  or girls vs boys pranks.

Lots of good fun to keep us going

Good hiking around the beautiful area.

A few unexpected obstacles to overcome.

To the younger ones it was a bit easier to get down.

The weekend was a fun filled one, but it also came to an end.  Time to go home!