. The Giles .: Mike and Terry Giles Reunion

So Trace was in charge of his family reunion this past summer. And it's a good thing too. I am not good at planning things out, making schedules (or keeping schedules for that matter), or coming up with good ideas to keep the masses entertained. So for the most part, the Mike and Terry Giles Reunion 2012 was Trace's baby.

After much consideration, we decided to host it in Idaho. We debated renting a lodge for the festivities. But we ran into a few problems. First, was the size of our group. Most lodging facilities can't accommodate our group under one roof. We had the option of renting a few smaller lodges, and having a common meeting place - but we felt that kind defeated the purpose. We all wanted to be together. Then there was the money issue. It just seemed to cost an awful lot. It would wipe out a big portion of the budget. Trace's best memories of family reunions as a kid was playing in the dirt with his cousins, camping. Ultimately, this is what we chose. We wanted our kids to have that same experience getting muddy as they hang out with their cousins. Idaho is one of the best kept secrets. It is gorgeous. And as far as wildlife is concerned, it has a lot to offer. We finally narrowed it down to a camp ground in McCall. It has nice facilities - with hot showers and indoor bathrooms. My kind of camping. It was clean and up to date with soft sanded lots for tents, as well as RV hook-ups.

The theme Trace came up with was "Giles vs Wild", to pay homage to Trace's hero Bear Grylls from Man vs Wild. We had fun coming up with different activities. We wanted the activities to be fun, light-hearted, engaging, and relaxing. We didn't want to over schedule, and we wanted to be flexible. So we planned a list of activities knowing that we may or may not be able to get to all of them, depending on the flow of the reunion.

Activities we did:

1. made Survival paracord bracelets (which ended up being a great activity - we were able to squeeze into Grandma's RV and stay dry from the rain). The older cousins could have done this activity for the whole reunion.

2. Went to the hot springs and warmed up after the rainy day.

3. Went canoeing/kayaking up the north payette. Found a nice beachy spot where we ate lunch and played fun relay games that touched on various survival topics (albeit - loosely).

4. Played disc Tic-tac-toe, while answering questions on how to survive.

5. Lets not forget the s'mores. We also added campfire cones (cone stuffed with marshmallows and various chocolaty goodness wrapped in foil and thrown on the coals until all is melted and gooey). And then there was my favorite (Trace's parents brought these) - something called broomstick biscuits. Biscuit dough wrapped around an old (clean and sanded) greased broomstick handle, slow roasted over the flames. Rotate to cook evenly - takes about 5 minutes. Pull the biscuit off the handle and fill the hollow middle with canned cherry pie filling and top off with some whip cream. S'mores had nothing on these. Yummo!

I wish we remembered to take more pictures. I know there are pictures floating around from other family members. But all in all, it was a blast. I loved camping. My favorite activity was canoeing. I think we accomplished our goals of being together, fostering good relationships, and above all having fun :)

Paracord Bracelets - King Cobra, Cobra and Piranha knots...Wish I took pics of every one's bracelets. There was some awesome color combinations.

Disc Tic-tac-toe (shower curtain, duct tape and dollar store discs)

Grandpa tipped the canoe, while Grandma was still in it. He says it was an accident. I have my doubts :) It's run-off water and it's cold - not something I would even want to walk barefoot in. Way too cold.