Anderson Family Reunion 2011

The Anderson Family Reunion this year was absolutely FABULOUS! It always is but we are so grateful for each time we get to spend with our extended family. We love them so much and are so grateful for all the memories. This will be a LOT of pictures but I will try and recap all the fun things we did. These first couple of pictures are at a park that has this awesome hot air balloon you can ride and overlook orange county and they have a carousel to ride as well. We didn't have time to ride the balloon but we did do the carousel and Maddy was TERRIFIED of it. She would only go on it if she could sit on the benches NOT the horses. Silly girl!

We stayed with Leslie and David which is always a treat for us! Maddy LOVES Raegan and we love our cousin time too.

We went and spent a few hours at the Orange County Fair with the Colliers. We saw an Ox for the very first time and we couldn't believe how HUGE they were. It was amazing.

We ate at a local pizza place who was hosting a fundraiser for a friend of Leslie and David's and Maddy and Raegan both bit the dust outside and skinned their knee in the exact same spot. They were not happy the whole ride home but we couldn't resist getting a picture. :)

Raegan has a pet rabbit named dirt and while Josh and David were moving some things around in the backyard Maddy had her hand near Dirt's head and Dirt got spooked and bit Maddy. She talked about it ALL weekend and warned anyone who went in the backyard to stay away from Dirt. It was so sad but so funny all at the same time. She eventually got brave and played with him some more. Leslie has these gorgeous flower bushes in her front yard that I couldn't resist taking the photo opp with Maddy.

The whole Anderson clan met at the beach and we got a ton of pictures but I thought I would just post a few here. We LOVE the beach especially with so many cousins. There was lots of boogie boarding, even by my 62 year old dad, sand castle building, s'more making around the fire pit and just talking while soaking in the sun.

Ruby's is always a must for us when we go to the beach so this was our lunch trip with the Mangum fam.

Beach fire pit night! This picture is of Leslie, myself and Dawn (we are missing my cousin Kim). We were all born the same year just a few months from each other and we have always been close. Anytime we get the chance to be together we take it. I love these girls so much and am so grateful to be able to call them family.

My cousin's kids put together a pirate party at Aunt Coralee's beach house for all the little cousins in the family. It was so awesome, the kids received invites before we even got to California and they came as messages in bottles, too cute! At the party they had pirate dress ups the kids could put on and they went on a treasure hunt where they found a huge treasure box full of candy and toys. The kids ate it up, it was so fun!

We spent our last day there at Balboa Pier, playing on the carousel, Josh went para sailing with Jeremy, eating ice cream, playing in the arcade and taking a harbour cruise with most of the Anderson fam. We had to end our vacation early because a few weeks before the reunion we were blessed to hear that Josh got a JOB!!! We were so thrilled and felt so blessed to have it come at the time it did.