Bryce's sister Christine was in charge of the family reunion this year. An email was sent to each family a couple weeks in advance with information such as the reunions theme, and schedule for the week. The introduction was as follows:
All soldiers part of the Daniel B. Ellsworth Company are hereby directed to present themselves for ARMED FORCES SPECIAL TRAINING on July 29th, 2012 in Idaho City, ID at Camp Ivy Dale. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to rendezvous with other soldiers of the D.B.E. Company. You will be expected to work hard, laugh on occasion, wake up early, eat good food and play hard. Please report at 1600 hrs.
Everyone upon arrival picked their family bunk house to unpack and get settled. We soon all gathered in the mess hall to eat dinner. After dinner Christine welcomed everyone to the reunion and got started with a few activities planned for each family. The theme as stated before was armed forces. Each adult had to come up with a new
General name, and each kid had to come up with a new
Private name. Our families new names for the week were General Pro Bono, General Munchkin, Private Busy, and Private Smiles. Each family was given a goodie bag that had army hard hats [for the kids], dog tags, camouflage face paint, rambow headbands, military tattoos, and balloons. Ryan was in charge of making shirts this year that fit the theme perfectly. On the shirt there was a picture of an army tank. Above it read Ellsworth Basic Training, and below it read Veni, Vidi, Vici [I came, I saw, I conquered]. Each family was expected to have a squad name, make a flag that resembled your squad name, and a cadence to share with everyone later in the week. Kyra is obsessed with My Little Ponies, so our squad name was The Pony Express. Each family was also given a mission of some sort to complete when told by General Christine, or General Jason. Our family mission was to "nose" random people for a period of one hour and walk away as if we did nothing when they looked at us weird. No one knew of other family missions, therefore certain families throughout the week would start doing crazy things to other people and come to find out it was their family mission. Other missions included during the family reunion if the song, U Can't Touch This plays each family member must stop what their doing and break out in a dance till the music stops. Another was kicking everyone out of the pool while swimming and doing a synchronized swim routine. Another was having the whole family put bright red lipstick on and kiss attack random people when they are least expecting it. Another was eating food off others plates randomly and acting like it was no big deal. I can't remember them all, but each one was hilarious.
Monday morning after breakfast "the boys" went and did their annual shot gun shoot. Whoever won the previous year is the one in charge the following year, therefore General Lynn was in charge this year. Most of the day was spent in the pool having fun in the hot sun. Before dinner General Kirsten was in charge of taking family pictures. We did not have the best of luck with our family, Kyra and Miles both refused to smile for the picture. Oh well. The big group photo turned out great, especially the silly one. The rest of the night we played games and chit chatted.
Tuesday morning was the annual Mom's Morning Out. Each year General Hugs & Kisses [Pennie] takes the mom's out to breakfast to enjoy each others company with NO distractions [ie. kiddos]. We went to a local diner, Trudy's Kitchen. Super yummy! As always we had a blast eating, chit chatting, and laughing till our bellies hurt. We found out later right before leaving that where we were sitting we were easily heard by the rest of the restaurant. We were so embarrassed but continued our conversation anyways. After we had fun walking around Idaho City and shopping. Idaho City is an old gold mining town with lots of fun history. We also went to Pioneer Cemetery and walked around looking at random grave sights, many were young children. So sad. Before going back to camp we stopped and got ice cream at the local ice cream parlor, so tasty! We had a blast on our Mom's Morning Out, and of course always look forward to next years. Once we got back to camp, all the kids were on their way to "Boot Camp" where General Trevor trained the Privates. It was super cute watching all 27 Privates march around taking orders from General Trevor. The rest of the afternoon was spent at the pool. Lots of games were played. The pool was so nice and refreshing. Later after dinner we gathered outside around the fire pit for each family to their cadence, or talent. Bryce came up with a fun cadence that was quick and easy to learn. The rest of the night was spent playing night games. Many dressed up in their army attire, and had a blast running around playing different games.
Early Wednesday morning I went for a run run with Kirsten and Marcy. We ran six miles, it felt great. Mid-morning everyone wanted to go play in the river. We found the perfect spot alongside the main road right before Idaho City. We all had fun wading, swimming, splashing around, trying to catch fish, and eating lunch. After we ALL went back to the local ice cream parlor and enjoyed a tasty treat. After we of course went swimming in the pool for the remainder of the afternoon. Later General Christine had put together a fun compass challenge for all the Privates. Each Private came back with lots of Canadian treats to share with everyone. Later we had a Company dance party put on by General Ryan. There was a fun light show on a big white sheet, strobe lights, and great music. We all had a great time dancing around. General Ryan even had an Afro 70's wig on. After the dance most people sat around and talked, or visited the massage parlor. The older girl cousins each year put together a massage parlor for everyone to enjoy before bed time. Donations are happily accepted. This year they went above and beyond with decorations, music, and so much more. We all went to bed that night feeling well taken care of.
Thursday we woke up, packed our belongings, and cleaned up camp. After we all said our goodbyes and drove back home to Boise. The reunion this year was awesome, everyone had a blast together. Thanks General Christine for a memorable week at Camp Ivy Dale.
