rip roaring reunion

Last week, our extended Rip family had a reunion at a family camp south of Seattle. I always enjoy spending time with my relatives, catching up on their lives and finding out what issues of the day affect each individual and family represented. God has blessed this family with a great deal of faith and hope for the future. In fact, there were plenty of future family representatives between the ages of 0-12 at this reunion.

The memorable moments of this reunion included water skiing (or watching), rock climbing (I climbed so fast, the picture is blurry and when I got down, Caden was waiting for his turn to put the helmet on), short walks, lots of cards, and many kids. The weather was slightly disappointing for August around a dismal 65-70 degrees, but did not prevent us from doing any activities.

One of the things I will remember most is when the sun briefly broke through in the afternoon as I was reaching for a handful of juicy blackberries. I couldn't help but find some joy in the warm, juicy, tasty, sweet moment that will seem a world away in 6 weeks when I'm back on the south side of the world.

Ice update: If you've been asking, I have a more definite date of when I'll be leaving for Antarctica. My deployment date to the Cold Continent right now is on October 3 as a Passenger Services Representative. I'll be in Denver on September 26.