friday photos

We're back! Lots of traveling, some photos, no editing time. Here are a few snapshots of a recent Gong reunion at the beach.



This is a classic Genghis look (including having some debris around his mouth).


He really did like the tube.


Time with grandmas. We have better photos of grandma time, including photos with Grandma Gong, but they are on another computer so I can't post them now. These will have to do.

How Far Does the Apple Fall From the Tree?

I recently returned from a round robin of family reunions. They were all ... completely different. I will attempt to recreate them here.

Reunion #1
Title: A Redneck Family Reunion
Location: Family Farm, Plymouth, Utah (Just south of idaho and north of nowhere. It's okay, no one else has heard of it either)
Events: Flag raising ceremony, farm fix-up projects, mud pit volleyball, arm pit band contest, pond tubing with 4-wheelers, pond slide (tarp + tires), cardboard box and duct tape pinata
Highlights: Uncle Cory's false teeth and mullet, caravan of aunts' and uncles' outfits to the backyard turned KOA, sudden tornado that blew awning plus various relatives across the lawn and spiraled an air mattress several stories into the air


Mud volleyball


Abe & I after mud volleyball.


Gray hitting redneck pinata.


Matriarch of the clan.

And, of course, the annual Sister Act. Mom, you said no YouTube, but you didn't say anything about blogs...


Reunion #2
Title: Gong Family Reunion 2009
Location: Spring Haven Lodge, Hobblecreek Canyon, Utah. "Spring Haven Lodge, located in the serene mountains east of Springville, is a rustic yet refined retreat for those looking to enjoy classic elegance." (from their website)
Events: Something I'd Like to Share: a presentation followed by Q&A of your life updates (powerpoint available upon advance request), photo sharing and paste up, games in the gymnasium
Highlights: Dinner featuring ingredients such as fresh basil, avocado, or hand-pulled pork; re-creation of the past 20+ years of family reunions from memory; after hours cousins games of improv; fueled by chocolate milk and chips and salsa


Family hike. Surprisingly, I have no photos of the powerpoint presentations.

Reunion #3
Title: Lindsay Reunion
Location: Park City, Utah
Events: eating, sleeping, playing board games, swimming, riding the Alpine Slide,
pinata
Highlights: Playing board games, eating, sleeping (in that order)


Said board games.


Real pinata.


With Grandma on ski lift to Alpine Slide.


A reminder that Utah can be beautiful.

Re-routing to Wisconsin

Two weeks ago I took a solo trip to Wisconsin to meet up with my parents and my niece and nephew, who were staying with them for a few weeks. I was a little nervous about staying alert for a 7.5-hour drive on my own, but, armed with Amelia Peabody mysteries on tape, I made it without so much as a nod.

I brought several books with me, to read while relaxing on the sofa or outside on a blanket. Boy, was I mistaken. I don't think they even made it out of my bag. Mornings I woke up to my 7 year old niece standing by my bed, ready to play. We did breakfast, games, Wii Fit, and piano playing until lunch time. Then we went off on one adventure or another. We also did an overnight trip to the Wisconsin Dells and Noah's Ark, America's Largest Waterpark.


The first day in Wisconsin, we visited the New Zoo. I remember taking a field trip here when I was in elementary school. The lion peed on one of my classmates. My niece and nephew have a chicken coop at home, so they were very excited to chase this guy (girl?) down.


My mom and niece in the teeny tiny train car that wound around the zoo. I can still hear the happy music playing in my head...


The whole family!


Of course, no zoo trip is complete without the "human-head-in-place-of-an-animal" board.


At our motel at the Dells. It had 3 pools alone. One of them had a slide in the shape of a giant whale. It seemed to be the thing there. Every motel had a pool with a slide in a horrific rendition of some animal or mystical creature. The strangest one I saw was a prancing pink unicorn.


We went to the Tommy Bartlett show at the Dells. This circular structure rotated around (like the hands of a clock). There was a person in each of the cylinders at the end. They actually stood on the outside of the cylinders as it spun around.


One day we took a ferry to Washington Island, near Door County (basically at the tip of Wisconsin's tiny thumb sticking out into Lake Michigan). I think Dad was meant to be a seaman.


Mom and I in our sunglasses.


Not to be left out, Naomi sporting my glasses.


After the ferry (and riding bikes around the island) we can back for a fish boil. They boil fish on a fire outdoors, and at the very end throw kerosene on the fire to make it boil over, to get excess oils off, or maybe just to look completely awesome.


Mom and dad with the fish dinner. It was delicious!

i'll have the chicken, please

Several years ago, when traveling to my old roommate's wedding, Abe & I decided to listen to Spanish language tapes on the way (yes, I said tapes). The the only tape we could find at the library was an intermediate level. We went for it anyway, with the unfortunate result that the only Spanish Abe knew was "Hay dos pollos", or, "There are two chickens".

We were at the wedding dinner later that weekend, where they were serving a choice of chicken or beef. In passing, we overheard one hispanic waiter say to another - refering to a table's order - "Hay dos pollos".

That has very little to do with the subject of this post, which has nothing to do with the title of this post. The subject being, we just got back from our trip to Mexico!

Trip highlights:
- Successfully getting across the border, and back again.
- Being with all 16 members of my family.
- Seeing old sites and friends in Arizona before going to Mexico.
- Surviving various calamities (dad vs pneumonia, sister vs stingray, brother-in-law vs mexican "police", 4-car caravan vs 4 GPS devices)
- Wearing shorts
- Not putting on shoes for 3 days, but being outside almost the whole time
- Eating avocados

Some photos.


Cute nieces.


Cute nephew


Nephew and me with large white sunglasses & double chin.


Classic Erin/Abe shot.


What Abe did most of the time.