The 5th Annual Merrill Reunion

June 10th-13th was our annual Merrill reunion. This is my sibling family reunion. It started out relatively nice weather on Friday morning. Then about noon on Friday until Sunday morning, when we were leaving, it rained. I have never seen rain be so persistent in never stopping before. It was, however, a lot of fun to spend the time with family, very close to a fire or in campers.

On Saturday it did stop for a short while when we went to the Minatonka cave. It was really neat to see all the stalagmites and stalactites in the cave. Nature is so amazing at what it creates.
The sad part is that the cave stays at a constant 40 degrees year round, and it felt warmer in the cave than it had been outside. Then of course when we came out of the cave it started raining again.

The kids found a neat little "fort" in a small grove of trees, not far from camp, where there was some dry ground. They spent a lot of their time in the "fort" and had a great time. That is really what reunions are all about, creating memories. Thank you Kelly for all your efforts in planning it. We had a great time even though it wasn't ideal camping weather.

Just some random pictures of Gage in some fun sunglasses.

If Gage gets to do it then Hunter needs to also.

Everyone waiting to start the tour of the Minatonaka cave. Please get the fire going rangers!

Gage and Howdee trying to get a head start to the cave.

Brindee and cute Rileigh, Mom and Kelly waiting for our tour.

Best buds Hunter and Mason.

EVERYONE at the mouth of the cave.

Inside the cave. Some of the formations.

These formations were known as the seven dwarfs. I could point them all out, but it is a little hard to do on a blog.

One of the bats that has residence in the cave.

Some stalactites.

Some bones of a porcupine that was found in the cave many years ago.

This was known as the "treasure room." There was water that was dripping down constantly on these rocks making it look like a bunch of gold pieces.

More formations.

All of us at the end of the cave. Yes, I had enough layers on.

Bradey, Lacey and Mason at the end of the cave.

A common picture of us at camp. Everyone huddled around the fire in the mud. You can't tell, but it is raining.

A picture of our heavily covered tent. Notice the nice mud bog right in front of our tent after the canopy. It was quite messy when we left camp.