Letters to Lyla and Lottie: Betty Gambles Family Reunion

welcome to my internet home. this blog used to be cool, with insights about mental health, social policy, pop culture and the like. now, it's a chaotic collection of my mis-spelled, scribbled-down notes on motherhood (who has time to proof read?). it's over-ran with goldfish cracker crumbles, slobery wet kisses, and un-edited pictures. and i would have it no other way. feel free to laugh and cry along side me while I balance a practice (mental heath) and motherhood, and their interconectedness

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Betty Gambles Family Reunion

Posted by Todd & Chelsea at 6:07 PM

July 16-19th was the Betty Gambles Annual Family Reunion. This year it , was held at a cabin in Ashton, ID, at the edge of Yellowstone Park. It's hard to talk about this reunion with out jumping straight to the day the entire family got the death flu...starting with Lyla. When we first got to the cabin Lyla puked in her car seat. First time she's ever actually puked but I thought it was maybe car sickness because she was fine for the entire next day. Then, Saturday night Todd woke in the middle of the night with a horrible stomach flu. We're talking projectile style. I followed him an hour later. Then Lyla was shortly thereafter. It was seriously the worst experience ever. I've never had a sick baby, not to mention one while I'm constantly running to the bathroom! It was so sad to watch her little body dry heave. She also had a fever. We literally holed up in our little 2x2 bedroom, single beds pushed together, for an entire day. I don't think Lyla's ever slept 1/3 as much as she did that trip. We felt so terrible. And then it spread to the rest of the family. By the end of the trip, almost everyone had it. They were dropping like flies even on the drive home. What a nasty bug.

It didn't completely ruin the reunion though! We had some great experiences. We were able to have THIS very talented lady come take family photos of us! Can you believe the last one take was 10 years ago! It was a surprise for Bet and she loved it. That made me happy. We also played Minute to Win It every night, which was really fun! Shauna and Jackie creatively put it together and it was hilarious! We even got to see a bear maybe 200 yards from our cabin!! The smell of hamburgers grilling must have lured him in. It was SO exciting. Who needs to go in to the park?! We had our own private Yellowstone experience from our balcony. It's always fun when the Gambles family gets together...flu or no flu.