Drake Family Reunion 2023

We had the best time at our Drake Family Reunion last week. It's always fun to have our Arizona and Utah family come and this year was no exception. 

As soon as we arrived at Nanny and Papa's house, my cousin Christian came over with his kids and we all went for a walk. Christian has a special love for Arkansas and he really loves to soak it all in. 

So he enjoyed showing his kids the Arkansas summer nights with the cicadas chirping and fireflies lighting up.

The next day Papa set up the inflatable waterslide for the kids and my younger two had a great time playing with some of their cousins. 

I just love these little cuties. 

Tanner felt like one of the big kids when he was invited to go shooting with the adult cousins. He actually out-shot my cousins and he was feeling pretty good about himself. He had a good time teasing them the rest of the week. 

That night we all went over to Cotter Springs and played with the cousins again. 
Our Arizona cousins are way athletic and crazy and were showing us all how to use the rope swing in the most extreme ways. But I was just proud of my older boys for doing it. I was definitely too scared. 

We also enjoyed lots of snuggles and fun with the aunts and uncles. These photos of Tucker and Aunt Sarah crack me up. It was all fun and games until Tucker licked Aunt Sarah. Sarah's facial expression was so funny. 

The next day headed to the lake to go boating. We always love feeding the disgusting carp fish. I love all the kids together at the dock. 

This photo though- this aqua pad has been such a hit for many years. It was a great purchase and has entertained many a kid on the lake. We were able to get 5 boats and we anchored one in a cove and then put out the aqua pad. The anchored boat also had the slide off the back.

We took the kids tubing and they loved it. 

Tucker even learned how to ski. I was so proud of him. He tried something new and he did great. 

I love seeing my kids with their cousins. It's so fun to know that my relationship with my cousins has led to their friendships and sweet little relationships. 

Tanner was a wild man and kept us entertained with his belly flops off the water slide. 

 

Tucker and Tanner also loved jumping off the top deck of the boat. They are wild men. 

Max and Tucker loved jumping off together and timing their splashes. It was so funny to watch. 

 

I always enjoy watching my Dad with his sisters. He's the only boy and his sisters love to dote on him. It was cute to see them floating around together, talking and laughing. I can see my siblings and I doing the same years from now. 

I just love this guy!

Chris was such a great sport and did a lot of driving for kids to tube all day.

Even little Benson went tubing. 

And Benson also loved tubing with all his girl cousins. 

 

We had a great time. We managed to stay out almost all day and not get too sunburned. It was an exhausting day but totally worth it. 

We met back at the air b-n-b houses in Cotter for dinner each night and by the time we went to bed each night we were exhausted. 

Our last full day was spent on the river, canoeing. 

We had a great time but it was definitely our craziest canoe trip ever. 

These kids were troopers and worked hard to help propel our canoes. 

Sometimes they floated down the river though. Tucker and Bailey really loved floating behind and also holding onto the canoe while I pulled them down the river. 

 

Dad and David canoed together and I just loved this image of both of them keeping their knees from getting burned by putting the towels over their legs. It's so cute. 

We stopped for lunch about halfway through our float trip. 

However, where we stopped there was a weird current in the river right before the sandbar and it made it difficult to get the canoes to the sandbar. There was a downed tree causing something almost like a riptide. So we had three canoes flip and that was a little scary. Somehow both Chris and I navigated them without incident.  David and Dad took on some water but didn't tip, for that I was grateful. 

We also discovered some water moccasins near the sandbar so we had to be careful. 

Then as we were finishing our lunches, it started pouring on us. 

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We all got a little wet but we were surviving. 

Then it started hailing and lightening. We weren't sure what to do since there was no place to go. 

At one point I pulled my canoe off the river onto a sandbar for about 10 mins when it was really crazy. Then it was back in our canoe and down the river. 

It rained/poured on and off the rest of our canoe trip. It was seriously our craziest trip ever and one that we wont soon forget. 

These kids were troopers and all had a great time. 

Here is the whole Drake crew. Joseph and Julieta stayed home with their boys, along with Nanny. But the rest of us went and had a great time. 

That night, after getting cleaned up, we went over to Cotter Springs again and took family pictures. 

It's hard to believe that this whole crew came from Grandpa and Grams. 
We miss them both so much and always enjoy getting together and talking and telling family stories. 
I'm so grateful for this family of mine!

Here are the original 13 grandkids. I don't know the last time we were all together and this year was special for that reason.

Here are all the great-grandkids of David and Bettye Drake. 

We also took one of just our immediate family. 

and we had to get one of our classic sibling shots with our faces smashed together. 

Then I snapped a few of Nanny and Papa with their grandkids. 

I love this shot of Nanny and Papa with their favorite people. 

 

Our last night with all the family was spent doing fireworks and Nanny and Papa's house. There were so many kids and so many sparklers going. It was crazy town. 

The kids did sparklers, roman candles and bottle rockets.

Then the real show began. This year Uncle Clark passed the mantle to his son Christian and he put on quite the firework show. It was lots of fun to watch!

The next day was Sunday. Many of us went to church and then we just spent the day chilling. Most people left to start their trips home. However, we stayed at Nanny and Papa's. 

The Allreds and Texas Drakes stayed, as well as Aunt Laura. Just Uncle David and Aunt Michelle left to get home to their cats. 

On Monday we took it easy and went to get ice cream. 
There is a place called "Paradice Cream" and it's our favorite ice cream place in Mtn. Home. 

Then yesterday was the Fourth of July. 
We started our day by going to the firework store. 
Papa gave each kid $10 to spend on fireworks and they loved it. Papa knows the way to their hearts. 

We spent the rest of the day playing outside.

These kids are such great sports. They humor me and I love it. 

 

We did our annual slip-n-slide and played on the trampoline. 

We had so much fun. 

Eventually it was time for fireworks. It was actually a beautiful night for fireworks and we were grateful we didn't have to deal with the heat. We had lots of fun. 

The little boys were feeling pretty big getting to use the punks and lighting their own little fireworks. 

 

 

It was a great fourth of July and we had so much fun with family. 

Today we packed up and drove home. We are getting ready to leave again in the morning to drive out to Oregon so we had to get back, do laundry and then get ready to leave again. 

The reunion was wonderful and I'm so grateful for family that makes an effort to be together. We are so lucky to have each other!