Eastman Family Retreat 2020

The corona virus pandemic played a role in our 1st annual Eastman family retreat for good and bad.  Good because without it occurring, Chelsea, Spencer, and Piper would still have been in London and Emma would be at an MTC starting her mission.  We wouldn't have been able to all be together this summer if it hadn't been for COVID19.  But also, on the flip side, "Rona" makes it hard for anybody to do anything these days.  When Utah started opening up in mid-May, we decided to make this retreat happen, and we booked a condo in Park City where we could getaway from our normal places of quarantine and gather together for a little bit of fun.  Matt was starting a new job June 1st, so the only time we had was a three day weekend June 12-14th.

We picked a place that had a rustic mountain feel to it and had lots of room for everybody.  It was located near Park City Mountain Resort and not very far from the downtown area.  Not that the location really mattered because a lot of stores and activities were still not open for business.  We brought some games to play together.  This one shown in the picture is The 5 Second Rule.  It was fun and made for some good laughs.  We also spent some time in the hot tub.  The first night we had to deal with some loud, irreverent ladies next door who were having a bachelorette party that weekend.  They invited us over for Jello shots.  We politely declined.  HaHa!

We spent the morning hours on Saturday at a lovely park with a great playground for Piper and a large green space for us to fly our kites and play frisbee.  We were also entertained by all the different kinds of dogs at the dog park and pond.

After Piper's noon nap and our take-out lunch from Sammy's Bistro Express, we headed out for a family hike.  We hiked the Gambel Oak Loop which was a four mile trail with some ups and downs that weren't too hard to navigate with Piper on Spencer's back.  

Sunday morning we had "home church" and then a short visit to my brother Jeff's new home in PC before heading back down to the Salt Lake valley.  The two night retreat went by too quickly, but we had fun together and look forward to many more Eastman family retreats in years to come.  

Eastman Grandbabies Go Hiking!

Matt and I decided to buy Piper and our future grandchildren a child backpack carrier.  We bought a nice one at REI and tested it out at the beginning of June.  We all drove to Silver Lake at Brighton up Big Cottonwood Canyon one weekday morning.  It's a short, lovely walk around a quiet lake.  We thought it would be an easy place to see if Piper would get in it and then want to stay in it.  And she did!  It was perfect.  She had a great time.  The weather was cool, and there weren't very many people there.  We even got to see a moose!

Zoo Trip

The Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake City finally reopened after the corona quarantine.  We had to buy our tickets and make time reservations online.  The website said masks were strongly recommended, so we wore ours... for about ten minutes.  Hardly anybody was wearing them, so we felt like if they weren't going to protect us by wearing theirs, then why should we wear ours and suffer in the hot sun.    People were spread out and it wasn't crowded anyway.  The zoo had the paths marked with one way directions around the park which helped with people staying out of each other's way.

Piper went to the zoo at the end of last summer at 11 months old, but it was fun to watch her experience it again as a 20 month old toddler.  The tigers, lions and bears were taking naps, but thankfully they were near the glass windows and she could see them.  The giraffes and elephants were favorites.

Memorial Day Graduation BBQ

On Memorial Day my mom and dad hosted a bbq in their backyard to honor Bailey's graduation.  She is among the many graduates of 2020 that didn't get a real graduation ceremony due to Covid19.  A lot of schools were very creative with how they distributed the diplomas and how they celebrated their accomplishments.

My dad cooked us hotdogs and we all brought yummy side dishes to share.  My mom had shoulder surgery so that's why she has a sling on in these pictures.  Matt had to work that day.  It was fun to have all my siblings together again.  Jeff and Jody have now moved to Park City so they will be able to come to more family get togethers.  Lori and most of her family came down from Idaho to join us. Some of us played corn hole and others played Kubb.  We were happy to have had a nice warm day with minimal wind.