While we did a lot of activities while in CO, we also spent a lot of time just relaxing at the house. A Johanik vacation tradition became a Johanik-Neathery tradition: jigsaw puzzles. We brought one from home that we had completed a couple years ago.

It didn’t take long for our large group to complete,

and once we finished it, we moved on to another one, which we found at the house (with the vexing missing pieces),

and another. Three puzzles in five days!

We played many board games. Among them were Monopoly

and a favorite of both families, Nertz.

Jake, who was in the midst of basic training as a cadre, was able to drive into the mountains to join us for just over 12 hours. We were all quite happy to see him.

We decided that the star of the week was Neal’s Traeger that he hauled in his car from Michigan. It provided every meal, and even some desserts. These are some meat-loving children here.

Ruth was occasionally Neal’s helper.

A couple family games we played were the “Old”lywed Game (because we parents are definitely not newlyweds) and the Sibling Game, both played like the Newlywed Game. Thanks to the Neathery kids, this brought some friendly competition between families.

Jim took some Neathery family pictures. Their kids are all in college, out of the house, so this time together for them was especially sweet.

Peter made breakfast one morning in the expansive kitchen.

And we girls enjoyed hiking on the mountain near the house.