Slade Family Reunion 2008

Back in June of 2006, the four of us, my parents and Karin all went out to Mustang Island in Port Aransas, Texas for the Slade Family Reunion 2006. As reported then, my Mom, Charmy Sorem, was nominated to plan the 2008 reunion. Mom planned the reunion for the weekend of August 8 -10, 2008 in Ravendale, California at the Spanish Springs Resort. Given the turnout and all the smiles throughout the weekend, a good time was had by all.

My maternal grandmother, Deon Slade Evans, was one of five siblings, Arlee (Slade) Seaverson, Frieda (Slade) Fiero, Shirlee (Slade) Blackner, Deon Slade Evans and Joseph (Buzz) Slade Jr. Those five produced 18 “Slade” first cousins. We call them the Slade cousins. Instead of a secret handshake, the cousins can do a rousing version of the Wyoming fight song – Ragtime Cowboy Joe.

On Thursday August 7, 2008, just after 1pm, Robin, Andrew and I picked up Noah from his camp at Beth Am Preschool and started our drive north to Susanville. While the drive is always long, we managed to make it in less than 12 hours this time (thank you cooperative boys)! We arrived at the Roseberry House at about 12:30am. The boys had fallen asleep just after 10pm outside of Minden/Gardnerville, Nevada and both transitioned into their beds in the house very nicely.

We woke on Friday morning to Andrew coming into our room (he had slept in a different room downstairs) with a cute card and six one dollar bills. Richard and Judi Ernst, co-proprietors of the Roseberry House with my parents, had given him the card for his 6th birthday and he was very excited. He laid out the bills one by one. After Andrew got us up, Robin and I went downstairs (Noah continued to sleep) to say hello to Debbie and Curt Swiger (Aunt Debbie is my Mom’s only first cousin on her father Milton Joseph Evans’ side of the family) and Michael and Lynda Evans (Uncle Mike is my Mom’s younger brother). For us, the reunion had begun.

Around 10am, we all got into cars and caravanned the 50 miles from Susanville up to Ravendale. To call this place remote is a significant understatement. While for the rest of the world, the 2008 Olympics were opening, Ravendale was in the dark (no TVs, no opening ceremonies, no gymnastics, zilch). The darkness prevailed during the five or six hour power outage on Saturday! Since my Mom served as the reunion host, we wanted to be the first to arrive and setup shop. My immediate family all stayed in one large structure called the Conference Center and Bunkhouse. It was a nice setup and allowed us all to be together and have a little of our own space as well.

As afternoon rolled around, more and more people started to arrive. I was especially looking forward to seeing other members of the Evans branch of the Slade family, Michael and Lynda Evans (mentioned above), Kirk and Donna Evans (Uncle Kirk is my Mom’s older brother), Holly, Shiraz and Lyra Cupala (Cousin Holly is Kirk and Donna’s daughter and one of my three true first cousins), Ginger, Dan, Nellie, John, William and Molly Wilcox (Cousin Ginger is Donna’s daughter). It was very nice to see everyone and how they are all doing and growing up and also for them to get a look at the boys and how they have grown.

Before all of the others started to trickle in, we took the boys for a swim in the “pool.” Average daytime pool temperature – 68 degrees F; percentage of pool clean enough to swim in – 10%; amount of time spent in pool – 15 minutes; amount of time needed to stop shivering after visiting the pool – 30 minutes. Regardless, our Noah actually wanted to swim again on Saturday. He did – same results.

After swimming, we put the boys down for a nap. As folks arrived, most people were hanging out down in the main bar/clubhouse area. After the boys awoke from their naps, we headed down there. Noah was excited to join in the fun, but Andrew was very shy to start. After a couple of hours though, he started to warm up.

Uncle Kirk, Mom & Uncle Mike

Wilcox Kids - Will, Nellie, Molly & John

Uncle Kirk & Holly

Uncle Mike & Aunt Lynda

We played a little pool and found a little TV to play some video games – all was well.

Andrew really warmed up after the kids went outside and started doing some rock climbing with Cousin Lyra.







Friday night dinner was a family favorite – Chicken and Spaghetti. Evidently it is a Fiero family recipe that was passed down from Frieda (Slade) Fiero to my Mom. I heard no complaints and saw many people washing down their plates with a frosty beverage or two. We even managed to get the boys to eat a fair share! Great work by Mom & Dad – the cookers (as the kids call people who cook the food).


As dinner finished up, Shiraz Cupala brought out a case of Champagne he had brought along to celebrate a major event for Cousin Holly. Shiraz proposed a toast to Holly for her first major novel publishing deal with Harper Collins. Shiraz’s toast was very sweet – Holly blushed. Several people helped to pour the Champagne, but lots more helped to celebrate!

Boys on Wagon After Dinner

After dinner, the resort staff started a bonfire and out came the marshmallows. Everyone had fun and Auntie Karin really got into the roasting act; the boys got into the eating act; later Karin got into the twirling act with Noah!

After all that fun, we hit the sack. Getting to sleep in foreign environments is always a little challenging. Overall it went all right. Only 30 minutes or so until they were fast asleep. Robin and I followed shortly thereafter.

Saturday morning, we got up, had breakfast and trodded around the resort for a couple of hours. We hit the swings and the teeter totter, checked out an Indian teepee, climbed up a log structure and the boys watched me slide down a big pole. We then headed over toward the horseshoe pit where we ran into Aunt Debbie and Curt who were walking their cute little white dog named Chantilly. Apparently Chantilly had befriended a little black cat (later named Skip, because that’s what you name cats when you don’t know their name – at least according to Molly Wilcox). The boys took to the little black cat. So much so that Andrew said he loved the kitty and he wanted to take it home. Unfortunately for Andrew, Robin is allergic. So we spent the next several hours explaining to Andrew how it just was not going to happen. But in between our explanations to Andrew about how his latest plan to keep the kitty would not work, we played all around – horseshoes, shuffleboard, train crossing (a game that involves tennis racquets and a shuffleboard run) and the like. The boys’ new kitty followed us back down to the clubhouse area (with a little help I might add).

Noah Helping Kitty

When we got over to the clubhouse, the crafts were in full swing. Cousin Ginger was working with kids making craft cowboy hats and Cousin Holly was painting faces. Andrew put Ginger’s patience to the test (she passed with flying colors – after all, she has four of her own), and made a great cowboy hat. Noah did as well. Holly painted a darling train on Noah’s cheek and then painted a train on Andrew’s left hand and a wolf (with a moon background) on his right hand. Very cool!

After all this action, the boys (and Robin) took a much needed rest. I wandered around trying to setup a spot for family photographs. I found a decent spot right near the dining area and tried to plan it out a bit – Karin provided some much needed support.

After naptime, we took Noah swimming again (insane boy) and showered everyone up for dinner and pictures. We all headed down to the clubhouse before dinnertime. Uncle Kirk & Aunt Donna had bought the boys a little remote control car, which provided some great amusement! I also practiced snapping a few pictures of folks in advance of the family photos.

Andrew Playing Cars!


Holly & Lyra Resting

Uncle Mike & Aunt Lynda

Alas we had the family group shots. To say I took a dose of medicine for trying to put this all together is to put it mildly. The shots are fair (I chose to go with the sun in the face and I’m still not sure that was the right call). We got a shot of each of the groups of families and then a shot of all the Slade cousins who were there.

Fiero Family

Evans Family

Slade Family (and Slade Fiero)


Seaverson Family


The Slade Cousins

For dinner on Saturday, Spanish Springs put on a Tri Tip BBQ that was pretty darn good. As dinner was winding down, my mom (with a little help from my sister) served as MC for her self created awards ceremony. The awards were all things my Mom made up – like who traveled the farthest to attend (Uncle Mike), who traveled the shortest to attend (Uncle Kirk), most marriages (Cousin Kenny), the oldest (Cousin Laurian), youngest (Cousin Jeff) and so on. There must have been 30 awards, so lots of people “won.” The prizes were jars of my parents homemade jams. The prize is well worth the price of attendance. We’ve been eating my parents jams for years and they are the best. If you have never had a jar, you are missing out. Perhaps you should consider a trip to Susanville for one….

Mom Doing Her Thing


Hello Karin

Uncle Mike Scores


Uncle Kirk and His Jam


Aunt Debbie is Jammin'


Old (Laurian) & Young (Jeff)

After the awards, my mom handed off the family banner to the host of the next reunion in 2010, Cousin Jeff Slade. The handoff could not have gone any better. Jeff plans to hold the next reunion at Lake Powell down in Arizona. Nice! As a bonus, Jeff announced that the next reunion might be a little more expensive so the cousins (my parents) might need to help the kids out with the cost. I piped in that I thought this was a wonderful idea. My parents, however, evidently have other plans as my Dad piped right back saying that they’ve already created a special exception for us. I think it is called the “no subsidy” exception.

The Handoff - Mom to Jeff Slade

After all that fun, most people headed back down to the clubhouse/bar for some dancing and singing. While everyone had fun, I think my parents had the most fun dancing. The old folks have some moves. Far more than me, that’s for sure….

Mom & Dad Groovin'

Andrew Walking the Line

Andrew Getting Some Love from Nana & the Grampster

Grampster's Got Andrew by the Ears

Shake Those Bootys Ladies

To cap off the evening, some of the Cousins belted out Ragtime Cowboy Joe. While it was not the best version ever, it sure was spirited!

Back & Forward on the Saddle . . .

The next morning, Robin, Noah and I left Andrew with my parents and headed southward to San Diego. Andrew was a little sad, but he was set for a good time for the week with his grandparents. Just as any little six year old boy should…

On the ride home, just south of Bishop on US-395, Homer, our lovely Honda Odyssey, rolled right past 60,000 miles. We bought him in December 2005, so 4 months shy of 3 years and we’ve got 60,000 on him. He’s a trooper.

Lake Powell 2010, here come the Slades!

It Would Have Been Enough

As Robin’s pregnancy wore on and on and on, we began to call this the “Pain Pregnancy”. Since the baby is now about to come, we are now finally getting around to telling the tale of the journey through it. This is obviously largely Robin’s journey. I just got called in to captain her ship from time to time when she had to head to the infirmary. She's taken a few trips there.

At first all the things that were happening to Robin were new and different. With Andrew, Robin was a delightfully happy pregnant woman. I even remember her saying things like, “I am going to miss being pregnant” and “I feel great today!” With Noah, there were a few more aches, but overall, Robin was still a happy pregnant woman.

Not this time around. It all started with the early (6.5 weeks) concerns about a blood clot behind the placenta and the chance that it could cause the placenta to pull away from the uterus and the pregnancy to spontaneously abort. Finally at 11.5 weeks, the clot disappeared, but that took a toll on Robin’s psyche. At about 10 weeks, the usual early pregnancy malaise morphed into strange upper abdominal pains. We were never able to obtain certain diagnosis on these pains (as true diagnosis requires exposure to radioactive materials that is not appropriate during pregnancy), but most think the pains are gall bladder related or possibly pancreatitis. Robin is not one to complain about pain, but this was different. IT REALLY REALLY HURT. The pains would come on almost daily and put her pretty much out of commission in the evenings. Fortunately, that is when I would be home to take over the helm.

At about 20 weeks, a new pain arrived. This one we had fully diagnosed - pubic symphysis pain. The cause is an early separation or loosening of the joints preparing for labor due to Robin’s body producing too much of the hormone relaxin. Relaxin’ was exactly what Robin was not doing once this pain hit. It was a ringer. Fortunately for Robin, it only hurt her when she would move (roll over in bed, pull on a pair of pants, walk, run, etc). She saw a chiropractor for many weeks and the sessions helped, but the pain persisted.

Next, at nearly 27 weeks, Robin felt a new very sharp pain. We went to Robin’s OB who sent us to the hospital to have it fully checked out. It turned out that Robin had a kidney stone which she passed five days after diagnosis. Unfortunately, her left side kidney pain continued and several weeks later, we think Robin passed a second stone. Since then, thankfully, no kidney pain. Phew! I think that was the most painful part of the pregnancy.

At the time of kidney stone diagnosis, they ran an abdominal ultrasound and determined that baby was in a breech position. Since both boys were vaginal births, Robin really, really wanted to avoid a C-section if at all possible. While the baby’s breech position provided some relief for Robin’s pubic symphysis pain, there was now the immense concern over whether he would flip to a head down position to avoid the possible need for a C-section. Baby stayed in a breech position for 8 weeks. Thankfully the little guy flipped at about 34 weeks and has stayed head down since.

The night the first kidney stone passed, Robin started running a fever. The next day, she started coughing horribly and coughing up blood and was having a difficult time breathing (she would say it felt like an elephant was sitting on her chest). Robin went to the doctor for this as well and they indicated it was tonsillitis, bronchitis or possibly walking pneumonia. They couldn’t do a chest X-ray to verify the pneumonia. We think she acquired this malady from being in the hospital for the kidney stone. They gave her some antibiotics and an inhaler and prescribed rest. After a week more, this finally cleared up.

Oh, and then of course, at 29 weeks Robin was once again diagnosed with gestational diabetes (she had this with Noah too).

The toll this all has taken on her psyche has been immense, but she is a trooper and has hung in there.

At one point, in early September, Robin sat down on the floor to build Lincoln Logs with Noah. Here is what she said about that experience:

“So, I sat down on the floor tonight to do Lincoln Logs with Noah. We made our fort, had a nice time doing it and Evan took a picture of us. I was hurting a little and uncomfortable while sitting but managed through. Then I tried to get up. Oh my! Talk about seeing stars....”

Brave Faced Robin, Noah and Lincoln Logs

As all the maladies came together, Robin wrote a riff to the Passover song Dayenu. Roughly translated, it means, “it would have been enough or sufficient.”

“If it was just a normal pregnancy, it would have been sufficient.

If it was just a pregnancy with a blood clot behind the placenta, it would have been sufficient.

If it was just a pregnancy with a blood clot and gallbladder pain, it would have been sufficient.

If it was just a pregnancy with a blood clot, gallbladder pain and pubic symphysis pain, it would have been sufficient.

If it was just a pregnancy with a blood clot, gallbladder pain, pubic symphysis pain and a kidney stone, it would have been sufficient.

If it was just a pregnancy with a blood clot, gallbladder pain, pubic symphysis pain, a kidney stone, tonsillitis, bronchitis and maybe walking pneumonia, it would have been sufficient.

If it was just a pregnancy with a blood clot, gallbladder pain, pubic symphysis pain, a kidney stone, tonsillitis, bronchitis, maybe walking pneumonia and gestational diabetes, it would have been sufficient.”

But that could not be everything. At 32 weeks, Robin found a lump on her left side rib cage. She saw three doctors concerning it and while none of them think it is malignant, none are absolutely certain. After the baby is born, Robin will have it removed and biopsy it to be sure. Just to add another thing…

Amusingly, I asked Robin at what point we give up on having a fourth kid and I get a vasectomy. That might be a good question... We’re not sure a fourth kid is in our future.

But thankfully this pregnancy is now almost over; the reward almost here. We’re hopeful for healthy. We’ll let you know when we do!