The Gorge

The Gorge
I love this place!
The ONLY bad thing about this whole trip was that it was much too short.
Besides being exhausted by chasing around Jacky for 5 days,
I could have stayed there for forever!
Look at these boys...

Our first day out on the boat was quite an adventure.
First the boat didn't start.
Ugh.
I felt so bad, because my dad and Beth worked so hard to get everything ready.
We tooted around the bay, TRYING to get it started, and we got hit by a monsoon!
Me, Beth, Dad, Grampa, and Grama were rushing around trying to get the top up.
The rain was GUSHING down.
Jack was screaming.
Beth was climbing on top of the dashboard with Grama Pat holding onto her waist for dear life. Ha ha ha
It was horribly funny.
Grama Pat told Max: "One day you will remember going to Flaming Gorge with your grandparents, but they weren't THAT old."
Hee hee hee
Luckily that night, we fixed the good ole Pontoon!

After our small hurricane hit,
the SUN came out.
It was gorgeous!!!
I have never seen a rainbow so clear.
2 rainbows to be exact.
awesome.

The rainbows were everywhere-
One even appeared out of Matty's throat!

The next day,
(the boat worked!)
We went to my dad's most favorite canyon- Bear Canyon
He dropped us off at this huge rock island, and we swam back to the boat!
(thanks for the pic Beth!)

The most amazing, bestest Grama ever

Cowboy Round Up night
Man, I have a creative family!
And doesn't Grampa Jim look handsome?

Grampa and his favorite boys:

(LOVE the pic below that Beth took- it is perfect!)

Ah.................... my favorite,
FLOATIE time!
We got these cool floaties from Costco that had squirt guns built in them, and Jacky loved his crab

WOW, we had good luck with fishing-
13 fish in like 2 hours!
Could be because of the amazing driving skills of a certain girl,
a certain girl whose name starts with an "A"
HA !

Oh it was great to have Ty and Whit come up.
I needed someone stupidly brave to do tricks for cool pictures!
Doesn't it look like he is falling off of the Earth?

Hanging around camp.
I LOVE Deer Run campground-
it is so beautiful!!!
(and it has showers, yes!)
PS- do you think Jacky likes his Grampa?

Have you ever seen a goofier kid?
Or a kid with a cooler snap?

PEOPLE.
I don't know if you can believe this-
(that's why I took pics AND a video)
But, my sweet 6 year old Max WATER SKIED
Uncle Brad- thank you SO much for not letting him fall in.
He cannot wait to go again!
My little man is so OLD!!!

GO MAX!

Andrew,
(aka experienced, pro skier)
also had a fabulous time!

WOO HOO ANDY!

You thought that was all?
Nope, there is more!!
My little (ahem....GIANT) 2 year old went tubing!
Jack grabbed my hand and said:
"Momma, I wanna go"
(how could I say no to that?)
Yes, MY SONS went water skiing and tubing.
Who's kids are they?
Man they are lucky that they didn't get the WIMP gene from their momma.
(yes, I told Matt, my Dad, and Ty that they better be ready to dive in if Jacky happened to get bounced out, my heart was racing and my belly was gurgling)
But all was perfect!
And look, Jack is LOVING it.

How cool to see all the kiddos riding together!

Can you think of anything better than yummy beers on the boat, down my most favorite canyon?

Man, we love the Pontoon!
It needs a name.....
Hm.... I need to think about that one.

We caught 3 1/2 crawdads,
(only 3 bites worth)
So we decided to scare Jack,
Stick a live one in Matty's mouth,
See how much Ty looks like one,
Throw one on Dianna (who wasn't scared at all),
and then throw one at Sara which actually back-fired and scared Grama Pat-
Sorry Grama!
(Ty did it)

I am the luckiest Grand-daughter ever!
And look, they are even color-coordinated:

We found the BEST spot.
It even had a dock for the boats!
AND my wimpier-than-me-cold-all-the-time cousin, Sara, even swam in the water with me!
Don't we look great in neon yellow and orange?
Ty pushed me in, made me drop my sunglasses which sunk like 10 feet, dived in himself to get them, and gave them back.
I guess we're even.... for now.

ZORBA the Greek night!
OPA !
(PS No, I did not drink Ouzo-it's gross. I'll stick with Mickey's, thanks)
And, wow these kids are entertaining!
Sara- the animal walk might just be my new favorite tradition!!

Boo hoo.
Time to go home.
We packed up in the rain (we almost made it!)
But, I am so happy that Matty let us stop to take a picture in front of his favorite canyon- Sheepcreek (that is where he caught his MONSTER fish last week)
Plus, it is just beautiful!!!

What a lucky family we are.

Thanks for the AMAZING trip everyone.
Special thanks to Dad and Beth for chauffeuring us around on the world's best boat.
Thanks to Grama and Grampa for PB pancakes and enjoying the rain with us.
Thanks to Jamie and Brad for taking such great care of the kids while skiing and tubing.
Thanks to Di, Sar, and Lorne for the most delicious camping dessert ever.
Thanks to Ty and Whit for the late-night movie games and all of Ty's antics.
And thanks to all of our SWEET kiddos for entertaining all of us and making my heart melt.

Love you all!
Can't wait till next time!!