Aspen Grove Part 2...

Tuesday was a fun day.  After the kids classes and dinner we promised the boys we would take them fishing at the little pond there.  We missed out on the cowboy night but we had fun as a family.  

 Sarah was so willing to help the boys get started.

 Boss rarely sat still, but he was having fun watching everyone.

 Brenner really looked the part.

 Eventually we had a pretty big crew fishing.

 Braden looked like a pro.

 Jill, Kelcie and I became determined to catch a stinking fish.  We could see dozens of them and they WOULD NOT EAT OUR CHEESE.  We got more than a little frustrated.  In the end, no one caught anything but we had fun.

 Boston included.  Rusty was there too, but he was behind the lens. 

Wednesday I didn't take many pictures in the mornings and afternoons.  But this night we had Minute to Win It games in the amphitheatre.

 Braden volunteered for a game 

 We were the cheering section in the way way back.  The windows on the end were to our room and Becks room.

 Kelcie was playing Candy Crush like a boss...

 Jaci went up for a game too.

 Rusty kept the littles entertained on the badminton court. 

And when they weren't doing that they were entertained by all the huge boulders around.

Thursday, the last full day at Aspen Grove.  In the spirit of keeping it real, I have to say by this time I was so over being on vacation.  Three weeks being in the same small room with my kids was really hard on me.  So, I may have made a small break down that morning.  But on the plus side I was packed really early and could relax the rest of the day.

 Walking to the Water Follies that day I caught a glimpse of Jaci and Berk with their group.

 Braden and Rusty participated in the Water Follies.  The divided the pool into four areas and they had tasks for each one.  Our team name was Space Unicorns.  And some little boys made up a song too.

 Another glimpse of Berk

 This one was getting all the colored balls into the right colored hoop. We were smart enough to stack the hoops and put them all in one spot.

 This one they had to get Floaters and Sinkers.  Thank heavens Braden had his goggles, or we would have never found the last golf ball!

 Water dominos.

 They had to fill the bucket with a strainer, and everyone had to hold it.  We set a camp record.  8 seconds.  The next closest was over a minute.

 The best part was the syncro routine. I laughed and laughed.

Not sure if the video will play but if it does-- you're welcome.

 Closing assembly was fun.  Mer was cutting Ryan's hair, no big deal.

 As we picked up the kids for the last time we got pictures with their leaders.

 Braden didn't have to get 'picked up' so we didn't get one of him.  The last day we also wore our 2013 family shirts.

 Boss kept wandering around and sitting by Alison.

 The kids went on stage like they did the first night with their groups and did a song.  The whole night was very patriotic.  They also handed out awards.  Rusty was the only one to win the TP award.  At archery one day he hit a roll of toilet paper, and he did it twice.  No one else that week did.  He also got the award for Quarterman -he has pretty good aim with a rifle too.

After that all that was left was getting souvenirs at the shop and packing the last bit and we were finally ready to head home!

Lake Powell 2010...

We were lucky enough to once again head to the Beck's houseboat at Lake Powell. The boys were pretty good in the car, but we stopped in Flagstaff to let them get a snack and stretch.  We stayed on the boat that night and pulled out the next day. As the time there progressed we added more and more people, until in the end we had 17 of us on the boat. It was so much fun. (click on any of the photo collages to enlarge)

{Our traditional Tireless pictures}

We parked at 'our' spot in Last Chance and took right to the water. We've been parking at the same out cropping of rocks for 8 or so years. I am always amazed by Russ's ability to tie the boat to basically a wall of rock and keep us in place!! Now, normally, I am a baby about the temperature of the water, but this year it was sooooo nice. It was Brenner's first trip to the lake, and he loved the water too.  The big boys practically lived in their life jackets and had nice burns on their chins to prove it.

The pictures aren't in any kind of time order, since after 10 days it is all a blur, but you get the gist, there was a lot of water involved.

We took the kids to a beach a few times. They love playing in the sand/mud and hunting for shells.  I am amazed every year by just how many shells there are there.  I call them Lake Shells, since it's not an ocean.

Fun times on the boat, riding in, getting ready or getting finished. We love the new boat. The kids did a lot of tubing, usually while Brenner napped so I don't have any pictures. But imagine in your head Berkley saying, "go faster" and "no bumps" while Braden yells, "he wants bumps" and "lots of bumps" and you get the idea of how much fun they had.

Braden was super excited to bring his wake board for the very first year. He had gone to the lake at home once before but this was a huge chance for him to learn, and by the end of the first few days he could get up all on his own. And, it didn't take him long to start asking how to get across the wake. Man alive, I was so proud of him/ scared out of my mind. But he rocked it. 

The other fun thing we did a ton of was Wake Surfing. It was my first time trying it and I was surprised that I got up my first go round. It was so fun, I have a billion pictures of everyone trying i, but these are my favorites.

*Rusty hanging 10*

Berk also got to wake board- with his Dad

And Uncle Rusty got Jaci up for her first ride. 

So, you know we couldn't NOT try to get Brenner on the board.  I think watching him splash in the water and just be so excited to be out of the boat was as much fun as his turn with his Daddy.

Kelcie, Rusty, and their cousins Bobby & Aaron kept us entertained on the wake boards.

Berk and Jaci have a tight bond. In the way that one loves to hit the other and one loves to take things from the other. It's totally symbiotic- so in the brief moments where there wasn't total insanity they looked somewhat like this... Thank heavens for DS's.

Brenner was just thrilled anytime anyone threw goodies his way.

Uncle Ryan also helped out with the DS playing, isn't that nice?

The boys love the Jet Ski. They would play on it whenever it wasn't being used. And if they were on it, you can be assured they were pushing whomevers hand was driving to make it go faster...

Powell was one of the funnest years yet I think. The Ron Beck family was so fun. We played Nertz, Rook, Presidents, Phase 10 (and Braden won every stinking time), and more. We took sunset cruises. The kids did a mountain of crafts. We ate like kings and queens. Went to Rainbow Bridge and Dangling Rope for ice cream (I left my camera battery behind dang it). Endured some of the stormiest waters yet, including waves from the Tour Boats that soaked the ski boat several times. Can't wait for next year. 

And just in case you've never been to Powell (like the people in the houseboat yards from us) let me give you some advice. It's not cool to bring your boat into someones cove and let your boat drift dangerously close to another tethered houseboat while everyone gets off and swims to climb the rocks-right behind your houseboat.  Powell is enormous and if a boat is there for that week it is theirs. SOOOO, go around the corner of the cove and find your on dang spot!

Sorry, it's been bugging me for a week.  Oh, an wave to people in other boats when they wave at you. It's like boating LAW or something.