Family Vacation

Mike, our fearless leader started our week of fun off with a quick boating trip to Utah Lake.

The next day we headed to Deer Creek for some more family fun. This time a few friends met up with us later in the day. Hailey makes knee boarding look so easy. She never dropped, we just had to stop the boat and tell her it was time for someone else.

Dani, our once very shy and reserved girl, is now quite the dare-devil. Always ready to try something new and fun. She learns quickly and does well with all she tries.

Trenton had the knee boarding down so he wanted to tackle waterskiing. It wasn't working out the way he wanted so he quit. Next time I'm certain he'll get it.

The mom's turn. I begged Mike to take it easy on us. The kids, however, had other ideas. So before getting dumped off, we let go. Plus our arms were getting tired. (It sure stinks getting old.)

We docked the boat and jumped in the RV then headed to the great outdoors. First Stop, Jackson Hole Wyoming, and a rafting trip down the Snake River. I of course was a little nervous for my kids. I've done it many times before so I knew what could happen. I just didn't want my kids getting tossed into the river.

This is our rafting group. Our guide was 24 years old and this was only her second year as a guide. Once again I became a little nervous. The lady (Nancy) sitting next to Dani, actually fell off the raft going over "Big Kahuna". She didn't resurface for about 30 seconds. Scary!! When she did pop up she was ahead of us. We dug in and caught up to her. I managed to help pull her back in the raft. Who knew I could be so tough??!!! Once back in the raft we worried that she would be upset. Not at all, she was calm and ready to finish the ride. She was a single lady who brought her son and his friend down to ride for their 21st birthday. Makes me wonder if I would ever tackle something like that with out Mike around. I would like to think so. I hope I hever have to find out. Our kids had so much fun they were ready to head back up river and do it all again.

Of course when your in Jackson Hole, you have to take a picture by one of the antler arches!

Back on the road towards Yellowstone. We stopped at Colter Bay for a Hike by the Lake. (That's the Tetons behing my fab four) We hoped to spot some critters on our hike. Hailey came closest. She was ahead of us on the trail, not paying attention, when there 15 feet in front of her was a fox, just checking her out. We pointed it out to her and she quickly and quietly moved to the back of the line. The fox then wandered back into the woods.

Once inside Yellowstone park, we pulled over to a picnic area to eat lunch. Mike and Trenton went on a little hike to check things out, when they came across a coyote. They came running back to the RV. Us girls thought for sure they were running just to freak us out and play a trick on us. Turns out, no trick. Needless to say, we had lunch inside. This critter seemed to be waiting for some food. Either waiting for it to fall to the ground or just jump up on the table and take it. We decided not to find out:)

This picture makes me laugh. We had stopped at "Old Faithful" to catch the erruption. After 45 minutes and some false starts, she finally blew. I hurried and asked a man to take a family picture of us. He said sure and took the picture. When I looked, where was "Old Faithful"? The best I can tell, just out of lens shot, off to the right of Trenton. So much for a Family photo. Maybe next time. It only took 12 years for us to come back. Hailey was 6 months old the last time we were here.

Mike grabbed the camera for another picture. The blast was all but finished but we managed to get some of it. Now would be a good time to learn photo shop and I could just add Mike to this picture, or maybe the erruption to the last picture:)

One amazing thing we did see was this Elk. He was just chilling at the side of the road and chewing. Don't know what he was chewing, but he kept chewing and chewing and chewing. He didn't seem bothered by all the folks who stopped to check him out. He was actually huge. This picture doesn't seem to show how big he actually was.

One thing I can't believe, I never saw one buffalo. Not one. Where could they have all been hiding?

Our trip came and went to fast. It was alot of fun and we all had a great time. I can't believe how long it's been since I was last here. It just proves that time flies. We need to take more of these trips. It won't be that long before the kids are working or so busy with school that it will be harder and harder to travel together. We definitely need to take advantage of these moments and make more of them.