Our last vacation of the summer was Island Park with all of my side of the family. In the past we had done Bear Lake for years but the cabin was no longer available through my friend, Sis. Maynes so we decided to do Island Park. We split up into two cabins because we couldn't find a cabin big enough for all of us but it worked out. A little confusing with lack of communication between the two cabins but it made for less chaos throughout the day.
We first drove up to Idaho and stopped by mine and Jennie's friends house, Nick Terry. We met up with him at our 20 year high school reunion a few weeks earlier and told him we were heading to Island Park. He Brought us a bunch of bagel sandwiches from his bagel shop he owns and showed us around his little farm. After that, he and his wife were nice enough to take us to Bear World. Benson was asleep the whole first time so after they went on a few little rides and got ice cream, we decided to drive through again.
We got to the cabin in the evening and met up with everyone. That night we just played some games and got instructions for the spoon assassin game. That was a huge highlight for the kids AND adults alike. I wasn't into it because I didn't want to have to hold a spoon for 4 days straight so Carter got me out super fast. Stephanie and Sophie were the winners of the game and Sophie got lots of people out.
Boose had brought acrylic paint pens and so the grandkids LOVED painting rocks the whole time. There were some pretty cute ones.
We saw moose a few times! That was so neat. I had never seen one that close, but there was a fence between us so I felt pretty safe :).
Kristen and Andrew were so gracious to bring their boat and take us boating every day we were there! Emma did awesome at surfing and really liked that (except the bad rope burn and bruises). Reese, Nora and Lucy all got to learn how to knee board and that was super fun for them. Lucy and Andie had crashed into each other and got hurt (Andie got really hurt) but I was so proud of Lucy for trying again! The other thing the kids liked was the portable/blow-up dock to jump off of and throw each other in.
I am realizing I need to not worry about being cold so much and jump in and try to have more fun. I REALLY REALLY hate being cold but really that prohibits me from enjoying a lot of activities with my Kidds and family....so I am going to make a goal to not worry about it so much and just JUMP IN- to whatever activity it is. I did go surfing once and it was fun but boating just isn't my favorite thing ;).
On Saturday morning we took Grandma and Grandpa with us and drove to Mesa Falls. It was absolutely gorgeous! It was barely raining on and off on the drive there but we got out and the rain had stopped until we had watched the falls for about 10-15 minutes and then the rain started coming down! It wasn't quiet long enough for me but it was still worth the drive.
Just some other random pics. We had a great time with all of our extended family like always! We'll see what next year brings.
