Bear Lake

On our first day of vacation, we drove to Bear Lake to meet up with the Madsen family at their annual campout.  It was, as always, beautiful there!  The only drawback to the entire event for me is that it was tent camping, not my favorite thing in the world but thanks to nephews, nieces and all my in-laws, things got set up and taken down (which is what I don't like) pretty easily.  Paul's foot problems made it so he couldn't help me with that part of it.  The rest of Paul's siblings have fancy trailers for sleeping and cooking.  The kids love camping so it's worth experiencing a little discomfort for a few days.  I wouldn't have made a very good pioneer, would I?  The weird thing is that I used to love camping but I think that was before I had four kids to take care of on the camping trip.   Anyway, we had a wonderful time catching up with our family, enjoying the boat, wave runners, kayaks, water and sand and relaxing.

Enjoying the campfire!

The kids enjoyed hanging out around the campfire with their cousins

Spencer spent most of the camping trip excited and talking about snipes.  He made these weapons in preparation for a snipe hunt.  His big cousins took him out twice on snipe hunts but they never did catch one.  Maybe next year!

Me talking to my cute great-niece, Daisy!  Love her!

Because we had just flown in from the east, I woke up bright and early (hadn't adjusted to the time zone) and got to see the sun rise over the lake.  Gorgeous!

Lexie, Jovian and Rachel slept together the first night.  Here they are after they woke up!  I don't think they got much sleep.  Rachel hung out with her cousins the entire campout.  They had a great time together.

Courtney and Caitlin admire the Indian Paintbrush along the path to the lake

Now it's time to swim.  The kids loved playing in the water and on the beach. 

Spencer made some cool sand creations but his favorite thing was riding on the tube, kayaking and wave running!

Lexie and Rachel swim around the lake. 

What a pretty girl!

Swimming superstar!

Courtney had such a great time with Chris.  We have missed them so much since they moved back to Utah.

Look at all those girls beautifying the boat!

Rachel and Lexie compare muscles

Isn't she gorgeous? 

Pretty in a pink life vest!

Enjoying the boat ride!

Rachel's first attempt at waterskiing.  Go Rachel!

Courtney rides the wave runner with cousin Anna

Spencer spent hours paddling around in the kayak.  He loved it!

The girls love Aaron.  He kept them entertained the entire campout!

Paul ventured to the lake one day but after that he decided he couldn't walk so far.  We were glad to have him with us.  The rest of the time, he visited with his siblings at the camp.

Keeping his foot elevated.

Caitlin finally succumbed to her exhaustion.

The kids loved flying around behind the boat on the tube! 

Even Caitlin loved going super fast, flying over the wake and swirling in a circle.  Spencer looked like a weeble that wobbles but never falls down.

The Rockettes of the Rockies!

Too bad the camera got dropped in the lake and got ruined or I would have had another entire day's worth of pictures for you to look at.   I even tried waterskiing for the first time in about fifteen years but alas. . .no camera.  I can't believe I actually got up even though I didn't stay up for long!  We had so much fun at Bear Lake and can't wait for another campout next year!