End of Summer Fun

This summer seems to have flown by.  We have been so busy planning for Zak and Shay's wedding and getting their house ready that it doesn't seem like we have made much time for fun.   So we are trying to cram in as much at the last minute as we can.

The Sargent family took the boat to Blacktail to celebrate Ken'ts birthday, even though he isn't much of a water person.  LarRene convinced me that they needed me to come drive the boat.  I am so glad I did.  It was a beautiful evening and I really enjoyed spending some alone time with my Sargent sisters.

Shamefully it has been a couple of years since I have been out on the boat.  So I had to get back in the routine.  Van backed the boat down the ramp for us, and Rachel's son, Mitch, was there to help me hold the boat.  He got in and suggested we put the skis in the compartment under the floor.  When I lifted the door I saw water gushing in.  Ooops, I forgot to put the plug in.  I am so glad he suggested that.  It could have put a real downer on the evening to sink the boat.

Karlee came to work with me and spent the day playing with Savanna.  They had a great time!

They were the big kids on this trip and were showing off with their hands in the air.  This told me I had to up the ante on their ride.

On their last ride Karlee flew out of the tube and she said she skipped on the water three times!  I wish I could have seen it.  That is the hard thing about driving the boat, I don't have eyes in the back of my head.

There is nothing like having the wind blow through your hair on the lake.  I love it!

All the "big girls" went out on the boat together to get a turn to water ski.  We all were getting a laugh at Sara's abundant cleavage thanks to breast feeding twins.  So we were all cinching up our life jackets to try and compete.  It may be inappropriate to post this, but I don't really care.  My kids can attest to my grand kids that I always did love to make them blush.   Sadly I noticed the gray grow out at my hair line before I noticed my cleavage in this picture.  Uggghhhh!!

I've still got it!  I got up on the first try, rode from the back bay to the front bay and dropped without even getting my hair wet.  That is the way it should be done!

When I was pulling Mitch and Treyton on the tube Karlee was feeding the rope out to them.  I started to go and it was wrapped around her leg and I heard a yelp and her scream, "my leg!"  I pulled back on the throttle and she got out of the rope.  She got a pretty good bruise from it a few days later.  But because she is so tan it didn't really show up very good.

The following weekend we went up to Island Park to float the river with Rich and Theresa and their daughter Maci.  Karlee brought her friend Brilee so it wouldn't be to boring with all the old folks.

We love spending the night in their cabin and just getting away from the hustle and the bustle.  

We were just waiting for the guys to come back from dropping off the car at the take out point on the river.  Maci is such a fun little girl.  Karlee and Brilee had a lot of fun playing with her.

The  Gardner family enjoying the boat ride while Layne and I rowed the boat.

The newlyweds got their own boat

Karlee and Brilee rode on tubes.  The water was a little fast at first and they got separated from the boats at first.  It scared Karlee and Zak had to pull over and help her into the boat.  But her mean parents made her get back onto the tube with her friend.

This float was perfect.  We put in at the Island Park Dam and got out at Ponds Lodge.  It only took a little over an hour.   It was pleasant and moved quickly enough not to get bored.

Layne has been so busy the past month with electrical side jobs that he couldn't stand the thought of heading back to reality.  So we decided to spend an extra night at the cabin.  The next day we drove into Yellowstone National Park.  Karlee had never been there before.  

It is a shame that this is in our back yard and we don't take advantage of it more often.

I am a firm believer that you can travel all over the world and see many beautiful things, but few can compete with the beauty right here.

We stopped at Firehole and waded through the water.  There is actually a pretty deep swimming hole here.  When were were getting out we even saw scuba divers getting ready to go in.  So it must be pretty deep.

Of course we had to stop and see the Fountain Pen hot pots.  Pretty, but stinky!  It is hard to believe these two are the same age.  Brilee just hasn't hit her growth spurt yet.  But they are great friends and we are glad she could come with us.

We ended up at Old Faithful with about thirty minutes before the next eruption so we made some sandwiches and ate them while we were waiting.  It is amazing to see people from all over the world here to see this amazing natural phenomenon.

This was the only wild life we saw the entire day, a cow elk and her two calves.  One is laying down about middle right of the picture.  

It has been a great final week before school starts, now unfortunately, back to reality.