Oct 23, 2013

Did Someone Say Vacation?

Please Pardon the Photo Overload!
 This past August we vacationed with my family in beautiful Bear Lake.  We stayed in a cabin that had one of these outside on the patio.
 We spent a lot of time out here looking at the views like
 this
and this.  Isn't the lake gorgeous! I've heard it changes colors from blue to green depending on the weather and what season it is.
 We also played a lot of games.  Here is my Sister-in-law whipping my brother in a game of Speed.
 Clint had never played but is always up for a challenge. Clint was pretty good. So good in fact that here's my SIL telling Clint to get out, she wants to play my brother again.  Not really. . .
 The older folks thought Speed was a little too face-paced so they opted for this 24 piece puzzle instead. 
 They were thrilled that they actually completed it!
There was also this awesome theater room.  I need some couches like this!  They were heavenly.
 We also went four-wheeling a lot!  Since our vacation last year, my dad has gotten a little ATV happy.  We are glad because that means we had three four-wheelers to ride this year instead of one.  Yay!!!  Here are #4 and Kimberlee.  They started off together, but #4 must have had a premonition that Kim would hit a big rock and roll her wheeler, so he switched with #2.  Don't worry everyone was ok (just a black-eye and a few scratches).
 Here's Clint getting these lovely ladies all set.
 This is what my view looked like for the majority of the ride. . . lots of dust.
 Finally we made it onto a gravel road and that cut the dust down immensely.
 We rode all the way to Old Ephraim's Grave. Ephraim was a huge Grizzly bear, supposedly the last grizzly in Utah.  He weighed 1100 lbs. and was over 9 feet tall! 

 They say this rock monument is the same height as Old Ephraim. 
And for those of you who are dying to read what the monument says, here you go.  No problem.  You can thank me later.
Finally we headed back to the cabin.  We told my mom, who was watching the kiddos, that we'd be gone an hour or so.  I think we ended up being gone 4 hours.  Whoops!  Sorry mom, and thanks again for watching all the kids.
 We also went to the lake.
 We were at North Beach on the Idaho side.
 We rented this boat and this tube and a knee board. 
Yes, after 27 attempts, I finally was able to get up, thanks for asking.
 This is my Gram D.  She doesn't normally smile like this.  She was in the middle of saying something.
 We had a great day playing in the sand
 swimming, and boating
and unfortunately despite lathering on tons of sunscreen, my 3 older boys all got sunburned.  I think the sunscreen must have been bad.  I plan on writing a letter of complaint to Banana Boat when I get some time.
 Our last day in Bear Lake we again drove up to Idaho to take a tour of Minnetonka Cave.
Did you know that this cave has 444 stairs?  You go down 444 and then you hike back up 444. That's a grand total of  888!
My butt never looked so good!--  I wish!!!