Boatin'

On Wednesday evening we traveled over the hill and joined the Swensons (Tiffany, T.R. (Tracy), Andy, and Amy) for a quick trip to Willard Bay. Their boat is awesome! It has lots of room and it goes really fast. And now, thanks to me and Betty Crocker, it has little brownie stains all over the carpet. It was pretty breezy so we didn't do any wakeboarding. That was fine with me since I would have been tempted to ride the waves even though my collarbone is still broken. Gavin thought it was pretty neat. He spent a fair bit of time sitting on the swim deck, throwing the ball for his mom or dad to fetch. And yes, he did slide his bum off the edge and take a plunge into the water a few times.

Soccertramp

Gavin has been impressing the heck out of his mom and dad on the trampoline. He jumps really well with both feet and yesterday he revealed his mad soccer skills.

He's a daredevil of the extreme sort and can't get enough of being airborne. It's enought to freak a mama out! I'm thinking I might need to invest in a blindfold as he gets older and even more mobile.

Papa

My Pop and his friend Bob stopped through Hyrum on their way home to Chicago from their big road trip to Alaska. They had ~10,000 miles under their belts by the time they arrived on Tuesday evening! They made the most of the few days they were here - hiked in the Wellsvilles, tromped around in Blacksmith Fork Canyon, ate breakfast at Angie's and dinner at Cafe Sabor, strolled around Tony Grove Lake, and went canoeing at Porcupine Reservoir. They left this morning and are now on the final leg of their journey: two days on the road back to Chicago.

Snake River Pics

A few of Josh's pictures...

Snake River Extravaganza

*No pictures due to lost camera. Bummer.*

Our most recent adventure was a camping/rafting trip near Jackson Hole, WY. We camped in Grey’s River Canyon outside of Alpine, WY. As many times as we’ve visited the Jackson area we never ventured up Grey’s Canyon before. One word: GORGEOUS. It’s a popular area, but there are lots of campsites along the river and we didn’t have much trouble finding a killer spot for our group. Sean and Emily rolled in a couple of hours after we got there on Friday and joined us for dinner. The rest of the group (6 adults and 2 dogs) came in from SLC around 11 pm. On Saturday our group did two runs on the Grand Canyon section of the Snake River – the one that the commercial groups take paddle rafts down a jillion times a day. There are some good rapids on that stretch (Lunchcounter and Big Kahuna are the biggies), so Gavin and I drove the shuttle for the first run while Brandon, Joie and Brody ran the 8-mile stretch Stella-style. Brandon and Gavin drove the shuttle for the second run and Sean rowed Stella with me and Emily aboard. Sean used to be a guide on this particular stretch of river and estimates that he’s probably run it about 200 times. Apparently he’s a little out of practice because as we went through Lunchcounter (the last big rapid) I noticed that one minute I was looking up at the sky and the next minute I was looking up at the boat – which was in the process of flipping upside down and dumping the three of us into the drink. Before I could even start to panic (I’d had a few beers at this point and was feeling pretty relaxed) I popped up out of the water and pulled in a breath of rubbery air. I was underneath the raft. I felt my way to the edge, ducked under, and as I buoyed up into the sunshine I simultaneously thought, “Holy crap, I’m really ok!” and “That was AWESOME!” Sean and Emily had already surfaced and the rest of the group had eddied out. We were all together and accounted for. Nobody got hurt and we didn’t lose any gear and it was the most fun I had all weekend. We didn't have our camera back yet, so we didn't get any pictures. Kind of a bummer, but as Brandon and my mom both pointed out, if we had gotten our camera back it might have gotten lost forever in the big flip. Emily snapped a few and so did Josh (one of the SLC crew and originator of the "Snake River Extravaganza" moniker), so hopefully I'll be able to steal some of theirs.

Maiden Voyage

We finally got our new (to us) rubber onto the water last Friday. Gavin hung out with his babysitter while Brandon and I took 'Stella' for her inaugural float down the Oneida Narrows. She (and we) did beautifully and we are super stoked. I left our camera at the take-out but we finally got it back on Sunday, a little over a week after we lost it, thanks to the honesty and downright neighborliness of the couple who found it.

Prepping, the eve of the launch. At the put-in. An obligatory river-view brew. Pretty green stuff. Canyon overview.

Lil' G Shuffle

I should have taken a video instead of still pictures. You should see this kid dance! He can really cut a rug.

Holiday weekend road trip

We extended our 3-day holiday weekend into 5 days and hit the road north to Montana for Deb Winters' (Deb is Brandon's sister Heather's mom, for those of you keeping track) annual 4th of July Bash. We stayed at Pond's Lodge in Island Park, ID on Thursday night. Brandon got to do some fly fishing and Gavin and I got to do some charity work feeding blood to needy mosquitoes. Aside from the mosquito thing we really enjoyed the fancy new cabin and the pretty setting. On Friday morning Brody and I went for a jog in the woods behind the lodge and were treated to seeing two moose (a bull and his lady friend) and a white-tailed deer. Gavin was treated to a morning in bed watching cartoons with Daddy as well as a giant, inflamed, red left ear - courtesy (we think) of the aforementioned mosquitoes. Despite his discomfort he traveled well and even took a nap in the car for the second day in a row - not a common occurrence for our 'spirited' child. We arrived at Deb's house in Townsend, MT on Friday afternoon and proceeded to relax and make ourselves at home. We got to meet Heather's sweet 5-month-old nephew Delwyn and Gavin got to spend some quality time with his cousin Rhiannon. The two of them are peas in a pod - a beautiful thing on multiple levels. We enjoyed stuffed burgers, tequila-soaked watermelon chunks, Brandon's tasty home-brewed pale ale, and numerous other food delights along with some hot tub soaking and fireworks lighting/watching and s'mores with strawberry slices in them (yes, it's a really really good idea). What's an American holiday without a boat-load of food and drink and a little fiery danger thrown in? We said goodbye to Heather and Deb and Rhiannon on Sunday morning and headed back south, this time via Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. We stayed the night in a cabin at Colter Bay in Teton Park. We were still spoiled from staying at the cabin at Pond's Lodge on the way up, so the Park Service cabin seemed kinda lame, but it had everything we needed and the views were incredible. We took a couple of short strolls and, true to form, Gavin scraped up his face on a stump and, later, his elbow on I don't even know what. I can't help but wonder why Child Services hasn't knocked on our door yet to investigate the perpetual owies covering our child. We made our way home on Monday via Jackson Hole, Bear Lake and Logan Canyon. Another beautiful drive. Home's nice, but vacation is nicer. For a whole bunch more pictures, click here.