Boating Adventures

Most of our favorite summer adventures took place up in Utah.  We headed up the day after Anna's birthday for some fun with Grandma Beth and Grandpa Mark.  One afternoon we loaded up the kids and took them out on the boat.  Grandpa was a trooper!  He rode that tube with the kiddos for nearly three hours.  Here they are, on the first run of the day:

Anna got to drive...here she is getting ready: 

And they're off...a little faster, please! 

Anna will take care of that!

Ryan was less-than-thrilled about the life jacket.  Hey, don't cry!  Gavin had to wear the pink one! :)

Smooth sailing...Anna was the nicest driver of the group!

Hang in there, Grandpa...you've still got a couple of hours!

Now it's Aimee's turn to drive.  We had to teach her a couple of things about the boat...

...like that the rearview mirror was for watching the people being pulled by the boat, not for checking yourself out. :)

And, the next group on the tube: Bella, Anna, Nathan, and Grandpa...he looks like he's feeling better.

Aimee's a quick learner...here she is checking on the tubers:

Aimee was a bit of a crazy driver...Bella had her thumb down pretty much the whole time, signalling Aimee to go slower.  Hang on, Bells!

Uh, oh.  Grandpa's starting to get a little crazy...

Good driving, Aimee!  Looks like they had a fun ride!

Now for Nathan's turn.

He took his driving VERY seriously!

Grandpa, Anna, Ava, and Aimee, ready to go!

What the.....Grandpa???

Ryan thought he was pretty funny:

At least it got his mind off of his life jacket for a little while...

...but not completely!

Uh, oh.  Daddy took over the wheel.  It's gonna get a little crazy.

My darn shutter speed wasn't fast enough on this one, but I had to include it.  A huge bump:

I thought they were all gonners:

No!  They all stayed on!  Nice recovery.

Grandpa, checking to see if everyone is okay:

Anna, giving her dad a piece of her mind (she doesn't like the big bumps):

Whew, everyone is okay and ready for another go at it (except Anna.)

More crazy rides (without the big bumps!)

A shot of the onlookers, Aunt 'Fifi', Ava, and Bella:

Daddy, watching for the next 'big bump' opportunity...

...but he'll take dumping Grandpa into the water.

The kids, chillin' on the tube.

Now Aunt Steph takes the wheel:

I think they approve!

I don't know what happened here, but somehow Anna ended up in the water:

And changing it up for one last run...I think Bella had had enough!

Yay for boating! Thanks Grandpa and Grandma!

Nathan, completely worn out:

Those kids slept good that night! (So did Grandpa...)