The Latest Bear Lake Adventures

So the official reunion is over but as usual, everyone in the family who doesn't have anything totally pressing to do in July has stayed on for as long as they can. We've had people come and go for work obligations and time with other friends and family but we've still had between 20 and 40 people here every day. We've had extended family and friends drop in and have enjoyed some precious quiet days when it's just been me, my sisters and sisters-in-law and our kids.  Here's a bit of what we've been up to:

Shawni, Saydi, my mom and I have had fun making more podcasts (to see our podcast series from last year, click here).

The twins and all of Group 4 have been engineering dams for hours every day in the sand.  They work hard to build a dam then turn on the hose to try it out, then squeal when the dam breaks, then plan out how to build a stronger dam next time.

The wind picks up each afternoon and my dad takes the kids out sailing.  Nothing like a good little sail.

And we've been doing a lot of waterskiing.  Isaac and Ashton have become experts on the wakeboard and Isaac and his two "group 3" buddies have had a great time skiing and wakeboarding all at once behind the boat.  Eliza got up on waterskis for a couple seconds and Silas gave it a few tries but wasn't thrilled with the process (to say the least). 

Liza got up on skis and I was so excited about it that I didn't think to take a picture until she was almost to fall!

Silas wasn't exactly thrilled about trying to waterski but he felt really good about making a couple good attempts.

Ana, Isaac and Grace had so much fun out there together.
Isaac and Grace had a few little bumps but came out smiling.

Ana and Isaac reached over and held hands for a while.

Jared showed his stuff

Oliver has had absolutely no desire to try waterskiing after his recent waterski attempt in Ashton resulted in him being dragged through the mud on his face.  I really can't blame him for being hesitant.  He did, however, amaze everyone by being one of the first to plunge into the icy water of Bloomington Lake. 

We made our annual trek to Bloomington Lake.  Usually when we make our trek up into the hills to Bloomington Lake (near where my ancestors lived and near where my grandparents are buried), we find amazing green and gorgeous wildflowers around the crystal clear gem of a lake nestled into glacier-packed rugged peaks. But this year we found SNOW - and lots of it.  We hiked in flipflops through tundra-like brown landscape to get to the lake that was about half covered with snow. And the rope swing everyone usually jumps off had been tangled in the tree branches way out of our reach.  But some brave souls (including Oliver, Ashton and Isaac) decided to jump into that frigid water anyway.  It was quite an adventure!  Click here if you want to see last year's post when Oliver became the youngest guy anyone's heard of to jump off the rope swing.  He was bound and determined to do it again and was sad when the rope swing was out of commission this year - but he impressed everyone by taking the plunge into the water anyway.














The kids have been doing lots of crafts and reading when we're not at the beach and each group has done a great job taking care of their assigned duties after meals.  We were all particularly impressed with how group four could get their dishes done when it was their turn - even though they're too short to really reach the sink.

 We've had a few special occasions too.

Jonah blessed his baby Poem last Sunday.  He gave a beautiful blessing and that little Poem is the smiliest, cutest baby - always babbling and cooing.  It was so fun for all the cousins to be there for her special day and for all her Eyre uncles to be there to stand in the circle as Jonah blessed her.





Eli had a birthday and we enjoyed the amazing Thai food that his wife Julie made for all of us plus the kids had fun giving him coupons for everything from neck massages to pedicures to cute Camden doing a pretty impressive dance to the theme from the movie Tron.  They also set up a treasure hunt for him, pooled their money to buy him a special water gun (he's opening it in the photo below), and everyone enjoyed his tasty birthday cake.  Eli's one cool uncle.







But probably the best thing by far that the kids have been doing in the last week has been Grammie Camp.  As usual, my mom has taken each of the groups off for 24 hours of fun and learning.  She teaches them all about their ancestors, takes them to ancestor sites, takes them out to eat, teaches them songs, and shows them a fabulous time. Plus my dad took all the kids over age 8 on a big hike early this morning and taught them "Grandfather's Secrets" as they sat at a lookout point above the lake. His secrets include ideas about leadership, about choosing to be happy, about making decisions, about finding their unique purpose.  It's some good stuff, I tell you.  I'm so blessed to have such wonderful parents.

My dad and mom are always teaching these kids something - in a fun way.
Wish I had a photo of my mom with the kids but she's a moving target!