Bear Lake 2008

Last week we came back from our annual Bear Lake trip with the Harper clan. Ryan's family (his grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins, etc.) has been going there for 30 years! This was our best year yet! Olivia was a great flag girl on the boat---when the Coast Guard came by she held it up extra high for them.
Coleman had a great time on the jet ski with Uncle John who came with his family from Portland. They come each year and are so generous to bring their jet skis for us all to enjoy--but we are mostly glad that they come so we can enjoy the company of their family!
The kids could have stayed and played in the sand all day. Here they are with their cute cousins Sam and Alyza. Sam broke his arm just before the trip--but he was a trooper and wore a plastic bag over his cast and kept his arm in his sling so he could still play. They made a rockin' sand castle, complete with seashell (lakeshell?) decor.
We went for a swim in the middle of the lake and true to form, the water was very cold... but clear and blue and wonderful. We saw fish in it while we were jet-skiing and boating--it's a good thing we didn't see any while we were swimming, because I would have come undone! I don't like animals brushing by me--in or out of the water.
Bruce (Ryan's dad) tried as hard as he could to knock us off the tube... Kristen (married to Ry's brother Scott), Traci (Ryan's sister), and I held on for dear life. I think we knocked heads when we came down on this one... we probably should have let go and just gone into the water. I'm not sure my neck will ever be the same.
We planned a little treasure hunt for the kids around the condo complex... they thought it was great fun and they got all sorts of prizes. Here are the Harper grandkids on their way to one of the stops: Sam, Coleman, Olivia, Alyza, Lucy (WA), and Faith.
I love this picture that Kristen took of Olivia and Alyza. Olivia's such a nurturer and she had a great time being with all of the younger cousins.

While we were there we also enjoyed Rock Band (it's fun to play the guitar, drums, and sing but the songs aren't that great) and Sing Star (which has great songs and the music videos instead of animated rockers--hint, don't let anyone do "I Like Big Butts" with kids in the room, too many questions come out of that), raspberry shakes (they are yummy with lime), card games, Aggie Ice Cream, more good food, water balloon launching, the Raspberry Days Parade (lots of free candy, but most of the floats were trucks or trucks pulling boats--not a real float in the bunch) and we celebrated Bruce's 55th birthday. On the last night our kids got to go on a Jammie Walk with Grandma and Grandpa Harper who came from Connecticut. They gave each of the kids a cute book and then supplied glow sticks and flashlights for their walk in the dark. I am sure it will be one of the favorite traditions at Bear Lake. We love being at Bear Lake with our family!

A quip from Coleman the other night after our scripture study--we had just talked about wanting to follow Jesus, and he said, "We don't want to follow that other guy... what's his name again Mom?"