Marsh Family Bear Lake Part 1 (Boating)

The whole family looks forward to this week all summer.

We were so busy playing and having fun, that I didn't even pull out my camera for the first couple of days.  So much to do and so little time...and having too much fun to tote a big camera around with me.

It's always nice when Grandpa Ralph gets up to make breakfast for everyone.  Peter was excited to help out.

And our week in Bear Lake is generally our haircation for the summer.  Corn rows for the girls so we didn't have to brush hair all week. (I think that's about 34 braids.  One of these years, I'm going to have to find someone to corn row my hair, too.)

There was lots of time spent at the beach and on the lake.  We added a stand up paddle board to our arsenal and it got used every day.  (But no photos.)

After getting up on the surfboard earlier this summer, Samantha decided to give the wakeboard a try.  It is so exciting and fun to watch my kids want to try new things!  (The kids wakeboard was a new addition as well.)

A bit of just hanging out on the boat while she was getting her instructions.

Peter just wanted to drive the boat.  We found out pretty quickly, though, that if you leave him in charge, the boat will either go continuously in a circle or maybe zig zag back and forth.  Not always ideal conditions for the ones being pulled behind the boat. 

He wanted to look as cool as Shawn.  Uh, almost, Peter.

There you go, that's more like it.

Samantha popped up on the wakeboard on her very first try.  Awesome.

My brother Rob talked my nephew into giving it a shot as well.  He got up but went into immediate panic mode and forgot that you can just let go of the rope.  Entertaining for us on the boat, but I hope it didn't permanently scar him.

Did I mention that we spent a lot of time on the boat?  When there's that many people crammed into a little condo, we find that we all just get a long better if we get outside during the day.  We did that really well.

Rob spent some time on the wake board,

and Peter hung out with his new friend, Buzz. (He followed us to Bear Lake and found us on the lake.)

Shawn on the wakeboard.

Peter asked to go out everyday, but would usually fall asleep before his turn, so he was pretty happy to surf with Dad this day.  (I love the point!  He is well trained in posing for pictures apparently.)

And Shawn did some surfing on his own.

Shawn had some fantastic hairstyles on this trip.  (We're still waiting to see if turning 40 means he will cut his hair.)

Samantha's wakeboard crash.

Like I said, Peter fell asleep every afternoon on the boat.  For a kid who hasn't taken a nap in several months, it was kind of funny.  He loved his little napping spot under the seat and after about the second day, just asked if he could lay down and take a nap whenever he felt tired.  (I guess we were playing too hard and staying up too late for the poor little guy.)  Notice Woody and Buzz cuddled up with him.

 Peter sound asleep.

And, again.

Apparently, whoever he was watching here was so captivating that he couldn't keep his eyes open.

Ellie decided to give the wakeboard a try as well.

Fun times on the boat.

Goofball.

Our fearless leader, er, driver.

Jonas is getting far braver on the kneeboard which is fun to watch.

So close on the 360.

And of course, there was time spent on the tubes and on the hotdog.

I managed to get in some time on the water as well.

It just doesn't get better than this!