This year the water at the lake was a lot higher, leaving the beach we usually hang out at non existant, but that didn't spoil our fun. We relocated to the North Shore! It was a cloudy day, but still lots of fun. The kids built sand castles while the adults, played frisbee. Gage brought up his disc golf discs and we had fun having distance competitions. Trevin and X even joined in on the fun. Too bad Trevin's aim is a little off and X took a pretty good hit to the head!
The sun did come out for a little while and I made sure I took a turn on the boat. After a couple of years without any practice I still managed to get up on a wake board... YAHOO! We had lots of fun on the boat wondering what Grandma and Papa were thinking about Alex's fact Tattoo...
Once back on the shore it was time for the Cardboard boat Regatta! There was quite a bit of bantering going back and forth between "the competitors" and now it was time for them to prove their skills! We were all pretty excited and so were the kids, that would be participating!
Here are the teams. BUBBA and SAVANA on the Shark, GERIN and AANIKA on the Raft, PAPA and SIERRA on Catch us if you can, and GAGE and TREVIN on the Silver bullet.
The race is on! The course started on the beach.... then out around two buoys (me and Alex)... and back to the beach. Everyone got off to a great start, Trevin decided not to run when they yelled go so Gage got the boat to the water then had to go back and get his passenger.
Once every one hit the water the real skills kicked in. It was great to watch as the adults tried to help the kids balance, at the same time as trying to propel the boats froward. Ryan ditched the oar right at the beginning and flew into first place. Gerin was close on his tail. Papa had a great run until his boat tipped. and Gage made a great come back and came in Second place, once he ditched his oar too.
All the competitors were in good spirits when they reached the finish line... and most of the boats made it back in one piece! Gerin's definitely get a prize for holding up to the water the best!
We had so much fun and even got some strangers cheering us on! Next we dismantled the water logged boats to throw them away and the truth came out! Papa promised he played by the rules... but I'm pretty sure that Pool Noodles were on the supply list! ;)
Once we were all cleaned up, Trevin got to practice his roping skills, and got pretty good!
To kick off the CRABTREE RODEO we had to have a beauty contest. All the girls got to participate. They got all dolled up and then the competition started.
With a talent portion and a question and answer portion the judging was close! Savana had some great answers... Her favorite color? "World Peace!" Her hobby? "World Peace!" Even with great answers like that, Aanika was crowned Rodeo queen! With runner ups, Sierra, Savana and Lexi. Cheyenne decided not to participate, but she still looked cute.
What a good looking group of girls!
Next up the roping portion of the Rodeo, the kids got to ride their horses, while their dad's helped them rope the cow. Trevin and X got into this one. X thought he just had to get his horses head through the hole and he got so excited when he did. (picture below, top right corner) So cute!
Trevin had figured out from practicing that once you have the object roped you have to pull tight. He looked so cute and professional, above picture -the bottom left corner. I think that Trevin wanted to race every single one of his cousins in this contest (and probably did). After the competion was over the Judge (Papa) ruled Trevin the winner! Trevin loved his trophy!
Next up, the WILD BRONCs. This was hilarious, I should have taken video, the picture don't do it justice! (but they are still funny pics).
I think that all of the adults that competed should have gotten a prize for all the laughs they provided! But the winner was, James. With his leaping bounds across the arena, he drove that poor bronc into the ground... literally!
Once everyone stopped laughing, we could move on to the next event...
SHOW DOWNS. The men were definitely the most competitive in this event. I'm always surprised at how far and hard they can shoot marshmallows. The kids were more than a little excited about this event once the marshmallows started flying, they loved the clean up. Cheyenne would run right into the middle of it to eat the marshmallows all over the grass and once she was on the field... Trevin wasn't shy about trying to gun her down!
We had a lot of fun at the rodeo. I'm sure a lot of planning and Prep went into the events! THANKS TO ALL THE SPONSORS!
The next day started out with breakfast, then CRABTREE GEO CACHING! We each had to hide at least 3 caches and then we switched coordinates and set out caching...
Trevin putting back one of the caches.
We had to look for this one for a long time... we ended up finding it in the middle of a sticker bush.
Once we got back and had lunch it was time for another competition for the kids, MINUTE TO WIN IT. Chan was awesome and planned all sorts of great challenges for the kids. I think the mummy wrapping was my favorite. A parent held a role of toilet paper, while the kids spun in circles until they were wrapped in toilet paper and the role was empty.
Get ready, Get set, SPIN!
Look at them all go, it was funny to see them dizzy! Other events... Keep the balloon in the air- a hoot with he wind blowing! The adults were supposed to keep the balloons on the lawn and we failed, most of the balloons ended up popped. Next, The ping pong ball bounce - Sierra and Savana were pros at this and Trevin even made a couple. Xander did his part pulling the balls out of the bucket. M&M sort- Trevin and xander competed in just putting all the m&ms into the same cup, while Lexi made her own rules and at all the M&Ms as fast as she could! You go girl! Last up, Stacking cups- or should I just call it, pulling the cups apart an putting them back together for everyone except Si and Nana.
The kids loved this and I loved getting to watch them, maybe next year Cheyenne will be a little more flexible with nap time so she can compete too.
If anyone goes to bear lake hen you'll know about the 4 o'clock wind... perfect for KITE FLYING! Bubba surprised all the kids with kites this year and they loved it! The men all watched the kids and helped fly kites while all the women hung out and did a craft! Super cute flower headbands and clips.
Here is Cheyenne sporting her new hair accessory... thanks for teaching us Gerin!
Meals at the lake are always delicious! The kids loved all the fruit and getting to eat outside... but the best part was having their cousins close. This is what the kids looked like for every meal. Thank goodness for booster seats with buckles! This was the only time the adults got a break from chasing!
The last planned event for the week, the adults MINUTE TO WIN IT... what was on the line... our icecream sundaes. We each signed up for the toppings we wanted and there was a challenge we had to complete to "win" each topping. First up, Balloons, we waited until the wind died down and it was still a challenge. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.
I didn't get pictures of the feather blowing contest but, I'll just tell you... BUBBA WON! He kept his feather up, with a breeze, and ended up 3 trailer lots away by the time his 60 seconds was up! What a show! With the sun setting we decided to relocate the rest of the games to the condo.
Where we started of with the ping pong ball shake... I don't think I've laughed this hard in a long time. If you get the chance do this for a family party! 6 ping pong balls in an empty tissue box strapped to your bum, then shake them out.
I didn't compete in this next one, but it was fun to watch. I'm gunna call it the tissue paper twirl. How fast can you unravel the tissue paper by twirling your arms? It was fun to see all the different methods, Grandma did both rools in one hand and Bubba did it kneeling. Cheyenned didn't care how they did it as long as she got to play with the pile when they were done!
Cup stacking, I really thought this would be a lot easier than it was, Darrin got pretty close, and he was about the only one! But it was funny to watch. Trevin liked this one too, He even cheered for himself when he put his last cup on the table. I love my kids!
If you ever want to get in a rubber band fight and make sure you win... take on Gerin, but stay away from Grandma! Gerin spent 60 seconds missing all of her cups and Grandma was dead on every single shot and even took out Gerin's cups once she finished her own. I was pretty impressed that I managed to knock all of my cups over. Trevin just about took off his poor thumb, trying to figure out how to shoot the rubberbands! But it didn't stop him from shooting for the full minute.
That was the end of the official week. We brougth Gage home on Monday night so he could be back to work on Tuesday. The kids and I came home and repacked coolers and headed back up tot he lake on Tuesday night. We got to the condo and had dinner, then watched a couple movies, Trevin loved getting to stay up late and have treats. Wednesday morning we woke up and got ready to play in the pool! I didn't think Trevin and Chey would last very long in the water but I was wrong! After about 2 hrs in the pool I had to bribe them to get out! Chey lounged in her floaty while Trevin liked to swim back and forth across the pool in his. I loved getting to just lounge around and enjoy the scenery. We watched lots of movies and had dinner then can you guess what we did?
That's right back to the pool! This time the indoor one. Trevin found the little kid pool and thought it was so much fun to pull Cheyenne around it. Then he was ready to go to the big pool and swim. He swam all the way around making sure to find all the numbers (the pool depth) and point them out to me. Cheyenned figured out how to tip over her floaty about 30 minutes into this swim and thought she was so funny! I can tell that girl is going to be my dare devil! Thursday morning we woke up and cleaned up and checked out, then we went for a walk at the marina. Trevin and Chey loved seeing all the boats. Trevin pushed Cheyenne in her stroller most of the time, he is such a great big brother,
Once we finished our walk we treated ourselves to some Ice Cream, YUM. I gave them Trevin name to call over the speaker when our order was finished... Trevin was so surprised to hear his name, it was pretty cute. That was the end of our trip.... The kids still did great on the drive home, even though this was the 4th two hour trip in a week.
I love that my kids will sleep in the car! We can't wait for our next trip to the lake. We missed Kami and her family and can't wait to see them later this year!
Next came the sparklers. I wish I had gotten a picture/video of Trevin's reaction when Gage lit the first one... "Wahoo, dat is awesome." Cheyenne thought they were pretty and just wanted to touch the sparklies, and unfortunately I looked away for a second and she did... hopefully she forgets that by next year. Cheyenne sat on the stairs with me while Gage and Trevin ran around the yard with the rest of the sparklers and loved it.
Last but not least the sidewalk show. Gage and Trevin had picked out a package of fireworks earlier that day and we couldn't wait to watch them. T & Chey sat on the sidewalk while dad did all the lighting. Trevin loved getting to use his flash light to pick out which one to lit next. Cheyenne got so excited each time one started up. It is so fun to see the excitement on little kids faces... I can't wait til next year.
Thanks DAD!
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