Thursday-Madd rafting (should say calm)

Today is another fun filled day. We finished up the family ropes course re do and then we hurried and ate lunch and headed off to do some Colorado rafting. Grandma volunteered to watch the littlest kids and they had a great time swimming and playing together in the cabin. The river rafting ended up being a smooth ride down a river, but it was so fun to be all together and a few healthy water fights didn't hurt much either.

The family ropes course.  In this activity we had to get the entire family across with out touching the "hot lava."  This took some time, but we figured it out

Kaiden and Lincoln playing peekaboo

Getting Kevin through the tire

Trying to see what kind of picture the camera takes through a ziploc bag...just a little blurry.  Galen and Julie getting ready to hit the "crazy" rapids.

A few of our rafters in the blue boat..watching the cliff jumping

The brave few getting ready to jump

Conor jumping off his size cliff

 

Kevin jumping

Josie is...out!  After a long day of swimming and playing with Bree and just after a crazy week of fun she couldn't keep her eyes open

Minute to win it.  I was totally winning here and then I lost because I started laughing

Watching the minute to win it games and eating waaay too many jelly beans

Wednesday-early to late no rest from the fun

We talked Chris and Craig into getting up with us to go on our early morning ride. 

Some mid morning Geo caching.  This particular excursion resulted in some off trailing.  A few of us had to abandon ship and head back, but the brave forged through the brush and ended up at this cave.

Lincoln hitching a ride on Galen's shoulders.  He actually preferred to walk, but it was a bit slow going with him

Lincoln and I cheated to participate in this cave exploration. Everyone else slid down a mountain to get here.  We found an easier way (by car)

Jen, Amber, Kaiden and Chris canoing.  Good thing I snapped this picture when I did because we were RED ALERTED again.  We had only been on the water about 5 minutes if that.  Bummer.

Josie and Bree paddling Randall around.  He had it figured out-child labor.

Fishing - The little kids decided they wanted to try their hand at catching some fish so we signed up to go with a fisherman to the lake (really we just needed his poles).  The only ones who caught fish were the two smallest ones, Josie and Bree.

Reeling in Josie's fish

Fishergirl who wanted absolutely nothing to do with her fish...she wouldn't go near it. 

Bree and Josie

Conor and Emily

This is what Lincoln thought of the fishing.  If I wouldn't let him wade and splash in the water he wanted nothing to do with it. 

Tired of fishing and ready to go do some geo caching

More Crafting-Kevin and Conor are working on staining and decorating their walking sticks.  Earlier they debarked them and sanded them to prepare for the decorating. 

Janet, Julie and Jerilyn braving the craft cabin.  We decided to try this mosaic tray.  This is a little out of my comfort zone, but it was fun to hang out with the sisters and try to pretend I am crafty.

 

Cooking up some delicious dinner-this looks like we are making scones.  The scones ended up being a big hit.  Especially with maple frosting. 

The meal planners-we planned all the meals and headed them up.  No one could say they were hungry, so I think it was a success. 

Playing with the cousins

Some after dinner geo caching-we talked the majority of the family into joining us on this hunt.  We found a bonus cache at this location.

 

The stragglers in the hunt

We took the family to explore the cave, as it was on the way to the next cache-Conor does not have a halo on his head, it is a helmet

Gathering to play minute to win it games

Happy Birthday Josie- Tuesday

Lucky Josie! She got to celebrate her 5th birthday in style. I can't remember ever having so many people I loved, around me on my birthday. She always get's the coolest birthdays.

We decorated and had an entire package of balloons strewn around by the time Josie came downstairs.  She was a little overwhelmed when we all sang her Happy Birthday 1st thing.  She had a candle in her waffles.  Happiness for the fiver.

Lunchtime brought cake and ice cream, blowing out the candles, and presents! 

Just a few of the family who gathered around to celebrate with Josie.  The rest were behind me or in the kitchen-so close though!

Birthday girl eating her yummy cake

Off to the high zip

More Zipping

 A family gathering just wouldn't be official without family pictures...after plenty of grumbling we got some great pictures.  The t-shirts are numbered by birthday starting with Grandpa at number one and Lincoln was the final #36.  The T-shirts turned out really cute.

Hanging out with the family waiting to do the family ropes course that got RED ALERTED...no surprise.  We ran into this problem several times.  The entire place shuts down if there is even a thought of lightning...cramped our plans many times.

Josie and Taylor

Happy Josie

Lincoln and the beloved Mater.  Kaiden was kind enough to share.

Chris and Brianna and Josie-Chris was so great with the kids.  They all wrestled with him and hung on him and horsed around with him when ever he would let them.

Skit night-who knew the Nielsen's could be so creative...or not.  It was still pretty dang funny

Had to post this one of Grandma starring in her skit

Some of the cousins playing games together...warms my heart, I hate that they all live so far apart from each other.