Cliff Backflip

Lake Cliff Jump

Cliff Backflip 2

30 foot Cliff Jump

"Double" Backflip

Look...look...look...backflip

Flaming Gorge

After a trip to Cabelas for cots to sleep on and a few new cargo carriers for our car to haul our camping gear, we were ready to pack up and go camping. I love spur of the moment trips. Throw your stuff together, pick a destination, and hope for the best. We decided on Flaming Gorge since we haven't been for a while. There is water, great camping sites, and (our favorite) cliffs to jump off. Nothing to lose, memories to gain. Time to get our camp on.

Windmills in Wyoming on our way to Flaming Gorge

The campsite at Cedar Springs. It wasn't our favorite (Mustang Ridge) but it was a close second. The only thing missing was showers.

Cedar Spring Marina
We walked there from the campsite the first day and on the way we saw rabbits, lizards, chipmunks and birds. Tre was calling the chipmunks "chickmunks" and Jer told him there was a "p" in the word. Tre said, "chickpunks?" Ha, ha :)

This is Sunny Cove. The place to be! Drive to the cove, carry your stuff to the rocks and set up camp for the day. You have swimming, cliff jumping, animal watching and sun. What more do you need?


Jer and Tre chillin' under the shade tent with a plethora of snacks. Yum! We didn't go hungry, that's for sure :)

The water is cold, but not too cold for my little fishies. Tre and Belle had a blast jumping and swimming in The Gorge. I had a blast too.

CLIFF JUMPING!!

Belle

Jeremy

Leisa

Tre

Tre and I at the top of the cliff jumping area

Tre was so brave this trip! He jumped off the cliff that was about 20-25 feet high. I was a little nervous at first to do that one. Jeremy was jumping from the higher one that was about 30 feet. After jumping the "smaller" one 15 or 20 times, Tre decided to step it up and go off the biggest cliff. I didn't think he would do it. I am so proud!
Belle thought about going off the 20-25 footer, but in the end she decided not to. She had her own little cliffs to jump off and had a ball doing those. Maybe next year she will brave the bigger cliffs.
Jer and I had fun showing off our back flipping skills as well as jumping off the bigger cliffs. Seriously, I love this place!

Our Flaming Gorge trip is not complete without a trip to the Dam. We toured it the last day and drove down to the river to see it from the bottom. Fun stuff! Tre thought it was so funny to say, "Dam!" over and over. He must be an 11 year old boy.

This was the trip of wildlife. We saw deer, pronghorns, moose, antelope, rabbits, lizards, marmots, chipmunks, bats, and all kinds of birds including this Golden Eagle.

Playing card games as a family back at our campsite



Roasting S'mores

Reading to relax after a day at the lake

Breakfast of champions. Mini cereal boxes are a must for our little campers. Good thing it wasn't too cold this trip, so we didn't have to build a fire in the morning and make a hot breakfast.

A picture of Belle's hair-do that lasted all 3 days of camping, swimming and playing.

Belle burned her lips with a marshmallow that was on fire. She tried to blow it out quickly and ended up accidentally touching it to her face. She tried to be brave and tell us (through tears) that it didn't hurt and she was fine, but as a mother, I knew better. We got her some ice and she kept it on all night. Her lips blistered up but I was glad it wasn't worse. Poor girl.


The troops all snug in their beds for the night. These cots really were the best. I slept great. Except for Tre and his sleep talking. But that was just entertaining. It gave us all a laugh the next morning when we told him what he said. One night he started yelling, "MOM! MOM!". "What?" I asked him expecting something to be really wrong. "I'm AWESOME!" he says. And promptly lays down to sleep some more. It happened the night after he jumped of the 30 foot cliff. Guess he was pretty proud of himself. I was too :)

Good Night

4th of July Weekend

If you know me, then you know my favorite holiday is the 4th of July. I love the weather, the traditions, the food, the fireworks, the friends and family and the good times.

We start our holiday a few days early by making some sort of patriotic craft. This year it was dressing up our shirts from last year with glow-in-the-dark fabric paint and decorating bags to hold the many pieces of candy collected at the Murray Parade:

Then we wake up early the day of the parade, purchase doughnuts from Harmons and head out to the spot my dad has saved for us. We love the candy, the doughnuts, the parade entries and I especially love the JEEPS!:

After the parade it is off to Grandma's pool for diving board sports, more food, family and fun. The kids swam for 7 straight hours!:

Now it's off to Murray Park for frisbee, football, playing on the playground, rolling down the hill, reading, eating KFC, snacking on treats, socializing, playing with glow sticks and bracelets and waiting for fireworks to start:

What a great day! We are exhausted but happy by the end of the day that starts at 6am and ends at 11pm. Wow. I can't wait to do it all again next year...

Swimming with Dolphins Video#3

Swimming with Dolphins Videos

Listen closely at the end of the video and you can hear the dolphins talking. You could hear it really well while swimming with them and I was excited that we caught it on video.

Swimming with Dolphins Video#2

Dolphin Adventures

My favorite part of our Hawaii trip has to be swimming with wild dolphins. Dolphins are beautiful creatures that are graceful, playful, and entertaining. After reading about Kealakekua Bay and the great snorkeling site at Captain Cook's Monument that sometimes boasts dolphin sitings, we decided to rent kayaks and check it out. Little did I know that this would be a day to never forget. A day to cross off my Bucket List. A day that would put a smile on my face and a tear in my eye when I think back on it. This was the best day ever.

The kayaks loaded up on our rental car

On the kayaks:

Underwater dolphins pictures:

Tre

Tre's feet with a dolphin swimming just under him

The dolphins were jumping, flipping, splashing and playing out of the water, but under water they look so easy going and graceful. They also liked to swim belly to belly. The picture above captures that move.

The book I read said that once the writer saw 19 dolphins. They were quite excited about that. We counted at least 20 in ONE picture that I took. I assume there were at least 50 if not more. The locals at the pier said that just last week, no one spotted any dolphins. We were quite lucky to be able to jump in and swim with these beautiful creatures. They are not afraid of humans. In fact one came at me head on. I could have reached my hand up and touched his nose, but I decided to respect this wild soul and keep my hands to myself.


Snorkeling at Captain Cook:

Right behind Tre is Captain Cook's Monument. It was just across the bay from where we put the kayaks in. After swimming with many, many dolphins this beautiful snorkel spot just didn't really compare.


After the dolphin adventure:

Belle jumping off the pier into clear turquoise water full of yellow fish

Her smiling face after the jump

Belle and Tre standing on the pier where we put the kayaks in