Rivertrip October 2009

Yes that's right I limited this post to 26 photos. It's my blog and I'll do what I want to. For those not in the know the river is a strip of the Colorado just below Lake Havasu. Beth's family has been going to the river house on the California side for ever. We spent the first week in October down there.
Probably one of my favorite photos. Lily waves goodbye to the boat with her cousins in tow. We spent one day down at the Wagon Wheel, 20 miles or so down river, with Ruben Kathy and gang.
The gang: Sara, Tony, Jason, Heidi and Nick.
Nick was a super good sport to play and entertain the kids. He also introduced Jack to the Scooby Doo movies which I could not be more thrilled about.
Would somebody please potty train this kid. Diapers in general are a bust but really cramp your style with boats and swimming.
We all had to keep an eye out for Jack, Nick and their water cannons.
Highlight of the week was surfing. Tony's boat throws an awesome wave and we spent many an hour trolling up and down the river.
This trip was my first time trying wake surfing and I could ride without the rope but if I really wanted to carve it up I preferred using it. With any luck I'll grow up to be as good as Jason and pull off 360s etc. without it.
Just look at the water that waited for us at just about all times of the day.
She's so cute with her little hat. Now if we could just get her to ever keep a bow or a clip in her hair.
Jack rocking the gun, holster, and diaper look while checking the traps. He got those for his birthday and has barely let him out of his sight since.
Beth getting in on the surfing action. She picked it up fast and too had a lot of fun. She had the advantage of being goofy foot along with everyone else. I was basically the only regular and had to wait for all of them to take a turn. But I did have the advantage of the cleaner wave. So there! I guess the way the prop rotates helps one side more than the other.
We still got out to lay down some slalom ski turns. Once again Tony's boat was just too fun.
Lily was in heaven with all these adults around her to giver her squeeze its, capri suns, fruit snacks, etc. anytime she wanted.
Jack loves his mommy but can you blame him?
I spent most of the week trying to clear the wake on the wakeboard and consistently landing just short. Finally on the last day my coach, Jason, told me I was wimping out and needed to attack the wake. That made the difference and also created a lot less stress on my shoulder.
Jack and Lily playing on the dock. We had a few bandannas left over from the birthday celebration.
Some pretty sweet sunsets. The weather was actually on the cool side, hovering around 90 degrees instead of the usual 93.
Lily watching from the boat.
She's ready for a turn on the tube. Did not happen.
Bringing me sunscreen for her fair little legs and arms. You might notice the beginnings of the riverstache.

Lily did not want to be left out of the goggle fun. Here she is with her aunt Heidi. Nick didn't appreciate anyone trying to out-nerd him in a photo.
It took pretty much the whole week before Jack started to get as comfortable in the water as he was in the pool just a few weeks before. Finally by Friday he was jumping off the dock and diving head first off the swim deck. By head first I of course mean lowering your chin to your chest and jumping in feet first.
Blanket? Check. Cowboy hat? Check. Goggles? Check. Gun? Check. OK Jack's ready for the day.
Isn't this nice when the two boys gang up on the baby girl? Lily thought it was the best thing ever.
One of the standard activities for any successful river trip, reading. On the way home we stayed a night in Vegas to see BYU-UNLV and attend Will's baby blessing the next day. You might notice the riverstache really coming into it's own.

It was a great trip and could not have come at a more perfect time. The sun, water, friends, relaxation, mexican food, board shorts, good tunes, are all very therapeutic. And for the heck of it here's our theme song of the week. Must have listened to this two dozen times.