Carter’s birthday party was at Altitude H2O, a floating obstacle course on Lake Grapevine. Since Carter isn’t a fan of large groups or too many people he only invited his 3 best friends — Spencer, Matthew, and Ben. They had a blast!

First, we met at our house for pizza and cake.

Then we headed to the lake for 2 hours of fun.

Spencer, Matthew, Carter, Ben

Spencer, Matthew, Carter, Ben

Ben, Daddy, Spencer, Carter, Matthew

Carter, Matthew, Spencer (front to back)

Raine is standing on top, Spencer and Carter are just rounding the top

Here are some video clips, they are pretty shaky and I didn’t always get the lens lined up right in my water-proof case, but it shows a little bit of our fun:

This place was perfect for a bunch of rambunctious 8-year-olds. I was exhausted by the time we left and today my arms, back, abs, and legs are sore — mostly from pulling those kids back onto the floats when they fell into the water!

Carter’s annual stats:
55.8 lbs
52.9 inches

July 14 – After breakfast, we all gathered for a family photo. This photo didn’t include everyone who came, but it included a lot of us (about 100).

The siblings: Grandma Anderson, Aunt MaryAnne, Uncle Bill, Aunt Pat, Uncle Brent (Uncle Darwin wasn’t able to make it because he was suffering from shingles)

We drove up to the ghost-town of Custer for the Custer-days celebration. The canyon leading up to the town was other-worldly looking with the giant piles of rocks strewn along the canyon floor. We later learned that this was from the gold mining still going on in that area. Once we got close to the town, we had to park and either wait for a shuttle or walk. We opted to walk the mile-and-a-half to the town.

At the town, we mined for gold. With the help of a professional gold panner, we each found at least one little speck.

They had all sorts of yummy treats to try: homemade ice cream, dutch-oven cobbler, and cotton candy.

They reenacted a shootout while we were there.

We drove down to Stanley to do some souvenir shopping and then headed back up to the ranch.

This kids (and Grandpa) played on the slide until it was time for dinner.

After dinner, we had a blast playing candy-bar bingo!

Then we played outside until it got dark (which is REALLY late in Idaho).

Grandpa, Grandma, and Aunt Pat

Grandpa and Millie

Playing volleyball again, this time with a beach ball because Uncle Jed left with his nice soft volleyball.

The next morning we cleaned up, said our goodbyes, and drove back to Woods Cross to Grandma and Grandpa Dewey’s home. The next morning we flew home well before the sun rose.

It was a good thing we got home early because we found our refrigerator at a balmy 85* and we had to deal with that the rest of the day. We bought a new one, trucked it home, got it into the house and then got the old stinky one out all before we could go to bed.

July 13 – After breakfast, we headed about 50 miles east through the Sawtooth Mountains to Redfish lake, elevation 6,547 feet.

It was a gorgeous lake, extremely deep with crystal clear water. That snow in the mountains was feeding right into the lake so it was chilly! Lucky for us, it was unseasonably hot that day. We rented a kayak so that we could explore the lake.

Carter bought a fishing net so that he could catch minnows as they swam around the shallow water.

Addy searched for fish with her snorkel.

Uncle Keith rented a pontoon boat and gave us a ride down to the other end of the lake, where the creek fed the lake.

Daddy convinced Carter to jump from the boat into the cold water.

Grandma Anderson and Aunt Pat

The cousins floated around the shallow end on Grandpa’s tube.

Chris let us borrow his paddle board in exchange for the use of our kayak so we got to try something different.

After dinner, we had a family meeting where the siblings (Grandma Anderson and her siblings) told stories of their parents. Although the great-grandkids didn’t appreciate the stories, the grandkids (my generation) really did.

Then we roasted s’mores,

played games, and

played volleyball. It wouldn’t be a McKay reunion without volleyball.

Here we are sitting around the living room of our cabin once it finally got too dark outside to play.

July 12 – we arrived just in time to prepare and serve dinner to the group. (At its peak during the reunion, the group was about 115 people.) After dinner, we had a family meeting where each of the families introduced their members (some more creatively than others). We simply introduced ourselves.

Then Grandpa led everyone in singing happy birthday to Carter in Portuguese.

After root-beer floats, Carter braved the cold irrigation water to slide down the giant, canal-fed waterside on the property.

July 11 – The boys woke up early and went fishing. The girls went searching for “Big Nelly” in the pond after breakfast.

After lunch we headed over to the Rexburg city park where they had a splash pad and carousel.

Raine and Addy on the slides.

Carter, Carson, and Logan waiting for the big bucket to dump.

The pond at the cabins was the source of hours of fun, and relaxation.

Jed, Benji, Grandma, Daddy, Daryn

Uncle Jed, Aunt Katie, and Benji

The resort had a whole rack of bikes for patrons to use and, even though they were adult size, the boys used them. Carson would help Carter get started and then when it came time to stop, he would just slow down and jump off.

The main cabin had this giant Connect 4 game that got a lot of use as well.

Raine and Benji

That evening we celebrated Carter’s 8th birthday since we were going to be checking out and driving to the McKay reunion the next day.

Carter received a couple presents while we were there. We found some marshmallow blow guns at the store while we were in Rexburg and the kids had a blast playing with those.

Once it got dark, we all played kick-the-can. It was great fun once we got the logistics worked out.

The next morning we packed up, washed some laundry at a laundry mat in Idaho Falls, and then drove to Clayton for the McKay family reunion. We let Carter decide where we ate lunch since it was his birthday and he picked… McDonalds!

The first full day of the reunion we went for a short hike. We had a panoramic view of the valley and the snake river.

Raine and Daddy

Addy and Raine

Carter and Carson

Logan, Carson, Carter, Millie, Uncle Daryn, Aunt Sara, Daddy, Uncle Jed with Benji, and Aunt Katie.

There was no end to the toys and games available in the shed for everyone to use. The kids rode the bikes, played corn hole, ladder ball, and all sorts of other games. Their favorite activity was paddling around the pond trying to catch “Big Nelly” the golden trout.

We had beautiful weather, perfect for a picnic dinner outside with the most adorable 8-month-old, Benji.

That evening, Uncle Jed sponsored a bunch of minute-to-win-it games for the kids.

Trying to get a cookie from your forehead to your mouth without using your hands.

Addy got it to her eye!

Transferring ping-pong balls between bowls with a spoon, using only your mouth.

Shaking all the ping-pong balls out of a box tied to around your waist.

Transferring M&M’s between bowls using a straw — that one got pretty messy with some of those drooly kids!

Since Uncle John bailed on the family reunion last-minute because of a bad back, we had an extra cabin. Logan, Carson, and Carter claimed that cabin as the “kid cabin” (although it was really only the boys). Raine slept in the Hicks’s cabin with Addy and Millie so Daddy and I had an entire cabin all to ourselves. We slept great!

7/9 we packed up Grandpa Dewey’s car and started driving north to Idaho for the Anderson family reunion. After a couple stops to fix loose flaps under the car, a stop for lunch at Oliver’s diner in Pocatello, and a scenic drive down a farm road because we missed the exit, we finally arrived in Heise just in time for our 10-line zip tour.

It was so hot outside (by Idaho standards) that we had to ride double on most of the lines in order for the kids to have enough weight to make it to the other side. Here is Carter and DJ zipping down.

Raine went solo on this one.

This was the only line that Carter could ride solo.

Video of a couple runs:

After zipping through the hills, we cooled off in the pool and rode the water slide.

Carter loved that the pool had a diving board. He learned how to dive while we were there.

We checked in at the cabins at Aspen Grove Inn just in time for dinner with the Anderson family.

July 6 we flew to Utah to spend a few days before driving to Idaho for the Anderson and McKay reunions. That evening we took Grandma Dewey down to meet Aunt Sarah and Uncle Dallin for dinner at Brio’s. Then we visited Uncle Geoff.

July 7, we drove up to Alta ski resort to hike to Cecret lake with the Jolley family.

The mountain meadows were blanketed with wildflowers.

We hiked a little over 3 miles and climbed 1200+ feet in elevation. The littles needed some extra help, but they made it.

The final ascent to the lake was very steep, on a narrow trail full of switch-backs.

The lake was rather desolate. Not something that you would want to wade into.

But there were salamanders — or mud puppies as Carter called them — to try to catch.

We hiked down to the chairlift and rode it back to the bottom. Along the way, Raine and I saw a juvenile moose while Daddy and Carter saw a deer.

On the way home we stopped at Waffle Love, because we always stop when we go to Utah.

That evening we went to the Brown’s house for dinner and fun. The kids broke Aunt Karin’s birthday pinata.

Daddy and Uncle Dallin took on Sydney and Parker in spikeball.

Sunday, July 8th, we ate dinner and then headed to the Jolley’s house before visiting Uncle Geoff again. Uncle Mike brought his skateboard and showed Carter some tricks. Carter thought that Uncle Mike’s swell-bow (permanent lump on his elbow) was pretty funny, but I think it also reinforced to him that becoming a good skateboarder takes a lot of crashes!

Tuesday evening, July 3, we watched the firework show in Southlake. It was cut short because of high winds as a weather front moved through part way into the show. It was perfect weather for playing Frisbee before the show though.

Wednesday morning we attended the Ward 4th of July breakfast.

Then we drove down to Midlothian, to the Walker’s new homestead, where we hung out with all of our old River Trails Ward friends.

Raine and Elyse

After dinner, the neighbors pulled out their giant slip-n-slide. It was awesome!

A brief rain shower passed through and wetted down all the dry grass just in time for fireworks. And left a beautiful rainbow.