My mom planned a great local trip for us this summer to Flaming Gorge. She rented a few cabins in Dutch John and we stayed three nights there. I always say it's more about the people than the location, but this was an awesome place and we had a blast for three days!
On Thursday, we floated the Green River. It is an easy float, very kid-friendly so we decided to take everyone, even Ivy. It was also a short float and I didn't want to wait behind. Ivy ended up doing great and loving it. We all fit in two rafts (the Broadbent's hadn't made it yet-except their two oldest who had come with grandma and grandpa).
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| Grace, Grandpa, Grant, Stockton, Ben, Gavin, Spencer, Erin, Grandma, Bryce |
The views were so pretty!
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| Molly, Tessa, Abby, Justin |
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| Harper, Brynn, Chloe, Tessa |
Some of the kids and dads got brave and jumped in the river. The water was cold. The best part was toward the beginning and some of the kids had jumped in so I yelled over to Stockton (who was in the other raft) that he should jump in, never thinking he would actually do it. But he did! He didn't even think twice about it...just jumped. It was so funny! Poor guy, the water was icy cold and he shivered the rest of the time down the river. Grandpa gave him his jacket which helped a little.
We stopped halfway down and had some lunch right there on the riverbank.
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| Grandpa, Grandma, Grant, Stockton |
We made it! The rapids were just exciting enough for the kids and just tame enough for the parents. There was only one scary part when Justin and Christopher paddled us over a rock. I don't think we were really going to flip over but it sure scared me for half a second.
We almost got rained on but timed it just right because we did not get rain on the river but we did get rain when we got back to the cabins. Just a sprinkle.
Day 2 (Friday) we planned on going to the dam and riding around on the boat for half a day and then touring the dam. We ended up having so much fun at the dam that we stayed all day long! We set up base on the beach and the kids had lots of fun building a trench and using Bryce and Erin's kayak. Stockton especially loved the kayak and could have stayed in it all day if he didn't have to share with the rest of the cousins.
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| Ivy and Grace |
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| Grace and Brynn |
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| Brynn, Tessa, Seth |
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| Grace, Erin, Ivy, Brynn, Seth |
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| Tessa, Brynn, Molly, Gavin, Stockton, Grant, Abby |
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| Grant and Stockton |
We took turns riding out on the boat. The waverunners were there too and everyone loves those.
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| Seth, Brynn, Harper, Jeff |
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| Grant and Stockton |
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| Chloe and Molly |
It was inevitable that someone would want to jump in the water. Dads are always good to take the first plunge and then the kids follow.
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| Molly and Chloe |
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| Brynn and Bryce |
After swimming around in the water for a bit, someone decided to swim over to a nearby cliff and start jumping. And then some of the kids tried it and decided that it was pretty fun. And they jumped and jumped and jumped some more. What a rush for them!
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| Molly's first jump |
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| Gavin, Molly, Justin |
Molly was my only kid who did it...neither Stocky or Brynn were ready for it although they did climb around on the cliffs.
Molly was hooked after her first jump. After that group jumped for a little while, we went back to the shore and traded off. I stayed behind but apparently they found an even higher cliff and did much more jumping.
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| Jeff, Justin, Christopher, Molly, Tessa, Brynn (not jumping), Chloe |
Then they came back and some of us went out for a third round. I decided that I had better get out and do some cliff jumping myself. I started out on a smaller cliff that they said all the kids had done. Then Jeff talked me into a higher one...it didn't look that much higher from the boat but it sure felt a lot higher once I got up there! But I did it anyway and it was really fun although that's about as high as I would ever want to go. (There's not a picture of the higher one.)
I took Ivy out on the boat that last time because I knew that was the only way she was going to get a nap. I was right. She took a nice little nap in the boat.
The kids were addicted to cliff jumping and even when we all went back to shore, they found a place closer to us that they could walk to and jumped some more. Crazy kids.
Finally late afternoon we decided we had better head to the cabins and get started on dinner. As we were leaving, we saw a sign that prohibited cliff jumping. Oops...we didn't even see it on our way in! Although, I think those dads would have done it anyway.
When we weren't floating the river or jumping off cliffs, we were just hanging out at the cabins. There was a nice little patch of grass behind the cabins for the kids to play and a dirt hill for them to get nice and dirty in. With a group that large, it's not practical (and too expensive!) to eat out for every meal so we made use of the small kitchens and outdoor barbecues for our meals. We watched the Olympics and talked while the kids explored and played. We had campfires at night. Justin and Stockton and some of the other dads and kids took a couple hours after floating the river to go fishing while those that stayed at the cabins built marshmallow/toothpick structures with the supplies that grandma had brought. We had packed Molly's pogo stick and that was a huge hit with all the kids as everyone competed to beat their previous record.
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| Spencer, Harper, Stockton, Grant, Gavin |
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| Brynn and Grace |
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| Ivy and Grandpa |
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| Chloe and me |
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| Chloe, Brynn, Grace |
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| Abby, Molly, Chloe, Grace |
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| Harper, Grant, Stockton, Gavin, Ben, Spencer |
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| This was Ali's game...the kids stood in line and would start counting at one. They would stop whenever they felt like it and the next person would start counting where they had left off. Whoever got to the number that Ali was thinking would get a face full of whipped cream. |
The cabins had two bedrooms, a kitchen, and a main room with a dining table and couch downstairs and then it had a sort of loft upstairs with a narrow hallway and two little "rooms" on each end. Molly slept in one of the loft rooms the first night by herself and thought she was pretty special. When Jeff and Ali got there the next night, we put Stockton and Brynn up there and Molly slept on the pull-out couch with Seth. Apparently, Seth still talks about Molly telling him stories and sleeping by him.
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| Seth and Molly |
On Saturday morning we did get up and head over to the visitors center for the Dam tour. Ivy was being a little harder that morning so I didn't hear much but it was cool to walk out across the dam (Justin was a little nervous).
Also we got to ride the elevator all the way down to the bottom and feed the fish.
It is an impressive structure!
After the tour we decided to visit one more place. It was supposed to be a hike but we were too tired and ready to get on the road so we looked around the visitors center and walked around at all the lookout points. We timed it just right because the park rangers were getting ready to release these pigeons back out into nature and some of the kids in our group got to release them. It was so neat and definitely a highlight of the whole weekend!
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| Tessa, Molly, Chloe |
A few different views of the Gorge. So pretty.
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| This is the whole group! I won't try to name everyone but it is roughly the Bryce Moyes family, the Walker family, the Broadbent family, Grandpa and Grandma, and the Goodrich family. Some of the cousins are mixed in wherever. |
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| Chloe, Abby, Molly |
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| Grandpa, Chloe, Brynn |
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| Grandma and Ivy |
And that was it. We had a great time and made so many memories! Flaming Gorge is a perfect place that is not too far away. I love this family of mine and am so appreciative of my parents (my mom) who takes the time to plan these trips and get us all together.
On our way there we had stopped in Vernal at Grandma Fletcher's old house to show the kids where Grandma April grew up. The house has been sold so we didn't go in and I didn't take any pictures but we walked around a little and Justin shared some memories of visiting there when he was growing up. Molly had some memories of times we'd visited before, especially the pink room. We took the chance on the way home to take a little trip out to Tridell to show the kids the old farm where Justin's Grandpa Goodrich farmed for a living and where Grandpa Gene grew up. We stopped at the cemetery and visited Grandpa's grave.
We showed the kids the old house and then took a chance at Justin's cousin's house to see if anyone was home. (They built a house right next door to grandma and grandpa's and he is farming the land now.) They were home and were very gracious to entertain us and what was only going to be a quick hello turned into a few hours of play. They had built an amazing 30' tall climbing wall with a 400' zip line off of that. Of course we had to try it out because who knows when we'll ever get there again! Molly and Justin went first.
Stockton rock climbed twice. The first time he made it about halfway and then rappelled down. Then he thought he maybe would go all the way and zipline but changed his mind when he got to the top. He did make it all the way up but realized how high it was and decided to rappel down rather than go on the zip line.
Brynn climbed about halfway up and then rappelled down and that was perfect for her.
Then Molly did it one more time with me before we really got in the truck and started for home.
Kathy would drive their little jeep/4-wheeler out to where you would stop and help you on the ladder and unhook your harness. I love this picture of Stockton and Brynn running out to meet her. My kids really clicked with Thane and Kathy and their boys. And I think it's neat to see our kids running around that land where Gene grew up and where Justin has so many memories.
We had debated about stopping or not but are so glad we did. A perfect ending to a perfect weekend to bring to a close a great summer. The kids went back to school three days after we got home so it really was a perfect summer send-off!
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