Echo Grand Finale!

We went to Echo Lake one last time...and for the whole week this time...with Justin's family. Jason and Kamry and Co. and Kalvin were there, and even Rob and Cammie showed up later on that week after he aced the MCAT! :) It was really fun...minus the gastro incident that followed us home from Utah and hit a few of us. Luckily, my kids had it the week before and we really thought it was gone and done with, but Addie never barfed, only had it out the other end a bit...so it hung around longer. And then I got it in the middle of the night...and then Justin got it the next night. And so did Jace. Poor, poor Jace. I felt SO bad. He was sick for a LONG time and they went through a lot of diapers. I am so sorry guys. I really thought we were all done with it. Anyway, we managed to get some energy and have some fun! This year was SO FUN with the kids! They are getting older so they were totally up for swimming, tubing, EZ-Skiing, and Zach even water-skied by himself!!! He is sure growing up! The kids all had tons of fun playing with Jace and Talia, whom they all adore, and Addie loved baby Penny. She was always petting her saying "Nice...nice..." :) Just like she does when she pets Muffy the cat. ;)

Here is Zach rearing and ready to go skiing. Super excited! I love this picture. :)  I am glad he was so eager to try it because last year...well, he forgot to let go of the rope when he fell and it was not pretty! So I thought he'd be scared, but he wasn't! ...At first. Then he tried again and he was scared. But money bribes chased away the fears just enough to get him to try again. And when he did, he popped right up!

 What a guy! I love that LONG explanation at the end. :) Very detailed oriented.

And me...this was me before I was going to go. It takes A LOT of courage for me to get out there. I feel SO out of my comfort zone. I have been skiing on 2 skis I think since we were engaged and went when I HAD too...aka I wasn't pregnant...but I had no excuse this year and actually had a tiny bit of desire to see if I could drop a ski and be cool! So in the moment I had that courage I said let's go! I was so irritated because Justin wanted to film it and take pictures (and in the end I am very glad he did!) but in this picture I was just angry at how long he was taking to get the camera set and figure out how to do a picture vs. a video etc. etc. because I wanted to get out there before my nerves and brain got the better of me! I am so uncomfortable doing new things because I am a perfectionist and hate to look dumb or not do it right, or worse yet not be able to do it, but I am learning that really the fun is in the trying! I've missed out on a lot because I am scared to fail. No longer!

I did it! I dropped a ski!! It wasn't the most ideal conditions to be skiing and there were some pretty big bumps after I dropped it but I stayed up!!! And my other favorite part was hearing Justin cheer me on. He even called me sweetheart. "You're doing it sweetheart!" Ha ha. He was so proud. And the next day I tried to get up on one...and failed, so I just dropped again and even went in and out of the wake. Now I can see why skiing might be a little bit of fun. Better than 2 skis, that's for sure. With that said, I'll be completely happy if I am pregnant next summer. ;)
 

Tubing was another huge hit of the week. Even Talia got brave and got out there. And Addie LOVED it! Whenever we took her she was so happy to be one of the big kids out there, yelling "whoo!" and smiling/screaming/bouncing. It was adorable. We'd ask, "Addie, want to go on the tube?" And she'd say "Yeah" and run to her life jacket. They learn so young! These kids are going to be completely opposite from me! I'd never done ANYTHING like this until after I met Justin! Better growing up with it. Then it's a normal thing...not so much a scary thing. Anyway, right after this above picture, Kate got a little too brave, stood up, let go, and launched off. Ha ha!

She is the biggest water baby of all of our kids, so she actually liked falling off.

Retrieving Kate. :)

And this was just cute. Addie loved to just sit there with the wind in her hair riding the boat being swallowed up by her big life jacket. :) Cute smiles with Daddy.

Crazy kids with Kalvin.

 

 

Addie also love to just chill on Sea Doo rides too. Just like Mer Mer. :)

Love that little head popping over the handlebars. ;)

I like this next sequence of pictures. Kate loves to just jump off the dock over and over and over. I used the sport setting and took frame after frame. It's funny to see the progression.

 

My little frog. :)

 

 

 

She loves it! And she also loves that you can pee in the water...so watch out. She always tells you after she's done it. Once she was hanging off the tube while we were going and we were trying to pull her in because we thought she was going to fall off. She started crying as we were pulling her in and yelling "NO!!" Afterward she continued crying and said "You made me pee on the tube!" Ha ha! She went and drug in the water for a purpose...to pee!! We thought she needed help up! 

 

 
Best Friends...

...and worst enemies. Kate is taunting Kara with a piece of sea weed. She doesn't like anything floating to touch her. She FREAKED out here, like over the top calm-down, just-swim-in, thanks-a- lot-Kate, be-quiet-Kara, the-entire-Flathead-Valley-can-hear-you-and-you-are-5-feet-from-the-dock, just-swim-towards-me!!! Can't wait for teenage years...

After our last tube ride she didn't want to get off. Come on Addie! "No-ah." ! AH! Addie-tude already! Pretty cute though.
 

 

 Loves the tube. 

 

The girls loved playing with Jace...and his iPad! ;)

 

Bama and her flock of grandchildren blowing bubbles!

Jason declared an all our war on the wasps. There were SO many of them! between taping the next opening shut and putting up 4 wasp traps he did quite well against them!! Way to go men!

 

And loves ice cream!! (Who doesn't?!) This was her first cone I let her eat by herself. She loved the independence. :) And made a huge mess!

 

And bit through the bottom so it could all come running out.

One satisfied customer.

"Nose."

"Ni-ce...ni-ce..."

Kara loved playing with Penny. She loves babies...always has! Penny loved her too. ;) 

Cousins...almost 1 year apart. 

 

WE LOVE YOU ECHO!! AND FAMILY!!! Until next year!