Last week we spent a fantastic week with a few of my siblings at a cabin on Island Park Reservoir in Idaho. We spent most of the week playing in the sun on the water. Jared and I loved every minute of it and so did Vale!! We discovered a thrill lover in him. He couldn't get enough of the boat, kayak's or jet ski's.
Here is his first ride on the kayak's. We kept him close until we felt confident he understood he needed to stay on the boat, then Jared moved him to his own seat near the bow. He went out many times and even almost went off the dock head first trying to get back on the kayak after I had taken him out. He just loved going along for the ride!!!
We also took him for a ride on the tube behind the boat. He LOVED it too. He wasn't sure what to think of it at first but after a few minutes, he started to giggle and wave 'HI' to Aunt Sarah on the boat as she snapped a few pictures.
Finally, Jared took him out on the jet ski. His first ride was about 4-5 minutes long. When Jared brought him back to the dock, Vale began repeatedly to make the sign for 'more' so Jared took him out again and again when he brought him back to the dock he begged for more. I finally had to pull him off crying and kicking, he was absolutely heart broken! 
Here are Mike and Heather and Sarah and Katie out enjoying the sun & water too!
Each family took a night to plan and cook dinner. We ate like kings!! Every night was something taste and delicious. Here is Caleb at the BBQ making some pretty impressive grilled steak and chicken.
One night we went to Jackson, Wyoming for dinner. Sarah and Caleb have been telling me about this place for years. It's the Bar J Chuckwagon. The food was great and Jared said the show was a lot of fun. Unfortunately, Vale was too squirmy so I ended up taking him out but what I saw was pretty cool.
On the way to Jackson we drove with Sarah and her kids. Vale will do just about anything for laughs - even suck on his toes!!!
Vale's cousin Carter is a text book 7 year old little boy and spent much of his time fishing and catching frogs. Here Jared and Vale are checking out a frog Carter caught under the dock.
Vale just playing in the sand.
Sporting his new PFD. Heather and I cracked up one day watching Vale with his life jacket on trying to bend over to pick something up off the floor. He couldn't do it but tried and tried until he figured it out. 
The trip would not have been complete with out a nightly Poker game. This year Katie even joined in. 
Any guesses who won this hand.......???
These next couple of pictures I thought were just cute. Vale loves his older cousins. Here he is just watching Jack eat his lunch. I guess I was hoping that it might motivate Vale to eat something other that grapes and ice cream. He's become a VERY picky eater.
On Monday we went into Yellowstone Park and saw Old Faithful. On the drive we also saw a lot of animals in their natural habitiat, including buffalo. That night we were talking about it when Uncle Mike started to teach Vale what a buffalo was. Vale got a kick out of Mike making horns and saying, "Tatanka" over and over. Anytime after that when Vale wanted to find Mike he simply would point to his head with both fingers and then flip is hands upside down with his palms up and say, "Go?" Which was his way of saying, "Where did Mike go?"
Andrea brought up the coolest thing for the kids. She gave each one of them a glow in the dark bracelet. Jared using a time laps feature took this picture. Katie is swinging her leg (green on the left) Kyra is making a figure 8 (blue in the middle) and that little green squiggle on the right would be Vale walking in and out of the picture. The two purple circles are Brynn and Callie - but I don't know which is which! :)
Here are the boys hanging out in a bubble bath. Vale thought it was pretty cool to share his bath!
Here is the whole gang on our last day exhausted, sunburned and beat - all signs of a good time!
Thank you everyone, especially Sarah for all the effort in making this so much fun!!! It was a fun-filled week. We loved seeing everyone again and miss you already! 