4 Wheels + Dirt = Fun!!

Some of us went in on a couple of 4 wheelers to rent for the day. Some of the best $$ we ever spent! Everyone had a blast taking turns and giving the kids rides.

Jana & Olivia

Grandpa (my dad)

Cole and Chuck

Chad even talked my mom into taking a ride!! That was amazing, and I think

she even liked it a bit.

Travis and Mil

Charlie is truly his daddy's boy, he LOVED the 4 wheelers!

Chad and Charlie

I took Ethan for a ride and he liked it but I couldn't talk the other boys into riding. They hung out by the campfire with Grandpa.

Travis and I even got a bit of time to go out alone.

Blake

This is Chad with his rental car. Let's just say they may be washing mud off that SUV for a long time. It may or may not have found some mud.

Row Row Your Boat

We took advantage of all the possible fun at the cabin, canoeing was one of them.

Cole and Bev (and Blake "rockin the boat")

Someone had to flip and of course it was Derek and Megan. I say of course because this was Megan's first canoe trip...

Blake and Troy went out to save the day.

Chad and his girls

My brothers are crazy, they jumped in that frigid water many times.

Blake has always been a show off. : )

And Cole, enough said

Even Amelia wanted in the water, for a minute anyway.

Ethan jumped twice and that was enough for him, that kid has no body fat to insulate.

My boys mostly played along the shore in the rocks, trying to skip them.

Blake, Chad, Cole, and Troy. Derek must have been inside trying to warm up after

the capsize of his vessel.

The kids loved running the dock, the first part was bouncy.

Chad and Cole (Crazy!!) did a night jump! This is the before...

And after.. I don't know which is more frightening.

WIthers Family Pictures

During our three week vacation to Idaho we did a ton of stuff. One of which was a family photo session because it had been a long time (and many new grand kids) since all us Withers kids and family's had been together. ( That is the cabin our awesome friend Beehive Bob let us use.)

These are all the "men": my 5 brothers, Chad, Blake, Troy, Derek, Cole, plus Travis and my dad.

Grandpa and Grandma with all the blonde grandkids, I didn't notice until now that they are all shades of blonde...

Ah... the group shot. As you can see, this was quite an undertaking, with decent results. My mom was pleased with the outcome and that is all that matters.

My little cuties! Amelia wasn't loving the coldish weather ( remember, we live in FL and this was taken in Island Park in August, colder than normal. I am partial to Westin's grin, a bit like a kid in a J. C. Penny catalog.

Our family shot, which is pretty nice. We took 8 or so but in each one someone is making a face. I guess they captured our true personalities, lol.

First Day of School!

This was the first day of school for Ethan, Westin, and Alex, grades 2nd, 1st, and K respectively. Of course this wasn't the first day for everyone else at our school. We were still in Idaho ( Utah, actually) when school started on Aug. 10th. A small oversight on my part, but no harm done. Things didn't go smoothly for Ethan and Wes. I guess they were nervous. But Alex, he basically told me " I know where my classroom is, you don't have to walk me". Uh, I don't think so, my baby is gong to Kindergarten, I am walking him! Nevermind the fact that he went to Pre-K last year. Now they are all pro's and love their amazing teachers, as do I.

Ethan looking a little worn out. Traveling will do that to you.

Wes

Alex

My three Amigos!

And, since Amelia isn't in school yet I included this random pic of her in her too small beenie, patriotic shirt and the boy's shorts. I love this girl!

Finally! Some of Summer!

I am finally getting to some of our summer fun. Most of it won't be in order but that sums up our life. Some of it was in FL and a lot will be of Idaho. Stay tuned for the rest!

Skipping Rocks and Giant Cheeseburgers!

After Travis arrived (on week after us) we continued the adventures. We went out to Henry's Fork of the Snake River to skip rocks and let the kid run wild.

Here they are gathering rocks to skip.

Alex taking a crack at it.

Travis showing the way.

Does this look dangerous to anyone else? Uh.. Watch

Out Daddy!

This is Amelia's idea of skipping rocks. First, grab a handful of pebbles.

The heave them out as far as you can and yell

"Geronem0"!

My guys posing on the dock.

One of the things on my must-do-while-in-Idaho list was eat at Big Jud's. Again, for all you non-Idaho people Big Jud's is home to the best cheeseburgers, and not only the best, but the biggest! An in true Berger style, we went big! We ordered the 3 lb. cheeseburger, or the triple. The single Big Jud is only 1 lb. I think we fed 8 people and still had a serving left. It was honestly as big as Westin's head ( and that's big!). I was really looking forward to the homemade ice cream. I always get huckleberry. There is seriously nothing bettter!

That's my baby bro. Cole with my boys.

I wasn't kidding!

Parades and Parks

One of the first things we did after arriving in in Rexburg was the 24th of July Parade in St. Amthony. The boys got a bit of candy and saw some cool horses where the riders stood up on two horses, Russian Riding, I think it is called.

I couldn't get Amelia to cooperate no matter what I did.

That's my sister Erika and Mom in the background.

We ate our picnic lunch at a tiny park and the kids played on the few toys they had.

We basically hit a park 3 or 4 days a week while we were there. I absolutely loved the weather. Even if it was hot, you just move to the shade. Shade doesn't help much in our Florida humidity. Our next stop was Porter Park in Rexburg. This park has changed a lot since I was a kid, but it was just right for my young kids.

Sparky pushing Amelia on the swing.

(I had to add this side note. At some point during our stay my dad called Amelia "Sparky" so she called him "Sparky" back. For the rest of our visit and even still she calls Grandpa "Sparky". She has that man wrapped around her little finger. It was sad when we had to leave Sparky and go home.)

Man he's cute!

My thinker.

Ethan is always putting together some game and inviting anyone at the park who wants to play.

We also attended the Folk Dance Festival Parade in Rexburg a few days later. For those of you who don't know, Rexburg hosts a dance festival every August and invites 8 "teams" of dancers from around the world. Each year the entire thing is funded (team airfare, etc) by the proceeds from the year prior. People around town also help by hosting dancers in their homes, feeding them and driving them to performances and such. We saw some really cool dancers.

This girl from Japan was my all time fav. She was dancing around with this huge drum while playing. Very cool.

The team from Mexico was also very cool. ( very Lamanite)

This is a group of girls form Thiland. The stiff breeze that day

add a great effect to their feathery fans.