Bear Lake

This year, our Bear Lake trip found me without a camera.  These pictures are from my cute sister-in-law, Krista.  Ammon, Peter and I drove up on Friday morning with my mom.  We made our traditional stop in Logan for some renowned Aggie Icecream.  Then we continued on to camp.  My sister and her family had arrived the previous day and were staying in a condo near by.  We headed over for dinner with them.  Peter had fun riding bikes with Isaiah while Ammon spent the evening swimming with Carolyn and Kylie.  My brother Joey rode up with Andy after they had both finished work.  They arrived around 8:00 at which point we began setting up camp.  My sister Rebecca, who had a later work schedule, arrived around 11:00 that night.  The following morning, Joey's family arrived on their way home from a visit to Idaho and our group was complete.

We spent the morning at the lake.  The water was high this year, and although that made the beach smaller, I enjoyed the shore line being so close to camp.  Andrew decided to do a one-man triathlon.  He started by swimming in the lake.  Then he took himself on a 10 mile bike ride followed by a three mile run.  We all gathered back at camp for a group lunch and then went on our annual bike ride.

The bike ride is just over three miles from the camp ground.  There is a nice trail and it's pleasant to travel.  To make it even better, our destination is a milk shake shack, so we all get a treat when we arrive.  Two years ago we had Ammon ride his bike and we were SO proud of him for making it all the way there.  Unfortunately we had troubles with our bikes (some flat tires and things) so Andrew rode back to camp to get the truck making the bike trip a one-way ordeal.  Peter had ridden in a little buggy pulled by Andrew's bike.

This year we decided to let Peter ride his own bike.  He had two cousins his same age that were going to be riding, so even though we thought he might need a car rescue at some point, we figured we'd see what he could do.  When it came down to it, though, he had one cousin who ended up riding in a buggy, and one cousin who rode a "pilot" (which is an attachment to his father's bike) so Peter was really the only one who was pedaling a little bike with 12 inch tires and training wheels.  We knew he would lag behind, so I got out at the front of the group.

We hadn't gotten more than a tenth of a mile, or so when Peter looked up at me, and with much discouragement said, "I can't take this much longer."  I figured we had made a good effort and was ready to turn around and take him back to a car when we saw my brother coming up behind us.  At that point, Peter's competitive spirit took over and he started pedaling with all his might, trying to stay ahead of Uncle Joey.  It didn't take long for Uncle Joey to pass him, but by the time that happened, someone else was coming up behind him.  Cute little Peter kept going and going until we were finally joined by Aunt Rebecca and Daddy.  The four of us stayed together and we eventually made it to a park about a block away from our final destination, where the group was playing and waiting.

After enjoying the playground and walking the boardwalk down to the lake, we continued our journey to the shake shack.

On the bike ride home, Andrew and Rebecca stayed with Peter while I rode ahead.  With every hill and long stretch of road I worried, knowing that my four year old was going to need to cover this same distance.  Once I was back in camp, I watched and waited for them to come back and considered going out in a "rescue vehicle" to pick them up.  I was already so proud of the distance Peter had accomplished.  I tried calling to see where they were at, but neither Andrew nor Rebecca answered their phones.  Finally, just as I was ready to drive and look for them, Rebecca called me back.  I was shocked when she told me how close they were, but still told her of my plan to come and get them.  She insisted that they were fine and that Peter would make it without help.  A few minutes later, Andrew and Peter came riding into camp.  I cheered for Peter as he completed his 7.8 mile round trip!

We hung and and played at camp, then went swimming in the pool.  Ammon played around in the deep end but still struggled with his swimming.  I went with him in the deep end and just dropped him in the middle of the pool, instructing him to swim his was to the edge of the pool at the shallow end.  He did a great job but stopped as soon as he could reach.  We repeated the exercise and that was when swimming really just clicked for him.  He easily swam the length of the pool.  He was shocked when he looked back and saw the distance he had covered.

I wanted him to get some more practice, but we started getting rain drops and decided to try to beat the storm back to camp.  By the time we got back, rain was starting to pound down.  (I'm telling you - we can't have a Nunes family camp out without severe weather.  It gets us EVERY time!)  We were all planning to head home after dinner, so we all raced around camp, packing everything up as quickly as possible.  Rebecca and Joe and his family decided to head straight home.  They met the storm in the canyon and said they drove through standing water on the roads.  Katy's family, my mom and us all hunkered down in the motor home and ate our dinner.  When the storm let up for a moment, we decided to make our run for it.  Although it rained a little on the way home, the roads were fine and we made it home enjoying the view of a beautiful rainbow along the way.