Better late than never.....

For some reason it has taken me forever to get around to posting our 4th of July trip to Pagosa.  But better late than never, right? 

So, to begin I must give out an award to....The Two Best Travelers of All Time...Caiden and Paige....{applause and cheering}

Now, I have never claimed to have the most well behaved children (because that would be a lie) nor the most mild (because that would also be a lie), but I am pretty sure I do have the best little travelers....EVER.  We drove a total of 18 hours (just me and them, no Casey) and not once did they get out of their seats, and only once did they attempt a pillow fight which was immediately vetoed after I was hit while driving.  There was, however, countless "Are we there yeeeeeeettttt?" and "how much loooongggerrrrrrrr?"  But other than that, they completely rocked.  (And I feel I have to take some credit for that because I am one heck of a traveler myself and I'm pretty sure they got this awesome gene from me, which I got from my parents :)  So, a big thanks to the DVD player, Star Wars, Max & Ruby, handi-snacks, part-time passenger Aunt Kimmy, and Bon Jovi and large amounts of caffenieted drinks (for me) for making it all possible.

Now on to our trip....

We first stopped in Salt Lake at my sister's so we could attend the midnight showing of "Eclipse".  This was quite the experience as I discovered how seriously these Utahn's take their Twilight.  Oh my....it was crazy, insane, shocking, ridiculous, and absurd.  I loved every minute of it.

Then, on to Pagosa to Grandma and Grandpa Peart's.  Within hours of arriving the craziness

began (unfortunately I don't have pictures to document this, but must record it for memories sake).  While scary and alarming at first, it turned into hilarity once we discovered everyone was okay.  Caiden was with his cousins, Tanner and Lauren, out for a joy ride on the Ranger (a normal activity).  All of a sudden Caiden and Lauren come bursting through the front door in a half-crying/full-on panicked state screaming  "A REALLY S-SCARY THING JUST HAP-HAPPENED!!"  (I thought they had seen a bear - another semi-normal thing).  "What happened?!?!"  "Tanner was dr-driving the Ranger and was looking at a b-bird and then we r-rolled off the driveway" (sniff, sniff, panic, panic).  Initially we first thought that Tanner was stuck under the Ranger so Kim and I shot out the door and ran down the driveway.  Now I should explain that my parents don't exactly have a normal driveway.  It's one you basically need 4-wheel drive to get up and it's real long and windy and rocky and mountain-y.  We get down there and see that Tanner is just fine, except for kinda sulking around with a sheepish ah-crap-I-just-rolled-the-Ranger look on his face.  Then we get the whole story....Apparently they were making their way down the driveway when they spot an interesting bird and Tanner doesn't realize how close they are to the edge and the front wheel goes off.  He stops and attempts to reverse but can't get enough traction and Ranger slowly tips to its side and off the driveway.  No rolling, no tumbling, no bodies being thrown about, just a simple tip-over.  Simple to Caiden and Lauren?  Not so much.  There was lots of "I'm so mad at you Tanner!!" and "I'm never riding anywhere with you again" and "You need a licer's drivence!"  The panic looked on their faces and sound in their voices was pee-your-pants funny!!!!  But we eventually calmed them down and did a "yay for seatbelts" dance.  And within hours they were best friends with Tanner once again.  Classic.

Anyway, moving on, we did a little flying....(Caiden and Paige call it the "Who-dat" airplane, Ha!)

....please excuse me and my pajama attire.  My dad is an early riser...and I am not. 

Caiden got to ride co-pilot, which he loved and then once we were airborne, Paige sat on my dad's lap.  He did his famous "pulling G's" trick (where your stomach ends up in your throat).  Normally, this is a favorite of mine, as a kid and an adult, but I quickly discovered it takes on a completely different feeling when you're pregnant.  Not quite as fun as I remembered. 

Later, we attended Pagosa's 4th of July parade.  My dad started it off with his flying buddies as they flew in formation over the parade...

Can you tell what was Paige's favorite part?

Afterwards, there was the most amazing double rainbow...I have never seen a double rainbow before.  I didn't even know that could happen.  The pictures don't do it justice.

Then we waded in the San Juan river a bit....

THEN...on the last day there, we decided to go tubing down the River.  So we dropped off a few of the adults and kids (Caiden included) at a higher spot up in the river and the rest of us drove down a bit further to watch them come down.  It was taking a bit longer than expected and I had the feeling that there was some tip-overs resulting in uncooperative children.  (I think Caiden had met his quota for "tip-overs" for the week).  Sure enough, I was right.  It's not that the river was rough with huge rapids, it's that there was more than one person to a tube and the distribution of weight caused it to be...shall we say unsteady.  So there was not one, not two, not three, but FOUR tip-overs.  Caiden was D.O.N.E.  At one point, my dad said he stood up on a rock and loudly announced "I HATE THIS RIVER.  I'M NOT GOING ANYMORE!"  Against his will, they grabbed him and finally made it to where we were waiting.  And this is how he stood for a long time....

So, I'm thinking he's not gonna grow up to be a white water rafting guide....big deal.

Now, look to the upper left of this picture and you will see the largest "rapid" the river had to offer.  The adults took turns going over it....

Rodney makes it through....

Kim makes it through....

Kelley makes it through....

Grandpa makes it through....just barely...

And Grandma...wait a second...where's Grandma?  Oh, well she collided with another person and flipped right over....there's her head!

A great little trip!