Porter Family Camping at St. Charles AKA Pukefest 09

Two days after we got home from our camping trip to Lava we restocked the trailer and headed to St. Charles Canyon for our Porter Family Camping Trip. This one turned out to be quite eventful as well only not all in a good way. The first night that we were there, we were all watching the Space Shuttle in the sky (which was way cool, by the way) Kieran got sick and was throwing up, after that the stomach bug ran wild and was getting everyone. People were puking all over the place. Fortunately for us, our girls were the only ones who caught it. They were both puking the same night so I only had to stay up one night instead of two. It was the craziest thing, therefore there are not a lot of pics of people because they were usually off in the bushes or laying around in a quiet, shady spot. Anyway, we actuall did have fun despite all the sickness. we spent a day on North Beach at Bear Lake. Kendall and Kambree were not pleased that Kaisley kept plopping down in their moat.

Cute little Beach Babe

Cona brought this craft for the kids to do...Bird feeders.

On Saturday we went sailing in the Brackins sailboat. We weren't out more than 5 minutes and Kaisley was puking. I'm not sure if it was the heat, sea sickness, or just the beginning of her bout of the "forest flu"

Austin and Jason putting up the sail

Checking out their hard work.

Out in the middle of Bear Lake some decided it was too hot and needed to take a dip to cool off.

Ahhhh...our family on the Sailboat.

Kendall, Kambree, Kaisley and myself at the Marina.

Chad's trying to figure things out.

Some of the dirty kids.

Not sure how much the birds enjoyed the bird feeders, the chipmunks, however, loved them!!

Right before we came home we decided to hit Minetonka Cave. I haven't been there since I was in 5th grade and the rest of the family had never been there. It was pretty cool and some super excercise. You hike a total of 888 stairs.

Kaisley was quite a trooper. She did most all of the stairs without being carried.

Hey, it's a Cave Girl.

Chad and Kaisley outside of the cave.

Except for the vomiting and mounds of dirty clothes we had a fun time. Everyone in the whole family was able to make it this year, even Chad's step-brother Jason that we havent seen in over 13 years. Thanks to Mo and Cona for working so hard on the preparation to make it a success. Next year we will hope for just a little less excitement.

Mattson Family Camp Trip at Lava

We had our annual Mattson Family Camp Trip at Lava this year. It was a great place to have it and there was plenty of fun to keep everyone entertained. It's so nice just to be able to relax and enjoy each others company for a few days. Kambree loves to play cards and games with Dad. Here they are with Kaisley and Dillon. My cute little cousin Dillon chillin at the pool.

Chad decided that it was time for Kaisley to go down the Water Slide. He took her up to the top and just pushed her down (this is how Kambree learned to love water slides) It didn't have quite the same effect on Kais, usually when kids come out of the slide, they are going so slow that they barely even get wet. She came shooting out like a cannon ball. I think that she was throwing such a fit she spun around the whole time. Fortunately Grandma caught her just in time. Needless to say she didn't go down again...we'll try again next year.

She's starting to act just like him....watch out world!

We enjoyed a lot of time at the pool. We would usually go back over after dinner and swim until they closed. we don't usually get Chad to the pool with us so it was sure nice to have him there.

The best part of any camping trip is sitting around the campfire together at night. Here's Grandpa and Grandma.

from the first day we got to Lava the kids wanted to tube the river. I floated it several years ago and remember thinking that it was a blast, I guess I'm getting older because I took a look at it and wasn't so sure. Some of the older kids went down and they all came back scraped up. I don't think one person went down without flipping at some point, by the second day i don't think that there was a band-aid to be found. We finally figured out that the bigger raft-type tubes seemed to be going down better so we went and rented one. Sure enough that was a much better option. Here are the kids waiting for Mandy to get the tube.

Kambree really didn't want to go down, but as you can guess Chad didn't give her a choice. She ended up loving it.

Kaisley didn't get a choice again either and just like the slide, hated it.

I do believe that this was the only injury that came from the 4-man tube.

Kaisley just loved riding her bike around the campground all day long.

Kort thinks that he's too old to give his Dad hugs, so Chad has to force them out of him.

Tube town USA

Hittin some rapids.

Even Grandma got in on the action.A fun time was had by all. Thanks to Laurie and Curtis who planned this trip. It was so good to be able to spend time with everyone!!

Cowabunga Bay

My kids and I are suckers for a Water Park so when we heard about a new one in Draper, we knew we must go and check it out. It ended up meeting our expectations. Mandy and her kids went with us, as did Albanie, Vicki, Carson, Kieran, and Kendall. We all had a great, wet day!! Kaisley wasn't super impressed with the slides but she loved this toy.

Kaisley loved the "cat pool" we couldnt figure out what she was talking about but I soon realized it was the kiddie pool she meant.

Vicki and Carson in the Lazy River

More of the "cat pool"

Trying to sneak Mamas caffeine.

What better thing to do on a hot summer day??

My TIKI girl!!

Kort and his "friend" Albanie

The whole place is just so cute and bright. You just can't help but smile!!

Kort, Albanie, Mandy, Kambree and Jayse are up there.Jayse shot out of this slide like a cannon Albanie came out with a lot more grace but was holding onto that suit for dear life.

Such a fun place !

Kort and Albanie racing

Kort about went right out the end

Just want everyone to know that this is what I'll be driving when I move to Maui (water coming out the back and all)

Kaisleys new Candy Land towel kept her well entertained.
This is my Super Brave Girl, last year she was kind of a chicken...this year she is a ROCK STAR!!!

A bunch of pretty cool kids!

You know that I can't go anywhere without doing at least a little bit of shopping so here we are checking out the outlet mall that is right behind Cowabunga Bay. It's a pretty sorry excuse for a mall I think it has two stores and one is going out of buisness.
It was time for dinner so the kids all voted that we go to the Mayan. They love that place and I have to admit that I do too. Heres Kendall learning to do a bird thing.

This was Vicki and Carsons first trip to the Mayan experience. I think Carson may have been more impressed with this than he was the Water Park.

We all had such a great day. Summer is so much fun and spending it with Family and Friends makes it even better, I feel so blessed to have so many great people in my life to enjoy this journey with. This sign was at the water park and I couldn't agree more.....