Little Bow 2015 With The Paxman`s!

We were planning on going to Little Bow this year with the Paxman`s. We had it booked since May. We were going up on Friday afternoon until Tuesday. It just happened that we were supposed to get a lot of rain on Friday. I got us all packed up and ready to go Friday morning. Richard came home and we started for Little Bow just around 1pm. We got there just as it started to rain. We had to hurry and set up in the rain. Cam and Kim had gotten there just before us. Brent and Tiff pulled in after us with Mom and Dad. I took their kids so they could set up. By then it was pouring. Not much we can do in the pouring rain. So we got books, crayons, puzzles and anything we could find out for the kids to play with. It was a little crazy on that Friday. David and Jill and Cody and Emily were in charge of supper that night. They were all coming from Calgary. They brought us chicken and some fruit and veggies for supper. We just all ate in our own trailers. Then it was bed time. David and Jill slept in our trailer with us. It worked out great.

We all had a good sleep that night. We woke up Saturday morning to sun. YAY!! It was super warm our but at least it wasn`t raining. That made us happy. The kids were super excited to start riding their bikes everywhere. We had breakfast and then just hung around the campfire. It was a relaxing morning.

DJ and Jill having some good laughs together!!

Then two girls came flying in on their bikes yelling that Brianna had a bad crash on her bike. I jumped in Jill and David`s car to go get her. She was on the road bawling. Uncle Cam was there helping her. He picked her up and we put her in the back seat. I sat back there with her. Her knee and the top of her foot and her big toe were scraped really bad. It looked horrible. We had to carefully clean it all up and then bandage her up. The poor girl was so sad. I gave her some pain medicine and set her up in the trailer and got her some lunch. I felt so bad for her.

Saturday afternoon we took the boat out for a ride. I wasn't planning on swimming, I didn't even put my suit on. I was still cold from all the rain and wind!! ha ha! We got out there and the crazy kids decided to jump off the boat in the middle of the lake. I was fine staying in the boat and taking pictures! Ha ha!

Grandpa and the kids ready in the boat. Just need to put them into the water now!!

Cadence was one of the brave jumpers!!

There goes Ali!

Love this picture of Ali!

Anna jumping in!

Cute Mary came for the boat ride!

Brianna probably would of jumped if it wasn't for her crazy accident!

DJ and his cute freckles!! Love him!

Four crazy girls! Ali, Anna, Cadence and Cassi!

Ari came along for the boat ride too!

We have a boat full!

Then Saturday night we decided to have a fire and make some yummy smores!! Of course, that's always a big hit! All the kids love doing that! And David and Jill brought some fun glow in the stick stuff. The kids had a blast running around with it all on! Crazy kids! We let them all stay up late that night, since we were all in bed so early Friday night!! It was fun. The kids fell asleep really fast too....so that makes it nice!!

Cool picture of the mallows getting roasted!!

Anna was roasting her marshmallow!

Eating the smores is a messy job, but somebody's got to do it!

DJ means business when he eats his smores!! ha ha!

Megan and Chris make a good smore making team! Lol!

Jill punching Richard in the face! Ha ha!

Everyone hanging around the fire!

The glow stick party!

DJ was sound asleep with his glow sticks still glowing away. I took the picture and my flash went off! Oops! That's why it doesn't look dark!! He kept sleeping though......he was a tired boy!

Sunday we got up and went to church. Keira was determined that she was coming with us. We kept telling her we were just going to Sacrament Meeting, but she still wanted to come. So Keira came to church with us. She did very well! The bad thing was I totally forgot her coat at the church. Oops! Totally my fault. Mom and dad had to phone someone and go back that night to get it! After church we went into Vulcan to a grocery store to get bandages and more polysporin for poor Brianna! The poor girl was so sad. It was just a relaxing day. We came back and had lunch and some of us had naps too! Ha ha! The kids just rode their bikes around everywhere!

That evening after supper, David and Jill went home and took Richard (he had to work on Monday and Tuesday). Then Cody and Emily ended up leaving too. Poor Ali wanted to stay so bad. We sure had fun with all of them there. Too bad it was so cold and rainy on Friday. Oh well, we still had fun!

Sunday night Chris and Megan came in and slept in our trailer with me and the kids. They had slept in their tent the past two nights with not too much success. Between being cold and wet and their mattress kept going flat in the middle of the night. So they came and slept on our bottom bunk.

Oh I should mention that we did go for a boat ride Sunday evening. It was super nice out. Cam wanted to go for a tube ride. So we went and let the kids ride in the tube too. Then Kim really wanted to go on the tube....so I went with her. I think Abbi was in the middle. Well, Brent went insanely crazy. I told them that I wasn't going to hang on super tight because that's when I end up hurting my self. Well I ended up flying over backwards and hitting the water hard. The kids thought it was hilarious that I flew off. I did a quick slalom ski too. We didn't stay out very long. It was fun though!

Monday morning, it was a little chilly. I had two grumpy kids who kept saying they weren't feeling good and didn't want to go boating. But first we had a really yummy big breakfast. And we hung around the campfire, trying to decide what the plan was. We decided to go ahead and go out on the boat. I was thinking I might be staying behind with Brianna and DJ and Keira but then they decided to come.

Hanging out after eating a delicious breakfast!

Chris and Megan are so cute together!!

Emmett loves his cousin, Abbi and vise versa!!

The three girls who weren't feeling the greatest. They were watching a movie together!

DJ loves playing with Emmett! This picture makes me smile!

Dad busy cooking some yummy breakfast!

Eating in the screen tent.

Keira and her backpack....plus her nightie got caught in her panties!! ha ha! so cute!

We were the last group out. They had someone go out and save our beach. It worked out good. Then we were waiting for the boat on the dock. They basically had the beach all set up. We finished helping set up and then settled back and let the kids play. They were so excited to get out our dingy boat and go on an adventure. Brent and Tiff had there boat too so there were too. They sure had a blast with them. Cassi and DJ were going off fishing. It was pretty funny!

Cassi and DJ paddling around. DJ would try to "fish" while Cassi paddled!

Keira playing in the sand!

Brianna all bandaged up and playing in the sand too!

The "cool" people with their fancy chairs! Ha ha!

There's our shade city. Thanks to David and Jill for leaving the big canopy!

Crazy Cadence!! Ha ha!

Love her smile and I did her hair up. I didn't mean for it to fall forward like that! She is a cutie!

Ha ha....this picture makes me smile. Bella with her goggles on upside down. So funny! She took those goggles everywhere!

The kids were paddling everywhere.

Emmett looking so adorable sound asleep!

Emmett playing in the sand!

Dad pulling kids on the tube!

Here they come! I was using my zoom lense!

DJ eating lunch!

Cute picture of Emmett playing with the cars in the sand!

He had sand everywhere!

I was going to take a cute picture of Keira and she ended stepping on something and this is what I got!! Ha ha...still so cute!

DJ playing in the sand!

Bella, Cassi and Anna!

Of course we got a lot of skiing in too. It was beautiful out. The water was pretty smooth too. I really wanted to get another ski in. So I did! Plus Megan got to wake board too. It was just so fun to be out and there was hardly any other boats on the lake. It was perfect! Megan wanted to try water skiing. She has never done it since she was 14.  She's just stuck with the wake boarding. So we gave it a try. It was so funny. She gave us all the giggles. Her face expressions are the best. She was popping up by the 3rd time but then there would be slack in the rope and she would go flying backwards. Ha ha! It was hilarious. She gave it a good try. But then she decided to stick with wake boarding!

Chris getting so close to getting up!

Megan going down and plugging her nose!

And falling backwards!

Love her face expressions!

There she is nice and comfortable on the wake board!

Looking good Megs!

Me going for a slalom ski!

I took my glasses off but forgot I had my hat on! Oops!

We had lunch on the beach and the kids were having fun playing in the sand. DJ set up his own area with his cars in the sand. He gets into his own world. Cracks me up. Brianna really wasn't feeling that well and ended up having a nap for almost 2 hours. Which isn't normal at all. We made sure she was  in the shade so she could sleep comfortably. Cadence wasn't feeling that great either, so she layed down and played on my phone. Emmett was also feeling pretty miserable. Unfortunately we all came away sick after this camping trip! Oh well! We took turns holding Emmett so Brent and Tiffani could enjoy themselves too. I do love snuggling with Emmett. He so reminds me of DJ at that age. Love it.

It looks like Brent pushed Tiffani off the boat. But she actually jumped!

Cadence jumping off the boat!

Kim and Ari cooling off in the water!

Coming off the boat!

DJ playing with his cars!

Keira and Grandma coloring together!

Grandpa reading a book, Brianna sound asleep and Cadence relaxing in the shade!

Cassi and Anna came and asked me if I could help them ski. Kim told them no, that she didn't feel like dealing with screaming girls when they didn't get up. I said that I wouldn't mind at all. I told them that I learned at a young age, but I also didn't get up on my first try. They've watched me a few times ski, and they have all called me a pro. Which makes me laugh, but I wanted them to know that I fall too. They did see me crash too though. They both nodded their heads. I asked them if they saw me scream and cry when I fell. They said no. I said it as normal not to get up on their first time. I said if they really wanted to give it a try I'd love to help them. I felt like staying positive with them was the best thing. They were both pretty excited to try. I was super proud of both of them. Anna tried first and she was having a hard time with the concept of keeping her knees bent and arms out. She was trying to stand up before the boat pulled her. She gave it a try 3 times. She came up smiling! Way to go Anna. Then Cassi was ready to try. We had to put her in the bigger skis because she is so tall. I got her all ready and had my arms around the back of her legs pulling them up. I had her relax in my arms and the boat towed us for a tiny bit so she could get the feel of it. I told her that if she fell, not to forget to let go of the rope. She said, "Hit it" and the boat went. She went flying head first. I screamed, "Let go!".....and she did. But she came up sputtering and I could see the panic in her eyes. So I swam toward her and yelled, "WOW CASSI YOU DID AMAZING! You tried and then let go when you fell. You did awesome." Well she stopped and looked at me and then slowly started to smile. Phew! I told her she was super close to getting up all she needed to do was lean back. That she should give it another try. She looked at me and then was thinking and then agreed to one more try. So we got her ready and I kept remind her to lean back as she was standing up. So away she went. And she stood up! Yay! We were cheering and then she ended up going backwards....she leaned back to far. But she got up. She was so happy! She didn't want to try again and we didn't push it. She walked away from it happy, and that's what counts!

Me in the water with Cassi!

She was so close to being up! Way to go Cassi!

My Abbi wanted to try skiing too. So we got her all ready. She's tried a few times before and she gets right up. Then she seems scared and lets go. So this time we were talking about what happens after she gets up. I told her Uncle Brent would just take her for a small ski and bring her back. So she was ready and said hit it. She popped right up and then let go. So we did it again and this time she stayed up for around 30 seconds.....or a little less. But she did go quick a ways. Then she let go! But she was happy with that! Silly girl.

Way to get up Abbi!

Brianna was a little disappointed because she really wanted to ski on this trip. But that wasn't happening with her really bad scraped up foot. It looked horrible. I was afraid she was fighting off an infection. It looked nasty. Poor girl.

The kids all went on the tube and had a blast. DJ wasn't really interested in it at all. I didn't push him. I told him that if he wanted to go we could do it on the way back. He agreed to that. The kids also loved jumping off the boat into the middle of the lake. So funny to watch from the beach! It was a fun day!

Brianna, Cassi and Cadence going for a tube ride!

We decided to pack it in around 4:30pm. We knew it would take awhile to get everything packed up. So we started. Brent was going to take one group in and then come back for the other one. Me and the kids came in first with Tiff and her kids. I was making supper that night with Kim. I wanted to start cooking the meat. Me, DJ, Keira and Tiff went on a tube ride back to the dock. Well it didn't last that long. Tiff's hat flew off and Brent turned the boat to go get it. It made us go out of the wake, which freaked Tiff out. She started screaming, which in turn, made Keira freak out too. I made the quit sign to Brent and he stopped right away. I felt bad, I had no idea Tiffani was that terrified of the tube being out of the wake. So she and Keira got off and Cadence came on. It was a fun ride back.

Tiff and Keira with DJ and me on the tube ride back.

I just love this picture. So much happening. Abbi holding Emmett in the boat (Brianna was taking the pictures) and us on the tube. This is where Tiff and Keira started screaming....if you look closely you can see.

DJ, Me and Cadence coming back.

Pulling us in at the dock.

We had spaghetti for supper that night. Then Kim and Cam decided to pack it up and head home. So we helped them get off. Then we had smores with the kids that were left. Everyone was pretty tired that night. The kids went to bed so good. Then I stayed up late with Brent, Tiff, Megan and Chris. We had a good time laughing and telling stories. It was a fun time!

Roasting marsh mallows!

Cadence takes it seriously!

Cute picture of Keira with her mallow!

Big bite!

Tuesday morning we got up and had breakfast and then started packing things up. The plan was to get things mostly ready to go and then a few of us were going to go on the boat and get our last skis in. We weren't going to go to the beach. Emmett was feeling horrible and some of my kids were getting sick too. So it was just me, Brent, Tiff, Dad, Megan, Chris and Cadence that headed out to do some skiing. Mom stayed behind with the rest of the kids. I decided to try out the new two skis that Megan and Chris bought. They weren't sure if they were good skis or not. So I said I'd give them a try. So I did. Man it was a blast. I popped up and started cutting back and forth. Then I decided to try to do a jump across the wake. I did and wiped out. I told them I was going to try again. So I popped up again and started jumping the wake back and forth. I started getting more and more confident and then I did a BIG jump and face planted it hard. Ouch!! Ha ha...that's what I get for being confident! Ha ha!

The water was a little cold. But I was ready to ski on two skis!

So much fun!

Then Chris wanted to try to get up again. We were trying everything to get him up. He was so close a few times. But he would always fall to his left. That is his weak knee, we found out. But he sure tried hard to get up. Megan had a good time wake boarding afterwards. Then Cadence decided to try the knee board. So I jumped in to help her. I got her strapped in on her knees and I held the back. The boat went and away she went. She looked so cute on it, so tiny! Ha ha! She did awesome. Went quite a ways. I just stayed in the water till they came back to get me. I told them that I might as well do a slalom ski. I got my skis on and told them to hit it. As I was getting pulled I realized that there were weeds all around my feet. I couldn't get up. I let go and started pulling HUGE hands full of weed off my skis. It was disgusting. Then I got up and dropped my ski and away I went! Ha ha! It was a fun last ski! Then we headed back in to the dock and pulled the boat out. It was a great way to end our camping trip.

Megan helping Chris!

Me in the boat!

Me slaloming for the last time at Little Bow!

Getting Cadence ready to go on the knee board!

She did awesome!

Way to go Cadence!

We went back to the trailers and had lunch and then we were ready to pull out. It was a fun camping trip. Lots of crazy things happened but that's what makes it fun too!