Bear Lake: Round 2

Tonight we went back up to Bear Lake to spend a few days with my family at Grandma D's cabin.

Mom, Dad, Jason, and Mike started things off right with a hot Euchre game.  It was mostly just an excuse for a whole lot of trash talk.

Today we had our "Impromptu Girla-Palooza/She-cousin Summer Get Together".  My cousin Jill organized a casual get-together with the girl cousins and aunts on my mom's side.  Not everyone could come, but it was delightful to see these gals and catch up a bit.

The She-cousins: Jodi, Claire, Jill B., Jen, Jami, Kelly, and Jill L.

The Aunts:  Kathy, Jan/Mom, Peggy, and Karen

Who Shot Juanito Bandito?

Tuesday night, we did my most favorite Bear Lake tradition: Pickleville Playhouse.

We've gone for the last 6 years or so, and it is AWESOME!  Pickleville is this little theater at Bear Lake that puts on it's own, original melodramas.  I know you are thinking "Hokey Central", but you are soooo wrong!  The last four years, they've done Juanito Bandito plays, and they are seriously so funny, I have tears running down my face at times.  

And what does one eat at Pickleville Playhouse?  Why, PICKLES,
of course!

(don't worry, they also serve popcorn and Diet Coke for the
less pickle-inclined)

T.J. Davis, one of the owners of Pickleville, developed this Juanito Bandito villian and writes a new play around him every year.  I can't believe this guy isn't on Broadway - the music alone amazes me.  T.J. is some kid from Idaho, yet he does this crazy Mexican accent that just kills me - and he can even rap in character.  I defy you to show me anything funnier!  We had the BEST time!

Surfing

This year, Brad discovered a new craze.  Some of Brad's cousins and cousins-in-law introduced him to surfing behind the boat.  If you rig things just right, you can get a big enough wake behind the boat to surf on, without having to hold onto a rope.  It was pretty amazing, and I took way too many pictures of it.

I liked this part of it - when you wreck, you just sort of sink slowly into the water.  No face-plants or bell-ringers like wakeboarding.

It is tame enough that Brian, Brad's cousin's husband, could even take small children out with him.  You can see that little Scott is having the time of his life!

It looked okay, so I even gave it a try.

I wasn't super good, but at least I got up so I didn't embarrass myself in front of the Surfer Dudes.

More awesome shots of Brad. . .

Look Ma, no hands!

(I know you are probably bored with all these shots of Brad surfing, but I can promise you that Brad is scrutinizing every one, analyzing his form and technique.)

Kite Flying and a Full Moon

 One afternoon, some storm clouds rolled in and a big wind kicked up over the beach.  Dave and Becky had brought their ginormous kite just for this situation, but the wind was almost too much for them.

 You can see that it took all of Cameron's strength to keep hold of the kite.

 Dave had to sit down to keep control of it.

Becky gives it a go.

Unfortunately, Becky had just changed out of her wet swimsuit into a baggy pair of sweats.  Also unfortunately, she was in such a hurry to get to the kite-flying that she didn't put anything on underneath them.  Nope, not anything.

MOST unfortunately, the wind was so strong that Becky couldn't let go of the kite with both hands, so even though she could feel her pants going down, she couldn't do anything about it.  This did not end particularly well. . .

Luckily the three little boys - who'd had a front row seat to the Becky's Buns Show - were nonplussed by their aunt's embarrassment.  They just continued practicing their karate moves like nothing happened.  The rest of us, however, will have a certain image burned into our eyes forever.

Biking Triumphs

This year at Bear Lake saw some Biking Triumphs that are worth noting:

The first morning we were there, Jess and Emma rented this tandem bike for an hour.  I consider this a triumph, because all my life I saw those tandem bikes for rent, and I fantasized about riding one.  There is just something so whimsical about picturing myself whizzing around with a friend, wind in my hair and sun on my skin.  I've never ridden one, and after talking to Jess about it, I can let the fantasy go.  Apparently, tandem bikes are highly overrated. It is probably because Emma was too short to reach the pedals, but Jess was exhausted after pedaling an extra person around for an hour.

Sunday night, we saw Brad's sister Kate outside dinking around on Ellie's bicycle.  Apparently, Kate, who is in her twenties, had never learned how to ride a two-wheeler.  But, the magic of Bear Lake combined with a ready and willing teacher (Dave) gave her the courage to tackle it.  Go Kate!

After seeing Kate conquer the two-wheeler, a few of us were sitting in the condo talking about the whole learning-to-ride-a-bike process.  I was talking about how Luke is five-years-old, and he still can't ride a two-wheeler.  In the middle of my sentence, I looked up and saw him coast by on Sophie's bike.  I stopped, mid-sentence, and ran outside to make sure my eyes weren't deceiving me.

Sure enough, Luke was riding a bike!  Dave was surprised to see me come out making a fuss;  apparently, Luke had asked Dave to help him ride Sophie's bike, and Dave just sat him on the bike and let him go, without realizing that Luke had never done it before.  Luke took off!  After my fuss, Dave followed Luke around coaching him on the finer points of riding a bicycle.  This lasted for a glorious 20 minutes, after which Luke had his first bicycle crash.  He wasn't quite so gung-ho after that.

Bitner Bear Lake

I love Bear Lake!  This year, we were able to go to Bear Lake with Brad's family AND my family, so we got two weeks of Bear Lake goodness.  First we spent a week at Ideal Beach with the Bitners.

One of the fun things about Bear Lake with the Bitners is that all of Brad's extended family is there, too.  As in, his grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, cousins' kids...you get the drift.  It is a huge family reunion - I think there were 130 Bitners staying in various condos there at Ideal Beach.
 

Adam and Lukie snug in their sofa bed in the condo.

One tradition that they do every year is "Pigs and Ducks".  It is a game where they spread candy all over the lawn, and the kids are split into two teams - pigs and ducks.  The kids on the pig team find a piece of candy, and have to stand and oink until their team captain comes and picks it up.  The ducks do the same thing, except that they quack.

All that quacking and oinking makes quite a ruckus!

When it's all done, the team captain divvies up the candy to the team.

This year, after the "Pigs and Ducks" fun was over, Becky and Dave set up a video projector so we could watch Chicken Run outside the condos.

It attracted kids from lots of Bitner families, and a few kids we didn't know also joined in.

Most days were spent playing on the beach.

This is my favorite picture from Bear Lake.  Lois was taking Luke and Gabe down to the beach, and the two little boys were running for all they were worth.  I think it captures the excitement we felt all week.

My favorite picture from our awesome week at Bear Lake.  

Lois was walking Lukie and Gabers to the beach, and I couldn't resist snapping a photo of the two little boys running for all they were worth.  The best part was just after I took the picture;  when the boys reached the sand, they both biffed it at exactly the same time.

Yep, I am as happy as I look!

After a full day on the boat, we were coming in to dock the boat at sunset.  It was a perfect moment in time.

Today, Brad discovered his new obsession:  surfing behind the boat.

His cousin's husband Brian took us out on his boat this afternoon and showed us how to surf behind the boat.  If you rig everything just right, you can get enough force in the boat wake to keep you going without holding on to the rope.  You can see that the rope in Brad's hands is very slack.  Unfortunately, I didn't get any good shots of him after he'd thrown the rope back on the boat, because that is when it gets really impressive.

It looked so fun, I had to give it a try.  I wasn't nearly good enough to even attempt to drop the rope, but I still really liked it.  It is so much easier on my tired, ole body than waterskiing or even wakeboarding.  Mostly, I was just relieved that I could get up so I didn't humiliate myself in front of all the Surfer Dudes.

Tonight we did my most favorite Bear Lake tradition: Pickleville Playhouse.

We've gone for the last 6 years or so, and it is AWESOME!  Pickleville is this little theater at Bear Lake that puts on it's own, original melodramas.  I know you are thinking "Hokey Central", but you are soooo wrong!  The last four years, they've done Juanito Bandito plays, and they are seriously so funny, I have tears running down my face at times.  

T.J. Davis, one of the owners of Pickleville, developed this Juanito Bandito villian and writes a new play around him every year.  I can't believe this guy isn't on Broadway - the music alone amazes me.  T.J. is some kid from Idaho, yet he does this crazy Mexican accent that just kills me - and he can even rap in character.  I defy you to show me anything funnier!  We had the BEST time!

It just wouldn't be Bear Lake if I didn't have at least one photo of Lukie with his toy boat in the lake.

This evening, Brad and I were sitting in our condo chit-chatting with Becky while the kids played around outside.  I was talking about how guilty I feel that Luke can't ride a two-wheeler, when I looked up and saw him coast by, unassisted, on his cousin's bicycle.  I literally stopped mid-sentence, and ran outside to make sure I wasn't seeing things.  

Apparently, minutes before, Lukie had asked Uncle Dave to help him ride Sophie's bike.  Not realizing this was Luke's first attempt, Dave hoisted him onto the seat and let him go.  Luke just took off.  Dave was surprised to see me come rushing out, making a big fuss about Luke riding a two-wheeler.  After that, Dave followed Luke around, coaching him on the finer points of bicycle riding.  

This lasted for a glorious 20 minutes, after which Luke had his first bicycle crash.  He wasn't quite so gung-ho after that.

This morning, Jess started the Bear Lake week off right by renting a tandem bicycle with her cousin Emma.  Unfortunately, Emma's feet didn't quite reach the pedals, so Jess ended up doing all the work.  She was pretty tired when the hour was up.

Today we arrived at Bear Lake to spend the week with Brad's family.  The kids' bedroom had this couch bed and another queen-sized bed.  Adam and Luke were intrigued with the novelty of the couch bed, and the two of them fought mightily over who would sleep in it (Jess and Pep wanted to sleep upstairs in another condo with cousins, so there were two beds for two boys).  I left Adam and Lukie in a heated argument over who would sleep where, and told them to work it out.  Ten minutes later, I came in to see what they'd decided and this is what I found.  The much comfy-er queen sized bed was empty.

Tonight, Jess went on a horseback ride with her grandpa.  They took the horses up in the canyon for a real ride, then came home and took the kids for little tame rides around the corral.

Jessica really LOVES to ride horses.  Both of her grandpas are horse-lovers, too, so I think she got the double-whammy horse-loving gene.  Sadly for her, it skipped a generation, so her parents don't share her passion for horses and are not responding well to her pleas for a horse of her own.