My original plan with homeschool for the 2023 - 2024 year was finish the week of Jack's birthday, however, I didn't factor in losing so many days with us going to Great Wolf Lodge back in February. Oops! So we ended up going until June 13th. The last week of school was absolutely the worst. First off it was after the Rafting Trip which just wiped us all out...we were tired and with that came bad attitudes and crankiness. It was really bad and we were just ready to be done! Praise the Lord for summer vacation! I've decided moving forward with homeschool that if we are going on the rafting trip we will be finishing school the week before...no matter! Then when we come home from the trip we can just rest and recover from all that fun!
Look at this handsome man!
I can't believe he's done with his Junior year. The next time I take his picture like this he'll be a Senior!!
On to 12th grade!
Jackson such a handsome prince or as Pa says...a pransome hince! :)
He's finished up with 10th grade and moving onto his Junior year!
Ella's name means beautiful and she is such a beauty...both inside and out!
Onto her last year of middle school!
Zeke is such a cutie patootie!
He's moving onto 7th grade! It's nuts to think he was in 2nd grade the last time he was in public school. Man time flies!
Even though the kids don't really need to use the buddy system anymore we will still carry on the tradition of buddy pictures!
I'm so proud to be their Mom! They are pretty awesome kids!
And odd....in the best possible way! ;P
Here's to the start of a summer that I hope is filled with loads of happy and memorable moments!
We tried to get a picture with our mascot, but he was not cooperating!
And just for kicks and giggles here's a comic that Jackson created! He's so talented!
Last year Michael took the older boys to the rafting trip with our church. I knew that Ella was going to go this year since she was old enough, but Zeke wasn't so he and I were going to stay home. The more I thought about it I just didn't like that. For the most part we do everything together as a family and I just don't like us being separated if at all possible. I figured that even if Zeke didn't go rafting we would be able to hang out with everyone and make memories when they weren't on the river. I mentioned this to the leader at our church that organizes all this and a few weeks later he talked with me and said that he talked with the lead river guide and he was fine with Zeke going on the rafts, but he had to be with one of the certified rafters and not one of the trainers. Sounds good to me! I still decided to not raft since I don't like going into unknown situations especially scary unknown situations. I figured I would observe this year and then depending on how things went I would go rafting the following year.
Last year when Michael took the boys they ended up staying in a tent, because he didn't know there was room for trailers. Well this time around we weren't staying in a tent. I had already told Jhaycee that Justine could ride with Michael
, but that was when I thought Zeke and I would be staying home. I felt bad going back on my word and Ella would have been heartbroken to not get to ride with him so we worked it out. Michael drove our truck pulling the tent trailer and Owen, Ella, Justine and I all rode in the truck. Jack and Zeke ended up getting to ride with Micah and his boys Andrew & Josiah. It really worked out quite nicely! Jhaycee dropped Justine off around 1ish on Friday, June 7th and then we loaded up his stuff up and got ready to head out.
Ella and Justine were all ready with their stuffed animals. Owen is smiling because I let him bring his tablet to play games on!
And we're off!
Ella took this picture of her and Justine. That's not Justine's hand under his chin...it's hers!
The drive took quite a while because I-5 had some lane closures. I had never been over by The Dalles so it was fun to see a new part of Oregon. Mt. Hood was right in front of us on that gorgeous day!
Every year the rafting group always stops at this restaurant Cousin's for dinner. We were a bit later than everyone else, but there happened to be a table right next to where everyone else was sitting so we were able to join right in. Thankfully this sign isn't accurate....Michael is not in fact my cousin!
Outside of the restaurant there were all these fun things to get pictures on or with.
Ella is a sheep rider!
I'm a tractor girl!
Andrew is one hardworking farmer!
Zeke the sheep herder!
Not cousins, but best buds since the womb!
Too bad I cut the horses face off for this picture.
This is giving off Old Spice commercial vibes!
Hi Ho Silver!
The first night it was basically us setting up camp and then going to bed.
The next day we woke up and had a great breakfast prepared by Youth Dynamics. This whole set up is pretty cool. Youth Dynamics is a great program where they take kids out in nature to do crazy stuff like rafting and rock climbing and they speak truth into the kids' lives. The weekend that our church is there is the final weekend before they start hosting campers. It's the weekend where the river guides official get certified so we are basically the bodies in place of the kids.
I wasn't really sure what I was going to do during the day while they were rafting, but I told one of the leaders I'd be willing to drive one of the shuttle vans if they needed me to. I used to drive a 15 passenger Metro van when I worked for Safeco insurance so I know what I'm doing. I ended up getting to drive our church van and I shuttled people to the river. Here's just a few of our crew...we added a couple more prior to heading out.
Once we got to the river it was time to get sunscreen and life jackets on. I was a fanatic when it came to sunscreen since Michael got so badly burned last year.
We all stood around and listened to the rules of the river and what to do if you fall out. All good info to have! The best part is Youth Dynamics has never lost someone on the river....rafters have fallen out lots of times, but no one has ever died.
Ella, Justine, Owen, Michael and our youth pastor Yeaab are all ready.
Michael was on the same raft with Owen and Papa. Not only do they provide life jackets, but they also have full on wet suits and booties you can wear...that's what Owen decided on wearing.
Ella, Justine and Yeaab were on a raft together. I had warned Ella that she might not get to be with Justine in the raft, but that would be okay because they'd still get to hang out back at camp. Thankfully they weren't really picky in regards to who rode in which raft they just told them to get in a group.
Jack and Andrew were on a raft together. They were in the second group of 4 boats so I didn't really get to see them much since I was following the first group for the day.
Micah, Josiah and Zeke were on a raft together and they were also with that second group.
Michael's ready to raft!
Getting a bit more info before setting off.
I absolutely love this picture of Ella. She's just looking back towards shore and to me it looks like she's questioning all her life choices right now. Hahahaha!
Ella's group all ready to go!
Here was Jack & Andrew's raft.
It's rafting time!
There's a gravel road that runs right along the side of the river and that's what I drove on to follow them down.
Jackson...the other shuttle driver for the first group was in the lead and we would drive where were would get ahead of the group and then stop at a good viewing point and watch all 4 boats go through the rapids.
Here's a video I took!
Thankfully there were a couple people there with really really nice cameras so they got some awesome action shots.
It's fun to be able to see their faces up close. When you're on the shore and this is in real time you can't see their facial expressions. I love how Owen basically smiled the whole time. On the other hand Michael and Papa were stoic and serious just focused on the task at hand.
They got soaked!
Since Ella wore a white hat she was the easiest for me to keep track of...she stood out really well!
Since I was in the first group it was really nice to get to see these pictures since I never saw Zeke or Jack on the river in real time!
There was this nice calm section of water that went through the little town so it was a great spot for them to get a chance to just sit and not have to row. The river guides even let them jump into the water at this section if they wanted too.
Zeke's raft was quite lively....he had the greatest time. In every picture he has the biggest smile on his face. His raft did end up capsizing on the second run of the day. Zeke actually got pinned under the raft which there is still air under there so it's not as scary as it sounds. He did exact what they told him to do...he used his hands and climbed out from under the raft. Then he ended up clinging to a rock. They had to toss him the rope and he had to jump off the rock to get the rope. This is where he didn't follow instructions. He was supposed to hold onto the rope and turn his body so he faced away from the boat with the rope over his shoulder and then they would reel him in. Well he wasn't having any of that so he just went hand over hand pulling himself in using the rope. He wanted out of the water! Cute kiddo was the talk of the camp. Everyone wanted to hear about his crazy adventure and he was so cute and happy to tell it. According to the 2 adults on his raft he was very accurate when describing it too. Later that night, however, I think the situation had time to sink in and he was freaked out. I had to hug him and we had to pray so he could calm down and go to sleep. I think his brain was going through the what ifs that could have happened.
This is where Papa almost fell in the water, but thankfully he fell back into the boat!
Yeaab is having a great time!
Justine is looking at Ella in this picture making sure she's using her hip to paddle not just her arms.
Jackson is sitting on the front of the raft here because he's getting ready to ride the bull. That's when you sit on the front and go down a series of rapids. He did this very thing the year before and that's when he fell off, but I don't think he fell off this time around. Justine also rode the bull and he just fell back into the raft.
All four boats heading down the river.
After the first run of the day they got all the rafts loaded on the trailers and the rafters loaded up into the vans and we drove back to the little town and ate lunch at a park. Then we went back to the start so they could do the whole run again. Owen didn't want to go a second time so he became me and Jackson's buddy!
It was really such a fun day and we could not have asked for better weather. I think it was around 90 degrees! So hot and perfect since the water is cold. I didn't feel like I missed out on anything just following the rafts it was a great experience.
That night we had a wonderful BBQ dinner prepared by John the guy that organizes this event for our church. It was so yummy!
During our time not on the river we spent it playing volleyball, card games or just sitting around chatting.
Ruth wasn't really feeling the best so she stayed back at camp and rested, but I'm so glad she got to come and that Papa had a fun time!
Piggyback races back to the trailer! You can see our tent trailer in the back left of the above picture. Michael, Ella, Zeke and I slept in there. Owen, Jack and Justine all slept in the tent that just to the right of our truck.
After dinner we met up and had a bit of a worship and devotional time. The Youth Dynamics folks used every opportunity to speak into the kids' lives. They even were chatting with and getting to know the kids during the rafting portion of the trip. It's just a really awesome outreach!
That night the sunset made the sky look so pretty.
The next day there was another run and I was actually going to get to go out on the river. Micah had to leave on Saturday night so I was just going to fill his spot on the raft, however, Michael woke up not feeling so well. He had been sick earlier in the week and we thought he was better, but I think all the activity on the river the day before wore him out and his body was not having. I didn't want to go on the river without him so we just stayed behind. A few people from our church group went though so we hung out at camp and waited for them to get back before we left. Since Micah left early the boys....his boys and Jack and Zeke had to ride back in the church van with Yeaab. Since they were all going together we had Owen ride with them as well. Ella and Justine rode with Michael and I in the truck. We had fun searching for radio stations, singing songs and also playing the alphabet game with signs on the side of the road.
