Crazy4Family: Hasta B Shasta

Grandma Walker treated us to fun family vacation, Houseboating at Shasta Lake. We cara-vaned down with Bart and Tansey, and car-pooled with Jared and Amber, since my back has been really bad again and Blake couldn't make it (on account of his new job with Pepsi.) It is always more fun to road trip in a group...and makes me feel a little safer. I am especially greatful to Jared who did almost all the driving which made my life a lot easier.

For the first time in all of the years we have been houseboating, everyone was able to arrive a few days early and hang out at my Uncle Brads house. It made things a lot less stressful for getting on the boat Monday morning and we got to spend a few great days in the sun and playing by the pool.

We also changed our traditional Dinner at Tale-O-The-Whale, to Sunday night so we wouldn't need to spend one of our days on the Lake traveling there and getting all dressed up. I didn't get any of the awesome photos I usually do that night because Brecken was feeling sick and fell asleep with a fever (which she had off and on all week, we decided it must have been anxiety...weird, but she is a mama's girl and a homebody......Dinner was Amazing!

The Houseboats were beautiful with everything you could possibly need (save the speedboat, which Uncle Brad provided (the same Mastercraft he has had since I was a kid, and it is still in excellent condition) and we had a great week. The weather was hit and miss with a little rain the first couple of days but it was warm, didn't stop the kids for a second and was still wonderful for playing games, visiting and hot tubing. Kylie picked up wakeboarding really quickly...I videoed a few minutes of it. Kasyn tried it to and did good but he had problems with his ankles and so we didn't want him to over do it. Kenzie did a lot of swimming in the Lake with her cousins and all the kids spent hours and hours in the hot tubs....we turned them down of course. Bryn was a happy as long as she was wet or messy...but that normal for her, and she had a blast playing with her cousins and playing cards with her grandparents. Breck was with me..... pretty much the whole time and as I said before she fought a fever off and on every day until friday when she new we were going home....weird. She did however still have fun and said her favorite part of being there was swimming and exploring the boats (she loved the loft.) I wasn't to adventurous but spent a lot of time laying out and visiting with my Kylie, Grandma, Dad and the rest of the family. It is so beautiful there that if you did nothing but sit and take it all in you'd be happy for a week or more. Deer walked right up to the boat, which was really fun since most of the kids had never been that close to one. It's in the mountains so we bought fire permits and did a couple of campfires, and made smores, which was fun. I never got to hear Bart pull out his guitar, but he brought it, which was a bummer. We had a wonderful week. It was great to be with my amazing family and take a break from reality. But it is also great to be back home, with the memories.

What a Ride!!

Kylie Wake-Boarding

My Girlies

Chillin' ON TOP of the Boats

We couldn't believe the Deer all but walked on the Boats!

Hangin' Out IN the Boat

Seriously Beautiful!!!

Jared teaching the Little Girls to Skip Rocks

Bryn and Grams Playing Cards

Ahhhh, quiet time.

I almost didn't throw this in here but it was so funny I just don't want to forget about it.....every night there was a ROCK-OFF (no not Rock and Roll but Rock, Paper, Sissors.) Bart and Tansey VS. Sierra and Marc....for the last available BED ROOM on the Boat...the loosing couple had to make up the Queen Bed that the Table in the Kitchen converts to. They each ended up with a few nights in each area, but the ROCK-OFF's were hilarious, they would TRASH TALK all day and after DARK they'd start stretching and getting all pumped up for the MATCH, then when it came time to get down to it, shirts came on and the cheering began....good times.