Family Trips...

I'm sure everyone has funny memories of family day trips from their youth. For the Barton family, it usually involved wrecking something, and ALWAYS involved being late. Really late.

I remember leaving to go skiing at Rire in the summers hours later than we had planned. Mom being mad at Dad who had made us so late. Dad laughing off Mom's complaints. Mom getting madder and responding with something very witty like, "You're not my friend." To which us kids would start laughing and by the time we got the boat in the water we were all in a good mood again (I love you Mom ;)...

Dad's getting mad usually was centered around something breaking - usually by his doing. Drilling a hole in the boat, tearing the AC unit off the camper in a short underpass, tearing a hole in the camper going back under the same underpass... (I love you too Dad !)


Of course it's not fair to give Mom and Dad all the credit. As kids I know we contributed to a lot of the calamaties during what should have been a relaxing vacation.

Me getting driven to the ER for rolling off Jared's bunk bed.
Brian kneeing himself in the head wakeboarding.
Me being taken back to the ER after hitting my head on a frozen lake (Nathan driving).
Mom and I rolling the snowmachine after Brian cut us off.
Me rolling Mom and myself on the 4-wheeler at the sand dunes for no good reason.
Brian tying the horse up to the tree too close causing a panic attack for the horse.
Dad and Keith getting stuck on the snowmachine.
Brian running over a lady's toes with the snowmachine.
Dad and Keith getting stuck on the 4-wheeler.
Brian rolling the 4-wheeler.
Me crashing the snowmachine.
Jared jumping the snowmachines and then bailing off when things got out of hand.

Wow. Wish I had pictures of those.

I'm afraid after attempting several day trips of our own, Travis and I seem to be plagued with the same Barton outcomes.

We floated the Boise river for the first time a couple of weeks ago and we wish we had discovered this activity at the beginning of the summer. I never thought I would find something I liked to do as much as waterskiing, but this is it. Of course we had some kinks.

Wasting time looking for a "really good raft"
Wasting time talking to strangers about what makes a "really good raft"
Getting lost somewhere in Boise
Getting hungry somewhere in Boise
Arguing somewhere in Boise
Popping an air chamber in a "really good raft"
Crying somewhere in Boise (mine)
Getting lost again in Boise
Driving home for another car
Driving back and NOT getting lost
Planning on being on the river by 3. Actually being on the river by 6:30
Racing time in a 6 miles paddle-a-thon to get down river and to our vehicle before the gates closed at sunset...

(what happens to my hair when I get a really good idea...)

We figured we better try the float again the next day since we had such bad luck on Friday. Fortunately, Saturday resulted in a lot shorter list of mishaps.

Only one argument (Travis was not my friend)
one raft exchange at Cabela's (most friendly people on earth)
one lost paddle (Travis's not mine)

It was so fun.

I've run out of pictures so this is where you have to visualize.

Travis: in the back rowing, complaining about my lack of rowing, holding Carsen during the rough parts to stabilize him.
Carsen: calling Travis "Captain" and saying things like "Can I have another Cheeto (sp?) Captain? Can I get back in my floaty Captain?"
Me: in the front getting the brunt of all the water splashes and cheering for joy with each splash.

More visuals.

Carsen in his floaty tied up to the raft saying that he's going to float the Boise river all by himself. After lots of splashes saying: "Oh, I got soaked that time." Carsen getting excited saying: "Boi-se ri-ver here we come!"

We loved it. We'll see how things go next weekend!
Boi-se Ri-ver Here We Come!