Bear Lake Vacation

In August, we had another family reunion, this time with Dan's family. Though I did have my camera with me, I didn't get very many photos. Why? Because we spent every single day we were there at the beach! {I decided I didn't want to chance taking my DSLR to the beach with the sand and water and elements - it really made me wish I had thought to take my point and shoot with us. Next year I'll remember better. Almost all of these photos were taken on my iPhone so please excuse the quality.} Livie had a blast playing at the beach every day! She looked forward to it every day and would play and play the whole time we were there. She never wanted to leave and she always crashed for naps and at the end of the day because she had played so hard. We had a really fun time!

 We were lucky so many people brought their beach toys. We only had a shovel and pail {which ended up lost by the end of the trip.....don't know what happened to them} but Livie sure got a lot of play time out of every else's toys!

 This picture is a good representation of what each day at the beach was like. It was gray like this almost the entire time we were there. Occasionally we'd get that nice blue color that Bear Lake is known for to come through but it really seemed like most of the time it was gray and smoky {thanks to all the wild/forest fires we've had this year}. I think there was a chance of rain every day but I don't think we ever saw any so that was nice. It was also pretty comfortable - never got too hot, which this 7-months pregnant lady really appreciated! Also in this photo you can see the sand bar where some of our nieces and nephews were playing. It was so perfect for little kids because the water was never more than knee deep on Livie between the beach {where I was standing when I took this photo} and the sand bar several feet out. So the kids had a great play area.

Livie loved it when her daddy would play with her!

At one point she went for a ride in a bike trailer with her cousin while her uncle pulled them with his bike.

Check out all those toys!

 She wore those glasses and her Hello Kitty hat the whole time. It was so nice to not have to really worry about her face and head getting sunburned! And she did so good keeping them on. Also, you can see how she would pile and rub the sand on her legs. But she was funny because she didn't really love the sand being on her so she would get it there and then promptly walk out into the water to wash it off, only to begin the process all over.

Snitching some Cheetos!

Livie loved going to "boat" or canoe rides with her daddy and her poppa {grandpa}.

Our sister-in-law came up with this great game for the kids to play one of the days we were there. All of these cups had various treats and little toys hidden under them. There was a match for everything. It was basically a giant memory game for the kids to play. If they found a match, they got to keep the goodies they found. However, since then they would have two of the same thing, the rule was that they had to share one of their things with someone else. It was kind of cute to watch the kids try to find matches and then to see who they would choose to share with whenever they did.

We also celebrated some of the summer grandkid birthdays while we were there. Livie is one of those birthdays and she got so many great presents, all of which she loves! Thanks everyone for the great presents!

We had such a fun time and we look forward to our Bear Lake vacation next year!