bullhead city, az - aka "The RiveR"

this past weekend, we went to "the River" with:

3 amazing families complete with
10 crazy children under age 4 &
3 drop dead gorgeous and very sweet teenagers/babysitters!
1200 pictures,
2 trips down the "River Regata"
one thrown out back,
2 trips to Little Caesars, for some "Hot & Ready"
4 carts of groceries,
3 dozen of the best buttermilk pancakes ever
and 3 sleepless nights
LATER...
we are home, recovering, and still laughing.
(notice how my above list is mostly food...
this explains why i gained 4 pounds in 4 days.)

all I have to say is.... RAD.
The trip was rad.
The people were rad.
The food was rad.
The place was rad.
IT was all just SO cool.
(well, except for that, anything above 100 degrees is NOT cool, but who cares
when you have a refreshing river to jump into at your leisure?)

*the above temp gauge reading 100 degrees was taken at around 8pm*
yes. it was that hot the entire time.
welcome to az/nv.

we jet-skiied.
we wake-boarded (even Rowan)
we tubed.
we floated.
we boated.
we ate.
we had rad kiddie pool parties.
we launched water balloons.
we played games
and
we photographed everything.
so.
prepare yourself for some foto overload:

don't worry, i had help with all the photos...
our little teens took all of these above shots of the girlies in the pool.
serious photographers in the making here.
i loved it! i actually got to be in a few... :)

so, i love wakeboarding.
in fact, sometimes when i do it, i feel just a little bit
proud that i can semi-sort-of jump the wake.
i mean, i've been trying to do it now for, oh about 10 years
it takes that long to learn it, right? ;)
this trip though...
something happened to my back wakeboarding
that i really really really hope never happens again.
i finished my run. and it was a good run!
no major crashes, or edge-catching disasters.
but when i climbed out of the boat.
a twinge.
no, a sharp pain.
no, massive muscle spasm.
in my low back.
i gritted my teeth and actually thought it would just go away.
i mean, the water was cold.
maybe my muscles got a little tight from the run and the cold.
it'll go away, right?
this is what I kept telling myself.
but after another hour on the boat, the pain was somewhat unbearable.
i couldn't lift sarah (who'd been sat on my lap the whole time)
i couldn't lift the towels that were at my feet.
i could barely step out of the boat.
yikes.

yep. i threw out my back. if that's what you call it.
what am I, like 60 years old??
(sorry Dad, I know you just turned 60
but this whole back thing, I would expect that to happen
much later than my 33 years).
maybe it's from back-to-back pregnancies...
or holding 2 babies the past year, multiple times a day
one on each hip...
I just think my back was mad, really mad at me.
it was sick of me and decided to put me in a major time-out
as much as I would enjoy a time-out,
having sharp, stabbing pain isn't my idea of a break!!
seriously, most painful thing ever!!
so after 3 days of steady Motrin, hot baths, some pain killers,
and a full day off from the kids, thanks to my amazing hubby & nanny...
i'm much improved and hoping, or rather scared, that never happens again.
maybe no more wakeboarding?

nah, I don't give up that easily.
I need another 10 years to perfect my "jump"
:)

*and, I really hope you are all catching my sarcasm here about my wakeboard skillz.
my jump is all of about 12 inches. can i get a 'whooop'?*
my lovely ladies.
seriously, LOVE you girls.

every day with these kids was a pool party.
thanks to my handy $30 Costco pool w/a slide
(mini slide... sarah's laying on it)
you know that song on Yo Gabba Gabba by the Aquabats
called 'Pool Party'?
'pool party, pool party, it was a cool party,
cool pool party, la la la lah'
well... that song put to a slide show of these pictures
is hilarious!! The song is 2 minutes long, I had to run it TWICE
to cover just half of the pool party pics at 3 s/picture...

just a few words to describe these boys:
together.
silly.
same.
opposite.
funny.
happy.
bffs.
all I know is Brittany & I have had to make a
blood promise we will live by each other
for the next 10+ years so that these
boys can grow up together.
oh and we've already married Jake off to Sarah
and Rowan off to her new baby girl, and Shelby will marry Max.
Done ;)

so this trip would've been a disaster without these girls.
literally, an absolute mess.
for the mommies of all these little ones anyway.
these girls made it possible for us to:
get a tan.
wake-board.
shop.
float the river.
go on a quadruple date.
eat delicious cookie dough late at night
that we didn't have to make.
get dressed.
take a shower.
make dinner.
you name it, we did it.
and all because of these darling girls.
LOVE you.
the biggest thanks EVER!
you'll always be "part of our world" ;) ;)
(we watched "little mermaid" only about 10 times.)

Friday was Beach Day..
although, the beach was all of about 2 very "wide" feet of sand
then came the tall thick reeds...
but who cared?
we were all in the water anyway.
I had to include this picture of Molly,
the Lombardi's sweet and very well behaved dog...
Rowan had the craziest love/hate
relationship with her!
high-pitched screams whenever she'd come near him...
but I'm proud to say, he came around and actually
petted her on his own!
He kept saying, "I love Molly. She's really nice!"

ALL the little boys tried out wake-boarding with Jake's daddy.
Rowan loved it, he even did a little "no hands" at the end!
I love the picture of Rowan & Jake high fivin'
they seriously missed every time, it was so funny!
hence, the reason it's so out of focus, I was laughing!!

DATE NIGHT! BLAHHH!
Chili's + Salt +Candy, Diet Coke, & Popcorn
in a movie theater inside a casino (NV side of the river)
{equals}
Happy People.

ok. I've worked on this post for 2 nights now and I'm dying to publish it!!
so stay tuned...
River Regata, Water Balloon Launching, and more pool party
next!
;)