Our trip to Flaming Gorge was fast & furious, and very enjoyable.

On a small island not far from camp were some nesting osprey, with young in the nest.
True to its name, Flaming Gorge was toasty enough to fry the crawdads on the rocks, but thankfully Melis's parents & cousins had enough gear to keep us all feeling pretty good in the water.

There were 8 kids between the ages of 8 - 13 there, and all but Tyler (below) were girls. For some reason, Abigail took a special likin' to 'Ty,' as she called him.

When I wasn't getting dunked in the water or pushed off the floating trampoline, we were 'hopper boppin' - catching grasshoppers in the bushes near camp. Abigail especially liked it when we put a grasshopper in her hand, just to let it jump away.

Somewhere above Sheep Creek, on the Utah side of Flaming Gorge. We spent most of our time just over the border in Wyoming.

'Who cares about the scenery? More red vines, please.'

We saw about 8 of these guys in Sheep Canyon.

It's worth mentioning that on our drive to the dam itself, we stopped at a lodge for lunch. With almost no warning, a storm moved through and started dumping rain and lightning. One flash that produced instant thunder must have hit the ground near one guy standing outside of our building who had his feet in a puddle. We didn't see it happen, but this guy was real shaken up, complaining of lightning-strike type symptoms. There were enough people around helping him that we didn't get too close, but he looked pretty shaken up. Yikes.

Thanks to everyone who helped make the camping trip possible! Other highlights include fishing, riding in the boats, riding the quad, catching the horney toad, hanging out around the campfire, catching & eating crawdads, enjoying air-conditioned RV's, & getting to know family that we've never spent much time with. We had a great time.

Tonight, we got a little sidetracked when watering our yard.Predictably, this ended badly.

But thankfully she recovered quickly.

There are certain things a dad has to teach his kids, and how to drink from a hose is pretty high on that list.

She caught on pretty quickly.

Of course, Matty was eager to join in the fun, too.

The ended up as a wet, tired, & very happy little girl.