This last weekend we headed up to Angels Camp with our good friends Adam and Selena Herrin and their girls Audra and Nora. We arrived Thursday and spent the day setting up camp.
Friday we towed the boat out to New Melones lake and that's when all the fun and surprises began.
This was the boys first time going out on the lake in the boat and tubing. They were so excited and talked about it for days.
Here they are out on the tube with their dad. Can you tell who wanted to go right back out and who wanted to stay in the boat with me? If you know Layton and Colton it is not who you expect it to be....
While Layton and Caleb were out speeding around on the lake, Colton preferred to sit on my lap in the boat. Surprise, surprise! Our daredevil Colton who climbs the highest tree, races his bike over jumps and down hills was happy to stay in the boat.
Caleb got some wake boarding in....
I even got in some tubing, but like Colton I'm happy sitting in the boat watching everyone else.
Colton going for a nice smooth and easy ride with Caleb.
We couldn't have picked a better time to be out on the lake. We saw maybe 4 other boats out that day. It was perfect. You can see in this picture that there were parts of the lake that were smooth as glass.
Here he goes, giving us the thumbs up sign that he wants to go faster....
He had this tube flying over the wake and then swinging out to the side at speeds probably close to 35 mph. I kept anticipating for him to start crying and say that he was done but he had a non-stop huge grin.
Whatever turned Layton into a daring speed demon on that lake still has us shocked.
Meanwhile back on the boat Colton found his excitement driving.
On Saturday we decided to take a break from the lake and drove to Murphys. We started the morning off going to the Mercer Caverns. We took a tour that took us down 16 stories underground. It was amazing to see all the unusual natural crystalline formations and to hear the story of how it was discovered. Again we were a little surprised to see how much the boys actually listened to the tour guide because once we got back to the truck they had many questions about what she had said.
After seeing the caverns we headed to downtown Murphys to let the kids play in the park and in the little river that ran through it. On our way back to the truck Caleb and I spotted an olive oil tasting bar. We have gone to a few olive oil tastings before but it was nothing like this store. Not only was there different flavors of olive oil but also balsamic vinegar. There were lists of different combinations of the two that you could pair together and sip. It was a tough decision but we left with our favorite combo, dark chocolate balsamic with chipotle olive oil. If you ever happen to pass through Murphys you have to stop by Marisolio tasting bar.
Our next stop of the day was Columbia. This was extra special for me. I have many fond memories of going there as a child on family vacations. We rode the stage coach, panned for gold (a favorite for the boys) and went to the candy shop.
That night there was a Cajun blues festival so we finished our evening in Columbia dancing in the streets under white lights. Here the boys are dancing with Audra and Nora. (bummed about the spots on the picture. My camera got water spots from the lake the day before) Before long Caleb and I joined the kids. It was a perfect ending to a great day.
Incase you didn't notice this great day was all done in hunting boots.
Sunday we went back out on the lake for a few short hours before packing up and heading home.
Our vacation was all I hoped it would be, amazing memories being made and family traditions being carried on.
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