Cliff Jumping And Other Adventures In Nelson

Last Friday we took a trip out to Nelson, NV (somewhere we have never been!). Well, Eric has been there, just not the rest of us. First we stopped to see, and take some pics, at the ghost town.

Eric imparting knowledge on the children:



I was abnormally nervous about sliding down this pole. It took me trying at least 5 times before I could go through with it. Ridiculous!



Jackson was nervous about it too. But only because he is a rule follower and the girls were informing us we were breaking the rules by going down it. I pressured him into it, and he caved:



It was hot, and there was a lot of complaining going on. Mostly from girl 1 and girl 2.

Other pics:



After exploring the town, we headed down to the Colorado river to do a little swimming.



Luckily everyone perked up a bit at this point.

It wasn't crowded and the water was warm, so we were all happy.



While having a snack break Sadie remarked, "This is the second best day of my life." I think her comment had something to do with swimming and eating lots of Cheetos.



She would cover up her face while eating them and called it, "going dark."



When asked about her first best day, she informed me that it was when she found out there was an Adventuredome. I don't think she has thought this through very clearly.



While swimming we noticed some people were cliff jumping nearby, so we decided to check it out. I instantly started to get dizzy just being on top of the cliff. I was ready to go back down the mountain when Jackson said with great intention, "I'm doing it." I was panicked and thought it was the worst  idea I had ever heard. I tried to dissuade him, I implored Eric to dissuade him, but Jackson was determined. So I did what I had to do. I climbed back down to take pictures.




Jackson jumped numerous times:



As did Eric:




After we watched Jackson and Eric jump a few times, Sade had a break in sanity and informed us that she was going to do it too! I almost passed out. After trying to reason with her, I finally gave up, strapped her life jacket on, and sent her off the cliff.




The look of triumph:



Then it was Megan's turn to lose her mind, and jumped off too:



I really didn't want to do it, but since 5 year old Sadie baby did it, along with the rest of my family, I knew I had to:



It was awful. Seriously. I ended up bruised, dizzy, and my ears did not unclog for days. But it was an adventure!

Video proof. First Sadie, then Jackson, then Megan, and then me:



This video has Jackson's first jump and Eric's first jump:



A few extra pics:

I live a charmed life.

Old Fashioned Water Balloon Fight

A few weeks ago (I am sort of behind of blogging) we had a gift of a day where the weather stayed in the 90's. Which meant that the morning was in the 80's. As luck would have it we didn't have anything going on, so we spent the morning playing outside in the water. Among other things we filled up numerous water balloons.

After what felt like an eternity (water balloons are time consuming), Jackson and Megan had a good old fashioned water balloon fight:



Major hit:




Summer is awesome.

Jackson's 9th Birthday Celebration

For his birthday Jackson wanted to spend the day at Wet-n-Wild with his friends. But before we left  we let him open his presents.

He received multiple 3DS games, books, money, Micro Chargers, HotWheels cars:



Homemade cards from the girls:



Plus and iPod Touch. He wanted one real bad:




We then hurried out the door so we could spend a full day at the waterpark.

This is one really great group of boys:



We rode slides all morning:






Then at lunchtime went to the park next door for pizza, presents and cake. Check out all of the blue Gatorade mustaches:



Then it was back to the park for hours of more fun, before heading home.



Happy 9th Birthday Jackson!