Rafting. Get ready for the adventure of the century.

Okay. I'll try to make this quick, but it might be hard. We decided to go rafting in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Kaylee, Philip's wife had been on the river before and they boys' boss, Mike had been on the river before, so he was our 'guide'. We picked up the raft and got to the drop off point.

Here are the boys getting the raft blown up. There were all these 'precautions' while blowing up the raft that we were getting worried about doing something wrong. We sooo didn't want to have to pay extra for the raft!



Cute Philip and Kaylee. Well, cute Kaylee. Weird Philip.

We do love each other. We really do. Even if you can't tell.

Now there's the love!

We realized we didn't have any 'water appropriate' shoes for the boat so we got the Wal-Mart 5 dollar special. We thought we were pretty cool with matching water socks!

Everybody waiting in the water for Mike to get off work and meet us there.

When Mike showed up, the fun really started. He's so silly and makes any occasion hilarious -- even the part you're going to read about soon. :)

Little did we know when taking this picture what was to come. And here we go...

The rafting was a blast and we kept looking forward to 'Lunch Counter' which is supposedly this giant rapid that's really fun and you "have to stay to the left side of the huge rock in the middle of the river" according to Mike and Kaylee.

We ran into this one giant rapid that made the raft fold in two. I was at the front with Kaylee and while we were going in this HUGE swell, I felt myself falling backwards. I looked to my right at the moment and saw this really tan arm. I thought to myself, "Hmm, the boys aren't that tan and neither are mom and Emily. That's Mike!" Yeah. Mike was at the back of the boat, but during this rapid he thrown to the front with me and Kaylee. I wish we had a picture of our raft folding. It must have looked hilarious.

Anyways, after this rapid, Mike and Kaylee assured us that it was not 'Lunch Counter.' We kept turning the corner of the river and they'd say, "It's just around the next corner." "No, NOW it's just around the next corner." "Okay. Maybe the next corner." The water was so calm that we had to row. There was a boat ramp to the side but we were going to fast and we missed it. Mike kept saying that it was not the turn off and we still had a ways to go. Whatever. We soon realized after rowing forever that 'Lunch Counter' was indeed the rapid that folded the raft in two. Oh no. We're stranded.

The river had one mountain on the left and on really steep mountain on the right with the freeway all the way at the top. We pulled over to the side and Ethan and Mike tied us up and started climbing to the top. We waited for what seemed like hours and started wondering what kind of creatures may be out in the mountains. Ethan and Mike eventually showed up and said that they hitch-hiked back to the car and drove down the river a few miles to somewhere closer to us. They hitch-hiked back to the point where they climbed up and climbed back down.

We had a few miles until the car, so we just rowed our hearts out. We soon realized that we weren't getting anywhere quick, so we pulled over again. The guys thought we'd be able to climb the cliff and pull the raft up behind us. We started climbing, but once we neared the top, we realized there were too many trees to get the raft through. So, we climbed back down got back in the raft (after Sarah had a little melt down about climbing back down the cliff) and rowed some more. We were all so exhausted that we couldn't go any longer. We pulled over to a spot with a lot less trees and got to the top.

We were still about 2-3 miles away from the car, so Kaylee and I started running down the freeway while the guys got everything up the cliff. Kaylee and I hitch-hiked a little here and there, but no one would stop. Finally a nice girl who knew Kaylee's sister stopped and gave us a ride to Ethan's car. Thank heavens!

We got the raft back just an hour and a half late and only had to pay $25 extra. Next time we'll know where to actually turn off the river so we don't get stuck. That evening, Mom kept saying, "Besides missing the turn off, getting stranded, rowing for hours, climbing three cliffs and running down the freeway, this was the most fun experience of my life!"