Banks Lake 2010 (Long post, but worth it!)

Ty's sister, Keirra and her husband, Duff invited us to go to Banks Lake with them this Summer for their annual family free-for-all. To be honest, I was a little nervous because we don't know a soul in Duff's family (We met his parents at their wedding and again at their first child's blessing, but that's it!) and I thought it would be awkward. I shouldn't have worried. Duff's family is an amazing group of people with a way of making everybody feel like family!Duff's family have been going to Banks Lake, Washington for something like 25 years. They bring their boats, water skiing stuff, tents, food, and lots of energy. Then they find an awesome beach, set up their stuff, and let the fun begin. This year, there were about 25-30 people there.
One of the traditions is to go cliff diving. Being terrified of heights as I am, this prospect did NOT appeal to me, however, several of the others were more than ready to go. Tristan, of course, was one of the first in line. There is a cliff that is about 10 feet high, but that wasn't good enough for Tristan. He had to go for the 30 foot cliff.
As you can see, he is fearless. Since he didn't tuck his arms in, he was also a little red and sore on the underside of his arms!
Like I said, Duff has been going to Banks Lake for years and is pretty dang good at anything to do with a boat and the water. Here he is showing us how to wake board. Check out the air he's getting! (Besides being impressed with Duff's skills, I had to include this picture cuz it demonstrates what a GREAT sports photographer I am! LOL)
Tristan and Ty both tried next and did great. Tristan got up on his first pull and Ty got up on his second. They were naturals. I, however, was not. I tried again and again and each time, I ended up down before I was up. I swear I drank half the lake! Tristan insists I crashed at least 20 times, but I think it was closer to 12 or 15. Either way, I did NOT get up on the first day! I got up 2 days later, but of course, I didn't bring the camera along. So, no pictures. Keirra took one with Duff's Blackberry, but I don't know how to get it off my phone yet. (When I figure out that little feat, I'll post them!)
On the second day, we went to a place Keirra calls "Clay Beach". The shore is full of clay deposits. We had tons of fun molding it into shapes and smearing it all over our bodies. Our very own spa mud treatment.
Ty decided his head wasn't nearly big enough, so he crafted himself a new one. He was joking that if his hair started to grow back, he was gonna patent the stuff!
Here is our group with our war paint. (Don't we look ferocious?)

Zachary tried his hand at knee boarding. He did great getting up, but then he would get nervous and yell for us to stop. You can see the distress on his face in this picture. We couldn't figure out why he was freaking out because he seemed to be doing so well. We found out on the last day that he didn't understand how the life vest worked. He thought that if he crashed, he would drown! Poor kid. Ty took some time with him, demonstrating how it would make him pop to the surface, but that was on the last day we were there, so he didn't get a chance to go again with his new found knowledge.
Duff's dad (Dan) borrowed a party barge from a friend of his and he took us all over in it. Over to the cliffs for cliff diving, to clay beach for mud bathes and clay fights. And he used the sound system to play music for us. He's the DJ for youth dances where they live, so he had a great selection of music. All the littleies climbed on top of the barge for some dancing while he "spun" some tunes. For a while, the kids booed anything that wasn't Michael Jackson, but eventually they just danced. Lucy and Greta go to the dances Dan DJs, so they were teaching the kids some of the line dances they do.
Samantha loved going knee boarding. She thought she was pretty hot stuff. She even got good enough to splash the other person she was boarding with and to go over the wake and back. She wanted to go any time she got the chance.
Tristan liked knee boarding, too. He became pretty good friends with one of Keirra's nephews, Hunter. They went out quite a bit, too. Hunter has been doing this for years, so he was really good at it. Going back and forth across the wake and splashing Tristan every chance he got. You could tell that it was irritating Tristan that he couldn't figure out how to splash him back. Finally he got the hang of it though, then it was all bets off. See him leaning to spray Hunter?
Ty has always wanted to try slalom and he decided this was the time. Duff warned him that it's the hardest form of water skiing to learn, especially for a 200 lb man, but Ty was undeterred. Look at that cheesy grin!
He attempted several times, but this was as close as he got. He just couldn't get his position right. He had to push through so much water, it was constantly in his face. I love how his cheek looks like it got punched in this shot. That's how hard the water was hitting him! On his 4th or 5th attempt, he felt something pop in his rib cage. Then, on his next try, that spot hurt like a mother bear, so he had to call it quits. I was concerned that he might have separated a rib or broke one or something. We watched really close, but no bruising ever appeared. It's a month later though, and he still has twinges of pain. I guess he won't be slaloming any time soon!
This is my niece, Lily. She is quite the little sportswoman! She will try anything and is usually great at whatever she does. I love her "game face" in this picture. She's so into it!
Zachary liked to use the inner-tube as a relaxing spot. He could chill out as long as he wanted and then, jump right back into the water.
Just had to show off my niece, Bella. Unlike my kids, she'd flash a brilliant smile every time I pointed the camera at her!
Everybody but our family was going home on the last day. (They only had a 4 hour drive, as opposed to our 9 hour one!) Nobody wanted to sit in the car that long covered in lake water, sunscreen, sand, and sweat, so the lake became the bathtub. Everybody lathered up and cleaned off. Of course, there had to be a water fight. What fun would it be without one? Here are Samantha, Carter, Lucy, and Emma covered in suds. They were having the time of their lives.
Thursday was our day to come home. But we had to stop for the obligatory pictures at Grand Coulee Dam. We were gonna go on the dam tour (the kids loved saying that!) but Ty's ribs were really bothering him, so we decided to forgo that little excursion until a later trip.
We had so much fun for those 4 days. I hope we behaved well enough to be invited back again in the future!