Summer Rocks! Part VI

This is the sixth and finall in a series of posts called Summer Rocks! that chronicle our adventures in hiking this summer. Why Summer Rocks!? Because my kids were so lucky this summer to get outside and see so many beautiful things, and it seemed that everywhere we hiked, there were huge rocks for the kids to climb on and beautiful sites to see.

I posted about our family hikes up at Golden Gate Canyon State Park here and here. Go check them out!

I posted about our Summer Rocks! Part I hike to the Palmer Lake Reservoirs here.

I posted about our Summer Rocks! Part II hike to Four Mile Canyon here.

I posted about our Summer Rocks! Part III hike to Glen Eyrie here.

I posted about our Summer Rocks! Part IV hike to the top of Hahn’s Peak here.

I posted about our Summer Rocks! Part V hike to Fish Creek Falls here.

Here we go! Summer Rocks! Part VI - White Water Rafting!

I figured this adventure fit the Summer Rocks! requirements because the scenery was awesome and even though we didn’t hike on rocks, we did paddle around them

Hubby and I had so much fun white water rafting while the kiddos were in MN visiting Grandma and Grandpa that we decided to take them rafting to end the summer. We found out that you only had to be 5 to raft the Bighorn Canyon trip, which is above the Royal Gorge, so we signed up. They LOVED it! Queen Taunya and Mr. Terry joined us, which made it all that much better.

Here we are, ready to go. All I can say is it’s hard to look smart in a helmet!

QT tried to get the kids all pumped up for their rafting trip. While they were excited, they were also a little bit nervous about it. Dude was expecially nervous, thinking we’d go over these huge rapids and flip the boat or something. We assured him over and over that we wouldn’t go over anything big and that we would NOT end up swimming.

We’re standing at the edge of the river while the guides unload the rafts and get them into the water. Of course, Dude finds a boulder to stand on

Dude got to decide whether he wanted to just ride or paddle . . . he chose to paddle. Good man!!!

Princess was busy sticking her tongue out at the rest of us while we paddled and she got to sit there in the front and enjoy the view Gotta love the hockey player grin!

Here we are going through our first rapids! It. Was. GREAT! Our guide, Gary, was awesome. He was so good with the kids and made sure they had a lot of fun. Dude was busy paddling away while Princess sat on the front seat between Dad and Mr. Terry.

One great thing about Gary? He’d steer us toward rapids that would get everyone totally soaked . . . Princess wasn’t too keen on that right away because it was a bit chilly, but she got into after a couple times and had a blast. She even started yelling out our commands for Gary - “Forward 2! Forward 4! Forward 22!”

We truly had a great time on the river. Dude, Princess, and QT got out to swim in a couple parts where it was calm enough to. Dude asked Gary if we could hit some rocks instead of going around them, so Gary obliged Princess said she wanted to go backwards, so Gary turned us around backwards. We spotted some big horn sheep on the cliffs above us, which was really cool as well. Gary truly was an awesome guide and we had a wonderful time.

Gary also hooked us up with a lunch spot afterward . . . this place. They have awesome hand-made shakes and truly the biggest burgers ever! It’s just a dive off the main drag, but oh so yummy

Think I was kidding about the size of the burgers? Nope! The burger on the right is about the size of a McDonald’s quarter pounder. Um ya - that other burger, HUGE!

Hubby did his best to put away the monstrosity of a guacamole jalapeno burger, but couldn’t quite do it.

So in addition to experiencing white water rafting and seeing big horn sheep, the kids got to see Hubby’s arteries harden right before their eyes

So there you have it . . . 6 incredibly wonderful adventures all fit into one summer . . . in between 2 weeks they spent in MN with their grandparents.

Are my kids spoiled? Maybe a little . . . but they’re not rotten. We couldn’t do these awesome fun things if they weren’t willing to go on an adventure and hike and get outside and try new things. They appreciate everything we do and everything they get to see. They say thank you every. single. time. To me, that makes it worth every minute.

So how about you? What was your most awesome adventure this summer?