Summer Break at Panguitch Lake

I loved our summer schedule this year. We had two weeks of Vegas summer. Then two weeks in Northern Utah. Then a couple days to recover. Then girls camp. Then a week to recover. Then the Excell Family Reunion. After that we had two more quick weeks and it was already time for school to start! Our summer activities were perfectly spaced to keep us busy through the whole three months, and we were able to hop around for a lot of family time. It was heavenly!

The Excells met at a cabin up by Panguitch Lake for a reunion. It was exciting to stay at a new place and us desert folk loved being in a cool, mountainous escape!

Tana always has a bag of tricks to keep the kids busy. We were worried it would rain the whole time we were there, so we brought a lot of rainy day activities. These proved helpful even when the skies were clear! 

Mary and I designed the mandatory matching t-shirts. 

When you get enough brothers together, spontaneous arm wrestling battles are bound to erupt. 

The cousins took a little stroll through the woods together one morning. Everytime I look at this picture I just think BOYS!

We discovered a teepee mid stroll that demanded to be investigated. 

Tana prepared a scavenger hunt for the kids. She gave everybody little tin boxes for their treasures to fit inside and then she gave them little eraser animals after they found everything on the list. The boxes turned into a little world for their eraser animals, so it was the activity that kept on giving and kept the kids happy and busy for hours!

The kids had to get stickers from Grandma and Grandpa for one of the scavenger hunt stations. 

Happy with their prizes!

In a quiet moment one afternoon, I offered my escape room bags as some impromptu entertainment. 

I don't think I'll ever get tired of seeing people try to crack my hidden codes. 

On our last day at the cabin we went out adventuring. We spent the morning playing on two rope swings and wandering through the forest. 

We didn't even plan this, but look how cute we are!

There's a much-loved home video of Jeff running away as a 7-ish-year-old. Everyone's favorite part is that Mary packed Jeff a lunch and he put it on the end of a stick and then stubbornly left to be a free man. So this image gave everyone some happy flashbacks. 

I was in charge of the activity that afternoon. We did Minute-to-Win-It games. I set up 10 stations with 10 different games and people gave themselves a point if they were able to do that station in the minute. After each minute we switched stations. It worked well!

The rain did finally show up this afternoon, so I got some rock painting stuff out to paint rocks we had picked up during our adventuring that morning. 

A favorite part of the cabin was the hammocks out on the deck. They were all occupied 90% of the day. 

We returned to Laura's house after the cabin just in time for our favorite Panguitch summer tradition, the 24th of July Parade. 

Carson got some quality time with his best pal, Tigress. He loves this cat and while the cat is said to not like many people, she loooooooves Carson.

Lincoln and Jonah spent all afternoon playing on the float Ben was putting together for the parade. 

We've advanced our ranks in Panguitch. Where we used to simply be parade patrons, we are now full-blown participants. Carson, Lincoln, and Jonah were all official float-riders!

As always, it was lovely to escape the Vegas heat, and to spend time with family in Panguitch!