The Brackney Family Road Trip ~

I'm finally caught up on laundry and found time to download and organize my photos from our family vacation. I thought I'd share some of them with you so you could see what a great time we had and wouldn't hold it against me for being gone for almost two weeks!

We had two family reunions this summer with four days in between so we took a little road trip. Considering we were seven people in a mini-van ( including three dramatic girls and two obnoxious boys who love to pick on their sisters) for about 40 hours (not including our time in between activities) our time together was quite peaceful. God is good!

First we headed to Tucson for my family reunion.
On the way we stopped off at Salt River Canyon in North Eastern Arizona for a look-see and a picture.

My cousin, Shana, hosted the reunion at her home in Tucson. We swam (this is my baby, Cami, 8)....

...caught up on old times (that's me, my oldest daughter Brittani (19), my second cousin, Jessica (18), and my Uncle Archie)...

...and danced...well, I didn't dance, I took pictures (that's my mom, who knows no shame, and Erin, my second cousin once removed and in the background is Joy, Erin's friend who grew up in India with missionary parents and plans to go back when she completes Bible college)...

After Tucson, we headed to Las Cruces to see my biological father who I haven't seen or really communicated with for about 7 years. John and I both felt God was calling us to visit him so with butterflies in my tummy, we went.

This is me and my chilluns with my dad (60-something) and my Grammy (85). Now you see why I look so much younger than my age (37).

And my Grammy still plays a mean game of Rummy!

From Las Cruces we traveled to Durango.

We rented this cabin about 24 miles North of Durango near Durango Mountain Resort (aka Purgatory).

We rode the ski lift up and hiked around the top of Purgatory with a guide from the San Juan National Forest. That's Cami beside the guide and Markus with the yellow shades.

Then we rode the Alpine Slide...you ride the lift halfway up the mountain and then come down on these little scooters. This is Cami and me.

John booked us a morning horseback ride...here's the gang. It took quite the maneuvering to get all the horses to line up and stay for the picture.

My horse was Dillion. He was soooo tall, that when I tried to dismount him, I found myself suspended with one foot in the stirrup and one foot reaching for the ground but only coming in contact with air. Then I heard the guide saying "John, get your wife, get your wife!" Dillion was very stubborn with a mind of his own. Anytime I tried to pull him up, he would toss his head at me and only obey on about the third time. He also kept trying to bite Abbi's horse, Grace, anytime she got too close. I love a horse with personality!

Our ride was complete with breakfast and Jessie James, the PET baby raccoon. He showed up on their land starving, with an eye swollen shut and his nostrils caked full of mud. Tom and Jennifer nursed him back to health and now he's "theirs". He follows them around like a puppy and climbs them like trees. I held him once and his little hands were pulling on my hair and ears and nose just like a baby would do.

We went to Silverton one day to shop and found this waterfall along the side of the road. Of course we had to get a picture. (John, Markus, Cami, Paul, Abbi, Emma)

Our last night in Durango, we went to the Bar-D Chuckwagon dinner. It included a HUGE dinner, western music entertainment and comedy show. Next time you see my kids, ask them about "Old Matthew Palmer Had A Misfit Farm" and ask them to sing to you about the "lisping snake, stuttering cow, narcoleptic pig, asthmatic horse, board certified bonefide frog masseuse" and more.

Last stop was Farmington for John's sibling reunion. From back to front and left to right: Charlie, Brian, John, Dave, Chris, Kate, Leslie, Amy, Anne, Kelly (missing are Mickie, Jim and Sarah).

We took 21 members of the family and did a half-day raft trip down the Animas River in Durango (45 minutes from Farmington). Great fun!

Here's Brit and me in our wet suits, ready to shoot the rapids. We volunteered to sit in front where you get the wettest and have an excuse for screaming the loudest!
It also meant we had to synchronize the rowing for our other raft members.

John and Brit ready to work together!


And to top off the trip, before we came home, Paul caught his first EVER fish while fly-fishing with his dad on the San Juan River....a 14-inch trout!!!

This was, hands down, our best family vacation so far...things were peaceful, our children didn't drive us batty, we made lots of memories and spent time with family. It doesn't get better than that!

Thanks for allowing me to share our family photos with you.