The one when grandma saved the day

What a trip! We came again to Mantua Campground because we love it so much and  it was quite the trip! So our truck had been in the shop for most of June. We learned early in the month, after Chad had worked for weeks on it already, that it would need a new engine. OUCH! $5,000 bucks, gone just like that. It was in and out of the shop the whole month because once we got the truck back it was still leaking, or other problems surfaced. Such a pain! We were supposed to leave camping on Thursday but we decided to push our trip back one more day in hopes we would have our truck and be able to take our boat. Like clockwork, the truck was done at noon, we picked it up, attached the boat, loaded up and hit the road. We decided to take 2 cars mostly to have more room and not be so loaded down. And it was a good thing!!

The truck ran perfectly the whole way there. And we made it to our site! As Chad was backing the boat it, he all of a sudden lost the gears in the truck. He could only go forward, not backwards. He turned off the truck after a few tries, only to find out the truck then would not start! We panicked for a minute, and called the mechanic. He was able to walk Chad perfectly through what was wrong. The cable that switches gears was either broke or had come off. But Chad was able to climb under the truck and change gears manually while I stood on the breaks hoping the truck wouldn't roll! Once he got it back into park, it started right up. We were able to get the boat backed in but we didn't dare take it to the boat ramp with how we had to change gears. 

All of us were bummed and felt defeated. We tried to come up with things to do and I tried to keep things positive but we all wanted to boat so bad! After a while, Chad called his parents to chat with them and tell them what happened. Evelyn later told us that she prayed for as after we got off the phone. On a whim, she text Mason and asked if they were available to help us at all. Because we have AWESOME nephews, they dropped what they were doing and came to our rescue! They let us borrow their truck and we were in the water within the hour!! And the saved the weekend!

This place is just so beautiful with all the trees and we love the beach and the water. The kids love to ride bikes all around too.

Carter was interested in learning a few cooking things at camp so Chad let him help!

We successfully hung a hammock this time and all enjoyed swinging in it. 

Once camp was set up and my feet were up with a cold drink, all was well!

Carter was a good sport and let Mollie do his ever growing hair into a pony. It didn't last long. 

Cute girls on a log.

While we were trying to make the most of our trip, we did get some beach time but it was just sort of torture watching all the boats out there!

Carter was most bummed about the boating situation and just sort of pouted on the beach. Luckily after getting him a little wet, he started to come out of it. 

But man, once we got the boat in the water, the smiles were plentiful! Look at these happy faces!

The water was so perfect and even Rylee jumped in a few times. She is gaining some confidence in the water!

More smiles!

I always tell the kids to remember their mom young and remember that I could wakeboard when I'm an old decrepit lady!

And after a full day of boating we ran into get Wendy's because it was too late to cook, we made our first ever DUTCH OVEN CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE!! This has now become a staple for when we go camping. It was SOOO yummy. We had cool whip but it really needed ice cream! It was SO good but we barely put a dent in it. It made quite a bit!

And these 2 awesome guys came back the last day of camp, helped us pack up after breakfast and drove our boat home clear to Tooele so our truck wouldn't have anymore problems. We were so so grateful for their generosity and kindness. They were our vacation heroes this weekend! 

 And we are even more grateful for a caring grandma from Indiana who is close to the spirit and took it upon herself to help save our boating trip and call Mason. We have such a good family and we are so grateful for their help.