Thursday started out innocently enough…Ivy and Uncle Paul made ice cream in an old-fashioned ice cream maker. Uncle Paul said it was his *new* one (only 28 years old). We didn’t actually get to eat any – other than licking the beaters – until 9pm, but it was fun.

We then loaded up the womenfolk in the CRV and high-tailed it to Grants Pass to ride the Hellgate boats – jet boats that go screaming fast down the Rogue River. Oddly enough, if the boats stop abruptly, a huge quantity of water is flipped over the bow right into the boat and onto the 60 passengers. I had no small qualms about sitting Ivy down in a jet boat, with no seat belt, tether or even a lifesaver, but that didn’t stop me from trying for the front seat (we weren’t allowed). The river is wide enough, and drivers skilled enough, that they can do donuts with the boats…frequently a second boat is following fairly close to drive through the wakes (yes, that’s plural!), and thoroughly soak those passengers. The drivers, of course, are safe and dry behind a huge screen.

Another photo...BEFORE we boarded the boats...

If you’re lucky enough to be on board with a loud-mouth – and ours had two – the driver can be goaded into loading up a homemade PVC supersoaker and drenching that someone who just hasn’t gotten wet enough. This is normally on the return trip from the all-you-can-eat and all-you-can-drink dinner, when the loud-mouth is showing his (or her) ass. Unfortunately, I was right in the middle of the loud-mouths…a local sitting behind me and my mother sitting next to me. YES THAT’S RIGHT, I SAID MY MOTHER! She actually told this guy and his friends that we (she!) could outdrink them. OMG. This was apparently a very stupid challenge, as he turned out to be the grandson of a local vineyard owner, and he totally dusted her.

She never learns.