#10 Family Recap

Over the past few weeks I have basically given summaries on each member of my family so for those who have forgotten, I am going to give a quick recap on The Bauer Bunch.

Joel is my father, he enjoys coaching soccer, sometimes more then he enjoys his family. Which is okay because I enjoy playing soccer more than I enjoy my family sometimes. He has been my coach basically my whole life and he is the reason I ever got into sports. If it wasn't for him there is no way I would be playing college soccer right now. We might butt heads sometimes but he will always be my inspiration to be the best I can be.

Mindy is my mother. She is basically my best friend and an older version of myself. Her family ALWAYS comes first and she will do whatever it takes to make us all happy. I have no idea how she does it sometimes but everything she does makes me appreciate her more and more everyday. She is a phlebotomist, so she is basically a vampire which I think is pretty cool. My mom is just a really cool person.

My oldest brother is Zach and just this past October he married his best friend. Sophia is awesome and I am so lucky to call her my sister. Out of my three brothers, when Zach lived at home we fought the most. He just knew how to push my buttons and he would get a kick out of it but now we are closer than I ever thought we would be. I spend the night at his house all the time and we are way more alike than I ever thought.

My second oldest brother is Ryan. Ever since we were little we were super close. We grew up together so we have always liked the same things. Although we fight, I know I can always count on him when I need someone.

 And then there is Breyden. He is a super weird 11 year old who always knows how to make me laugh. His sense of humor is like nothing I have ever heard before but at the same time, it is amazing. He is super annoying but I would not trade him for anything. 

I love my cats, dog and bunny a lot too. They are really cute and I am lucky to have them.

Overall, I love my family more than anything and they are annoying 95% of the time but that is okay because I am stuck with them.

#9 The Annual Family Trip

Every year, for my dad's birthday the whole family and some close friends all go tubing down the Rifle River. We have been doing this for about 4 years now and it gets more and more interesting every year. 

The first year we went we decided to go canoeing instead of tubing. My parents were in one tube, my brother and I in another and then my oldest brother, his now wife and my youngest brother in another. Within the first 5 minutes my oldest brother tipped his canoe traumatizing my youngest brother who was only about 7 at the time. He sat in the canoe with a death grip on the sides and just looked straight ahead without saying a word for a solid 3 hours. He made it very clear that he never wanted to go canoeing ever again and to this day still feels that way.

So the next year we decided to go tubing instead. I personally enjoy tubing a lot more simply because all you do it sit there. You don't have to row or do any kind of physical activity. You just float. Of course you run into some trees and stuff along the way but that is what we had my dad for. We tied all of our tubes together and he does all the steering. 

It being August, there is always hundreds of people on the river. Some tubing and some canoeing. It is always an odd sight to see. Everyone drunk from the sun and excessive amounts of alcohol, their dogs sitting in tubes or on canoes wanting to jump into the water but too scared to actually do it, kids crying because they're bored or hungry. It is so peaceful. 

Just this past year when we went my mom almost got into a fight. She was drunk of course. But we had about 20 of us between my family and the two families of my parent's best friends. We were all tied together and just minding out own business when this old lady in a canoe was trying to speed down the river and was getting mad because of the 200 people taking up the river. She was going past us and yelled at my brother and his two friends who are only 10 years old, swearing at them and telling them to move. My mom hearing her say these things to three 10 year olds freaked out, as any mother would. She yelled at the lady until she got so far down the river that we couldn't see her anymore, and even then my mom kept yelling. You could say my mom is pretty protective.

But overall, every year I am so excited for this trip. I hope we continue to do it for many more years. From the people watching to floating down a river, soaking up the sun with a cold drink in my hand (non-alcoholic of course) we always manage to have an amazing time and I wouldn't want to spend this time with anyone but my crazy family.