Camping at Green Bay - Part II

The weekend after the 4th we headed out to go camping. I posted a couple of early morning pics from my phone last month, but I took a ton more.

Like anything I do in life, I turned our camping trip into an adventure that (I'm pretty sure) left Nels rolling his eyes, but we had a good time regardless. :)

For starters, we didn't get out of town as early as we'd planned and I didn't really know where we were going. We made a couple of detours along the way (because I just HAD to check out other campsites as well) and instead of choosing somewhere simple up in the mountains, I decided we should camp by the beach --- which had added an extra element of fun to not only pack camping gear, but also beach gear as well. :) When we finally made it to our camp it took forever to actually find the camp spots and then we got to pack everything in - because they are "no vehicle access" sites.

Oh well! It was fun! And if, after 10 years, Nels is still surprised by my lack of planning, indecisiveness, and talent for making things "exciting" then he needs to have is head checked. :) Which he may have been thinking about after walking back and forth numerous times to haul 7 people's worth of gear from the van to our camp.

Once we'd unloaded, we were in a mad rush to get the tent up and a fire built before dark. Good thing Nels is an expert fire starter and I am quite an amazing tent-setter-upper. By the time we were eating hot dogs, it was fully dark. :)

As we started cooking marshmallows, our camp neighbor, Hippie Luke, wandered over for a visit. I got the girls all tucked in and the three of us had a great time sitting around the fire chatting. Luke grew up the area, is probably about 32, and is in between jobs right now. I have a feeling he'd been camping in his spot for a couple of weeks. :) After a bit, his "friend" Andrea showed up. Andrea teaches violin here in town at the Music Conservatory.

We talked for an hour or two and as the fire was starting to die down, she pulled out her fiddle and played for us. It was magical to lean back, look up through the pines at the stars, and listen to that beautiful music echo across the lake. Seriously, it is an experience that I will never forget. Later, Nels and I walked down to the beach to sit and watch the moon rise. It was gorgeous. And worth every bit of my hair-brainedness that made it possible.

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The next morning was . . . thrilling as well. Violet woke up crying at about 3:45 or so. I think she was not fully awake. It took about 5 minutes, but once she had her sippy she calmed right down and fell back to sleep. Unfortunately, her crazies woke up Clara . . . who did not fall back to sleep. Nels and I wrestled with her in the sleeping bag for about two hours, occasionally she or we would doze for about 2 minutes, but in the end I just got up with her at about 5:30 and let Nels rest.

She's cute, isn't she? 

It's a good thing, too. Because I was not a happy camper about 

only getting 2 1/2 hours of sleep.

And not cute about it, either. :)

The trail from the bathroom to our camp.

My most prevalent thought while walking this trail?

"This is definitely not the same as camping in Utah . . . " 

So green and lush and humid. I love it. 

I love not having everything covered in dust by the time you get home.

Apparently all Clara really needed was to suck on some cold rocks in the morning to make her happy. :) ~ And all things considered, it WAS an incredibly lovely morning. Surrounded by the lake and the mountains, watching the osprey fishing, and watching my own little Chickie crawl around and babble to me.

One by one, my other Chicks emerged all feeling happy and refreshed.

My "little girl" is growing up all too fast . . .

I love Violet's "camping hair"!

And around the time that everyone else was awake, Clara decided she was tired. :)

We spent a wonderful day together swimming,

rowing around in the raft,

Eating Jelly Bellies

and playing in the hot rocks.

Our rock tower.

Lilie's "Sail Boat"

Swimming and Scrubbing

Monday, I just needed out of the house. The kids were out of school and I didn't care what we did, my kids needed exercise and I wanted to not have to think about anything.

I convinced a sweet friend of mine to head up to Green Canyon Hot Springs - passed Rexburg - with me to take our SEVEN kids swimming. -- All by ourselves. We were obviously feeling ambitious. :)

The kids all had a wonderful time and the swimming part was great fun for all. I can't say as much for the undressing and redressing and brushing hair and can't-find-the-keys parts, but well worth the struggle to give my children a day of swimming. :)

Hazel and Lilie have turned into quite the little fishies. They swim and swim and practice and practice and practice. Loving every second of it. They get so independent that at times, I feel a bit nervous about where they are and if they're dead, :) but they always do such a good job at following the rules and not doing anything too crazy. 

Hazel and Elsie both make friends with everyone they see. I love it. Even at a loud crazy pool with lots of sisters and lots of friends, both of them find someone random to be their best buddy. :) Hazel spent hours talking with another little girl as they used the rope to pull back and forth, back and forth across the pool. Such friendly little ladies. I don't think I was like that as a child . . . it's fun to watch my children's personalities. 

Lilie played with Hazel, but mostly just practiced different maneuvers over and over and over again. She loves experimenting and seeing what she can do now. I love it. Violet just loved being in my arms and watching everything going on around her. She was such a trooper - with only 15 minutes of nap under her belt for the entire day. She is such a pleasant baby. 

On the way home, we stopped for dinner at a restaurant with a playplace to get out ANY remaining wiggles - which was mostly just tired energy at that point. By the time we got home, those kids were T-I-R-E-D ---- which is what had been my plan all along. :) They were all four in bed within half an hour of walking in the door. Awesome. 

Nels was working late and I wanted some downtime for myself. What I hadn't been anticipating was how exhausted I would be after a day of chasing four kids at a pool. :) I didn't last very much longer than the kids did. :)

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And today? {Aaaahhhhhh} Sweet success.

Today I managed to accomplish something. It was wonderful. I even had Elsie and Lilie help while the mess-maker was napping. Elsie is always so helpful. She is always the first (and usually the only) one to ask if she can help me with anything that I'm doing. Whether it be cooking, playing, or scrubbing the toilet, she loves to be my helper. I appreciate her willingness and love more than I can express. She is such a doll.

Lilie on the other hand, is usually AWOL (away without leave). (Nels told me yesterday that he doesn't like it when people use military acronyms. :) Yes, Lilie is usually AWOL - or MIA, whichever you prefer - when there is work to be done. However, on occasion (especially lately) she has been showing her real colors. She just has to be self-motivated. (That isn't new news to me - it's just that motivation is usually in short supply. :) Lately I think she has been learning the sweet feeling that comes from not only doing a job well, but also from helping someone else. - Even if it's not your favorite thing to do. And let me tell you, she is going to be a GOOD cleaner. She sat with an old toothbrush and some Comet scrubbing our bathroom step stool till it was gleaming --- at least a good 45 minutes. She is one after my own heart. :)

After rinsing the stool and setting it to dry, she was just so pleased. Full of lots of hugs and kisses and "I love you's". Feeling so happy for helping and so pleased with her hard work that it just came bubbling over. :) "I really like helping you, Mom. Even if it's not my favorite thing to do, I really like helping you."

Those two little workers made my day today.

Moons in Montana - Part 3

For days following our hike, I walked like a cripple. :) SO SORE! But my brother-in-law, Chris, was awesome enough to help limber me up each day. :)

Thursday morning was lovely and we headed down to the lake, bright and early. First order of business: Tubing. The boat was able to pull two enormous tubes behind it, so one tube filled up with my oldest niece and nephews and Genny and I jumped on "Big Mabel". I want everyone to know, here and now, that I HATE Big Mabel! What a terrible tube for anyone over the age of 17! My body was not made to endure such torture. -- Although I will say, after our ride, my muscles were much less tight. :)

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then I'll just let this one tell the story of the first tubing expedition of the day.

Me, Genny, Eli, Nate, Liza

Let's just say that the ride on the "inside" seat was a bit rougher than the outside (although both are terrible!). This was toward the end, right after I'd convinced Genny to switch me places. After this little spill I didn't hear any more "You're such a wimp, Rachel! :) Why can't you stay on??" :)

The next two days were spent 

Wake Surfing, 

Nels loved wake surfing and did awesome.

My first time out, I honestly couldn't figure out where the fun in this particular water sport was supposed to be. However, after some analyzation and sleeping on it, I finally got the hang of it and had a good time. Although, I think I need to do quite a few more squats and lunges before I get full enjoyment out of it. :)

Chris is an amazing wake surfer, and is good enough to get up and going with a child around his neck! Once up, he lowers said child down to stand on the board with him and (holding onto his legs) they also get to enjoy the ride. Lilie loved doing this and when I get the pictures from whoever has them, I'll have to add them.

TUBING,

Lilie LOVED riding the tube!

Love her face in this picture.

I also love the sequence of these next pictures! :)

Nels, Cade, and Ben --- Going UP . . . 

(Nels displays the perfect form for take off!)

 . . . and UP . . . 

 . . . coming down . . .

. . . and down . . .

(we can finally see Eli on the back! :)

Where'd they go, Cade? LOL!

Turtle Hunting,

Echo Lake has lots of turtles and we were able to catch several to inspect and then let go.

and U-Boarding.

(I'll have to add more pictures later, when I get them from various family members. -- But that might take a while and I don't want to forget to finish posting about our vacation.)

Both Hazel and Lilie were brave enough to try out the U-board. Lilie was rarin' to go from the moment she saw her cousins do it, but I was afraid Hazel would need some coaxing. However, when I told her it was her turn, she jumped right on and had a wonderful time. I was so proud of them both!

We had such a wonderful week. It's weird to think that a whole WEEK seemed too short, but it did. I think I could have stayed there all summer! :) Thank you Melissa and Chris! It was awesome!

Family Fun

** WARNING! Very long journal post ahead!**

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We finally made it camping!!! I can't believe it. It wasn't for any kind of reunion and we didn't even get a flat tire! Hooray! We returned to our new favorite spot for the third time in a month. Palisades Reservoir. It's always pretty there, but this year is especially gorgeous with all the rain that we've gotten. The mountains are green and lush with lots of wild geraniums and lupine and the lake is filled to the max.

Our ward had the Ward Camp Out scheduled for this last weekend (the 25th) and we'd been wanting to go, but Nels has been incredibly busy at work this past week and we'd decided that we probably weren't going to be able to make it. No worries. I just really wanted Nels to be able to finish the HUGE project that he'd been staying late, working on every single night last week - so that he can relax and not have everyone hounding him about it. However, Friday morning he woke up and said that we should just plan on going. Forget the stupid thing - he needed to "sharpen the saw". HOORAY!!

I packed and cleaned and washed and "list-checked" all day, but still wasn't quite ready when he got off work that evening. By the time we actually DID get all ready, it was getting quite late and we just decided to head up for the ward breakfast the next morning and then camp Saturday and Sunday. Not something we make a habit of doing - camping on Sunday - but it sure was nice to be able to spend some nice quiet time as a family without rushing back.

We got up to the reservoir at about 8 o'clock, just in time for breakfast Saturday morning. Spent some time talking and playing with our ward and then set out on a drive before setting up. Nels and the girls are always so sweet to indulge me in my compulsive "adventuring" - i.e. taking drives to who-knows-where. We found some pretty, secluded areas and some possibilities for our Chick Reunion next year, but all the spots were already taken for the day, so we turned around to go back to our originally intended campground. Only once we got there, we found that the water level had risen and our perfect spot was perfectly soggy.

We piled back in the van. A few miles down the road, we came upon the camping spot of our dreams. It was away from most other campers, not in a formal campground, lots of easy firewood, and right next to the water - with a perfect little ramp right to the narrow, sandy beach with shallow water. Because of the high water level, there were a lot of logs and debris piled up near the shore, but we cleared a nice little spot for the girls to get good and dirty in.

We had such a good time playing that afternoon, setting up and just taking it easy. Lilie decided that she is an expert fire starter. She restarted our fire several times when it would die down by putting more sticks in and blowing hard. LOL! She even gave Nels a wonderful video tutorial on "How to Make Fire". :) Very funny.

Lilie, breaking sticks and making funny faces. I don't know if I got one straight picture from her the whole night. :) BTW, if you haven't ever made s'mores with strawberry marshmallows and chocolate grahams, you should. Good stuff. Hmmmm. Maybe with white chocolate? I'll have to try it.

You see? This is what I got when I said, "smile nice and pretty!" What a girl.

At about this point, Elsie decided that she was exhausted and just couldn't keep her eyes open any longer. I willing gave into her request, changed her into jammies, and put her to bed! Hooray for Elsie!

Five minutes later, I looked over at the tent to see this:

One of my new favorite pictures of all time. :)
She was apparently no longer tired and had changed herself out of her jammies and back into her dirty clothes so she could play for another hour. LOL!

Isn't that gorgeous? Too bad I don't have the ability to build a house in that exact spot and live there forever. Also too bad that come Winter, this exactly spot is probably about 80 - 90 degrees colder than it was at that moment. :)

We finally did get all the kids to bed at about 10. They. Were. Exhausted. I even got my little Vi to sleep in her little portable bassinet. Which was seriously one of my greatest thoughts of all time. It has a little canopy that comes up over half of it. I laid her in, with her two pairs of pajamas, one blanket, and draped another blanket over the top (with a little peep hole for air) making the perfect little insulated bed and she slept ALL NIGHT!!! Holy moly! Till 7:30 the next morning with nary a peep! And the other girls? Awesome as well. I think we may go camping much more often!

Once the kids were in bed, Nels had a good time playing with his camera, while I made us up some hot chocolate. It was so nice to spend some beautiful, uninterrupted time together talking. Gosh, I love him. I also love campfires. Did I ever tell you that he proposed to me by a campfire - by a lake - after we'd been swimming? He did. But that's a story for another day . . .

Long exposures are fun!

Sunday we got up and just lounged around, playing on the beach most of the day. It makes my heart so happy to watch my girls play together. Making up stories and adventures. Just loving one another and being the very best of friends.

Aren't those just the cutest little chubbity-chubby legs??? I love them so! (Hers, not mine.)

{Somehow I didn't get a good picture of Elsie in her cute little swimsuit, but let me tell you a story about it. First off, besides her "princess dress" it's the only article of clothing that I can get her to wear willingly lately. Because it has a skirt. So this summer, I decided that she needed a new suit. The other one that she fit had been through two other kids and besides it was an 18-24 month old suit. She's almost three. High time for a new swimsuit. So we went shopping. To Target. To Walmart. To no avail. Finally to Old Navy. So many cute suits. However, problem. 2T wouldn't fit - too big around, fall off. 18-24 no go. Still too big. WHAT? What did we end up with? For a new suit for my almost 3 year old?? A 12-18 month tankini. I'm pretty sure that in 6 months it's going to fit Violet as well! :) }

Hazel and Lilie pretty much spent the entire day floating around on driftwood logs and playing on this half-covered stump near the beach. Pretending to be "Jack and Annie" and riding their "alligators". I love them! Sadly, I didn't think to put sunscreen on Lilie's poor little legs and she is now paying for my negligence. She has her Daddy's sensitive, white skin - while Hazel and Elsie got mine, which gets a little sun-kissed on occasion, but rarely fries. Poor Lilie. I just didn't think.

After packing up, we finally made it home by late afternoon Sunday. We had such a good time, but I still think Nels and I were happy to once again see our home. Not because of the dirt or the campfire cooking or any of the normal reasons you might suspect. You see, if we're going to go camping, both Nels and I would much rather NOT camp in a formal campground. Love the seclusion of finding the perfect spot without someone 10 feet away from you. However. There are certain conveniences of manicured campgrounds. Mainly TOILETS. I genuinely believe with my whole entire heart that our children have NEVER had to use the "potty tree" more times in their LIVES than they did in those 36 hours. LOL! Still, we had a GREAT time and can't wait to go again. Soon!

I love Chicks!

What a wonderful weekend we've just had!

This past weekend we spent the annual Chick family reunion at Nat-Soo-Pah Hot Springs in southern Idaho. It was so much fun! Always fun to get together with all of Nels' family and so great to spend most of Saturday swimming in WARM water! Hot spring swimming pools are perfect.

There was an awesome little warm "creek" (about 2 inches deep) running around the perimeter of our campground that the children LOVED "swimming" in. I think we went through all of our dry clothes within the first two days! :) I COULD NOT keep Elsie, in particular, dry. I would leave her in her swim suit to play and she would eventually come and need to have clothes on her --- like when we were going to eat dinner or get ready for bed or ready to leave. Inevitably, she would leave my sight for five seconds and be wet all over again. Silly girl! How could we possibly think that we could keep our kids out of a stream that is the temperature of a bath tub? :)

Seriously, what child could stay out this???

Oh, yeah . . . and what adult? I mean me. I loved it too!

The girls absolutely LOVED swimming. I wish we could go more often (WHY oh WHY does Idaho Falls not have a decent swimming pool??? I'd truly like to know.) as much fun as they had. Neither of my big girls know how to swim, but by the end of the day, Hazel was practicing putting her head under the water (!) and Lilie was jumping off the side of the pool - going all the way under and back up (with the aid of the life jacket). They both got the hang of paddling around and were pretty sad when it was time to go. Elsie just loved being with everybody and clinging to Mommy and Daddy like a little monkey. :)

They have a GREAT slide at the pool. The Lilie loved going down all by herself, Elsie loved going down with Mom or Dad, and Hazel loved it once. :) Nels and his siblings had GREAT FUN figuring out how to go the fastest. :) - We seriously had so much fun that we might just have to make a stop every time we go to Mnt. Home. And probably spend another weekend camping there this summer.

Saturday night was complete with an 80's lip sync contest . . . fun was had by all . . . except Lilie. - Who put herself to bed immediately following dinner.

(Cute girls! Tyra, Kamille, Hazel, and Shelby)

Mom "Fun-Haver" Chick! :)

Nels and the girls sang "Tarzan Boy" - beating on their chests and all. So fun! I love the Chicks. They are so willing to have fun together - whereas I tend to get nervous and embarrassed and later wish I'd participated. Poor me. I'm retarded - but working on it! :)

I love this family so very much and I'm so thankful to be a part of them. How blessed I am!

Dad Chick and baby Cade

Fun Little Swimmers

This weekend we decided to take the girls swimming at one of the local hot springs. We had a great time - the girls just LOVE water and it's a lot more fun to take them when the water is 90+ degrees. The girls had such a great time running from one hot pool the other. I wish they had a nice swimming center here in town! (HEY! Any of you entrepreneurs out there!!! There is a GREAT business opportunity here!!!) This area is so family centered, I don't understand why they don't have more family activity-type places here. Hmmm. Anyway. We had a wonderful time!


Lilie made this very cute little drawing of R2D2 on the drive there. I thought it was cute.

And while we're talking about Lilie, check out her CHIN in this last picture!


Last week while Nels and I went to a movie, Lilie was apparently doing some sort of acrobatics on the tub and, of course, slipped and knocked herself on the chiny-chin-chin.
We took her to the doctor the next day to see if she needed stitches (for the second time in year). He said she would probably be fine without them but did decide to glue it up with some derma-bond. Well - we kind of forgot about it before we went swimming and it started to peel a bit. Then it must have started to itch because she scratched the rest of it off yesterday at church. Lovely. So now she is sporting this lovely little bandage with the hope that she doesn't end up with ANOTHER lovely scar on her pretty, little, happy face. :)