Our main family vacay this summer was designed around delivering Kenzie to BYU-Idaho! She learned to pack light when she went to India, but we almost had to leave someone home due to lack of space in the van :-)
We made a few stops on the way to visit old friends - The Driggs, who lived in Albuquerque when we did (sorry, no pic...i know, bad blogger) and The Gilberts, who have added a couple new members to their family since they left Cali! Kenz & Abbie sure miss babysitting these cute kiddos & Porter misses his de Portola buddy, Gabe!
We LOVED reconnecting & are so grateful for their friendship and hospitality!
We also stopped in Salt Lake City at the LDS Humanitarian Center, which I've wanted to do for years, but just never get around to it during our previous visits to Utah.
Here's Porter in front of some of the 1,000 lb. bales of donated blankets & clothing that are sorted & prepared for distribution daily. These items, as well as medical supplies, hygiene kits, newborn kits & more are distributed throughout the world, where need exists.
Joseph Smith, the first president of the LDS church taught, "We are to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to provide for the widow, to dry up the tears of the orphan, to comfort the afflicted,
whether in this church, or in any other,
or in no church at all, where ever we find them."
We also spent a couple days in the tiny town
of Lava Hot Springs (pop. 521) in southern Idaho located along the Portneuf River.
This town is like a step back in time, and was very quaint!
Abbie refers to this as "The Ultimate Wedgie"
The next day we explored the town a bit --
We found a little farmer's market (with 4 vendors)
& picked up some fresh-baked rolls and a jar of choke cherry jam
& had ourselves a little snack.
(Good thing Dave had his trusty pocketknife to spread the jam)
Abbie found a swing that looked like fun . . . but turned out to be kinda painful!
We had one of these at the park when I was a kid - you never see them anymore - too bad.
Guess they're too dangerous now.
And Princess Leia?
I guess this is how you keep your towel dry while you soak in the hot pool?
(I always thought you could just leave it on a chair.)
Dave & Abbie worked hard to catch these pix without getting caught :-)
We tubed down the Portneuf River -
Abbie & Dave took an extra run so we could get a few pix!
Porter whipped out his fishing pole every chance he got! Here he is on the Portneuf.
He didn't catch anything - but it was fun all the same!
The town of Lava also sports a little waterpark with 2 pools and 4 water slides,
and cost about $7 for the day. (remember the comment about 'a step back in time' ?)
Perfect, if you ask me.
There are SEVEN diving boards in the deep end of the pool.
Abbie was SHOCKED that you could do flips, back dives, whatever you want off of them!
(again, remember when every pool had a diving board - and you could jump off however you wanted?)
Dave tried out the white waterslide below.
He only had to do it once - and the spray of the water left a welt on his calf
the size of a golf ball - yikes!
(stay tuned for part 2)
6 comments:
yay bloggy Sue! Great post, and I think you used the perfect pictures and the right amount, after seeing *all* the photos from your trip, you picked ones that show the best highlights. Jack is now converted to Lava Hot Springs and he's never even been there!
Also, THANK YOU for the yummy Sunday dinner and all around good time yesterday - it was perfect in every way!
How on earth did she let you leave her? With all the fun you had getting there I would hate for it to stop!! Hope she is having a great time in IDAHO!!! So glad we got to talk for a few last time we were in town.
The Waldo and Princess Leia pics had me lauging out loud! Hilarious!
I have so many comments and questions...
Why is there a rope in front of K & A in the van pic? Were you drying laundry? And, WHAT is with those towels? Did you learn how to do make those towel-buns? I totally want to go to Lava Hot Springs with you guys. That looked like a perfect spot for our families. Glad you went first and found all the best things to do! It did look like it was straight out of our childhood. I can’t wait to jump off the high dives!
I have so many memories of driving you up to school. I liked stopping and visiting mom’s assortment of friends along the way. Has Rexburg changed much? These pics really show you all having a great time together. I love all the big smiles. I love how you made it into a fun vacay roadtrip. Great post :)
Hee Hee - funny you should ask about 'the rope'!! Dave rigged that up to hang the dvd player from!
And, no, we didn't exactly approach the folks with the towel buns...but that might have been interesting. I'm sure they'd have taught us how to do it. Dave pretended to be taking a pic of Abbie & then zoomed in on them! We were cracking up.
It did really turn out to be a fun trip! Thanks for all your support on my blogging efforts :-)
We were so glad to have you!! You guys are welcome anytime!! It was so fun to see everyone again. We miss our good friends and awesome babysitters!
Post a Comment