Here's the group (minus me, I was the photographer for all our picts). From left to right, back row, Jason, Gavin, Jordan Mills, Donna and Todd Mills; in the front Tanner Mills and Emma.
We spent a lot of time in the water (especially Jason and Emma). This is in the hot springs--they didn't recommend kids 3 and under or pregnant women get in, so Gavin and I sat this one out. Gavin was pretty bothered at being left out, but I let him touch the water and he definitely didn't like the heat. He still wanted to go in, but I knew he wouldn't enjoy it!
Jason and Emma also went tubing down the river. Emma didn't last long enough for me to get a picture--I could hear her screaming 3 minutes before anyone made it down to where I was positioned to take pictures. Jason took pity on our resident chicken and got out upstream. But he was excited to go a second time, and it looks like he really enjoyed himself. I was kind of surprised they went a second time because the first time they got seperated, lost their shoes, and Donna got dragged under (with multiple bruises to show for it). But they did, and I guess experience helped because they all enjoyed it (they being Todd, Donna, Jordan, and Jason).
Emma may be a chicken (notice the arm floaties and ring), but Gavin is a total fish! He loved the water and couldn't get enough of it. He didn't mind getting his face wet and even dove under a couple times on accident--don't worry, we kept a CLOSE eye on him. He was a natural swimmer and would take off by himself when he had floaties. The biggest challenge with him, of course, is that he's completely deaf with out his electronic ears! But it was still tons of fun. The pool we went to also had a couple of giant slides that Jason and I eventually tried. Jason was chicken the first day and then went the second day--it was his first time ever to go on a water slide (apparently the lakes in Vermont don't come with water slides). I wasn't going to break the rules of no pregnant women, but then they all convinced me that the slides were mild enough, so I did and it was mild, but still fun!
Of course, you can't really camp without a campfire. The fire was nice because Gavin didn't need a lot of reminding that it was HOT because he could tell! We did s'mores the first night and...
...homemade ice cream the second night (thanks to Donna)! Donna is a gourmet cook--she's my Pampered Chef friend, and it was great having her cook for a day. I kept things really simple on my day to cook, but she went all out with egg/sausage/ham sandwichs with hashbrowns for breakfast and dutch oven for dinner--including apple cobbler that was to die for! It was great! The one down side for Lava Hot Springs is that there is a train track that travels right through this little town. Gavin LOVED seeing real trains choo-chooing by, but what we didn't realize until too late was that the trains came every hour, on the hour, at night. Still, it wouldn't be too bad (there were train tracks not far from where we lived in Salt Lake), except that there were also six crossings in the town and the trains had to honk at each one! Oh my heavens--talk about lack of sleep! I finally slept through the last couple (from 2:30 to 6:30 AM) on the second night, since I was so exhausted from the first night!
To finish up this fabulous trip, we went to Minnetonka Cave on the way home. It is about 20 minutes from Bear Lake (for those of you going to Bear Lake this summer, keep it in mind--it's worth the trip!) and is SO COOL! Both literally and figuratively (it stays a constant 40 degrees). They have a truly awesome collection of various stalactites and stalagmites. It was Jason's and my first time in a cave and I can't wait to see another!
2 comments:
It looks like you guys had a great time!
I'd love to get into those hot springs myself.
And no, the lakes here in Vermont do not seem to come with water slides!
your inspiring me to plan a camping trip as well!
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