4th of July at Natsoopah Hot Springs

My goal to keep everyone busy this summer is working...a little too well! I am tired and the summer is only half over. I'm playing catch up, so this will be according to the best of my memory. We enjoyed taking some patriotic photos (the 4th of July configuration as we fondly call them) in front of a fun mural in downtown Nampa. The kids were quite excited and fully cooperated, even giving me some fun poses and ideas. Right after that we drove out to Lake Lowell orchard to pick 30 pounds of apricot fruit. Apricots are not my favorite fruit to eat fresh, too mushy and grainy. Apricots are best enjoyed as jam! Yum. The kids picked about 10 pounds of greenish fruit so I separated the fruit into almost ripe and ready to preserve. I did not have time to attend to the fruit before we went camping for the weekend. I stored half in the fridge and the rest in a box over an air conditioning vent to keep cool. That tricked worked, I only lost about 1-2 pounds of fruit due to worms, decay, or soft spots. My cute little garden is doing quite well. The sunflowers are keeping the birds fed and the smaller garden beds shaded. I've had terrible luck this year with carrots, peas, and green beans. The seeds don't sprout, or the sprouts die after a few days, or the worst the beans just turn yellow and die. At least the tomatoes, cucumber, and chard is growing well. My squashes are also producing fruit but then the fruit withers before it grows larger than a couple inches. I've tried varying watering schedules, using pesticides interventions, and even fertilizers. No luck. It has been super hot this year, temps were over 100 for a couple weeks without a break. I even saw the low was 80 (on July 7th) in the morning which broke a record from 1892. 

The kids enjoyed our craft this week making Harry Potter wands. We had about 10 kids making wands on Wednesday and Thursday. The older kids shaped their dowels with whittling knifes before using hot glue to give some dimension. We had buttons, twine, poms, charms, paint, and buttons as other decor options.

Fawn Baerwaldt asked if I wanted their dining table set for free! Ummmmm! Yes. She had the set professionally stripped then chalk painted just like I had in mind with chairs all different colors. I took a trip on Wednesday to look at it, the set seemed familiar but wasn't sure. Fawn gave the little girls a fun LOL! inflatable sprinkler thing so they were in heaven. The table set belonged to Grandma Baerwaldt! It's over 200 years old and has quite a fun history. I feel so relieved to sell the unfinished set I purchased at the garage sale a few weeks ago and instead inherit a repurposed (finished) set that has meaning and history. It's the little things.  Now I hope to at least get some of my money back from the table. 

Thursday the girls got much needed hair cuts or trims. Evelyn and I got a few inches of length cut off, that felt amazing. I brushed out my curls before going just to surprise my kids. Their reactions were hilarious! Sara and Justin about died laughing. Evelyn was excited to get about 3-4 inches off her length, hopefully her hair will be easier to brush now. Justin stayed home from work after contracting our terrible head colds. We all spent the first of the week in the throes of sickness hacking lungs, sneezing, stuffy noses, and headaches. In just 4 days our family went through 4 bottles of NyQuil and three packages of Sudafed. Justin caught the muck last of all, the fabled man cold. I was sure he would stay home from our camping trip. He was feeling a little bit better by Friday, not much but enough to accompany us. 

I worked hard to get all the meals shopped for, cooked, and prepped for our trip on Friday. Somehow we fit our camping gear, swimming stuff, and all the etceteras stuffed into the van plus our 7 bodies. The time is shortly coming where a larger vehicle is necessary. The Ostlers relieved some of our load by taking our camp chairs and wood on their van rack thing. We strapped the tent to the rooftop carrier. We were off for a fun-filled camping trip. Except we were all dead tired, crabby, cranky, and ready to quit. Onward! Onward we pushed. I drove the 3-hour distance so Justin could nap. Natsoopah Hot Springs are about 30 minutes south of Twin Falls. We were able to choose our campsite so we picked one with the most shade available. It was nice to spread out and have room for tents and an eating area. We got our tent set up with minimal cussing. It was only 98 and the shade helped keep the tents cooler. We enjoyed pulled pork sandwiches and coleslaw for dinner (thanks me). The kids were little dust monsters before long. I caught Phillip in a blissful moment slowly nibbling on his plateful of chips. He ended up with the dirtiest face (how?). The hot springs drained into a ditch that ran the course of the campground. We had a great time wading in the warm water for a few hours. The kids eventually got swimsuits on and enjoyed a muddy bath in the water. Our pyromaniac boys built a fire towards dusk so we could melt hi-chews and marshmallows for a bedtime treat. The battle of the Mariachi Bands ensued until 2-3 am. Sleeping was a sticky, hot affair in the stuffy tent. Once the air cooled down and the music battle ended I got a snap of sleep around 4 am. 

Saturday we spent a fun day at the Hot Springs pool. The kids loved the high and low diving boards. Sara rented two pool mats for the water slide. The water was a lovely lukewarm temperature and greenish in color from the deposits of fools gold in the surrounding rock. We had a picnic lunch and lots of snacks to get through the day. Around 3 pm a very powerful storm cell rolled through. The pool creak was actually quite nice, the life guards played some games with the kids in the clubhouse/snack bar area. Justin was at the campsite with Dusty to secure the area. Our tent collapsed with the strong wind. I helped my very stubborn husband reset the tent with lightening striking here and there. Scared me to death. Thankfully the tent remained watertight so all was well. The storm was a blessing because it was quite cool afterwards for the rest of the day. The kids took another break for dinner, quite finished with swimming. After a good meal the kids were ready to swim once again! We swam until 8:30 pm. The owners set off a few fireworks to celebrate the 4th. Another group behind us was also shooting off some fireworks, one ground flower went whizzing right under Amelia's camp chair. Another exploded on the ground, I had ashes in my hair and a burn on my arm from the rear group's antics. Amelia, Ambree, and Everett came with me to watch the stars for a while. The Milky Way and Corona Borealis were quite stunning. The kids and Justin went to bed early after our full day. Sara, Dusty, and I stayed up around the fire to chat and stare at the coals. I wondered what would happen when a glow stick melted in the fire. Well, it melted and then squirted glowing juice on me. What happened next is...well...imagine 3 adults, a knife, many glowstick juice, dancing, USA, and Mariachi music. I used my own hair as a nightlight inside the tent afterward to locate some socks. Epic. 

Sunday we enjoyed a lazy morning breakfast. It was still cool so the clean up was quite pleasant. Evelyn was in a mood and a half, had to torture her more so we stopped to see Shoshone Falls on our drive home. The falls were amazingly gorgeous. Dusty said the falls were not all full capacity, but still the sight was magnificent. We listened to Elder Oaks talk "Defending Our Divinely Inspired Consitution" for church during our drive. At home we unpacked then enjoyed some lovely couch time before and after grilled hot dogs. The girls wanted hair threads so I worked on that for Amelia, Ambree, and Sara. The Young family threw quite the fireworks show for our neighborhood. I hear they bought an entire pallet of fireworks just for the 4th of July. We all had to shake the ash from our hair after that magnificent show. The best part was when they lined up the kids to shoot off Roman Candles! A hot ember burned my little toe during the grand finale. It was worth it. At home we shot off our measly collection of sparklers, bottle rockets, and ground flowers. Phillip said it was the best 4th of July he's ever had.