Floating the Boise River Part Deux

I hankered for an adventure. Why not recreate the Boise River Float disaster from 2023? YES! Let’s! It was a clear and HOT Labor Day morning. I collected various river tubes over the summer intending to float the Boise. Labor Day was the last official day of the season. I wanted to try out my paddle board before the weather turns cold, seemed like a good idea to conquer our fears. The girls were honestly a bit terrified to try again, everyone else was game for an adventure. Justin opted for the kayak, me and Josie on paddle board, and the rest on river tubes. Justin drove the swagger wagon and I drove Roz, as we wanted to avoid the shuttle wait. After a struggle to listen carefully to instructions the inflatables were “flated”. The cold river water felt amazing with the 100 degree temperatures outside. Josie was a trusting soul to ride with me instead of the more stable tubes. The first rough water and falls were fun, that third one is a doozy. Justin flipped the kayak. He let the paddles and kayak freely roam as he struggled to find his feet. I caught the kayak before it made a solo trip down the river. The kayak is not easy to get back into, he flipped it another time of two before we finally made our way downstream. The other kids found their way to a slower part of the river and waited for us. I slipped off trying to get my own self back on the paddle board, felt amazing. Our sandwiches were watery mush from the dunk in the river. Guess those sandwich bags are not water proof after all. Yuck. Soggy sandwiches are the worst. Evelyn did amazing with her float and paddles! Each time I looked over at her she was spinning here and there with the flow. We stopped again because Phillip was mad about his singular paddle. He stood like a big baby in the river until Justin convinced him to get going. I switched the big baby paddles, my double for his single. Then flipped over at the next rough spot when the paddle board hit a rock and went sideways over the rocks. Josie was mad that she got wet, I was not so mad because it was hot outside. I may have flipped her into the water on purpose again. I quite enjoyed the pace down the river, just Josie and I floating along…with the other hordes of people. Justin, Amelia, Phillip, Everett, and Evelyn made their way down the river. This trip was less traumatic but still had a couple of snafus. Life would be boring without those snafus. Amelia and Justin drove Roz back to pick up Swagger while the rest of us lugged all the equipment and deflated the inflatables. Soon acorns were whizzing through the air as the boys pelted each other. We had quite the collection by the time the vans arrived. 

Amelia had her last day of work on Friday. Her boss, David, held both her hands and expressed how much he will miss her. “Be safe in Rexburg, don’t trust nobody, come back and visit!” That about sums it all up. She is packing up her stuff getting ready for the next big move in life. All the old ladies in our ward just love Amelia, especially Sister Minor and  Sister Bierman. They had lots of fun things to say in the ward music texting chain. She got to choose the hymns this week as her last week conducting the music. Brother Bledsoe asked if Phillip might be willing to conduct the music…he was not impressed with that suggestion. She and I spent about $500 on groceries, cleaning supplies, and sundry items for her apartment Friday evening. I heard the stores in Rexburg are cleared out this time of year because parents are instructed to buy items when they drop off their students. Now we have too much stuff to fit into one vehicle, that will be an interesting situation. 

Evelyn invited 7 friends over to celebrate her 12th birthday Saturday evening. She requested homemade pizza for dinner. Evelyn made a cute restaurant menu with the ingredients using Kpop Demon Hunter names. Chaos ruled for 4 hours in the Call home. The noise level went from normal to epic after the third friend arrived…and stayed until the last friend left. The girls made their own pizza, played jackbox games, sang Kpop karaoke songs that raised the roof. Evelyn had everyone watch her open gifts, the queen with her subjects. “Ice palace for 1, Ice Palace for 1, get out Anna!” We enjoyed ice cream floats for a treat while the Demon Hunter movie played. I am quite sure only 2 girls actually watched the show, mostly the friend visited, colored, and played upstairs. Macy hid Josie’s Ewok Chad so well I couldn’t even find it. Stinker. Amelia showed Josie how to make these adorable paper fidget buttons on Wednesday. She showed us how to make them with great success. That was fun. 

Justin’s back decided to torture him yesterday. He had a muscle spasm in his back so bad he couldn’t stand for a couple of hours. After using a tens unit for an hour he was able to stand up and hobble about for a while. Dude! That is painful. 

Phillip drove a car! He figured out the transfer bus to Nampa on Wednesday and spent 3 hours driving around the back roads with the instructor and another student. He is slowly getting the online curriculum finished.