Anyway, after Eric and I got married, I still wanted to carry this tradition on. There isn't a lot to do, but it makes it relaxing and very easy going. The kids love going and get excited every time we go.
For the first few years, we didn't have a whole lot of money, so we tried to find cheaper priced places to stay than the condos my parents stay at. We have stayed in some real "winners" let me tell you. 2 years ago on the cities website, we happened across a vacation home that we could rent. It is about $100 a night, but for that extra $20 or so we spend - we get 3 bedrooms and a full kitchen. It's less stress for us as the kids can run and be crazy without us worrying about neighbors and such.
Anyway, so this year our trip was from April 3 - April 10. Here is the rundown for anyone interested...
DAY #1 - FRIDAY, APRIL 3: I wanted to leave around 10, because that is Nathaniel's naptime and he doesn't care much for the car of late, so I figured if we left around naptime, he would sleep for most of the drive.
I think we left around 11 and Nathaniel did sleep for most of the trip. I had to make a stop in the Layton Walmart for formula (we didn't want to take chances of how expensive formula might be if the little store in Lava even had any) and then we headed out without any other stops.
We arrived around 2 and spent the afternoon literally relaxing. Around 6 my little sister and her little family show up with our dinner. It was yummy and really hit the spot.
We then decided to head over to my parents condo to take the little kids into the hot tubs. I wasn't sure how Nathaniel would react. I had my little sister and parents take Nathaniel with them while I finished getting ready. I walked out of the condo, heard my baby crying and was really worried about it.
After I showed up, however, he was just fine and LOVED the hot tubs. So did all the other kids and they had fun going from tub to tub. (They have 2) My nephew was even so cute and kept telling his mom, "This is smelly."
After spending about a half hour in the hot tubs, everyone was ready to crash. We took the little kids back to our place and Tanis and Nathaniel were pretty much already out, so they went straight to bed. We pulled out the sofa bed for the other three and let them watch a movie.
DAY #2 - SATURDAY, APRIL 4: Because my little sister and hubby were only staying for the weekend, we decided that Saturday would be our "bowling day." Bowling every year in Pocatello has also become tradition. We got to the bowling alley a bit before a league was due to come, but the guy said they'd be doing "Cosmic Bowling" around 4.
We decided we'd go to lunch first, then stop to get a few "groceries" before we went bowling. It all worked out nicely and we got to the alley around 4:30. The kids LOVED bowling and 2 of my kids even had similar scores to mine. (They had bumpers and I am just not that great of a bowler...Either the ball is to heavy or the finger holes are too small and my fingers get stuck - one day I should get a customized ball or something)
After bowling we headed back for some dinner and then we went to the hot pools. These are like swimming pools, but with hot water. Once again, I had to have a family member hold onto Nathaniel while I ran to the restroom and when I came out he was crying. But as soon as I took him, he was fine and was loving life.
This is why I have no pics from the hot pools like I usually get. I had an 11 month old baby who wouldn't let me do anything but take care of him. :D
After the pools, we all went back to our places and crashed. It's amazing how tired hot tubs can make a person...
DAY #3 - SUNDAY, APRIL 5: We spent the morning watching conference in our home and said goodbye to my little sis and her family after the morning session was over. We then had our lunch and got ready to head to my parents to watch the final session of conference. The theme that really stuck out to me was that we need to quit being "convienent Mormons."
After conference we played a few games. Lex had an accident and it threw me over the edge. I took all the boys back to our place with me and let Shaylyn stay with her Dad while he finished a game.
We went back to the house and I watched the TLC program called: "I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant." That's another story in and of itself.
Eric and Shaylyn got back around 11:30 and we all headed to bed.
DAY #4 - MONDAY, APRIL 6: We spent a good portion of the morning/early afternoon just trying to decide what to do. It was a good thing I took my laptop and the little city of Lava had free WiFi. Eric was able to find a place similar to Boondocks and that sort of thing online that was in Pocatello.
So after talking to my parents we all headed out. The place wasn't crowded at all and we had so much fun playing black lit mini golf. Then the kids were able to play in a huge play area and Eric, my dad, my little brother, older sister and I were all able to play Laser Tag, by ourselves. My mom was so sweet to watch the kids for me so that I could relax and play. I lost every round, but it was lots of fun anyway. After Laser Tag we had to go get groceries. So we headed to Walmart and got what we needed.
We then went back to our place for dinner and then my dad and little brother came over to play a game with us. It was a fun night and one night that Nathaniel actually "told" me he wanted to go to bed. It was great.
DAY #5 - TUESDAY, APRIL 7: We really had an easy going day. We got a late start in the morning and because it was one of the two projected "nice" days we decided we'd let the kids play at the playground at the condo.
We waited a good few hours for my parents to get back from their "hike" to the "L". Well it took them A LOT longer than planned because there was still snow on the mountain and the trails weren't easily found.
We got tired of waiting and took the kids over anyway. They all had a blast playing on the swings and running around. Shaylyn even tried to get high enough to pull a pinecone off the tree.
When my parents arrived back, my little brother and I played a few variations of baseball while my mom and Nathaniel watched. The other kids were playing on the playground and just having fun.
When we got tired of that we headed to the local pizza place for dinner. It was expensive for what we go and I was still hungry afterwards, but it all worked out.
After dinner the older kids and I went to the condo hot tubs, while Eric watched Nathaniel. It was a relaxing soak for me as I didn't have to try to keep the baby from drinking the water. After about a half hour/45 minutes we called it good.
When we got back to the house, Eric and I watched a movie my little sister had recommended. It was a good show.
DAY #6 - WEDNESDAY, APRIL 8: We weren't sure what this day was going to hold either. We finally decided to go to the Idaho Museum of Natural History. It is a very small museum at the University of Idaho. The kids didn't care, however, and were enthralled with the few dino exhibits that they had. They even had a discovery center where they had lots of different activities for the kids. The kids would have stayed all day had we let them.
After the museum, we decided to go to the mall, just because. We weren't there very long before I got a call from my mom telling us that they were ready to meet up at the dollar store.
My mom has a little coin operated gumball machine at her house. She saved all the coins the kids had put in the machine for our trip, so the kids could go "shopping."
They loved being able to scour the store for what they wanted. They were each able to get 5 items and had lots of fun making decisions.
DAY #7 - THURSDAY, APRIL 9: We had another late start this day. We weren't sure what to do, but we had plans that night. So we needed something to do for just a few hours in the day. My parents decided that they were going to go see, "THE KNOWING". I got excited and told Eric I wanted to go, then we remembered we had the kids. (No, I didn't really forget I had the kids) We looked into what other movies were there and the times and what we could actually make.
We decided on Monsters Vs. Aliens in 3D and got there about 5 minutes before the movie. We even ended up having the theater all to ourselves. Which was a good thing as Nathaniel wanted to explore and didn't want sit still.
It was a fun movie and after it was over we had about a half hour to kill. Since we were right by the mall, we decided we'd let the kids go play at the play land in the mall. We had nothing else to do.
The kids loved this and the "Easter Bunny" was so bored that he even came and played with the kids in the playland for a few minutes. (I was mad I left my camera in the car) Nathaniel wasn't too sure of the Easter Bunny when he came over to him, but he didn't throw a fit or anything.
About 6:00 we head over to visit a friend of mine. We worked together in high school and when I heard she had moved out to Pocatello about a year ago, I asked if we could get together.
We had a simple dinner of grilled burgers and hot dogs, but it was so yummy and it was fun to get together again. It had been way too long!
DAY #8 - FRIDAY, APRIL 10: The last day of our vacation...It was a crazy morning. From the minute I woke up I was go go go. It was a LONG drive home with lots of traffic EVERYWHERE. When we finally got home, we all just did nothing!
We caught up on all our tv shows that were tivo'd and had a relaxing night.
Hey it sounds like you guys had a great family vacation! Trips are always so fun!
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