Camping round two

Our second camping trip of the year was a one-night ordeal, but honestly, I was glad it wasn't longer. We decided to just drive up to Idaho Falls and see what it looked like up there, and pick a spot on the spot. Bogdan had this idea that there was lots of camping up there. Well, we drove past one legitimate spot (some people were just parked next to the river and the highway of course, with no campfire since there's no burning fires outside of designated spots in Idaho in the summer) and when we got to Idaho City, we explored a little and asked about camping nearby. The guy looked at us funny like no one ever comes up to camp and told us we could camp on the high school field. Um...no thanks. We booked it back to the one open spot we had seen and snagged it before anyone else could. It wasn't very woodsy, and I like woodsy. That's my biggest complaint. Our neighbors were in plain view and it wasn't very cozy or private, but we still got the camping experience, so I'm happy. It was next to a creek, so the girls and I walked down to it and dipped our legs in the water while Bogdan and Ben went looking for firewood. 

Isn't this shot so telling of childhood? Mila is playing with her eyes and Olivia is hanging off a chair. I SO remember those days from my childhood--plenty of boredom and doing weird things to pass the time. I happen to think boredom is healthy for children.

Naomi is out of the cage we call our house, so she's pretty happy.

Look at all that love! And Naomi doesn't even mind.

I know I take way too many pictures of Naomi and not enough of the other kids, but she is always doing all these cute things, like holding on to the generator because it's vibrating or playing with the hitch. She loves that thing.

Slow, cool mornings around the campfires as a family are becoming a favorite of mine. Everyone is well-rested and calm and the sun is shining. The start of a fresh new day...

Naomi decided she had had enough sleep at 6 am and proceeded to fall back asleep in my arms a couple hours later. She must have wanted to enjoy the campfire before the whole world was up, and then she couldn't quite make it....that fire was good for getting her back to sleep though!

It's not camping if there aren't any s'mores.

A new hot springs pool/spa opened up a couple years back in Idaho Falls and we finally got to check it out on our camping trip. We packed up the RV and spent the rest of the day soaking and relaxing. It was really pretty up there, being right next to the trees, but I found it a bit uppity for my taste. We happened to be there on family day, which was perfect, but still we seemed to be in the way and they came over to tell us Naomi can't have a sippy cup of water because there are no outside beverages, and children under eight can't be in the hot tub because it's too hot (which I can understand I guess, except the other hot springs pool we go to has no such rules and everyone is fine), and they came over when Naomi was walking across their leather couch in the lobby. I kind of just wanted to take my bunch home so we wouldn't be in anyone's way.

I think a date day would be awesome there, however. They have lots of lounge chairs, with a row of them shaded from the sun, they bring food right to your chair, they offer massages, and they have a sauna that I want to try when we don't have kids in tow.

xoxo,
Tanya