lava hot springs

August 1-3 (no pictures because I didn't take any, my bad)

We joined my family (ALL of my family) for a camping trip at Lava Hot Springs from August 1-3.  It was like a little family reunion that was a ton of fun!  There was Grandma & Grandpa Allen, Uncle Justin & cousin Morgan, and Uncle Clint & Aunt Hilary.  And of course the 5 of us.  We camped in our "palace" tent, Clint & Hilary also slept in a tent, and Grandma & Grandpa had their trailer there.  And boy were we super glad we had a trailer...

Monday night everyone arrived around dinner time.  After a late dinner we started cleaning up.  When we were about done cleaning it started sprinkling a bit so we hurried and put everything inside the trailer and closed the windows of the tents.  Then the wind started to pick up.  So we rushed to get things safe from being blown away while the men (Justin wasn't there that night) ran to the tents to get them staked down better.  That's when the down pour started.  To say it was storming is a understatement.  It was more like a hurricane.  The clouds burst open and started dumping rain everywhere.  The wind would blow from one direction, and then suddenly switch to another direction.  Dad, Grandpa, and Clint came back drenched by the time they made sure the tents were okay - and they were only out there about 10 minutes.  They seriously looked like they had jumped in a swimming pool completely clothed.  It was bad.  Thankfully we were able to stay inside the trailer and avoid the storm.  We just kept praying that our tents and what was inside would stay dry.  Thankfully the kids weren't too bothered by the storm either.  They stayed entertained with a movie while we waited for the storm to pass.  And it did.  The winds and rain lasted about 45 minutes.  Then it was gone.  We got the men into dry clothes and checked if there was any damage done to the tents.  Thankfully our tent survived and everything inside was dry - all except one little corned that got the very bottom of Dad's sleeping bag a tiny bit wet.  Clint & Hilary's tent wasn't so lucky.  The water gathered and piled on top of their tarp that was sitting under their tent.  So a ton of water soaked up through the bottom of their tent getting everything wet.  They were able to clean it up though and were still able to sleep there.  Because of this crazy storm, we didn't get to bed until about 11pm.  That's pretty late for the kids.

Tuesday morning the kids were awake by 7am and anxious to go swimming.  The plans for the day were to spend all day at the pool.  Unfortunately the pools don't open until 11am, so we had to find things to keep them entertained until then.  We had breakfast, played at the KOA playground where we were staying, and watched the trains.  Then it was time for swimming! 

CJ's favorite part was "going on the red water slide".  It took quite a bit of convincing to get him to try it though.  We had already spent most of the day there before he tried it out.  He really enjoyed it though and went on it 4 times.  CJ also really liked wearing his life jacket and "swimming" out to the 4-feet part of the pool where he couldn't touch.  He LOVED being able to go where he wanted and being able to float and swim.

CD's favorite part was "playing in the water".  At first she was excited to go swimming.  But when we got to the pool she changed her mind.  It took awhile before we could even get her to put her feet in the water.  Then we slowly had to encourage her to go down into the water step by step.  We kept a life jacket on her most of the day.  While she was wearing the life jacket, she wouldn't go any lower than the 2nd step.  She seemed extremely nervous about the water as long as that life jacket was on.  So I took it off her and we tried again to get her in the water.  Without the life jacket we got her to go down to the 4th step all by herself - making the water a little above her waist.  Then she slowly started walking out into the pool and got as deep as her chest.  I then took her out into the 4-feet part by holding her the whole time.  She LOVED it!  She didn't quite understand the danger of the water though, so I held on tight to her the whole time.  I don't think she liked the floating sensation with the life jacket on. But once we took it off, she had a blast!

LM absolutely loved the water too!  She LOVES splashing in the water and got herself soaking wet!  It was a very long day for her, but anytime she was in the water she was happy.  We tried putting her in a floating tube, but she didn't care for it since she couldn't reach the water.  Seriously, as long as she could splash, she was happy.

After our long day of swimming (and a pizza dinner) we went to the hot pools to relax.  LM had to stay in her carseat by the side of the pool so she could sleep.  I didn't know what CJ and CD would think of the "hot" water, but we gave it a shot.  CJ slowly got in and really enjoyed it.  CD would only put her feet in and loved splashing  Grandma.  Grandma was a good sport about the whole thing too.  Dad LOVED the hot pools and spent most of his time away from us in the hottest of the pools.  It was great for his foot.  I tried it, but it was way too hot for me.  It was a good way to end our long day.

Wednesday was the end of our trip.  We had to be out of our camping site by 11am, so we spent the morning cleaning up and packing up.  Then we decided to walk the streets of Lava and do some shopping and sightseeing before leaving.  We also stopped for lunch and ice cream.  After seeing the town - which didn't take too long - we headed on our way home.

Overall we had an awesome time in Lava Hot Springs with my family.  We are hoping to make it an annual tradition.  ;0)