We have been to our cabin lots of times this year. It is nice to have somewhere to go since everything else is such down with the pandemic. But we've gone so often all the trips blur together and I can't keep them straight.
We have gone up there a few times to do some work. Isaac has mostly finished painting the whole cabin. My dad is making good progress with the wood trim as well. We have been caulking around windows and beams to try and keep the heat in and bugs out. We finally got new carpet (hooray!) to replace the wet dog stinky carpet. And we replaced all the ugly gold light fixtures. And the big projects of the main floor bathroom remodel and addition of my parent's bathroom are finally done. I think they turned out really nice.
We also went up to the cabin with our neighbor's, the Pearson's. We were heading up a day before our friends, so their daughter, Arie, asked if she could come up early with us. She helped our kids enjoy the drive a little more.
The first day we were there, we decided to float the Salt River. We had my dad's 2 inflatable kayak and 4 tubes. So Erik and April were in one IK with Jett, I was in the other with Luke and Arie, Devri, Haven, Sophie, and Aspen were in tubes. Aspen was tied to my IK the whole time. And Isaac stayed off with Hazel and to drive shuttle.
Five minutes into the float, Devri and Haven were done. The water was cold and it was really hard for them to paddle and steer. Sophie was lying on her belly and having much more success paddling. So Devri and Haven strapped to Erik's IK. But the river isn't very big and he kept dragging them through all the trees and bushes that overhang the banks. They were not happy.
So after I while I switched them and April and Devri took my IK and I had Luke on my lap in a tube. But Devri and April could not paddle the IK at all. I haven't been rafting with people with no experience for so long it was really weird to see them not know how to paddle. I was trying to coach them from the tube, but eventually they pulled over for me to switch. So April and I were then towing Devri and Haven. And the rest were with Erik, including Luke in a tube. But a few minutes later Erik dragged Luke through a tree and he got sliced behind the ear, so he was screaming and needed to come back with me. Devri and Haven were complete dead-weight as we dragged them, and they were very heavy and long. I tried to teach them to steer themselves a little because I couldn't always control the way they would swing behind me. And I made it the rest of the way down the river without dragging them through a single tree. They kept telling me I was so much better than Erik. Haha. But it was kind of a disaster.
We also hiked to Periodic Springs. It is a really nice, easy, short hike. It was the first time we've made it to the falls without stopping, and it seemed to go by so quickly. The spring was running the whole time and wasn't periodic, but it was pretty.
Then we mostly just hung out and played games. It was a lot of fun to have friends up at the cabin.
And in August we went up to the cabin/farm for "Raspberry Days" with Isaac's family. As usual with Isaac's family there was quite a bit of drama involved. We were planning to run the Snake River, but on the way Barry's white-trash junky trailer started breaking. So Barry and Karla had to turn around and take the equipment back home. Also there were some discussions about where things would be happening. Barry, Karla, Hannah, and Gabe were going to stay at the farm while Lacey's family was going to stay at the cabin with us. Karla wanted to have all the meals and activities at the farm. But Lacey and I wanted to do more at the cabin for the convenience of taking care of the babies and not needing to move stuff in and out all the time. But anyway...
The first day we decided to float the Snake. We were going to start with the upper section of flat water for the little kids. We got to the put in and started blowing up the raft and IK's. Hannah and Gabe showed up fashionably late after most of the work was complete. But they brought their new puppy, TJ, and said, "we just figured that whoever is staying off with babies can watch our dog too". That in and of itself isn't a big deal, but the assumption that someone else will just deal with their crap without them asking is really annoying. So that caused a bit of drama. Isaac was going to stay off with Hazel and ended up needing to watch TJ as well. I was worried that TJ would jump on Hazel in the car while Isaac was driving down the canyon, so Isaac tied him in the back so he couldn't get to her. (But through the whole trip Hannah and Gabe were driving everyone nuts because they never help with anything. They sit around and expect people to wait on them, cook, and clean everything up. But their lives are so hard and they deserve a break. Bah. It is actually super fascinating to watch. They are so stereotypical "Millennial" that it is quite humorous when you don't have to deal with taking care of them.)
Anyway, Lacey and I got 8 kids ready for the river and were down waiting in the boat way before Hannah could take care of her dog baby. So after forever waiting we finally launched. The kids had fun taking turns in the IK's and paddling. Baby Charlie on the other hand didn't like being in the raft very much. She just turned 2 and basically whined and cried the whole time. But we were able to see a bald eagle really close as it flew past us.
We pulled off at the put-in for the bigger section and had lunch. Then Isaac, Sophie, and Aspen floated the main Snake run while I took Hazel and Luke back to the cabin for a nap. They both fell asleep in the car and took a good 2 hour nap when I carried them into the cabin. That was sooooo needed because Lacey's kids kept them up really late at night. James and Avery kept talking and talking. Once night Sophie came out crying because Avery wouldn't let them sleep, so she went and slept in a different room. And every morning at 6am, James would wake up like a rooster. I forbade him from leaving his room before 7am, but that didn't stop him from waking up Luke and making so much noise that he woke everyone else up anyway.
But Sophie and Aspen had fun running the Snake. Isaac said that Aspen seemed a little scared, cold, and tired. But Sophie really enjoyed it.
After the naps we went back to the farm for dinner. The following day was Sunday so we went back to the farm for family church. Grandma Karla had the kids go around looking for "antiques" (otherwise known as old junk) and take their pictures with it. And the kids had plenty of time to swing.
There was a little drama on this trip about where were were going to do what. Karla was hoping that we would spend all our time at the farm and just use the cabin as a place to sleep. But that was unrealistic because all the baby's stuff was at the cabin, and 12 people were at the cabin and only 4 at the farm, and the littles needed to nap. Plus the cabin has better accommodations for bathrooms, dining areas, etc. But once we were up there, we spent a lot of time at the cabin mostly because the water at the farm wasn't working well and there was hardly any water pressure at all. So after church, we went back to the cabin for baby naps. Isaac and I made a super yummy Dutch oven dinner.
On Monday we went for a hike at Cottonwood Lake and had a picnic on the beach. The water was super cold. Most of the kids didn't want to get in it much because it was too cold. And beaches are not great places for babies. Hazel was such a handful. She kept trying to go in the water or eat sand. She was also crazy tired, but wouldn't nap. So after a very exhausting few hours we finally left.
Then on Tuesday we went back to the farm for a bike ride. After the usual delay trying to find working bikes we finally set off to the swings. We didn't have enough bikes for everyone, so some of us were walking. I had Hazel in the baby backpack and was walking with Lacey, Justin, and Karla. A few minutes in, Lacey got ticked at Justin and took off. So then I ended up getting left in the dust and walked by myself. It wasn't a great end to a trip.
After Isaac's family left, we stayed at the cabin another day and went swimming at the Star Valley pool. The kids love swimming.
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