Lava Hot Springs

another fun family adventure!

We planned a long weekend with my parents and siblings and as the date drew closer, it magically shrank.  Unfortunately one sibling's family was no longer able to come and to adjust to pretty much everyone else's work schedules, we had to shorten the trip a bit.  The trip was a blast and there was definitely not enough time to do all we had planned but we tried to squeeze in as much fun as we could anyway.

We arrived at the KOA Friday early evening (much later than scheduled but that happens with a demanding job and three crazy children).  My brother (the infamous Uncle Booga) and his family was already there waiting for us.  We got set up as the kids ran around like crazy, thrilled to see their cousins.  I love seeing their cousins too because they're sweet and wonderful and old/responsible enough to keep an eye on my kids at the park, leaving me free to cook or take care of the baby, who was uncharacteristically fussy.  Daddy is our resident grill master so me and my sister in law did the prep and then put him to work grilling our feast.  We stuffed ourselves and were joined shortly by my parents.  We couldn't have a campfire but we managed to roast s'mores over our Weber grill (best camping/picnicking grill EVER, definitely a worthwhile investment).  We used pink marshmallows (what else when I take my three girly girls shopping with me?) and turned them into some pretty fantastic strawberry s'mores. 

Once it was dark enough, the kids got to go on a flashlight candy hunt, sponsored by the KOA camp.  We met at the park, both of our little girls sporting daddy's headlamps and then followed one of the camp directors on a short walk, looking for candy.  I found this to be a little disappointing because there was very few pieces (just being dropped by the director as we walked).  Turn out, that was the decoy and another camp director had been busily spreading candy all over the park while we were gone.  The youngest kids got a headstart and were in a closer area so Butterfly was free to roam, dashing around excitedly.  Our overly tired Ladybug broke down crying during our walk so Daddy carried her back to camp to get ready for bed.  But Butterfly made up for it, collecting a good amount of candy and was eager to share with cousins that didn't find as much.  At the end, she dashed over to me and said, "oh thank you mommy! thank you for my candy!" and I told her that I didn't do it, the candy was from the camp director.  So she dashed over to him, threw her arms around his legs and thanking him.  He raised up her hand declaring her the special winner and explaining that because she was the first person to say thank you, she would receive a free snow cone the next day!  She was ecstatic!  She didn't really understand that she was being rewarded for good manners, she still thinks she won the candy hunt (which is fine with me, I want her to use good manners because she's a gracious person, not to get a reward.) 

Eventually we got everyone in pajamas, including a very fussy Lovely and settled into our beds for a movie and a cuddle. (yes, we have a tv in our camp trailer and used it to wind down our girls at night.  It's definitely cheating but it works for us.)  Lovely had a horribly rough night, sleeping very little and being fussy and agitated through most of the night.  I knew she was teething since she had been cranky for a few days, was drooling and had red, swollen gums.  But by then, she was even refusing to eat solid foods or take a bottle and that night, her fever skyrocketed.  We kept it at bay with tylonel and since we gave up on sleep long before anyone else was awake (except Grammy--she must have known a grandbaby needed her), we went into town to buy oragel, which also made a huge difference.

Once everyone had roused, I made honey wheat pancakes, smothered with nutella, strawberries and whip cream (my favorite breakfast) and we wrangled everyone into swim suits.  Grammy surprised all the kids with a gift she had made for them.  She made beautiful backpacks that cleverly unfolded into a beach towel, each done with different colors and patterns to suit their personalities.  They were adorable and my girls loved them!  Butterfly immediately put hers on and refused to take it off, even when the kids discovered that each backpack also had a bubble toy in it!  The kids played happily with their bubbles for awhile until we convinced them it was time to go swimming.  Lava is famous for it's natural hot springs but we decided the springs were too hot for our young children and opted for the pool complex instead.  (We had also looked into going tubing down the river but while the float looks fun and easy, with just enough rapids to keep you bouncing, the rough lava rocks on the bottom of the river would turn a simple fall into a painful experience.  So we will save that for when our kids are a bit older.) 

The pool complex was terrific.  We staked out a large spot on the grass (Butterfly immediately unfolded her towel, spread it out and plopped down to sunbathe) and set up a tent canopy.  I was glad I had insisted my girls wear arm floaties when they eagerly splashed into the deep end.  (my fearless Ladybug managed to sneak away, without her arm floaties and jump into the deep end, not once but twice!)  We played and swam, trying out the kiddie slides, climbing on and off the giant floating turtles in the pool and eventually braving the spiraling waterslides.  Ladybug was half an inch too short for the water slide but Butterfly loved it.  (and of course, both of them were too short for the monster slides--another task to save for when they are older.)  We stopped for a picnic lunch and soon dove back into the water.  It began to sprinkle so we moved into the indoor pool which boasts a rock climbing wall.  The girls weren't able to do that either since it requires the climber to drop into the water and swim back around without arm floaties but Daddy and our nieces conquered the wall and had a great time.  My girls were happy and content to splash and play in the shallow end of the pool.  Lovely spent most of the day sleeping in her stroller or being cuddled.  She wasn't as fussy but still was discontent and solemn.  I took her into the water for awhile and she seemed to like it until she got splashed.

Once we had our fill of swimming (and it was threatening to rain), we packed up and went back to our camp to celebrate my niece's birthday and for another delectable feast. (food always tastes extra good when you're camping).  For dessert, we made campfire cones.  They were incredible!  We filled waffle cones with mini marshmallows, chocolate chips and diced bananas, wrapped them in tin foil and roasted them in the grill.  It was like a s'more but even better without the heaviness of the graham cracker.  I declined adding peanut butter but next time will try adding diced strawberries and maybe even caramel.  We had a family craft planned (making reverse tye dye t-shirts for an upcoming family reunion) but simply ran out of time.  Instead the remainder of the evening was spent playing in the park and my little family went for a walk to get snow cones.

Lovely slept much better that night, her first tooth having finally broken through.  She's almost ten months old, much older than her sisters were when they cut their first teeth.  I've suspected she was teething before, several times in fact, but its been a "two steps forward, one step back" process as they seemed to almost appear and then recede several times before she finally cut through this weekend.  The first of her bottom two teeth are through and the second appears to be very close, visible but still hiding just under the surface.

The next morning was a blur of breakfast and packing.  We loaded up quickly and began our long drive again, trying to make it home before church.  We were optimistic, thinking that since we have one o'clock church, we could make it.  But in the end, we only attended the last meeting where I taught Relief Society for the first time (went wonderfully, I really enjoyed teaching and was pleased with how it went).

p.s.  A day later, Lovely is feeling much better. She's still not quite as happy and sweet as she usually is and I took her into the clinic just to be on the safe side.  No sign of an infection or virus, especially now that her fever has disappeared but still concerned about her lack of appetite.  Hopefully we can just chalk it all up to teething and she will be her preciously perfect, angelic and sweet self again soon.