Idaho Visit Part 3

We set up a slip and slide in the backyard of Grandma and Grandpa's house and the kids had lots of fun sliding down the soaped-up tarp with their cousins.

Derek invented "snakey style" to go down the slide.

It seemed Lydia and Derek were the most excited for the slip and slide based on the number of times they went down, but Karina took a break from spraying the tarp with the hose to take a turn going down too.

Lillian was content to sit on the sidelines with whatever lucky cousins got to hold her like Courtney...

...and Karina.

We then set up an obstacle course for the cousins to work through that involved going over and under pool noodle tunnels.  Russ had some trouble getting the "under" portion down.

Brenna had to jump high to get the "over" portion.

Derek did well with both.

We went to a free concert along the river and the performer that night was pretty good.  Lydia, Derek, and Max had fun collecting pinecones, sticks, and flowers to make a small fort where we were sitting.

I like this picture of Lydia.

One of the things I had wanted to do last year was go swimming at Heise, a nearby hot springs pool.  The weather didn't work out and there were too many other things to do, but this year we made it happen and the kids had a lot of fun playing and swimming together with their cousins.  We played a game of pool volleyball with a big beach ball globe.

Here are Derek and Max wearing life vests so they could float around the huge crowded pool easily.

Heise has a single waterslide that costs extra.  I told the kids I would pay for a pass for each of them but they had to use it enough times that they got their money's worth.  Lydia was the first one to accept the deal and after a little bit of nerves, she thought it was great and definitely got her money's worth.

Lydia reported back that it was fun and then Karina joined in with some of the older cousins.

The kids also jumped off the diving board and were doing various tricks with their cousins.  I think that might have been the first time our kids have jumped off a diving board.  I even got into the act when they started to have biggest splash contests - I think I probably won with my cannonballs!

The morning of July 4, we went to watch the parade and the cousins all collected candy and other items tossed from the floats.  Lydia was very patriotic with red, white, and blue fingernails.

We went to Kellie and Spencer's house for a delicious dinner and the cousins played there.

The hammock turned into a fun play toy/exercise equipment and the cousins took turns in it.  Russ impressed us with his core strength as he suspended himself inches above the ground.

Miles and Russ tried to test the weight limit with both of them on the hammock.

Brenna and Max turned it into a cocoon and wrapped themselves up.

Spencer always puts on quite the neighborhood fireworks show and did not disappoint this year.  My pictures don't do his work justice (and we also had a mishap where one of the fireworks tipped over and started shooting sideways toward the house...yikes).

The younger kids like Brenna and Ethan had lots of fun dancing around with sparklers.

The older kids like Lydia enjoyed the sparklers too,

Eventually it was time to go to our spot we had staked out and reserved early that morning to watch the big fireworks display.  This show is huge, especially considering how small the town is.  It bills itself as the largest Independence Day fireworks display west of the Mississippi River and people come from miles around every year to enjoy it.  Our spot was carefully chosen to provide quality viewing (at a bit of a distance) while also prioritizing ease of exit when the show was over (otherwise, it could take over an hour to leave).  The cousins set up camp in the back of trucks.

 We also set up camp chairs and explored the desert while waiting for it to get dark.

We had fun with patriotic glow stick wands that quickly turned into lightsabers.

 

 

Lydia and Derek had a lightsaber battle when it got dark.

One of the pictures I took of the show.

Here's a promotional highlight of the show - they sync the fireworks to music that is played over a sponsoring radio station.

It was another successful trip to visit and play with cousins and I am glad the kids got that chance.  We tried to get another year of the cousin portrait with them all lined up in age order along with the Lillian who joined in her first cousin portrait from the Bumbo seat.

l-r (oldest to youngest): Grant, Russell, Karina, Miles, Courtney, Lydia, Logan, Dallin, Tessa, Maxwell, Derek, Brenna, Ethan, Lillian.