Dan and I had not been to Boise since we dropped of our dog Mae at Amy and Brandon's house 9 years ago. We got Mae on a whim while living in Richmond, VA, and then almost immediately found out we were pregnant with our first baby! Most of you know that I have really awful pregnancies, so being unable to take care of the dog, the baby and keep afloat while finishing school we let the Newton family adopt her. This trip brought Carson and Mae together! They had a lot of fun playing together.
Fast forward 9 years and now Dan's parents and his sister Kristina live there too! We definitely had to pay them all a visit since they're relatively close to us, and definitely close to Rexburg and Yellowstone.
Amy and Brandon and their family were actually out of town while we were there so we stayed at their house. Anytime we got together for meals everyone came over and hung out with us! Sweet!
Our first full day in Boise we hung out and planned a 'tubing down the river' trip.
Little did I know that I was in for quite the adventure. We blew up a bunch of inner tubes and set down a little creek/river right there in Kuna. The water level was starting to get a little lower as the summer was winding up, so whenever we went over some 'rapids' we were hitting the rocks. I had Alex in my lap and I guess with my lack of hip strength and a 70lb kid on top of me, I wasn't always able to clear us of the rocks. I started to hear some hissing and realized our tube was losing air, and quite quickly. There were some more significant rapids approaching so I tried to get to the side of the creek. Alex couldn't stay standing and the empty raft we were tethered to was trying to escape too. Before I knew it we were being pulled down the creek with no raft. Alex ended up on top of me, and the empty tube on top of him. He was pushing me under water and I was trying to keep him out of it. It was just like one of those scenes from a movie where the camera goes under water for a few seconds and then comes back up for a breath and then goes right back under. Alex was starting to panic, which definitely got my heart going. My mind went 100 places. I remember thinking, yes this is really happening. I remember thinking about all the freak water accidents that have been on the news. I remember thinking what our White Water Rafting guide told us- lay back and let the river take you, don't fight it. I remember thinking that since we were at the back of the group that no one knew what was going on. So I told Alex to lay back and just hang on. There were some parts of the creek that were so calm and mild that we had to use our hands to keep us going, so I knew that eventually we'd get to a spot where I could get control. The water wasn't very deep, which was good and bad. I was being drug along the rocks like crazy. I started screaming so that our group knew we needed help. They were able to pull over to the side and help me and Alex. I was pretty shook up and beat up. Alex was scared but it didn't take long for him to forget the whole ordeal. For me, I'd never experienced anything quite that scary, so I still think about it at times. Now that my body has healed (my knees still hurt from the bruises I had on them...) my nerves have too. I'm so glad that this didn't turn into one of those freak accidents and that all I had was bruises and cuts and nothing more permanent.
Sunday we went to church and had lots of family over for dinner. We even enjoyed the late summer evenings playing cornhole in the backyard!
Monday we went to the Boise Zoo! It's just so much fun getting cousins together.
The zoo had a really nice butterfly area. Small, but lots and lots of butterflies. They pretty much had no choice but to land on you to keep from getting stepped on!
Funny goats!
Tuesday we went and saw the Minions movie and then headed to the water park. Colorado Springs really needs a water park....
Wednesday we packed up and headed down to Utah in preparation for the Crismon family reunion. Crismon is Dan's mother's family. So it was Dee and her sisters and their offspring. We got together at Jolley's Ranch Campground in Springville, Utah. It was really a lot of eating, hanging out and catching up with long lost cousins and family members. Dan and I were both pretty burnt out at this point and neglected to take any pictures. Here's a few that others posted online!
These people are all related to Dan, and now I know them just a little bit better.
Saturday morning we packed up and headed back to Colorado Springs. We left at 11am and got home about 8:30pm. Ahhh.... it felt SO SO good to be back in our house, back in our beds and out of that car! Lol
What a busy crazy two week road trip we had! I've got one more summer adventure to post for you and then it's back to school and on to my new job! The boys start school tomorrow and I start working full time on Thursday. It's definitely a new chapter for all of us, but I can't wait to get it started!
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