The weekend of September 24th was the BEST weekend our family has ever spent together. Undisputedly, the mostiddleyOSTest awesomESTer vacation we have ever taken! Did we go to Paris? Race up the steps of the Eiffel Tower? Take a Caribbean Cruise? Spend three days at Disney Land, Lego Land, or Sea World in absolutely ideal weather? Repel down the Grand Canyon? Nope! We drove a mere 98 miles…to Bear Lake, Utah.
That was the longest amount of time we have ever spent in the truck with all eight of us at once…and that was a lot of fun all in itself. Some of the kids completed a whole weeks worth of reading, and others just enjoyed sitting back and doing nothing but listen to music and daydreaming out the window…as did I. We don’t have a lot of sit-and-do-nothing-at-all time at our house, so it was quite relaxing…especially since Paytie slept most of the way, during which time we got to make a very-unusual music change from her ever-loved c.d. “Kids Sing” (A.K.A. Cedermont Kid’s Bible Songs…which we all now know inside & out, frontward AND backward!)
That is, until, we entered the canyon after Logan…when we all became engrossed in the scenery. We’ve always enjoyed passing rocky cliffs, and trying to spot rock-climbers. A sport I would enjoy myself, and that I can still enjoy watching, until they turn eighteen and possibly decide to try it themselves. I’m quite certain that if that ever happens, it will suddenly become my most hated sport!
The lake and sky were both SO blue, that they would not have been distinguishable if not for the small strip of mountains that separated them in the distant horizon! The kids were astounded at the lake’s crisp, clear blue water. It must be the prettiest water I’ve ever seen…I sure don’t remember seeing any that blue as we travelled through Europe when I was a teenager.
We stayed in a small cabin at the K.O.A. campground in Garden City. The center room had a futon couch, a small wooden bench, and a table with three chairs…which we had to move any time we needed to squeeze past the small counter sink, microwave & under counter fridge to get to the restroom. Quite cozy! It had a room in which the double bed barely fit, and a small cove on the other end containing one small bunk-bed set. Eight people in a cabin made for four little people…and it was absolute heaven.
They had a small grocery/necessity store on site, that shocked me with reasonable/non-tourist-inflated prices…a little recreation room with all sorts of fun tables and games, a playground, a big jumping pillow, and bike rentals. The log cabins had front porch swings, and were absolutely adorable! They also have a pool and a lot of children’s activities (coloring your own Bear Lake T-shirt, outdoor breakfast, and a swimming pool) which had ended the previous weekend as “off season” was entered.
The kids enjoyed running around camp, with free-at-last legs, while I unpacked and organized the seemingly large amount of stuff we had unloaded into that tiny place. I have this incessant desire when staying away from home, of settling in completely, putting everything away into drawers, and getting all luggage completely out of sight. I made the beds, packed away the groceries, and actually managed to make our temporary home look just like it had when we first opened the door.
Then, I was ready to play…and I couldn’t wait to get out and explore with the children. As soon as I located my three pillows for our bed, I would be OFF! Not finding them, I was suddenly a little worried. (As is quite unusual, I had allowed J.J. to pack them, very last, in the truck…with very specific instructions to ensure they did NOT touch the ground, or ANYTHING gross.) I checked the truck. They were nowhere to be found. I found J.J. to inquire about them, and he assured me he had placed them on the very back seats. I went to the truck once more…and found them now neatly lining the FLOOR BOARD, under which six of my sweet children’s disgusting SHOES had rested, kicked, and rubbed…for almost two full hours. Can you imagine me, Ryanne Whicker Hall, putting my face on those pillow cases after that? Can you imagine me letting them touch any part of my body? Uh, no. And never in a trillion years would I sleep on them without cases! John suggested putting his clean-t-shirts over them…but, incase you didn’t know it, T-shirts have holes in them!
So…off I went…to explore the Laundromat. I wasn’t too happy about this for the moment. Regardless, I couldn’t resist smiling at the lifetime memory it was creating.
After two trips across the campground, finally carrying a palm-full of dish soap for use as detergent, the dad’bern pillowcases began washing. Sam had been quite amused when he met me half-way, laughing at the fact that I was carefully attempting to keep the handful of liquid in my hand…twisting and turning them to employ the force of gravity to keep drops on me as they would try to escape & roll down to slip to the ground. “Mom, why didn’t you just carry the whole bottle over, and then take it back?” Gee…it’s embarrassing when a 9 year old points out your stupidity! I smiled and stuttered, “Uh…...well, because, um..." I paused trying to come up with an excuse for my stupidity, wishing to save face. "Uh...because it isn’t technically ours, and I didn’t want to steal it???” I asked as a question, which made us both burst into giggles! He loves his crazy Mama…
I hurried back to use the small countertop two-burner range to heat up water, ramen noodles and canned soup, etc…as we were shocked to discover there wasn’t a dollar menu in town, and most of the town shut down and went to sleep at SEVEN p.m.! Oh, wait…there was a pizza joint open, who charges $47 for a large pizza! No, that is not a typo. So, we were thankful for few, but seemingly unnecessary varied cans of edible substances I had packed. I was feeling so smart and prepared…until I discovered that the cupboard of dishes, utensils and pans did not contain a can-opener, as promised.
It was quite an adventure, though, and took me over 15 minutes to open each can…without a can opener! That was not fun. Ever tried it? Every second of the time, I was picturing myself suddenly spurting with blood, and having the whole world asleep and closed without so much as a band-aid to be found. But, I prayed, punctured, prayed, pried…and prayed my way through it…and I came through unscathed. My prayers then turned to hoping the kids were not consuming small shards of metal in their food.
Before the kiddos went to bed, we popped popcorn, and watched part of a DVD on a 10” screen hanging up high on the far wall. Well, they watched. I listened, and gazed in that direction.
Then I hurried over to put the pillowcases into a .25 cent dryer. The door? Was locked!!! I panicked, as you can imagine. I knew I wouldn’t get to lay my head down ALL night…and the entire vacation would find me ornery and miserable! John took me back to attempt the lock with every key we had…and, as a last desperate attempt, I actually removed the screen and tried to open the window. Mind you, I am completely against illegal activity. But that night, I found that my germ-obsession over-ruled my integrity…and suddenly realized that I totally deserved the lesson that God was going to teach me, with or without my permission.
Ultimately, I wound up using John’s T-shirts, showering first thing in the morning, and then, by sheer determination, refusing to allow myself to wash all my bedding which the t-shirt-covered pillows had touched. But…I DID it!!! Though, knowing what could already be ON the bedding, made it almost seem silly to wear socks any time I walked on the foreign floor, and then carefully remove them at the bottom of the bed before getting on it…so as to not allow the floor-trodding-socks to come in contact with the bed, but placing them within reach in order to slip them back on before my feet could touch the floor once again. (I said “almost”)
The next morning, I found that most of the pans provided had rust in the bottom. Being “off-season”, the office didn’t open until noon…so I postponed cooking the big breakfast and fed everyone cereal and microwave oatmeal for breakfast. Then we readied ourselves for a day near the water!
Unexpectedly, we were given the opportunity to use two wave-runners for 2 hours that day! Wow…that was SO MUCH FUN. My two favorite things…nature, and speed. I was, well…totally STOKED! The kids loved it, and each spent at least 45 minutes out jumpin’ the waves & creating whirl-pools. It was soon determined that there were only a couple of the kids willing to go a second time with ME. Sterling, and Gabe. Taylor, Sam, and Paytie each asked for an early drop-off…wanting to go with Daddy. Johnnie...you know...the oldest, "bravest" one??? Sucessfully evaded me the entire two hours!
I know. Normally, it would be the other way around, with the Mom being the more cautious and comforting parent. But…give me speed, and I just can’t BEAR to go slow! I hit every boat-wave I could find…at top speed, as my hair flew behind me, parallel to the water! I wonder if the kids would have been embarrassed at my whoops, hollers and yahoo’s…if anyone else in the world could have heard them.
It was a rush. Undoubtedly the most exhilarating experience I have had in at least a decade! For the last 40 minutes, Sterling & I went at top speed all the way across the lake and back…a fine way to round out the 2 hours. We all agreed that was an incredibly fun time!
When our time was up, we pushed the machines toward the beach to park them 20 feet out, and wade to the rest of our little family. One of the kids had found a golf ball in the sand beneath the water, and a child-wide search ensued. Not just our children, but also the children of the family who was preparing to take over the wave-runners. It was fun to watch their excitement as each of them would pop up out of the knee-deep water, proudly holding up another golf-ball & yelling out the number of balls it represented before throwing it to the sibling-ball-retriever on the beach. The last number yelled for our family was “Fifty-TWO!”
The other family, with little cousins all under the age of eight, were on their number 12…so before we left, we enjoyed throwing about 20 balls back into the water, in various easy-to-find locations…for them to excitedly discover.
We had been determined to go to one of the white-sand beaches with water 2 feet deep stretching out forever to play IN the water…but after our unexpected ON-the-water experience, we were all exhausted, and voted to return to the cabin for lunch.
After eating and showering, I took the kids to the bike shop and borrowed a bicycle built for eight! It had a canopy cover, and 4 sets of pedals. While John stretched out on the futon and enjoyed a quiet nap, the rest of us spent an entire hour on and off of the towns paved bike trail, leaving it only to go down to see the evening scene of the lake. We rotated so that each of them had a turn at each set of pedals, and Gabe & Paytie sat in the two little buckled seats extended out over the front of the contraption.
Paytie enjoyed this so much, that she kept putting her hands up as if on a roller coaster, and hugging & kissing Gabie between chants of encouragement whenever we slowed…”Go Johnnie, Go Johnnie, Go Johnnie…” alternating names between each of us! It was adorable…and SHE didn’t seem to tire at all during that long ride!
The camp gave us new pans and a pancake turner, and we had a big breakfast…for dinner. Our favorite! When evening arrived, the kids & I turned chairs around to create somewhat of a circle between them & the futon in which to sit and play a new game. One person went out of the room, while the rest picked someone remaining to be “it.” Then the isolated person returned, and whoever was “it” then began a series of movements or antics, with everyone else quickly following suit. The object was to be sneaky enough to make it difficult for the isolated person to guess WHO was “it”. Which one in the circle was initiating the moves??? It was a hoot. Some of those crazy kidlets initiated repetitive facial contorts that would have HUMILIATED me if visible to any other soul on earth! Taylor….oh, Taylor! That girl can be weirder with those facial muscles than anyone I have ever seen! We laughed our heads off…while trying not to disturb the sleeping Paytie & resting Daddy on the other side of the thin wall…which made it all the MORE funny, of course!
I couldn’t sleep that night. Too much excitement, perhaps? Oh, well…there was a lot to think about and remember about the day, so I didn’t mind. Ultimately, I got up and shut myself in the tiny closet-of-a-bathroom with a clipboard, a paper and a pencil. We didn’t take any pictures with the wave-runners, but the kids descriptions had created an exaggerated picture in my mind…and since the only time I can draw anything discernable is when I am at my most mentally-incompetent, I decided to make use of my sleeplessness.
The next morning, I awoke to my husband’s laughter as he discovered this cartoon on the table:
The next morning, I was so relieved to know that the office was to be closed all day…because that fact might mean that John would not be anxiously pressuring me at 10:00 am, when check-out was not until Noon. I was right! He chilled out a bit, and persisted only enough to get us on our way by 11:30.
I attempted to direct him to the awesome beach I had seen the day before, but after two wrong turns, I was certain he was just going to head home. (He is an adorable, but not extremely patient man.) He does have area of weakness, however…which can be quite irritating at times. But today, I manipulatively used it against him. evil, I know! “Oh, Paytie has been looking forward to “wimming” all morning,” I said, sounding remorseful. He sighed with a knowing smile, and tried one more little road…which just so happened to lead right to that beautiful beach!
The water was so clear that it seemed as if we were looking straight down to the sand beneath it…which was rippled perfectly by the small waves it had experienced through the night. It was GORGEOUS! I think we even took a picture. The kids & I quickly rolled up our pant legs and waded out about a hundred feet…and I was as content as anyone could ever be…
You know me, I couldn’t keep from looking at, picking up, and pocketing rocks here and there. With me, it isn’t about the monetary value they might hold…but about their distinctness, their beauty, and the memory of from where they were collected. Of course, I also love to gather some for tumbling…as I can’t understand people who love tumbling rocks, but order their “rough” (unpolished rocks) in bags from various companies.
What fun is it if someone else found them? No fun at all, I think! Paytie loves joining me in this hobby, hands me every rock she sees, and anxiously takes my collection cup from me to rinse off each find, individually, in her tiny wading hands. I would worry, except that she is SO careful, and never drops even one!
My only worry in the entire world during those moments, was that John was going to yell, “Time to load up!” But when I waded back to where he was, he very sweetly said that since I was enjoying it so much, he didn’t see any reason why we couldn’t stay for a while. So, when he got tired of it, he went for a drive and left us all there.
Except for Sterling, who immediately wanders off in his own explorations all alone, the kids played and tumbled and rough-housed far off in the water for a while. When they returned, they steadily worked to bury each other in the 3’ wide wet-sand “island” that popped up ten feet from the beach. I left my rock-hunting to join them, and hunted the surrounding area looking for Sterl. A few minutes later, I saw his little body, tiny in the distance, running toward us. “Who wants to bet Sterling has found something really cool?”
I said, and pointed to him 200 yards away, sprinting towards us along the beach. The kids didn’t hesitate. Sterling always finds the good stuff! They quickly climbed out of their sandy graves, and ran to meet him, with Paytie trailing behind until Sam noticed, turned around and retraced his steps to swing her up into his arms to finish his little race.
Sterling’s excited hands proudly displayed something like clam shells, with a shiny pearlized layer coating the underside…and the unified hunt was ON! They found many, but reveled over the few whole halves that were unbroken. In their hunt, they came across an entire ridge of natural clay under the shallow water, about 15 feet from shore… and John & Taylor, with occasional help from Sam & Gabe, began carving chunks away to carry them to their ever-growing clay collection on the beach. Sam helped me find various colors & designs of little (likely-snail?) shells, and Gabe spent some time digging in the shallow water sand with a little play shovel that someone had discarded or left during the summer.
Even Mommy had some fun in it, once it was abandoned, of course.
John had taken some pictures with his phone, but I decided it was time for me to go to the truck for the camera. Paytie & Taylor followed me ½ way, until we reached an area of perfectly dry, warm sand where they plopped down and began burying their slightly chilly bodies.
I retrieved my phone/camera, took a picture of the sandy sisters, and then headed back to the now deserted clay/shell area to take some shots of Gabe & his Daddy out in the water, skipping rocks. That was when he said the dreaded words. “It’s about time to load up, don’t you think?”
His wording was crazy…of course he knew I wouldn’t “think so”…but we had been there for several hours by then, and he had been very patient, so I didn’t state the obvious.
I hurried down the beach to get a few pictures of a small Sterling, WAY out in the water (yet still not up to his waist!), on a scavenger hunt for another yet-unfound discovery. Then to capture John & Sam, who had almost-successfully built a tunnel under the wet sand to reach each other, 7 feet apart…over where my rock collection sat soaking in the shallow water.
I weeded through them, reluctantly discarding one here & there, before gathering odds & ends left behind by happy, care-free children before heading to the truck. We drove home, happy & content, each agreeing we had had the very best weekend of our lives.
