The past couple of weeks have been hanging out with our besties, the LeFevres! Last week we went to Rigby lake. We rented a canoe from the college and took some sandwiches and snacks and went to the lake to just lounge about for the day. Of course, I always forget to take pictures... Landon and Justin took the kids out on the lake with the canoe several times and Erin and I even made our way on our own. We figured out that neither one of us is very good at navigating a canoe. But it was really fun! We spent most of the time just sitting under the umbrella chatting, but when we got really hot, we went in the water to cool off. Boy, did it cool us off! That water was cold! But we got used to it after a while. The kids spent most of the time in the water or in the canoe. Except for Lorelai who preferred playing in the sand... Later, after everyone had showered, eaten a quick dinner, and got settled, we all met up again at G's Dairy for some ice creams and they came to our house to play a mean game of Dominos, which the women, I am happy to say, dominated!
Yesterday was our next adventure. We went up to Mack's Inn resort up past Island Park to go tubing. We had this very idealized picture in our minds of what tubing would be... a lazy day spent lying in the tubes going down the river without a care in the world, maybe getting into a splash fight along the way... This is not what tubing is in Idaho! First, when we got there at about 11:00 am, it was only 60 degrees and looked rather over cast. There was a chance of showers, which made us nervous, but we decided we had driven all the way up there, so we will just do it! We were all in our swimsuits and a little chilly- but we figured it would warm up. We took the shuttle up to the top of the river and were given the tubes and off we go, right? Wrong!!! The kids did pretty well, getting into the tubes, no real drama. But right off the bat, Justin was trying to get into his tube and he fell in the water, all the way! Now, the water was not very deep, maybe 2 feet at the most, but it was ice cold. No... colder than you think. I am talking hypothermia cold. So cold that he was gasping for breath. I thought he was literally going to have a heart attack, right there at the boat dock. But he finally caught his breath, got in his tube, got Lorelai's tube tied to his tube and off he went. Now it was my turn. I got in with no real problems except that I could not believe I was doing this because that water was so freakin' cold! I got maybe 100 yards down the river when I got totally land locked. The water was too shallow, and I did not steer well enough to stay out of the really shallow part, so I got out of the tube and walked. I was wearing my crocs in the water, which I thought was the perfect shoe for this occasion, but I had so many rocks in my shoes, I could hardly walk! I finally got to a point where I thought I could easily get in my tube. I tried to sit and BAM!!! I went over! Completely under water, I was all alone, everyone was way ahead of me, and I truly thought that I might die. I thought for sure I was going to drown in 2 feet of water in the Snake River. The water was so cold, it took my breath away. I was gasping for breath. Now I knew how Justin had felt just minutes earlier! There is no way to control the gasping. It is a natural instinct. Nothing can stop it. I was so confused that I was floundering around in the water, trying to stand up, but my legs were numb and I thought that everyone was so far ahead of me, I would never catch up... or my dead body would float by them as they were tubing down the river and they would just have to wait until they got to the bottom of the river to do anything about it... by then, my kids would be a mess! But, I finally got up and decided to walk a little further. Justin had seen me fall and stopped his tube and waited for me to get to him. At that point, we tied our tubes together. The kids had all tied their tubes to Erin's tube and Landon was going it alone. I felt much better being tied to Justin and Lorelai. Soon the river got a little deeper, and we no longer had to keep getting out to get off of the sandbars... the sun was shining, and it became a nice trip! We got used to the cold water and all sang and told jokes and watched some funny old ladies who were kayaking and drinking beer. We looked for beaver dams and searched for moose, (never saw one) and generally had a really enjoyable time! Lorelai did great until about the last half hour. By then, she was done. She was hungry and had to go potty... (She would not go in the tube, no matter how many times we tried to convince her.) We were on the river from about 11:30 to almost 3. It was a long trip, but pretty great! We will definitely go again next year, but Justin and I will do a canoe, next time. Afterward, we all changed and made our way down to Big Jud's in Ashton where we ate 1 lb burgers, yummy fries and o-rings and the kids got ice cream. By the time we got home, we were all exhausted. We all took showers and put on our jammies. I think I was asleep by 10! That is some kind of record for me.
And now, we gotta think of what to do next week! Our last week of summer! ;)
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2 comments:
First of all, I am intrigued by the LeFevres. My MIL is a Lefevre. Perhaps they are related somewhere down the line.
Secondly, I have tubed that same river! All my growing up year, my grandparents lived in Ashton, so we played a lot in the Snake River. It's a fun one to tube. I can't attest to the temperature since I can't remember back that far. :) So fun to have those memories brought back. I'm glad you survived the freezing water.
Good times indeed! You made it sound much more adventurous than I did in my blog, but then I didn't actually fall into the water.
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