Bear Lake - August 23, 2015

Sunday - August 23rd

Missy VanBibber invited us to meet her at Bear Lake yesterday.  While Roger slept in the morning, I packed up all our stuff and loaded it in the truck so we'd be ready to go as soon as he woke up.  It is super smoky outside.  There are a lot of fires burning in Montana, Washington, and California.  The news said that all the smoke in the air is from those fires.  It is really, really bad outside.  You can't even see the mountains.  There was a warning on Friday for little children and elderly people to stay inside because of how smoky the air is.  I had told the kids about that on Friday night when I had noticed the warning.  We had been outside a lot on Friday and I didn't notice the warning until we got home.  The kids were a little worried about all the smoke since hearing that.

While I was loading stuff in the truck, I started to cough and had a little coughing fit.  The kids were worried and told me to stay inside.  It was nice that they were so concerned.  I took a break from loading the truck and drank some water.  I decided to work slower and more carefully so I wouldn't have to breath so deeply while I was out there.

After I loaded the truck, Missy called to say that they were leaving the lake, because it was too cold, windy, and smoky.  She said that it was really crowded there, but no one was in the water.  Everybody was sitting on the beach in sweatshirts, huddled together or sitting in their vehicles for warmth.  They left the beach and went to their property.  We decided to go and hang out even though, the lake was probably too cold.
On the way there, we took a break from the long drive.  We just wanted to get out and walk around for a little while.

So, we met the VanBibber's at their property.  We had a lot of fun visiting.  It was crazy to see everything all covered in smoke.  

 Boys are crazy!  Parker decided to ride his truck down this little hill.  I have a hard time watching when they do crazy and dangerous stuff.  But Roger was so encouraging of Parker, he wasn't about to back out.  I know the hill doesn't look that steep in the pictures, but it freaked me out a little.  I was pretty sure he was going to fall forward and hurt himself on the rocks at the bottom.
He was just fine though.  He fell backwards and the truck went down without him, so that is good.  I felt silly for being so worried.

You can hardly see the lake through all the smoke.

It was getting late and we were talking about what time we'd leave, when the kids asked if they could stay the night in the tent with Missy and her friend.  Missy said yes.  She said they had enough blankets and it wouldn't be a big deal for them to bring the kids home, since our house is on their way and they have enough seats in their car.  So, Roger and I agreed to let the kids spend the night.

It was weird going home without our little ones.  I was worried about them, because I just can't help myself.  I'm good at worrying about things.  I knew Missy would keep the kids safe.  She is really good with them.

Roger and I had a nice relaxing evening at home with no kids.  It was nice.  The kids had a lot of fun.  They woke up because they were really cold around 2:30am.  They all ended up waking up and so they had a fun time goofing off and telling stories before they all fell back asleep.  They all woke up again around 7:00am.  Missy said , they went in the trailer to watch a movie.  During the movie, Parker and Alissa played outside, got bored, then went back in the tent to sleep some more.  Missy, her friend, and Brinley started to fall asleep during the movie, so they went out to the tent and went back to sleep also.  So, they all slept in until 10:00ish.  When they woke up, they cleaned things up and had a yummy barbecue before they left to come home.

They got home around 4:15pm.  They said it was a fun time and they were glad they got to do it.