Idaho Vacation - Day 5

Date: June 23rd

Today we chilled all day at Papa Nolie's.

I think this was one of the fave days of the vacation.

The kids absolutely love just doing the good 'ole country things.

Like riding horses, flooding the lawn, swimming in the canal

and of course riding UTVs.

So that's exactly what we did!

We started out with the horses.

Laiklyn was napping.

So I spent the morning running back and forth from the house to the corral!

Dang baby monitors don't span 1/2 mile! lol

Getting to know the pony

Taylee's turn

While Anden got on the bigger horse

The neighbor boy was kind enough to get them all saddled up and ready for us.

Then Ryan took his turn
to redeem himself from his last Idaho horse ride fail!

Horsey Loves

However after that cute moment Anden comes up to me and discreetly asks,

"Mommy can I go back and get the RZR and drive it in this pasture instead?"

lol it appears none of Papa Nolie's offspring inherited the cowboy gene

Although Ryan did think he was a temporary cowboy rodeo king

And yes I did take my turn to hop my butt onto the horse as well

Ryan was impressed I knew how to ride.

C'mon I did grow up in this place

 

Taylee wanted more than anything to ride all by herself

So we let her at it

(on the pony of course lol)

Which means Anden had to ride alone too

As I was standing halfway between the house and corral

listening to the baby monitor,

I couldn't help but admire this little homestead of mine.

You see when I was younger I just assumed families never moved

and you would always have your childhood home to go back to.

It wasn't until I moved to the city that I realized that people move all the time.

So it makes me very grateful to come back to my little town,

where basically nothing has changed,

and I can still walk into the home I've known since I was 1 year old

and still sleep in my childhood bedroom

while being reminded of countless childhood memories

and sharing the same thing with my own children.

That I've learned is a very rare thing.

So as I stood on the street I had my Furniss abode on one side

And now my own little family on the other side

experiencing bits of their Mom's childhood.

And then I couldn't ignore that to the other side of me is a potato field.

The primary existence of my hometown! lol

About that time the rodeo crew finished up and came walking back over to me.

The lawn was fully flooded 

and the kids were more than ready to play in the water!

On to the next adventure!

Ryan had to run to town for a bit

and Dad was up in the fields changing streams of water.

So I loaded up the 3 kiddos and started the pure joy of 

redneck kneeboarding behind the rhino.

I apologize now to Dad's poor lawn that I'm sure gets destroyed

each time we do this activity! oops!

The kids were having a total blast as usual!

Eventually Dad came out and switched me as driver.

I ran inside for literally 3 minutes

to text Ryan to see when he would be home.

I came back out and Anden was still cruising behind the rhino.

Right after I took this picture my heart sank

as I knew EXACTLY what was about to occur.

I froze but managed to let out a scream at the same time.

Just as I foresaw

Anden came around that corner and whipped right into the barb wire fence!!!

Luckily he realized the momentum was getting him way too close to the fence

so he let go which spun his board backwards and thus he hit the fence

with his back instead of his face.

He let out deafening screams I've never heard from that child.

I raced over there while trying to stay calm in order to not scare him more.

I ripped off his swim shirt and there were 2 big scrapes.

He was in total shock and couldn't figure out what hurt him.

Clearly he's not a country kid that knows the dangers of barb wire fences.

Dad jumped out of the rhino and ran over to him too.

He felt awful.

So I took Anden and got him calmed down.

I assured him that honestly this could have been SO much worse

and the he was definitely a lucky kiddo.

His back was stinging and he wanted me to take a picture for him to see.

By then Dad and the girls came over to the deck to check on him.

We joked that now he had a super cool story to tell about his fight 

with the barb wire fence.

And then I told Dad that now he's even for Anden breaking his hose pump! lol

Soon after Anden was ready to get back on the horse kneeboard

and tackle this once again.

But I offered to drive this time! ;)

Finally Ryan got back home

to find out he had missed quite the excitement!

(both good and bad!)

Then it was back to playing!

We stayed out there until the water finally dried up! lol

My redneck crew!

I had hopped on the board with Laiklyn
and introduced her to canal water kneeboarding on grass.
But of course there's no proof.

So Ryan took her for a spin next so I could get a pic of the munchkin.
And yes there really is an invisible kneeboard smashed under Ryan's butt! lol

Oh now you see it!

Taylee just ran along next to them!

Eventually we decided to take a little break

since we could see we were turning Dad's luscious green grass into a mud pit!

So Taylee innocently played on the swingset

While Anden um cleaned himself off

Only to get dirty again!

I guess there's just something enticing about sticking a hose down your shorts.

Anden has talented toes

I have no idea how he can spread those little piggies that far apart lol

Ahh Daddy lowered her swing so she too could be in the water

And Papa Nolie gave her her first twizzlers

Laiklyn loves hanging out with the big kids!

We quickly realized the water wasn't turning from brown back to clear

so we decided to go tear up play on another section of the yard instead!

I just had to laugh at these two crawling around in 2 inches of muddy grassy water

and completely utterly loving it!

I was done hearing the whining about whose turn it was.

So we made a 2nd rope contraption.

All are happy now! :)

Mud Body Surfing! lol ewh

Our wakeboarding/body surfing got cut short

when Papa Nolie came back from the fields

saying a dike had washed out and he needed to go fix it.

So the kids and Ryan loaded up to help him.

After awhile I saw the tractor and rhino creeping along the canal

back to the house.

Yep the kiddos were swimming in the canal back home!

I used to love swimming in the canal too!

Nobody knew anything about PH, cholorine, pesticides, dead fish/animals

and yet nobody died from it! lol 

 

Finally we came in and washed grass out of every crevices of our bodies!

Then we picked up cute Grandma Norma and went to

Homestead for dinner.

It's basically the only sit down restaurant in town.

So it's tradition that we have to eat there when we're visiting!

All the girlies!

After dinner the big kids walked Grandma to the car.

My heart melted!

Three of my favorite people right there!

What a great day!!