Sun, Water Fun, and Shaved Ice... Just what our Easter needed! Part 1

It's no secret that spring has sprung and with it the spring fever slowly begins to fade as we are teased with those few warm, sun soaking, days that come scattered among those cloudy, thundering, raining, days.  

I'm okay with rain... So long is it doesn't freeze into that white stuff.  

(not even going to say it's name... It's like a curse word in my house)

Unfortunately, those few (and I mean very few) warm days have not been enough to ease my irritability caused by lack of sunshine and being cooped up in-doors since OCTOBER!

Six months is just TOO much!  

I decided, though we spent Easter with Bill's family last year meaning this year was reserved for my family, we needed to get away.  Sorry to my dear family, but my sanity depended on it.  So for the second year in a row we headed south.  Last year we camped out with Sister Steph and her Circus at Sand Hollow (HERE and HERE).

It was great fun, but lets just face it... I'm just not a good camper.  Granted if we had the set up Sister Steph has, camping might not be all too bad, but we don't so we have to tent it.  Me and tents aren't friends.  Rather than tenting it out at Sand Hollow, we decided to stay in the comfort of my in-laws house instead which is close enough to still enjoy the beach, water, and sand with the family who spent their Easter camping out.  

We headed down early Friday morning and hit the parents house just before noon.  We quickly scarfed down some lunch and headed back to the road to visit our family at Sand Hollow.  Sister Steph didn't have her whole Circus with her this time around, but Sister McKell was up there with her beau and two of her youngsters along with some friends who had a couple kids.  My kids were content in playing with them and excited to hit the beach running. They immediately stripped down to their suits and soaked in the sun.

My girly girl quickly transformed to not so girly as she dug in the mud with a slew of boys.  It was her and a bunch of boys... that didn't even phase her.  She fit right it... muddy face and all.  In all honesty I think she may have been enjoying getting dirty far more than any of those boys.  Sam enjoyed digging in the mud with them for a great while too, but eventually just wandered off on his own really soaking in the heat.  We were in Heaven. 

Okay, not heaven... I hope that in heaven we don't have to deal with sand in not so desirable places, but you get the idea.  We were where we SO DESPERATELY needed to be at that moment.  

Sanity, semi-restored.

We sat for a few hours and enjoyed the company of some wonderful people... Bill and our nephew Bryce went for a ride in the dunes in West's four wheeler, not the most successful trip out, but at the very least Bryce was left with smiles and I believe the words "Lets do that again!" did come from his mouth.  The rest I will leave up to the others to spill.  I'm still just clinging to the good (that there was enjoyment) of that ride... the rest I will not speak of.  Simply because may husband my not forgive me.

Sister Steph however... is free to speak. ;)

While we all sat and enjoyed conversation... the kids were a short distance away enjoying all the wonderful things the beach and water had to offer.  This included burying each other in the sand. 

This burying each other in the sand business also took a not so good turn like the four wheeling had, only us parents were completely oblivious to the severity of the sand burying situation. 

Our first problem was relying on the information from a not so urgent five year old (Sam) who walked up to us and simply said...

"Aiden is stuck."

To which Sister McKell quickly replied "Oh, yeah he loves getting buried!" 

To this Sam gave a simple shrug and walked away continuing to enjoy his time there at the beach.  

It was later discovered that Sam's little announcement of Aiden being stuck was truly meant to be urgent.  As in, maybe an adult should go help him get unstuck.  Turns out the kids had buried Aiden a bit to close to the water which meant that the hole he was buried in acted much like quick sand.  The more he moved... the more he sunk.  My little Brenna and another kid stuck by his side the entire time committed to digging him out without having to impose upon the adults fun and coming in between the conversation time we were having.  Once it was realized that Aiden truly needed help... the adults pulled together in getting him out.  While I on the other hand, grabbed my camera and started to photograph it.  I'll allow Sister Steph to tell the story of how she became the heroin and saved this boy's life.  After all she is the master story teller...  I will offer up these few pictures of the moment though...

This boy is REALLY stuck

Poor boy defeated by the sand...

Sister Steph saved the day!

Needless to say it was a very eventful day.  

Two guys were left feeling a little defeated, but that's ok cause Sister Steph made it all better with a card game with those two defeated guys...

And in all reality, we truly enjoyed being out there in the sun and with our family.  Our family is just one of a kind and I wouldn't trade them for anything.  

We left there shortly after this card game ended and headed back to the parents house for some much needed rest.  Mom made us a DELICIOUS Chili Verde for dinner and after the kids piled into the hot tub cause apparently they hadn't had enough water yet.  

Day One of our little mini-vacation was a success... though the first night was a little rough.  Sam woke up screaming from a dead sleep at about 11pm.  He had apparently acquired swimmers ear and was in dire pain for a good couple hours. I tried to console him back to sleep, rocking him, rubbing his head, but the second he would fall back asleep he was awake within seconds crying again from the pain.  I was left to head out into town at 1am to get some ear drops and pain medicine.

I was pooped.

My Friday started just before 5am and I didn't get settled into bed for sleep until 2am.  

It didn't matter though cause I knew I got to wake up to another day full of sun, warmth, and family.