On the River

Our most favorite place in Idaho this year was the river. Brielle moved into her new house about 6 weeks after we visited there two years ago. So this was our family's first time staying in this house and it was literally about a block and half from the Payette river. The river had a current but in the shallow flat areas it was very mild. Brielle said each year it looks different depending on how the winter melt carved up the river in the spring. This year there were several islands - one almost entirely sand. We would wade over to the island and set up camp. It was like we had our own private beach. We built castles out of the river rocks and sand. I love all the smooth river rocks that cover the bottom of the river.

This is the first night we got there (shortly after dinner) we walked down to the river. Daniel threw his pole in and the kids just enjoyed exploring. While Daniel was fishing we took the rest of the kids for a long walk along the river.


All these pictures were taken on the walk that first night. The other blissful days we were swimming at the river I didn't have my camera. I love the pictures of Piper sitting along the edge throwing rocks in. She was in HEAVEN. She still wasn't walking because of her leg but she was thrilled to be able to be wet and throw rocks (one of her favorite past times).

Now isn't this the cutest, orneriest girl you ever saw!! She's got some TUDE!! But she also is so complimentary. She was always telling us things that she liked about us. " I like your shirt - it's got flowersonit" "I like your blanket, it's got flowersonit".

Doesn't this look like the most perfect place to hang out? And can you hear it? Can you hear that heavenly sound of the water flowing over the rocks? The only thing not heavenly were the mosquitoes. As soon as dusk hits - you have to run for cover because the mosquitoes come out in swarms. Poor Aspen, who has horrible reactions to mosquito bites was getting chewed alive. As you can see in the above picture - she got a huge goose egg from two little bites on her forehead. For the next few days she was completely swollen. Dan said she looked like a "Cling-On" from Star Trek. He said she could just skip make-up and go right to the set to film the next episode. So SAD! The mosquitoes weren't bad during the day though. Who knew Idaho would have a mosquito problem - I thought that was a Louisiana swamp thing.


There was a section between two islands that narrowed and the current was very swift. It wasn't very deep but it did pull you quite forcefully. It was easy to walk a wide path around this area to avoid it but the boys really liked it. They called it the water slide and would let it wash them away. It would have been even more fun to have a raft or something to ride thru it because it was a bit rough on the bottom. Speaking of rough - I pulled out the broken off neck of a beer bottle. And I thought I saw a CD at the bottom of river in an area that was thigh deep. I reach down to pick it up and discover that it was not a CD but a saw blade. The silver ring was the center of a table saw blade. It's best to keep your shoes on in the water - you never know what you may find.