Lava Hot Springs

Lava Hot Springs has become one of our favorite family destinations! The rafting down the river and the super fun pool they have there are enough to entertain the kids for a couple days! We had so much fun!

 We booked a room early enough that we got a room with a small patio and our own hot tub that you fill up with hot springs water straight from the ground! The kids were in heaven and wanted it filled up right away!

 We made a few detours* on our way there so by the time we got to our hotel room Milo put on his jammies and turned on the Disney channel until he realized the hot tub on the patio!

*Our detour on the way there was stopping to try out a little sailboat that Jared had gotten just in time for this trip. We stopped a tiny little reservoir to try it out. I didn't have my phone or camera on me during this little adventure and I wish I had! Jared got the boat in the water and started getting it rigged up. The wind was perfect when we put it in but it was increasing in speed. We decided Jared should take it out alone first to see how it sailed before he took any of the kids. Well, that was a good decision! Jared could tell the tale much better, but from our point of view the wind picked up before Jared had attached the jib to the boom and he had to go to the other side of the reservoir and pull the boat up on land to fix it. The wind was really getting strong and when he put it back in the water and started sailing back the boom completely snapped when he tacked and he ended up paddling to shore and that was the end of that sailing excursion! Poor Jared, but he took it like a champ and we still enjoyed the rest of our drive! 

 We brought our own raft to go down the river  because it made me feel so much better to know Jared was navigating our little crew of children, instead of just sending them down in tubes!  I didn't fit in the raft so I was planning on getting a tube and just tying it to the raft to go down with them but the guy renting tubes really did not want to let a pregnant lady go down the river. He let me rent the tube but then he chased me down and made sure that I knew how uncomfortable he was with it, and I appreciated him caring so much. So we decided to listen to his advice and I just sat out from the rafting this trip and took pictures!

 The kids thought it was awesome! They are so lucky to have such a great dad to keep them safe while they do fun stuff like this!

 They loved screaming over the rapids!

 We got some super delicious pizza the first night we were there!

The Lava Hot Springs Pool! It was so fun! Jared went off the high dive and all the kids freaked out and told him not to go! But Jared marched right up there and jumped right off!

Milo was so excited that he was big enough to go on the curly slides! We got there right when it opened so for the first half hour the kids just kept going down the slides. As the lines got longer we went back to the pool and swam for a bit. Ellie was tall enough to go on the speed slides this year and she wasn't scared a bit and kept begging to go! Indy, Ellie and Jared all waited in line to go down the slides tall slides!

Family pic!

 In true Jaynes Fashion we celebrated National Ice Cream day by getting square ice cream cones!

This is the hotel we stayed at while we were there and it also happens to be the same hotel Jared and I stayed at on our honeymoon!

 Jared would try to sneak out and relax in the hot tub but the kids would always find him and want to "relax" with him by climbing on his back on making him put in more cold water because it was too hot for them! :0)

 My boys!

We took the scenic way home so we could stop at Bear Lake! We love to stop at Merlin's to get hamburgers and raspberry milk shakes!  

The beaches at Bear Lake are the best because it has sand and waves, so it's the closest place to the ocean in this state!

 Sandcastles!

 Feet burying...

 And a yummy sand milk shake made by Milo!

We had a fabulous family vacation! We made lots of memories and had fun just being together!