Belated Salt Con Review

 We didn't actually write about our family Salt Con last week! We had too much fun, I guess :).

So last Thursday we woke up and packed up the car. The kids were so eager to go, they pushed and prodded us out the door - they were in the car buckled up half an hour before we were ready to leave, which was half an hour before we supposed to leave. We were aiming to get to Crystal Hot Springs near Brigham City at noon, when they open, but we ended up getting there at 11:30. We went to a nearby park to eat a picnic lunch, and then we went back to the hot springs. They were beautiful rock pool with different temperatures of water. We deliberately picked one of the least-busy days and times, and there were plenty of people but not so many that we couldn't stay socially distanced. Mike and Alison enjoyed soaking in the hot water; the kids went back and forth between soaking and playing in the traditional swimming pool. Even Elizabeth ended up liking the water by the end!

We had planned to go to the hotel and make dinner in the Instant Pot, but we discovered that we had forgotten the Instant Pot at home. So instead of buying takeout on the last night, we decided to buy it on the first night. We got hamburgers, fries, and ice cream from a local restaurant and ate them on the lawn of the library, which just happened to be next door to our hotel (best location ever!). It was delicious, and we were all tired enough to head up to our rooms, unpack, and go to bed.

While unpacking, we discovered that we had also forgotten to pack any baby clothes, and we had left Mom and Dad's suitcase at home. That brought the number of things we had forgotten up to an unacceptable level, so we decided that Mike would drive home and get them all while Alison took the kids swimming in the hotel pool. But Alison slept in Friday morning, so Mike and the kids started playing games while she slept. We decided that the healing properties of the hot springs must make people tired, because the kids took naps or went to sleep early as well. We ate our leftover car food for lunch and then Mike headed home while the rest of us went swimming. Elizabeth liked the pool, and Rea and Sara had a great time swimming, and Timmy loved the big pool even though he doesn't swim well yet; Gideon hung out on the steps or in the hot tub most of the time. We stayed in the pool for hours and had dinner out on the hotel patio next to the pool. Then we let the kids watch a movie while Mike and Alison played a game before bed.

Saturday was about the same, with board games and swimming; we also painted miniatures out on the patio. The littler kids were menaces around paint, so we ended up taking shifts of painting and taking kids over to the library to read to them. They turned out really nice looking!

We got the hotel through Sunday so that we didn't have to check out at noon, and we ended up deciding that we could stay Saturday night and get one more hotel breakfast (the kids' favorite thing) before going home. So we got up early Sunday, ate breakfast, and drove home. Sacrament meeting started about 5 minutes before we made it home, but luckily we could stream it over our phones and still "attend." We were home in time for the rest of it, family Primary, and zoom Sunday School. We were all exhausted after our wonderful vacation (which is probably why we didn't write last week), so we unpacked and cleaned up and rested.

This week we've been doing school and playing outside (the weather is very nice) and just having a good time. We went to Nature Group on Friday and met friends at Wildflower Park yesterday, which hasn't happened in months and was WONDERFUL. Rea got seeds and a seed starting kit for Christmas, and she now has summer savory seedlings growing. Elizabeth has been refusing to take naps without laying on Alison, so Alison tried not letting her nap this week, but that was awful, so we're back to Alison being pinned down for an hour or two each afternoon. She has to figure out something better to do than read fanfic on her phone during those times. She's starting to write two fanfics after all this reading, so maybe she can figure out a way to do that in the hammock with a baby on her.

Alison also ordered a piece of furniture called a "Nugget" it is a modular couch like object. It can be set up like a couch, or used to build all kinds of things. It's quite comfortable (lower to the ground than a real couch, when it's set up couch-like, but other than that pretty similar to a firm couch) and the kids are having a blast playing with it. It's nice to have another place to sit, and it's moveable and washable and play-with-able so it fits right in in our house.