The Young and the Restless

A Safford 4th of July

Ai-yo!  I'm getting blisters on my fingers from all this blogging, but I'm finally caught up.  The majority of my blurb book is going to be this summer alone.  Without any further ado, here comes another monster post....We barely got the car unpacked and laundry done before it was time to load up again for another road trip, this time to celebrate the 4th in Safford, Az.  As we were making the 2 1/2 hr road trip over windy mountainous roads with a baby who had been crying for the past hour and a carsick boy who was sure he was going to barf at any moment and an ominous sky that promised rain for the next three days, I began to wonder if my great idea wasn't quite so great afterall.   

And then we pulled up to this adorable little cabin, which the kids thought was better than the Ritz, and decided it was going to be a great trip afterall.  We picked Safford because they have these cute little camping cabins at a state park there. Two rooms, 4 beds, air conditioning, electricity, cockroach infested outhouses (oh wait, we're focusing on the positive here...they did have clean bathrooms with showers that were only a hop, skip and a jump away) and at only 50 bucks a night it was the perfect set up for a borderline camping family. We grilled up hot dogs and hamburgers (boo for fire restrictions) and had a late night game night with licorice and LMFAO echoing from the single rafter. 

6:45 AM found me and the little guys out on a pajama clad nature walk.  Then we spent the majority of the day swimming in the lake, catching turtles and frogs, setting fish traps with Ritz crackers and playing in the mud.

I thought we were off the hook from the rain, but late that afternoon it started rolling in.  There wasn't much else to do but drive around on a self guided tour of this one horse town.  It didn't take long.  The temple was a highlight and Wal-mart was a distant second. We took advantage of the cooler weather and went back to the campground to hang out in the natural hot springs.

I googled different camping food recipes before we left and, for the love of bacon we ate good.  We loved the tinfoil dinners with the apple cinnamon tin foil packet dessert and the beautiful sunset was the perfect backdrop.

I was nervous all day that the wind and rain would spoil the fireworks, but the weather pulled through.  Even though there was a 90% chance that we could see the fireworks from the campground, I insisted on front row seats.  We haven't seen big fireworks in years and they just so happen to be one of my favorites.  So I woke Ryder up at 9:00, drug the kids away from their flashlight frog hunt with their new friends, was glad Jason was such a good sport, and  into town we went.  For a town that boasts more Dollar Generals and Family Dollars per capita than any place I know, they put on a pretty darn good fireworks show.  It was worth the hour it took for Ryder to get back to bed after being all hopped up on fireworks.  We enjoyed our last night in our cozy little quarters before heading back home the next morning.

The day after we got back we headed to the lake since Jason had the day off.  I feel like I should apologize for so many lake pictures, but I won't.  I love documenting the progress the kids are making on the wakeboard and I love all the memories we're making on those waters.  Kylie is perfecting her jumping and Jayden was determined to catch some air too and he did just that.  Jayden puts on quite a show when he's out on the water.  He throws out peace signs to passing boaters (the younger guys always get a kick out of it and cheer him on, which only encourages him more) and is so funny in his own little Jayden way.  I love how those two cheer and encourage each other.  Jayden's always shouting, "Yeah guuurrrrrllll!!" and "show that wake who's boss" while doing a little tribal dance.  At one point Kylie had a huge wreck and he told her he would sing I Am a Child of God or Party Rock Anthem (because they're pretty much the same) to get her "spirit back in". 

Safford didn't allow sparklers (but we did get good weather and a fireworks show, so 2 out of 3 isn't bad), so we saved the sparklers for that night after the lake and it was a great grand finale to one of my favorite holidays.