Fun at the Paris Ice Caves!!

One of the days while we were up on the hill we decided to take a drive over to Paris. Not Paris, France but Paris, Idaho where there is a cave up the canyon called the Paris Ice Caves. Usually when we've gone it has been earlier in the summer and we've taken the ATV's, but because of all the snow that was dumped in the mountians you can't get up there yet with ATV's we decided we would drive there and see how much snow and ice was still there. But to our surprise the road still had snow drifts. It ended up being only one drift on the road and even with 4 wheel drive we decided we would just hike there. So we were glad we didn't try to go through it. The hike from the trucks was a mile and a half both ways so we set off for the caves. As we got started some 4-wheelers came by and got stuck in the snow,so we were glad we decided to walk. Some of the snow drifts were about six feet high. The kids had a blast playing on them. Clark even tried to slide down on his bottom (without a sled). They were having snowball fights and having a great time. Living in Alabama we don't get snow, we did get a little this year but it wasn't much. So they got there snow fix in for the year and it is the end of June.

Almost there just another half a mile.



We finally made it. YEAH!










The mouth of the cave.














A six foot drop in the snow to the floor of the mouth of the cave.











There was too much ice on the bridge, so we weren't able to get to the other side of the cave.
I was going to try to get across but there is nothing to hold onto and the ice on the side of the bridge looked very slick and I didn't want to get wet of hurt.
So next time we will get across.
Hiking to the top of the cave on the outside. Notice how much snow there is to my brother-in-law at the top left.













A fifty foot drop from the top, with sheer edges. I wouldn't go to close to the edge, I'm not a fan of heights. I have never seen this much snow in here. Next time we go hopefully we can make it across the bridge.

Summertime!!

Summer is finally here!! The weather has finally warmed up and now we can enjoy our vacation.
We have been up camping for the last week and a half. No schedules just pure relaxation. Now that I am back it is hard to get into a schedule, so after Sunday we are heading back up for the week of July 4th, and maybe longer.

We had a fun time up in the mountains. The weather cooperated a lot better than it did the week before. We did have the furnace on the first night but then it was really comfortable, and we could sleep with the windows open. Up there the season is about a month behind and the blossoms and wildflowers are just gorgeous. I haven't seen it that beautiful for a long time. We even had a rainbow.
























The kids and a few of their cousins built
a fort with the help of their Grandfather,
Aunt and Uncle. They worked so hard to
get it finished and now they have
something to play in.










Sitting at a fire with Grandma Draper and some of our cousins.







We recruited all the kids to husk the corn. It didn't take them long to get the job done, and yes most of the silk was taken off.




Clark

Every time someone starts up a 4-wheeler or the Trecker all the children come running (they think they need to be on the ATV's constantly) so we took a short ride down the canyon. The boys took turns driving through a stream that goes across the road to see who could make the biggest splash.












Ryan









Our way back to the "Property" (aka Cedar Ridge)

We actually even roasted hot dogs over the fire. Usually we don't get the fire going until later so they usually get boiled over the stove. But the kids had a lot of fun and most of them had more than one.

We had a lot of fun, and we made a lot of memories, and I hope the kids will remember their summer I know that I will!!

Finally, to the Mountians!!!

We finally made it to the mountains!!! We were so excited to get up there. We were able to head up there Friday. Clark's' parents have some property up in the southern part of Idaho (Bear Lake/Montpelier area) that we have camped at for the last 8 or 9 years. We take our trailer up there and camp all summer, except now that we don't live in Utah anymore, we enjoy it for a few weeks, so we were really hoping to get up there sooner. We got up there and there was still snow on the road to the top. The first picture was taken the middle of May, they say the drift was twelve feet tall. The other picture was taken Friday June 6th, it has melted but I couldn't believe there was still snow. We like to take the 4-wheelers over to North Canyon but we couldn't yet because of the snow on the roads. It is the beginning of June you would think the snow would be gone.Hopefully we can get over there soon. While we were up there we got rained on, snowed on, hailed on, and the sun also came out. It was cold but then again I have been living in Alabama for the last eighteen months, where it has been on the warm to hot side. We had a fire to see if we could get warm, it kind of worked except we had a few hail storms while we sat out there around noon on Saturday. It was bizarre! I would say the weather in Utah changes all the time except we were in Idaho.

Stephanie and Emma sitting at the fire during a hailstorm

Clark and Emma during another hailstorm
Clark, Ryan, Nick and Aunt Liz, playing games in Liz's trailer

Wildflowers that were blooming despite the cold weather