Idaho: Part 2

It's hard to believe another week is gone and we will be going home in 4 days. We've been trying to pack in the fun this week. Here's a little bit of what we've been up to.

Emma loves "peeling" corn so she was more than happy to help Grandma.

Matthew's favorite toy here...the sliding screen door. And doesn't he look so handsome?

Emma loves the trampoline and loves it even more when cousins come to play with her. She gets along really well with Jake and Chris. They have had a great time.

I signed Emma up for swim lessons while we are here because it is SO much cheaper than it is in California. She has loved it. So far they have practiced jumping in, blowing bubbles, putting their face in the water, floating on their backs, and catching rings with their feet. She has a great teacher (whose name I can't remember) and there are only 3 other kids in the class.

Ready for her first day of lessons. I got her this backpack that she takes with her. She is such a proud big girl. This pose cracks me up!

Monday afternoon my sister Esther invited us over to play. The sprinklers in front of their apartment were on all afternoon and it was HOT, so we had an unplanned water party. It was a lot of fun. Baby Hannah was so good to share all of her toys and we also enjoyed some delicious homemade pizza for dinner.

Tuesday morning I met up with a friend from middle school. I went to school with Cortnie from 6-9 grade. She has 3 cute little kids now and lives pretty close to my parents. We met up at Arctic so the kids could play and we could visit. It was really fun to catch up with her.

Tuesday night my parents, brothers Noah, Caleb, Adam and his wife Shannon, and I went up to Yellowstone. Our first stop was the Canyon Street Grill, my family's favorite place to eat in West Yellowstone. It was delicious!

Then we went to the Playmill Theater. My family goes every summer, but I've only been once before. Their shows are always so fun and they do such a good job. This year we saw Footloose. It was awesome! And a HUGE thank you to Abby and Selina for babysitting and making the night possible...especially since Matthew got really sick after we left.

Wednesday night we had a bonfire in the backyard. We roasted marshmallows and Starbursts. Delicious!

Abby and her starburst.  :)

Emma and Selina roasting marshmallows. Selina is a foreign exchange student from Germany. She's going to be staying with my parents for the next year. She is so sweet and it's been fun getting to know her.

Emma still thinks she needs to put the marshmallow IN the fire...

Matthew did a good job of entertaining himself, exploring the yard and eating Starbursts.

Wednesday night Abby, Selina, Emma and I decided to sleep on the trampoline. We watched a movie and then went to bed. It was a lot of fun...until the sprinklers came on at 1 am. We huddled in our sleeping bags hoping that the sprinklers would turn off soon, while the water slowly seeped through our sleeping bags. Every few minutes we would just start laughing because we didn't know what else to do. And as miserable as it was, it was pretty funny. The sprinklers turned off after 15 minutes and we ran into the house. Emma slept through the whole thing and when I took her in she said, "Did we play in the cold sprinklers on the trampoline Mommy? It was SO fun!" Pretty funny stuff.

Thursday morning I woke up SICK. There was a nasty bug going around, which we realized Matthew probably had on Tuesday. My mom came to the rescue, took Emma to her swim lessons, and then she, Abby, and Selina took the kids to the zoo. They met up with Esther and her friend.

Emma was apparently fascinated with this water fountain.

Matthew slept through most of it.

Saturday we went to Lava Hot Springs. This was my first time and I was really impressed. The green and red slides are 25 feet and there are also two speed slides that are 50 feet. I went on one of each with Abby, though I was pretty freaked out. I figured if all the little 6 and 7 year olds could do it I could too.  :)

Matthew's not a big fan of swimming so he spent most of the time making sure all the snacks got eaten.

Emma, on the other hand, is a little fish. She spent the full 3 hours in the pool and would have stayed longer if we let her.

Driving home...ignore my nasty swimming hair.