Idaho Part 1

Almost 3 weeks and over 1000 pictures later, we are HOME. We loved our time in Idaho....the lazy mornings, spending time with family, the kids reconnecting with their Idaho cousins (I think they'll FINALLY remember who they are next time we see them), all the good food, jumping on the trampoline....really we loved everything but the heat! I didn't realize how acclimated I was to the temperate Bay Area weather, but the constant 90-100 degree weather was brutal!

There are so many things I want to record and so many pictures I want to post, but I'll never get it done in one post, and really there are so many things that deserve their own post. So, I'll be posting about Idaho for the next little while.

For now, here are a few random pictures...

The kids' first airplane ride that they can remember. They were SO excited! The flight was less than 1 1/2 hours, which was perfect. Emma and Matthew did great. Ellie couldn't sit still. We walked the aisle a few times, read a few books, and then she fell asleep in my arms for the last little bit. All in all, travelling alone with all 3 kids went much smoother than I ever could have hoped.

My brother, Caleb, rented a canoe and we spent a fun afternoon at Rigby Lake. My beach babies were happy to play in the sand and water all day.

Matthew's ride

Emma's ride

We got to meet my nephew, Cole, for the first time. Ellie is fascinated with babies, so naturally she loved having him around. He is such a calm, easy going baby and was good about putting up with her getting in his space.  :)  She LOVED plopping herself in his bouncy seat any time he wasn't in it.

A trip to Idaho wouldn't be complete with a lot of trampoline jumping...

Jumping first thing in the morning

  And just before bed

 Jumping with the hose and a bucket of water

and jumping in the rain

And much to Ellie's dismay, she was too small to jump with any other kids so she often had to sit and watch.

We had one cool(er) day so I took the kids to feed the ducks at the green belt. The rest of my family had gone to Boise early for Grandpa's funeral (we went the next day) so we made a date of it...we spent a couple hours at the green belt, grabbed some dinner at IHOP, and ended the evening with frozen yogurt at Orange Leaf...yum!

More Orange Leaf! This place is that good!

 

Jon's grandma gave the kids some Crayola Color Wonder bubbles so we decided to try them out one Sunday morning before church. They are so pretty...and SO messy! I was surprised at how vibrant the colors were. The kids were really impressed and had a lot of fun...and thankfully, true to their word, the bubbles really are washable.

Going for rides on Grandpa's 4 wheeler was a favorite activity!

And this makes me laugh every time. Abby and I came back from a little ride around the neighborhood and my dad had spread a bunch of pop cans out so she could drive over them and smash them. To quote Abby, "I've never felt so redneck in my life!"

 The trip home....the kids were just as fascinated with the airplane. And it was nice to have Jon along for the ride. We started out with assigned seats 14 rows apart, but were able to do some switching and got rows across from each other.

I buckled Ellie into her own seat and as soon as we took off she fell asleep. She ended up sleeping the whole ride until we landed. It was AWESOME!