Adventures In Idaho '13

Less than a week before leaving for this big trip, we finally bought a van!  We've wanted one since Shortcake was born over 2 years ago.  It made traveling SO NICE!  We left at 7:00 in the morning and got there at 11:30 at night.  It should have been an excruciatingly long day.  But what with all the extra room,  it really didn't seem so bad. 

Short cake is only 2 years old and even she was a really good sport about it.

The twins and I kept busy a big chunk of the time doing school work.
(Found those awesome matching lap desks at Goodwill!)

Audio books are the only way to travel for my love.

We actually started out our trip in Utah for my sister's baby blessing.

Such a cute little guy.

Shortcake finally started to warm up to everyone she hasn't seen in a year.

Took advantage of being in Utah and took the kiddos to the Church History Museum.  I HIGHLY recommend it.  The children's exhibit upstairs is amazing and so well done.

"Abridging the plates."

"Nephi's Boat"

 

I really enjoyed showing my kids Temple Square.

 Also went to the mall and hit the Disney store.

Finished off our day in Salt Lake City with a peek at the Conference Center.

(This pic was taken up on top of the Conference Center.)

Also popped over for a short visit with my brother and his family.

 

Made it to Idaho and got settled in.

 

My sisters followed us to Idaho to get to spend a few more days with us.

This meant their dog followed us too.  

Hitting up the Museum of Idaho has become a bit of a tradition for us.  This year they had a carousel exhibit.  It was very interesting.  I love museums.
What carousel exhibit would be complete without an actual carousel to ride?

Me and my sisters.

 

K. Rae's favorite was the swan.

E. Mae's favorite was the rabbit.

  Not sure why, but the armored horses were my favorite.

 

While I always enjoy the main exhibit that is different every time we go,

my kids favorite part is the kids discovery room upstairs.  

Spent some time hanging out with the future missionary/hardworking student.  Painted nails, made pizza, and played Uno.

  
Took advantage of some nice weather and had a picnic,

played at the park,

found a Geo-cache,

and fed the ducks.

There are a lot of great places to get a cute picture along the green belt.

 

* CRAZY STORY * We were trying to get a certain toddler to cooperate for pictures and a big yellow Chinese tour bus pulled up.   (The falls are a common stop for tours.)  It was the craziest thing!  All these complete strangers from China started taking pictures of my kids!

Random Chinese stranger #1:

Random Chinese stranger #2:

 And #3:

 #4:

#5

#6

That isn't all of them but enough pictures of people I don't know on my blog.  You get the point. It's kinda weird to think about the fact that my kids will be printed out and end up in a dozen "my trip to America" photo albums, on some shelf, clear over in China. 

I was way excited to find out that the drive in was already open this year.

So we hit that up too. 

We also made a visit to my adopted Grandma.  She lived next door to my family for years and we all grew to love her.  She has since moved but we try to keep in touch.

Living so far away from family, it can be hard to find an overnight babysitter.  So we usually try to take advantage of the opportunity when we can. 
The girls aren't crazy about being away from mom and dad overnight and it makes them pretty anxious.  But my family did a great job of keeping them busy and distracted while mom and dad were away.

Also made a trip to the zoo.  This poor lion.  He was doing nothing but pacing back and forth, back and forth, and looking across the path at the zebra exhibit.   Poor thing.  You could just see how he wanted so badly to go hunt that zebra. 

I remember loving this water fountain when I was a kid.

We got to watch them feed the penguins.  

In high school I was short, chubby, city girl.  My best friend was a tall, thin, country girl.  Some of my fondest memories are of chasing pigs, walking cows, and sleeping out on the trampoline as the bats flew over our heads.  We got to visit her and give my girls a taste of country life too.  They got to try milking a goat and got to bottle feed baby goats!  It was awesome.

K. Rae actually got some milk out!  

Just look at their faces.  They thought it was great!

We also drove out to Arco to take Great-grandma to lunch.  After lunch Grandma was our tour guide.  She took us on the back roads and showed us some of the different places she has lived. We also took a drive through Craters of the Moon.

We were crazy busy every single day and had LOTS of fun adventures, but the reason our summer trip ended up being a spring trip this year, is because my love's sister has been called to serve a mission in Ukrane.  She went through the Temple for the first time and we wanted to be there to share that special day with her.
But to make that day even more special, my love's siblings have been working on their genealogy and had family names do temple work for too.  When we dropped everyone off to start with the baptisms, my girls found two ducks who were also enjoying the Temple grounds.

My love and 2 of his siblings.

Getting to do family names was really great.  It was a wonderful experience and so glad I got to be a part of it. 

While the grown ups did baptisms, the girls got some cousin time.

Aunt Future Missionary is such a good sport.

Got to be there to celebrate Uncle's birthday.

What with all the family that traveled to be there for this, my in-laws had a family reunion at a local hotel.  It was really nice.

There was a place for a luncheon after our day at the Temple.

My love's family was sweet enough to also invite my family to all this fun family celebrating.  Ment a lot to me. 

The hotel had a great place for family pictures.  I didn't get a copy of the big group shot yet, but these are some of the smaller pictures.

  

 

Had access to the pool.

Earlier in the trip we also had an evening with my love's best friend from high school and his family.  Didn't get a picture of that night out but he came to the lucheon too.

Got to lounge around and hang out with cousins in the nice big lobby. 

Finished off the big trip with another baby blessing.

The cake I decorated for my new little nephew.  

All the grandkids with Great-grandma.  (Shortcake was so cooperative.)

All good things must come to an end and it was time to head home.  The trip home wasn't bad either.  We all got some much needed naps.  

Everyone knows all kids love playing inside a blanket fort.  Worked great for shortcake on the ride home too!