Sunday, July 29, 2012

First Things First!

WE ARE BAAAACK!! After about a month long vacation to the wild West, we've returned home to the hot and humid South and I'm ready (I think?) to update my faithful readers with the many, many fun things we were able to do while we were gone. Hopefully it isn't too excruciating.:) Get comfy, cuz I gotta do a little catch-up before I can get to the nitty-gritty of the vacation... Here we go!

The weekend before we were to fly to Boise just also happened to be 2 days before my 29th birthday. As I mentioned before, I had already made Whitney buy bus tickets to come see us again, so she basically had no choice but to help me celebrate a little early. We picked her up in Durham and headed to the one and only Cheesecake Factory for lunch.
Zachary was so excited to see Whitney again! He thought it was pretty cool he got THREE mini corn-dogs to himself. Lunch was yummy!!
But the best part was the birthday cheesecake (Godiva chocolate)-- and I finished every last morsel. We then spent the rest of the weekend playing games, watching cool shows, playing with the slip and slide, eating Mellow Mushroom, and enjoying Whitney's company.
Saturday night we discovered our air conditioning had totally gone out, and it was so stinking hot and miserable. We immediately called the landlord only to find out the entire AC unit was BROKEN, and the part they needed to fix it wouldn't arrive until Tuesday or Wednesday. I have never been so hot or miserable in my life! With the temperatures and humidity up in the high 90's, the house was around 96 all day. I snapped this picture early in the morning of our third day of no AC and even though the outside temp. that night had dropped into the 60's and we had all the windows open, the house was STILL roasting at 87!!
(18 weeks 3 days)
For my 29th birthday the best present of all was having the repairman come that afternoon and fix our AC. It ended up costing the homeowner's $1200, so I shouldn't complain too much. The kids and I tried to spend all day away from home so we caught the movie "Brave," did some shopping, and got dinner at Ruby Tuesday with Jon. It was a fun birthday, but after all that drama, I was ready to fly home and enjoy some R&R!

R & R in Idaho!

While 99% of our trip was spent in the great state of Idaho, our journey began in Salt Lake City, UT where it was considerably cheaper for all 3 of us to fly into. We arrived after midnight, so after sleeping in a bit Thursday morning, we headed from our hotel to take a quick peek at Temple Square. My kids have never been, so it was really fun to show them the SLC temple and look around the Visitor's Center.
But first we needed to refuel so we headed over to the newly remodeled City Creek Center which was really amazing-- and got some delicious french toast at Kneader's Bakery for breakfast.
We quickly toured Temple Square and admired the beautiful Christus statue before we had to get on the road to Idaho. Since my parents had to drive down to Utah to pick us up, we decided to make the most of that weekend by heading to my grandparent's cabin in Island Park, ID which was only a couple of hours away.
Ahhhhhhh, our cabin. It's such a beautiful little haven perfect for rest and relaxation, which was the name of the game. The fish were calling to my dad, so the first thing we did after arriving was head down to the dock to try and reel the little guys in.
It was a picture perfect night with still water and lots of fish jumping. Zach LOVED destroying this peaceful setting by chucking rocks into the river (and peeing "on the fishies," but we won't mention that).
Luckily my dad was catching them like crazy, so both kids got to take turns reeling them in and then getting them in the net for an up close and personal look.
It was hard to go to bed after all that excitement, but sleep we did, so that we could wake up to a delicious breakfast provided by Grandma Joanie. Yum!
That afternoon we headed over to Harriman state park for a little picnic which rated at least a 9 on my mom's Picnic-Meter, due to the great scenery, great food, and especially great company.
The next morning we headed to Yellowstone National Park, which has been the focus of Lucy's darkest imaginings for years (well, at least since last summer when she saw hot pots and buffalo for the first time-- scary stuff to a 4 year old!). We did have to make a quick detour for Zach's sake once we hit the Montana state line to purchase some illegal fireworks though.
While the purchase of fireworks WAS thrilling, Zach soon became fascinated by the "hot lava" (geysers) we soon saw everywhere. He would bend over really close and just stare and stare at that stinky, hot, boiling mud. Cool stuff!
Even though I literally grew up with Yellowstone it still never ceases to amaze me. It really is such a fascinating place!
We enjoyed seeing lots of wildlife, including these elk right by the road, and of course a few buffalo (my favorite) along the way which totally freaked Zach out.
We stopped for another quick picnic before heading on to Mammoth Hot Springs. Luckily we didn't run into any bears, although there were TONS of warnings posted.
Okay, while getting some ice cream, we did see one bear!
That evening my mom treated the girls to "Annie Get Your Gun" at the Playmill Theater in West Yellowstone. It was right up Lucy's alley with the cute music, fun costumes, and plethora of yummy concessions. She had a blast!
Sunday we headed down to Ashton for church, and then had a spectacular lunch made by my Grandma Charlie before we packed up to leave for Boise. This girl loved the cabin! She was sad to leave.
And this boy loved the cabin as well-- who could resist 24/7 access to the great outdoors?
Thanks to my grandparents for hosting us! It's so fun for Lucy and Zach to get to spend time with the great grandparents as well-- I'm so glad they could come!
We made it home just in time to celebrate the 4th of July. We started the morning off at the Boise parade downtown. Lucy was dressed in her most patriotic clothes (thanks to Grandma Cardon) and she was THRILLED to be at the parade!
I don't know if it was just because we were towards the end of the parade, but we got 0 candy which was hugely disappointing, but we did end up with some popsicles so all was not lost.
(I love this picture of my dad cowering before my naughty children! Bwhahaha!)
That afternoon we went to the movie "Pirates! Band of Misfits" and then swam and enjoyed a barbeque and homemade ice cream.
And then as dusk fell, the pies de resistance! Zach was SO. EXCITED. FOR. FIREWORKS!!
Our most impressive firework show, thanks to Tom-Tom and Zachary. It was a very explosive celebration!
Thanks to my mom, I got spoiled the whole time I was there. In fact I even got my first birthday cake in years (who wants to bake their own birthday cake, you know?), and since it included toffee and mousse it was worth waiting a week for!
Zachary certainly thought so-- look at those eyes!! I love it!
Next up on the agenda you know we had to include a camping trip if Tom Tom had anything to say about it. We headed up towards Garden City and since we were camping midweek (as opposed to 4th of July weekend) we found a prime spot with lots of peace and quiet. It was HOT, so the kids enjoyed cooling off in the river.
That night after dinner we headed to the outdoor Starlight Mountain Theater to see Rogers and Hammerstein's "Cinderella." Zach opted to play the iPad about halfway through, but Lucy was enthralled and couldn't wait to meet the actors who played Cinderella and the Prince.
And while we were away, we had some noisy high school neighbors move in next to us, who kept the music blaring until well after midnight. Guh! Luckily the kids slept right through it, but I wasn't the freshest daisy that morning.
Luckily Tom Tom had the hot cocoa brewing and that was more than enough to make Zachy happy since it's one of his favorites!
My two little buddies enjoying camping. Now if only Mommy could get on board...
Once home from camping we enjoyed LOTS more swimming (Lucy is our little fish and learned to swim unassisted in the deep end), and lots more treats.:) We checked out a brand new cupcake shop in Boise which had GREAT reviews.
I could pass on Lucy's bubblegum blue cupcake though. No thanks!
Our last weekend in Boise we drove out to visit my Grandma and Grandpa Charlie and Lucy got to play with my Grandma's old Barbies and admire her jewelry. They are two peas in a pod when it comes to anything that sparkles-- Grandma Lucille and my Lucy.
Zach enjoyed playing cars with Grandpa Charlie and it was hard to say goodbye not knowing the next time we'd see them again! Hopefully it's just next summer.
We had to stop at Krispy Kremes since my kids had never had one-- ironically although the original location is somewhere in North Carolina.
Monday morning bright and early we headed for Washington to meet up with Grandma and Grandpa Cardon. First we swung by the Oregon Trail museum in Baker, OR. Lucy really seems to like history and enjoyed checking out the different exhibits all about the pioneers.
We had an amazing couple of weeks enjoying Idaho and it was happy trails the whole way. Then it was on to Washington and Canada with Daddy and Grandma and Grandpa Cardon. Stay tuned!