Snake River Birthday Houseboat

To celebrate my mom's birthday, we rented a houseboat and spent the day on the river.  It was so much fun!!  While we partied the day away, Eric was stuck at the airport as he had an 8 HOUR flight delay.  Wish he could have been there with us.  We swam and ate and jetskied and played all day!

 

 

 

West Yellowstone Trip

On Friday, the clan headed into West Yellowstone to check out the Bear and Wolf Discovery Center and to do some shopping. The bears and wolves were the most active we've ever seen. The bears were playing and fighting and the wolves were eating fish out of the river. The group was just able to finish before the rain started...which turned into a CRAZY hailstorm. The women persevered and I came home with cowboy/girl boots for my kids as their souvenir. In the evening, the kids put on a play for us. Henry was the youngest in the play and was therefore left to play the role of the pink mouse. He actually didn't seem to mind.

Independence Day 2013

Auntie Kris, Grandpa and Grandma.  Lillie was Kris' biggest fan this trip.  She was even calling her Nana just like her granddaughters.  Kris took them on scavenger hunts in the forest and had little necklaces for them, which Lillie loves and protects with her life.  haha

A shot of some of the boat parade.  There was a really cool boat that the owners had turned into a pirate ship.  Seriously cool.  And the guy with the water rocket shoes would tricks like diving under the water and then shooting straight up into the air.  He was a brave soul.

The pirate ship threw out little duckies to the kids, but some of the ducks didn't make it onto the dock and so Phil being the incredibly nice Dad that he is, dove in to save the ducks.  That way every kid had a new toy.

We did sparklers and small fireworks back at the cabin.  The kids were a bit unsure in the beginning but warmed up quickly and enjoyed it.

Most of the adults finished off the night by heading out to watch the big fireworks by the lakeside lodge. It was the perfect ending to a perfect day.  We were lucky to even get to do any of it, because there was a big thunderstorm in the early afternoon, which we were grateful for, because it cooled us down, and the rain had stopped before the boat parade.

Saturday, before we got on the road to head to WA, we decorated the trailer to join the Bill's Island 4th of July parade.  The kids and adults threw candy and necklaces off the back while Eric and I drove the truck.  The kids really enjoyed this and probably ate as much candy as they threw out.

Bill's Island July 2013

After a couple days in UT, we headed up to Eric's parent's cabin in Island Park for the week.  On our way, we stopped in Idaho Falls to briefly visit with a good friend from dental school who was in town visiting her family.  We had a good little chat while our kiddos played, so glad we got to catch up. Really wish Desi was still my neighbor!  Love that girl!
At the cabin, we immediately headed down to the water with the kayak to get the first rides out of the way.  Eric's family joined us on Tuesday and we spent the rest of the week playing in the water, floating the river at Mack's Inn, visiting the Discovery Center and shopping in West Yellowstone, and culminating with the 4th of July celebrations: fireworks and a parade.  It was so relaxing being up in the mountains, we loved it, the kids loved it, and I didn't hear "I'm bored" once!

I spotted this Momma Moose and her baby on our first drive onto the island.  We also saw another Mother/Baby Combo on our float down the river.  Both seen by me, call me Eagle Eyes.

Some of the beach next to the water was straight mud.  The kids LOVED to squish around in it.  It was almost like quick sand, you'd get sucked in up to your shins and have to dig your feet out.

Grandpa and the kids.  He gave lots of kayak rides.

This was our first visit to the new cabin in the summer.  We had been up here after Christmas, which was fun and beautiful, but we loved it even more in the summer.

Eric and the kids spent plenty time fishing and even though they didn't catch much, I was impressed with their tenacity.  I would have lasted 5 minutes.

Chloee caught the only trout big enough to keep.  I heard it was really yummy.

One day Eric created his own boat to join us out on the lake.  It was a plastic chair inside a floatie inside an innertube.  Oh and he finished it off with a driftwood paddle.  Truly white trash!

Eric and his dad in a riveting game of jenga.  We played lots of Bananagrams and Blokus on the trip too.

Riverton Rodeo

Our family has been away on vacation for the past three weeks!! We had such a fun time, we are so glad that we bit the bullet and traveled all over the west. We left CA, drove through NV, AZ, UT, ID, MT, WA, OR and finally back to CA. I haven't done the calculations on how many miles it was, but I know it was a lot. Our first destination was UT for a couple days and while we were there, we went to the rodeo! It was a really, really fun time in spite of the HOT (over 100 degrees) weather. Lillie was able to go to down to chase a cow for money and she came back with half of a dollar! I guess at the end, one of the cowboys pulled the torn dollar off the cow and gave it to her. Then Grandpa Lyle traded her for a whole one :). The kids LOVED the rodeo and were really well behaved the entire time.