Back to School

 We were sad to see summer come to an end but the kids were exited to start a new year.

 My Middle Schoolers - Andrew 6th and Mack 7th

 Kate in Mrs. Miller's 4th grade  and Emily in Mrs. K's 1st grade.  Her last name is long and complicated for 1st graders (or bad spellers like me) so they just call her Mrs. K.  Lily and I miss our Emmy but she is loving her 1st grade.

Believe it or not Natali is in High School -crazy.  She is loving it so far.  

For Labor Day weekend we went up to McCall.  I spent the Friday and Saturday with just the little girls.  The other kids and Greg had comitments.  We had such a blast.  It was cold but we still swam in that wonderful pool for hours, took a lot of walks, and watched the rain from the balcony.  I love that place.  Sunday evening the rest of the gang joined us and we enjoyed a fabulous hike.  It sprinkled on us and Lily still has some "peeing in the woods" experience to gain, but since she managed to find huckleberries to eat while we walked all the wetness was forgotten.  My Macky boy has been growing his hair out.  Most of the time I really like it but early morning, pre shower hair can be pretty awesome.

One Friday after school Greg and I were determined to do something fun with the kids that didn't involve lots of $ or the TV.  We have lived near the Snake River for 10 years now but most of the kids had never floated in it so we decided to remedy that.  We had a lot of fun for the first hour, but then it started geting old, and getting darker and darker.  A few of the kids got swept away for brief moments ending up out of their tubes...lets just say by the end we were all SO happy to be done.  Everyone was cold, scraped up and exhausted.  I figured everyone would cry the whole way home and complain about how awful it was.  But I was surprised to hear them talking about "next time".  They even jumped at the chance for a family photo in the car on the way home.  (Yes I look ridiculous - maybe someday I will figure out how to look normal in a selfie, but don't hold your breath).

Random but Fun

The following post is a compilation of pictures from Greg's phone.  Which often means I wasn't there.  These pictures are out of order and I can't remember which thing happened when but we had fun and don't want to forget that we do have fun sometimes.

The kids and I had a silly stiring war one day when Greg was out of town and that inspired us to host a neighborhood Silly String War.  We had four families show up and we had a blast.  The clean up wasn't even so bad with that many hands.  The kids want to make it an annual event...we'll see.  It would help if I could remember when it was...

 For Memorial Day Greg and the three oldest signed up for the Bubble Run in Boise.  I was signed up too but hurt my back so had to opt out.  They thought it was fun and loved being messy - at least for a little while.

Mack and Greg golfing in the rain.

Our soccer boy and his little pal.

Natali's first stake dance.

This summer Mack was working on an emergency kit for scouts.  We decided to put some of the kids old glass in the kit just in case.  Lily found them and got creative.  And who doesn't love a one eyed pirate tiger? Lily keeps us laughing.

Natali and Mack went to do baptisms with Greg.  I can't beileve how old they are getting.

Okay this doesn't qualify as fun but here it goes anyway.  We had a big problem with wasps this summer.  The good news was I was the only one who got stung (4 times for me).  The bad news was that my reactions were pretty terrible.  One sting on the finger ended up sending me to the doctor.  My hand was red, hot, and swollen so much I could hardly bend my fingers.  As we sat in the waiting room the swelling moved slowly up my arm.  I don't know if these pictures capture it but it was an unnerving experience.  And unfortunately my kids are way more afraid of wasps now!

A Week In My Favorite Place

This summer I was determined to enjoy an entire week in McCall.  As luck would have it, our designated week was a cool one and the pool was broken.  Inspite of that we still loved it.  We played in the sand, ate huckleberries, played tennis, took lots of hikes, hung out downtown, and just enjoyed being together.  Life really is better here!

 Our friends met us up there one day and enjoyed the beach and berry picking.  In spite of the weather the kids still managed to get plenty wet.  It was less than 65 degrees outside - burr.

 Like the little mermaid?

 The kids all set some summer goals and each goal had a prize associated with it.  Emmy met her reading goal and got a date to Ice Cream Alley with Mom.

 My most frequent hikers.

For about an hour all 6 of them were working together on this sand structure.  I love those moments.

Greg joined us for the weekend and took us on a hike - unfortunately we never found the right trail.  We ended up traipsing through the forest being consumed by mosquitos.  The littler kids had the worst of it becasue the brush was over their heads half the time.  This picture shows Kate crawling across the river; it doesn't capture the moaning.  This little avdenture ended in tears and lots of itching but they all brightened up when we went to Ice Cream Alley for lunch.

Independence, Liberty Jail, Adam-ondi-aman, Far West, and the Best Hotel Ever

We drove on to Independence.  Saw the Visitors Center and then caught a tour of Liberty Jail.  The reconstruction of the jail is so wonderful.  By leaving it open it is easy to imagine how cold and cramped it would have been down there.  It was a good visual for the kids.

That night we arrived at our hotel to find this amazing pool.  It was like we were back at the Dells.  We only had an hour to play before it closed and the kids all loved it.

The next day we hit our last tourist sights- The Alexander Doniphan Statue, Three Witnesses Monument in the cemetery and then on to the Farr West Temple site.  I remember visiting there when Natali was a baby.  I was touched by the spirit of the place and felt it again this time as well.

Our last stop was Adam-ondi-ahman.  This valley has special significance as the place Adam and Eve went when they were cast out of the garden.  There are also future events prophesied to take place here.  It is a beautiful valley.  We sat looking it over, talking about it's significance, trying to help the kids feel the spirit when some deer were spotted in the field below.  There was some discussion as to wither it was really deer.  Annoyed with the discussion someone sarcastically said, "It's not a deer - it's a bear."  Much to our surprise and amusement Emily freaked out.  She started crying and trying to run to the car.  We tried to calm her down but the moment was lost - everyone was either laughing or crying so we hoped in the van and started the journey home.

We stopped at Ruby Tuesday's for dinner that night and everyone was actually well behaved and kind to each other.  On our way out and older lady stopped me and asked if they were all mine - the usual questions.  Then she commented about how well behaved they were.  She was so kind and encouraging.  It is nice to have moments like that.

We had planned to take two days to get home but as we went to bed that night Greg decided he was going to try getting home the next night.  Sure enough Greg drove 1011the next day to get us home around 1 in the morning.  It was an exhausting day but everyone was cheering Greg on - we all wanted to be home.  Vacation is so fun, I love seeing new things and spending time together, but it is always nice to come home.

Cahokia Mounds- What?

While planing this trip I was talking to a friend who used to live in the St. Louis area and he told me I had to see the Cahokia Mounds.  I was like "The what?"  I started to research and learned that Cahokia is the remains of a huge ancient Native American settlement that covered more that 6 square miles.  They built huge mound out of earth.  The park has 80 of these mounds.  I decided I wanted to go see them.  

The day we went to the park it was 100 degrees and humid.  The museum was really cool (Kate especially loved it) but to see all the mounds we had to endure the heat.  We grabbed an ancient cassette player and started the tour.  The largest mound, Monks Mound, is the largest earthen structure in the Americas and the largest pyramid north of Mesoamerica.  It is about 100 ft high.  The hike to the top was brutal in the heat (Kate stayed at the bottom).  

 Here are some pictures from the top.

 Can you see St. Louis off in the distance?  It was so hot but it was pretty amazing from the top.  There was a lady running the stairs to the top and I think she was crazy!

Overall it was pretty cool but the heat definitely detracted from the experience.  Everyone was happy when we finally left.

Hannibal and the Confluence

Greg and I couldn't resist the chance to see the birthplace of Mark Twain so we visited the Samuel Clements museum and his childhood home, as well as the homes of Becky Thatcher and Huckleberry Finn.  I had required the kids to listen or read at least one of Twain's short stories but other than that they hadn't had much exposure to his work - they still loved it.  There were quotes all over the displays in his childhood home and I wish I would have taken pictures of some of them because I was snickering the whole time.  Such a gift with words.

Here they are by a river boat and painting the fence ( I told Andrew not to get any ideas).

 Tom and a Becky who's eyes were a little sensitive to light.

We also got to go through the Mark Twain caves.  Our tour guide was awesome and we had a blast walking through the dark caves.  I was horrified to think of little kids playing in those caves with nothing more than candles and lanterns.  It was a cool 50 degrees in the caves - a nice break from the stifling humidity.

Greg and I had such a hard time keeping this road trip to only a week - so many cool things to see.  We had really wanted to go see Springfield but couldn't fit it in, next time I guess.  We had a bit of a drive that night to get to Saint Louis area but as we were driving that I realized we would be going right past the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers.  I decided I had to see it.  I started looking for how to get to the best spot and started using the word confluence in every sentence I possibly could.  What a great word.  The kids were getting antsy and bickering a lot and  it would seam that looking for the confluence (and my silly enthusiasm) was getting on their nerves.  However, by the time we got there the silliness had caught on and everyone (except Kate) was super excited to see the now famous confluence.  My kids think I'm weird but I love the moments when I can just be silly and get them laughing - need to do it more often.