Vacation 2013: BOISE

Well Hello!

I'm glad you came back.  You wanna check out some pictures from our Boise Vacation?

Here we are making the NINE HOUR voyage back to the great state of Idaho.

Check it out...I took a picture from the car as we zoomed by the "Welcome to IDAHO" sign.  It turns out I inadvertently took a picture of a family posing for their own picture by the sign.  Awesomely Random!

Our time at Grandma Jan and Grandpa Michael's house was full of sweet cousins.

Madison and Crisstopher sandwiched in between Tyler and Lauren.

Everyone playing their own screen-time of course.

Lauren and Madison pose as mermaids in front of the Idaho Aquarium.

This place was great!

We got to feed the fish.  They ate the food right out of our hands.

Karate chopping the fish was not encouraged but Crisstopher didn't get the memo.

(one of the only pictures I have that includes Grandma Jan (aka Granny Junior)...next year I'll do better)

They also had a bird exhibit and everyone got to feed them.  The birds would land on shoulders and arms and anything else to get close to their nectar.

The weather was absolutely perfect our entire trip.

We took advantage of the glorious temps and visited the Roaring Springs Water Park.

Madison, Lauren, and Tyler

We had a blast!

The WAVE POOL!

surf's up!

Lauren and Tyler both went down this monster slide.

Daddy and Tyler braved this back-and-forth

This one required you to swim after splash landing.

Only Lauren was brave enough for this.

 Everyone was game for the lazy river.

Lauren, Matt, Tyler, and Madison

Grandpa Michael and Crisstopher

While Madison wears her friendly out-going personality on her sleeve, Crisstopher is a bit slow to warm up.  He'll be shy for a few minutes but eventually his spunky fun-loving side comes out.

checking things out

joining right in

Love These Kids!

(remember three years ago?)

2010

As always our time in Boise is way too short.

We have some ideas for next year to make it longer.

In the mean time stay tuned for the final Vacation 2013 post.

We're heading to Garden Valley, Idaho.

Vacation 2013: OREGON

Well Hello!

How've you been?

We've been on a jam packed two-week vacation visiting family and having fun.

Wanna check out my photos with me?

We took a late flight out.

The first part of our vacation was set in Oregon.

(Idaho was our second destination.)

It was cheaper, however, to fly into Idaho than Eugene or Portland so we flew into Boise, spent the night with G'ma Jan and G'pa Michael and then drove NINE HOURS to Grammy's house in Oregon.

(Huge THANKS to Grandpa Michael for letting us borrow his car!!)

We stopped at Sahalie Falls on our way.  

Supporting Brad's Car Tunes (my tank top) at the Falls

Once we made it to Grammy's house we were on the go-go-go.

Our friends hosted a cook-out (BBQ) for us, Grammy and G.G. (Grandma Great) hosted a family gathering and I got to see some dear old friends. Unfortunately I have no pictures of the aforementioned. 

Of course I have pictures of our traditional visit to the Enchanted Forest.

The kids' favorite: The Crooked House

This year they were brave enough for the Haunted House.

I have not been yet but they told me it was pretty scary.

with Grammy

Ice-cream makes him crazy.

Back at Grammy's house we enjoyed Voodoo Donuts!  They have a shop in Eugene now.

the fruit-loop

We spent a lot of time with my brother Kevin, his wife Mili, and their son, Patrick along with my baby brother Brian (still a baby at 27.)
Obviously, the only one to be photographed was little Patrick.
He's the cutest thing and already bilingual.
Ask him to count to ten and you'll hear:
uno, dos, tres, four, five, six, siete, ocho, nine, ten

Here we are at the Oregon Coast.

Grammy has a house in Lincoln City so we always try to spend a few days there when we are in town.

(don't worry, the orange sweatshirt is NOT Oregon State...it's Boise State...conveniently left by Matt's sister & husband when they stayed at the beach house.)

It was freezing *arse* cold but the kiddos still dipped their toes in Pacific.

One can't ask for a prettier day at the Oregon coast.  Not a cloud in sight.  However, the sustained wind was straight out of Alaska.  No Joke!

Patrick didn't seem to mind though.

Sea Lions in Newport

(the veteran sunbathers wouldn't let the new guy get up on the pier)

watching some crazy people surfing in full body wet-suits

natural brother and sister love

(I neither confirm nor deny that anyone was threatened and/or bribed for this photo.)

Four Generations

(I'm the giant)

Vacation 2013: Oregon was a success.

It went by way too fast but it was wonderful to see everyone again.

(stay tuned for Vacation 2013: Boise, Idaho and also Vacation 2013: Garden Valley, Idaho)

SERIOUS Yard Work

We are still in the process of clearing out part of the backyard.

Previously, Matt had trimmed the lower branches from many of the trees out back.

This weekend he rented a Bush Hog and took out the bushes and brush and growth from the ground.

(the mask is to protect from the poison ivy/oak)

(the duct tape is to keep the chiggers away)

Matt, Lauren and Tyler have all experienced chigger bites and let me say I hope they never do again.  Remember L and T's encounter?

Matt worked H-A-R-D.

He rarely rested but when he did it was from pure exhaustion.

The yard looks Amazing.

(the day before the ground was completely covered with 6+ inches of growth.)

 There is a lot more usable space now.

(The angle of the picture (from the 2nd story deck) just doesn't do it justice.)

Well Done WildMan Matt!

A Suite Braves Game

Last week Matt was offered a couple of Braves tickets for the Thursday game against the Toronto Blue Jays.

We are are not ones to turn down any free tickets so we said, "Sweet!"

These tickets were "Suite" indeed!

Suite 17 to be exact.

We had our own balcony to sit outside if we wanted.

Or we could choose an indoor open window seat like Matt did. 

The balcony included its own TV to see playbacks and hear commentary.

Inside the suite there was free food and drink.

Hamburgers, Hot dogs, Chicken Nuggets, Pizza, Veggie trays and Chips and dip

Water, Soda, Beer and Wine to drink.

The weather was perfect but had it been too hot or too cold we could have comfortably watched the game inside the suite's sweet big screen tv.

It was a fun impromptu date night for Matt and I.

To top it off, the Braves won 11-3.

What a sweet, Suite day at at Turner Field.