Girls' McCall Adventure

We got back from Sun Valley on Sunday and the girls and I left for McCall on Wednesday.  The boys always seem to have father/son campouts with church and with their grandpa and us girls were tired of being left out.  My sister-in-law Georgette decided we should have our own trip.  We crammed Georgette, her two girls, my sister-in-law Kristal, my two girls and I in our van, loaded the bikes on the trailer and drove to McCall.  We had a little - I mean little - cabin available to us within biking distance of Payette Lake.

We spent most of the time at the lake

  running

 

 and posing

 and just

 monkeying around.

 There were even minnows to collect.

These are the loverly ladies I spent the weekend with; Kristal, George and her oldest Julia.  Don't play cards with these ladies.  They may look sweet but they are vicious.  I still have an injury on my wrist from playing a couple hands with them.

All the girls on Michael's side of the family.

 Too tired to find a bed.

Friday morning we woke up bright and early to return to Boise.  It may have been a little too bright and a little too early.

My girls didn't seem to want to wake up.

At the end of it all we decided that we need to have a girl's trip more often.  It was just what we all needed.

Sun Valley

We weren't able to make it to Twin Falls as planned so the next weekend we went to Sun Valley instead.  Our friends, Spencer and Whitney and kids, were able to join us.  We went to have fun but also to say goodbye.  The cabin we stayed at belonged to Michael's grandparents and he has many fond memories of visiting but with all things it couldn't last forever.  It was time for the cabin to move to different hands.  We went up to say goodbye but we also had big plans.  We were going to the Summer Symphony, enjoy Sun Valley's version of Art in the Park, and have a generally enriching time. 

 Instead we did this.

 and this.

and this.

We spent most of the time at the playground.  These are actually about half of the photos we managed to take (Spitney, if you have them, would you send me the pictures you took?).  It was a fun, quick, weekend.  The babies both had colds so no one got nearly as much sleep as they wanted or needed but it was still worth going.

Not According to Plan

I planned on updating the blog today with all our grand adventures.  Friday morning I was going to take the kids and my nieces to the Discovery Center and then lunch at the park.  I would then drive the girls home.  Then Michael, the kids and I would head to Twin Falls.  We would stay with with our friends, Whitney and Spencer a.k.a Spitney, who have four kids of their own.  There was going to be hot dog joy.  There was going to be pictures of kids playing with friends.  Pictures of kids all sprawled out asleep on Spitney's living room floor.  On Saturday, Michael and I were going to get up early and go for a jog, clean up and go to the temple, and then attend the sealing of Michael's friend and former co-worker.  Then we would all play some more and get all caught up.  It was going to be marvelous.  We would stay all day and only return to Boise in time to put the kids to bed.  That was the plan.

Friday morning comes and the fist step in the plan was to head to the Discovery Center while Michael was working.  The kids, my two nieces and I arrived to find the entire area of town blocked off.  There was no way to get to our destination.  A gas line had been broken during construction and they weren't letting anybody near it.  Half an hour later we finally managed to get clear of the traffic mess.  The kids decided it would be okay to go play at the park and eat lunch.  We drove to the park and as I pulled into the parking space Sam promptly puked.  I have a pretty solid stomach but the smell almost made me join in.  I decided to operate on the assumption that he was car sick.  So I pulled everyone out and let them play.  Sam seemed to feel just fine.  During lunch he made it perfectly clear he wasn't.  He puked all over himself, the blanket, and me.  We were all coated with mess.  A lady at the park offered me wipes.  We both quickly realized the mess was more than wipes could handle.  I stripped Sam and wrapped everything in the blanket.  If I could have stripped myself I would have too.  Instead we loaded back in the car and my niece drove while I try to keep from smearing the mess on the car.

When we made it home I finally realized that Twin Falls probably wasn't going to happen so I called to make our excuses, after I showered and dumped everything in the washer.  A little later in the day Grace decided to join the sick party.  Thankfully she managed to mostly make it to the toilet.  I was feeling pretty queasy myself so we ordered Vietnamese take-out.  Found out the hard way that Pho Dac Biet soup has tripe in it.  That didn't help soothe my stomach but Michael said it didn't taste bad.  The rest of the food was good and thankfully the chicken rice noodle soup didn't hold any surprises.   We watched a movie and put everyone to bed, including Aubrey, my niece we hadn't managed to take home yet.  My other niece was rescued by her father.

Our weekend of fun and relaxation dissolved into a weekend of sick and forced relaxation.  Best laid plans, etc.