Idaho!

 

 

 

For the first weekend that Mike was in India, the boys and I drove to Lava Hot Springs, Idaho to meet Hilerie and her kids.  It was a lovely, long over due visit.  I still can't stop smiling.  

 

I have wanted to do this pose with Hil for so long.  She's bending her knees a bit...but really we're a human totem pole naturally. :)

 

We stayed at the Alpaca Inn, which had Alpacas everywhere. 

This is our door stop -- an Alpaca of course.

 

Even the "art" on the walls was Alapca photographs.  I loved it.  the boys got along SO well. This is after our first trip to the hot pools, while we're doing a bit of relaxing movie watching.

 

This is what we did during meals.  Josh calls Spoons his favorite past time. 

Our first night there we ate pizza at an arcade, and the kids had fun playing games. Emily and Josh battled it out in air hockey. I can't believe how big Emily is getting - she's almost as tall as her mom!

Luke played this Star Wars game several times.

We woke Saturday morning to snow and the boys had to do some funny tricks with it.  Before. Dry....

After. Not dry. Poor Ty had sandals on...what was he thinking?

Ruby got spoiled while we were gone. She spent two nights at Carol's house with Asia, the golden retriever and one day at Emily's house with Cash Michael. They went cross country skiing at Hyalite, and Ruby could not have loved it more!

India?

Mike went to India for a week for work. He went one day early so he could visit the Taj Majal.  He said it was amazing.

The rest of the week was spent in a factory testing transmission line poles until they failed. Boring.  This is the view from his hotel room. He reports that the air tastes terrible. 

The week in pics

Josh LOVES skiing.  He was telling me all about his new class (he moved up a level between sessions) and how much fun they had. He was so animated, I snuck a quick picture before he could stop smiling.

Luke wasn't quite as animated after lessons.  We talked and talked and talked, and colored and had a snack and walked around for 2+ hours while Josh had his lesson. And then Luke fell asleep before we made it out of the Bridger parking lot. 

This is from last Thursday night. This was taken after he showered (hence the bare torso). Poor guy fell asleep while doing his homework! He had a fever and went to the doctor the next day.

 

Luke's class made 100 Day Celebration necklaces out of Fruit Loops.  He begged me to take his picture before we got  home so he could eat the cereal in the car. 

Our little engineer-in-the-making made a tower of his bathroom supplies.  He wass very proud of it and wanted to send the picture to Daddy in India.

Valentine's Day

I brought the kids' presents up to them in Josh's bed.  Spoiled much? They got characters from Guardians of the Galaxy for the Disney Infinity video game, plus some clothes for spring break (which they didn't chose to pose with, odd).  

Then I made them pink heart shaped pancakes for breakfast. Sometimes it's the simple things that are the best .

After breakfast Luke went to his friend True's party. They decorated cookies and played like wild men, it was perfect!  

We walked Ruby home from True's house. He's getting so big -- a boy and his dog.  

Our final Valentine's Day activity was dinner -- "fancy chicken" from kid stir, and roasted root veggies, with cookies for dessert. Lotta love here.

Valentine's Day Parties

Luke's class decorated bags for Valentine's Day. I like Luke's colorful creation. 

They had a fun party where they got to open their Valentines and have a few treats. Luke was hyped up and simply could not sit still for a photo.

Josh was in a similar hyped-up state. 

Haircuts and FroYo

Luke got a haircut last week, and since Cost Cutters is right next to the Frozen Yogurt place, why wouldn't we get a little treat?  Josh's favorite hair cut place is Sports Clip so he can get the MVP treatment with a  massage and all that.  Luke's favorite place is near the froyo place. Are we surprised?

Since dad was out of town we sent him a picture to show him the new 'do.  Luke chose this pose -- the classic ice cream on your nose pose -- for the one to send.  

My Little Scientists

Last week was the science fair.  Luke did a project called Colorful Milk where you add food coloring to milk, then dip some dish soap into the bowl and watch the colors swirl. He loved telling the teachers all about it.  

This is the Judge Teacher and so he saved the entire experiment for her. She was so patient while he dropped all four colors in, then slowly and carefully dipped a q-tip into the soap, and on and on.  He got a blue ribbon.  

We had dinner there, and while we were eating we said something like "nice job on your presentation to the teacher judge, Luke' and he said "yep, I got a blue ribbon hangin'."  

And right next door to Luke was Josh and Gabe's team project of "What GoPro Mounts Can You Make or Modify?"  They focused on finding new and fun ways to use their GoPros that don't rely on using a GoPro mount as it was intended.  Josh came up with some fun ideas.  Ski boot mounts, dog mount (my personal favorite--great view of Ruby's flopping ears!),  swim mount where the swimmer wheres the chest mount on their back, football mount on the football, skateboard mount, nerf gun mount, you get the point. 

Gabe had a fun idea of hooking the GoPro to some string for a zip line mount.  It was so fun to watch these kids use their imagination and science. Josh was in his element - my friend told me that if/when Josh is "finding himself" later in life and asks us what he was super into when he was a kid, we'll mention this.
As we put him to bed that night he said it was his best day of school ever.  Awwww....

Chef Luke

Luke made this desert -- molten lava chocolate cake!  He's a chef for sure! It was delicious. 

Carpenter Crew

The boys were so lucky this weekend -- they got to go to Gabe's new house and build things!  The house is under construction, so it's a kids' dream!  They were told to bring shoes that are Ok getting muddy and a hammer. Hammers double as guns--obviously. 

This is what I got when I asked them to "smile nice" for me.  Josh is a bit threatening, but at least he's smiling. I'll take it. 

Sunday they were more prepared. They brought a wagon with plywood, nails and their hammers.  They were in heaven!