Coeur d'Alene

We traveled to Idaho way back in July to celebrate aunt Ginny and uncle Stephen's wedding.  We traveled with Nana and Papa and spent the week prior to the wedding in a rental house in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.  The extra help was much appreciated on the plane and during our long layover in Denver.

Our rental house had a big front porch with a swing and was within distance to the beach and a beautiful park and playground.

In preparation for the wedding we did some alterations on Ginny's wedding dress, put the finishing touches on the wedding decorations and headed out to get our nails done.  Sylvia was a very happy to join us as the flower girl.

A Thursday morning rehearsal was followed by a brunch at the golf course overlooking the floating green.  The weather was beautiful and our evening was free to celebrate the 4th of July by watching fireworks over the lake.

The wedding site had a playground so the kids occupied themselves between family pictures and the service.  It was a little tricky to keep them clean but we weren't too worried.  Sylvia found a plastic ring from a previous wedding and wore it all evening.

Sylvia was very proud to be the flower girl.  Eric enjoyed rehearsing his role as ring bearer but could have skipped the actual service.  He got a little nervous, shed some tears and walked down the aisle with daddy.  It was a beautiful event and we are so pleased to have Stephen as a part of our family.

The highlights of the reception (at least for our kids) were the cupcakes, dancing and sparklers. 

Our family of five did some sight seeing on Saturday.  We took a mine tour and rode a gondola to the top of a mountain.  Dan took the Sylvia and Eric (separately) on a ski lift a little higher up the mountain and Sylvia got to go for a mountain hike like she'd been hoping to do.  

We were all tired out from a great week and are thankful for all the memories.

Niabi Zoo

We started the summer off with a trip to the Niabi Zoo with the DeWaards and the Seatons.  This is one of our favorite summer activities.

Drake stayed in the stroller most of the time but still got a good view of all the animals.

Sylvia and her friend Adrian.  These two love spending time together.

You can now feed the giraffes at the zoo (if you buy the zoo's lettuce).  

Sylvia had been talking a lot about tortoises so daddy told her to see if there were any at the zoo.

The petting zoo is always a favorite.

This guy stopped to watch the train almost every time it went by.

It was finally his turn to ride it.  I used my leg as a seatbelt.

Sylvia is grown up and riding the train with her friends Grayson and Kalea.

Sylvia was excited to pet one of the wild animals.

SonWest Roundup

We spent a week at SonWest Roundup for Vacation Bible School this summer.  My friend, Jessica, and I taught one of the kindergarten classes.  We had a big group this year but made the most of it.  It was fun to be with Sylvia and some of her friends for the week.

My little cowboy.  I found this shirt at Goodwill a few days before Bible School started.

Great Nana stopped by for a visit and took a wagon ride around the church.

The kids got to try on clothes from other countries while learning about Parkview's global workers.

Sylvia's cousin was in her class for the week.

Music time is always one of Sylvia's favorite parts of VBS.  The kids also go to snack, craft and rec time during the morning along with classroom time where the Bible story and daily verses are taught.

Bible School is always a fun but exhausting week.  All four of us had a great time.

Jessica and I attempted to get a picture of our families before finishing out the week.

Bloomington Cousins

After a few months of talking about a trip we started the summer off with a trip to visit our Bloomington cousins.  It was so nice to spend the weekend catching up with family.

Eric and his cousin who is 8 days younger than him.
It's entertaining to watch two 3-year-olds sword fight.

Drake and his cousin who is 19 days younger than him.
Drake is quite a bit bigger so I don't think he was actually being pushed here.

Sylvia and her cousin who is 3 months older than her.
These two still enjoy spending time together as they get older.

Eating meals outside made for less clean-up on our part.
Eight of these 9 children slept in the same room...and they actually slept!

We had beautiful weather for our weekend and spent lots of time outside.

The older boys enjoyed having uncle Dan around to play with.

Flooding

There was hint of flooding this summer but it didn't end the same as 2008.  It was odd to watch the water rise and know that we would not be nearly as directly affected by a flood this year.  Our neighbors on Eastmoor packed up their houses in preparation and I'm sure the preschool staff were making plans if necessary.  We just got to drive around and take pictures this time around and thankfully the water didn't end up going over the spillway.

Grandma and Grandpa went for a hike with us on Woodpecker Trail to see how high the water had gotten.  It was covering part of the trail at one point.  Sylvia noticed the change since her spring field trip with preschool.

We also took a field trip of our own out to the dam.  We checked out the outlet from a couple of different views.  Sylvia really wanted to go right down by it so daddy took her on a ramble down the rocks.

The water was also rising at church so we stopped by there.  They were in the process of building a berm and the kids loved all the machinery.  We were able to let them get pretty close by playing on the church playground for a bit (which is fenced in).