Idaho

 This is a continuation of the last few posts in an attempt to get caught up. After a fun time in Yellowstone, we headed back to Idaho Falls to visit my parents, sister and her family. Isaac had a blast. He just told me that Peter is his best friend. The weekend we were there, Jill's pediatric practice had a race. They had a fun set up with bounce houses and other good kid stuff prior to the race. Isaac wore himself out before the race even started. Here he is with Peter in this funny bungie cord bounce house thingy. Neither of them had enough weight to them to get very far.

Game faces on and ready to go...

Racing!

 

Here they are at the start of the race. Isaac was having a rough time. So Peter came back after he finished, grabbed Isaac's hand and they finished the race together. It was really awesome, though unfortunately we did not get a picture of it.

Later on we went to a nice little beach on the Snake River. The kids had a blast.

We really enjoyed having dinner outside at my parents' house in the evenings. It was a lot of fun. The kids liked playing in the yard after they ate.

 My grandpa made this little rocking chair a long time ago and I remember sitting in it as a kid. May parents had it reupholstered and now the next generation is enjoying it.

Yellowstone and the Tetons

We had a great trip to Idaho and Utah the first part of August. We started off by heading to the Jackson, Grand Tetons and Yellowstone in a whirlwind tour. It was great and we all had a blast. Our first stop was in Jackson at the visitor's center. Isaac was pretending to be a moose.

The Tetons were amazing. We mostly drove through on our way to Yellowstone, but it was gorgeous.

I have not been to Yellowstone since I was a kid. I loved it then and I think I loved it even more this time. I would have loved to stay much longer. We stayed in a cabin in the park for a night and were hit by a big hail storm that knocked the power out temporarily at dinner time. That was really cool.

The geyser and hot pots were, of course, amazing. We were giddy and happy with the scenery.

The kids loved the boardwalks. I remember that being one of my favorite parts when I went there as a kid. What's not to love?

We saw a lot of buffalo. We also saw some elk and deer. Thankfully we did not see any bears. There was a death while we were there (we saw an ambulance cruise by) and there was another death the month before. Bears are cool, but not up close.

We spent the night at Canyon and went to one of the overlooks. It was spectacular.

This reminds me of Christina's World. Isaac really liked it there. My mom had to totally scare him to keep him from doing dangerously reckless things.

In the morning, my parents watched the kids and Aleks and I took a little hike. We started by heading downs these stairs in to the canyon. It was pretty amazing, but reminded me that I am sometimes a bit skittish about heights. We survived without falling to our death in the canyon. I will have to remind myself of that the next time I am in a similar situation.

The sunrise was amazing, particularly since it had been foggy. 

We had a nice picnic lunch at Old Faithful. I remember many lunches like this as a kid on our road trips: sandwiches, chips, a vinyl table clothe, coleman cooler and some fruit. Tasty! Unfortunately the mosquitoes thought we were tasty.

I love this family picture at Old Faithful. Authentic... 

My parents rented a van so we could travel together. It was a lot of fun.

On our way home we stopped for burgers at a really great place in the middle of no where. There is a yak farm nearby and they do offer yak burgers. The daddy yak started to charge us. We decided that was a good time to leave and get dinner.

Cape Cod

I had a birthday recently and Aleks got some accessories for us. The kids had fun. William did not like the party hat, but he loved the crown he got at daycare and did not want it removed.

 My parents visited us recently and we took a long weekend to visit Cape Cod. It was really nice. Unfortunately we did not take many pictures, except for a nice walk we took the last day. We went cranberry picking in the sand dunes and that was amazing. The kids had a blast and we came back with six gallon bags full of beautiful cranberries. 

Here are some shots from a nice walk we went on the last day. We were pushing up on nap time, so it did not get to last as long as we would have liked.

Isaac and Benny working hard on the sharpening stone used by Native Americans long ago.

These boys had a lot of fun together during the weekend. 

I love the background scenery and the cute boys in the foreground.

We have been trying to get a decent shot of these two together for a long time, but they seldom stay put long enough to do it. Aleks sprinted with the camera to get this one. These boys really like each other. Isaac is really protective of William and gets really, really upset if he thinks William is in danger. He will cry and carry on and sometimes cause William bodily harm in an attempt to keep him from trouble. William is often calling Isaac's name ("Idac") and is trying to do everything that his big brother does. I still think it is funny that these two really look nothing alike and have very different personalities. But it works.

A rare shot of us together. 

Now we have to figure out how to get my parents to come back. We had a really great time and it seemed that they were not here long enough. 

Summer photos

I am way behind. Here are some shots from this summer. We have been having a great summer.

William is getting bigger and bigger and hard to keep up with. He is a happy, happy boy.

Racing through the kitchen in some boxes.

We have been trying to get some more shots of the boys together. Here is one.

We have had some nice rainstorms this summer and the boys LOVE puddles. There are some perks to having an old driveway with potholes. This was on a Sunday after church so the kids were dressed up a bit more than usual. Good thing that Monday is laundry day.

Summer fun

We are having a nice summer and the kids are having fun playing outside. William would live outside, if we let him.

I caught Aleks and William outside having a nice moment together. I really liked this one.





William is really enjoying his newfound ability to climb the stairs. He also is enjoying cars more and more and makes a nice car sound. I really love this age.



Isaac decided to do a little "decorating" outside. Thankfully it's all washable paint.





No one was spared the paint.



We have been trying to teach Isaac about work and tithing. His first big job is to empty the silverware from the dishwasher. He thought it was really fun the first two times, but since then has not been really in to it. Hmmm...



This was really funny to catch. Isaac thought it was fun to feed William. It was only a little messy.

Last weekend we decided to take the kids camping. It really seemed like a great idea. At about 10:30pm when no one was asleep and Isaac kept jumping on me, it really did not seem like a great idea. We had fun, but I am still a bit tired and recovering. I think that the kids are, too.

William discovered my toothbrush, toothpaste and shampoo. He seems to feel a strong need to taste everything. I remind myself that Isaac has gotten over that, so this will not last forever.



While camping we went to a farm and did some cherry picking. It was pretty fun and really delicious. There were farm animals (mostly goats) that the kids liked a lot.





Aleks told Isaac to kiss the goat, and Isaac really took him seriously. Sometimes we forget how literal three year olds are.