The rest of the Vacation

 I have my sister Vera to thank for these pictures.  I am not good at getting my camera out.  Keagan  had Thursday and Friday off of school for Parent Teacher conference so we headed down to my parents house Thursday morning.  We had a lot of fun visiting with family and enjoying the small town life.

On Friday afternoon we went out to the gun range for shooting and rhino rides.  Here is a fence that is made out of the railroad lines.  I was helping Keagan walk along it, he was kind of scared and I can see why. 

Andrew decided to show off his balancing skills. 

The trains go right behind my parents house.  The kids all love running to the back door to see the trains as they come through. 

My sister Vera had built this cool toy kitchen for my sister Jeanette's girls.  All the kids had a great time playing with it.  Deker even told me yesterday (over a week later) that he really wants a toy kitchen like the one Vera made. 

Grandma taking a turn giving the rhino rides.

Keagan and Bauer playing Angry Birds with their cousin Tyler.

There is a burger place called J&J's that I love to go to and get Piccadilly chips.  While there, Andrew decided to try on Deker's jackets.  If you know Tommy Boy you know what is going through my head. 

On one of our walks, a train was passing by, you can see the really fun Train Depot behind it. 

We had so much fun on our trip, unfortunately our trip home wasn't quite a great.  All three boys ended up getting the flu on the way home.  It started with Keagan about 2 hours into our 8 hour trip home.  Bauer joined him a little later and Deker joined in about 2 1/2 hours from home.  After a turning around 10 miles out of the town we left to get bowls and disinfectant spray with a powerful scent and 17 stops to clean up throw-up and/or rinse out those bowls we went back to get.  Our 8 hour drive took us 12 hours and all we did for dinner for Andrew and I (none of the boys were in any shape to eat) was to go through a drive through in Twin Falls.  But at least Andrew kept up a good attitude and kept laughing so that I didn't get too upset about it all. 

Park to Park Pedal

October 13 was the 2nd annual Park to Park Pedal Extreme.  It is a 100 mile bike ride in Southern Nevada (goes right through my hometown at mile 3) and it goes through 4 state Park.  It is a pretty hard one because there are a lot of hills/mountain to climb.  The start and finish is in Kershaw Ryan State Park which is just a few miles from my parents house.  They also have a 40 mile Double Helix which takes us through 2 of the State Parks.  My Dad did it last year and this year 6 of my family members participated.  My Dad, sister Vera and cousin Loren each completed the 100 mile ride and my mom, sister Marie and I did the 40 mile ride.  It was a lot of fun and I am so glad that I was able to do it.

Here are the 6 of us before the ride started.  

They had the riders go out in waves because the 1st mile is down a big hill.  So here we all are lined up at the start line ready to go. 

At mile 3 we actually rode by my parents house so the kids all went outside to cheer us on as we went past. 

Deker and Bauer with their "Go Mom Go" Flags that I made back in June for my first bike ride.

Keagan.

My Mom and I going past the house.

About mile 10.

My boys and one of my sisters twins (the other is behind Bauer) going to our rest stop to cheer us on there.

Mile 20 coming into our rest stop at Cathedral George State Park.

My cute family at the rest stop.

My mom, me and sister Marie after we finished our 40 mile ride.  The mile long hill I told you about at the beginning of our ride, yea we had to climb up it for our last mile.  It was really hard, especially since I had pulled a muscle in my leg within the first 10 miles of my ride and it hurt to climb hills, but I did it!

My Dad coming into the finish.  There is this last little hill to the finish line (you can see it better in the next picture) and all the kids would wait down there and run up with the people they knew.  Here is my Dad with his grandkids running along with him.

 My sister Vera with her nieces and nephews running long.  You can see the hill better here!

The victorious 100 milers My dad, sister Vera and cousin Loren. 

Vera was stretching after her ride and Bauer decided he wanted to stretch with her. 

 

Now, just something for me that I wanted to remember because this is my "journal" as well.  You can read if you want, but you don't have to.  I originally wasn't going to participate because I should have been over half way through my pregnancy.  When I had the miscarriage Andrew kept trying to get me to sign up for it because he knew I needed something else to focus on.  I kept telling him no.  Then when my parents and sister were in town in August for my brothers graduation, we went on the bike ride with Kristen Armstrong for her celebration (you can read about it here.)  That was the first time since the Goldilocks Bike Ride I did in July, that I had gotten on my bike and it reminded me how much I enjoyed riding my bike.  So after that I decided I would do it, but after taking a month off from riding I definitely had to retrain for it.  There were some emotionally challenging times while training.  There was one training ride in particular about 2 weeks before the ride Andrew and I had set out to ride 25-30 miles, but something happened and I emotionally broke down on a particularly hard part of the ride and it hit me that the only reason I was out there was because I wasn't pregnant anymore and I really wanted to be.  I cried while riding for a few miles while Andrew listened to me vent and be sad.  After that happened, we decided to just ride 20 miles and I almost decided not to do the Park to Park Pedal at all.  But I also knew that if I didn't to the Park to Park Pedal I would really regret it.  

Even though it was hard (a little physically, but mostly emotionally), I am so happy that I didn't give up and that I persevered and that I finished it.  I wasn't very fast, but that is OK with me.  I did it and I am proud of myself for accomplishing it.  Now, I really want to get a road bike so that I don't have to use my mountain bike for these rides.  If only I could grow a money tree in my backyard that would produce the almost $1000 I would need to buy one of the lowest entry road bikes. 

Apple Pie, Birthday & Funny Moment

One day when I was cutting up some apples for the boys I thought about our apple peeler/corer/slicer that we have and I remembered that the boys have never seen it.  So next time I was at the store I got extra apples so that we could make apple pie.  The boys had a lot of fun taking turns turning the handle and cutting the apples.   Andrew took a long peel and and started eating it so the boys joined in the fun.  The pie was too yummy and I didn't take a picture of the finished product. 

Keagan enjoying his peel.

 Deker and Bauer enjoying their peel. 

I hope Deker isn't going to hate me for putting this picture up, but it is too funny not to post.  One day Deker and Bauer had this Buzz Lightyear computer thing downstairs and were playing with it a lot.  Then as I was walking down the hallway, I happened to look over and saw this picture:

I immediately had to run and get the camera to capture this priceless moment. 

A couple of weeks ago was Andrew's birthday.  We were actually going to be in Nevada for his actual birthday (I was participating in the Park to Park Pedal the day after his birthday, more to come on that later).  So the day before we left we went out to dinner and gave him his present (a Jigsaw per his request).  Funny story about the present, a week before his birthday I took Deker and Bauer to Home Depot to purchase this jigsaw.  Then the next day we needed to go to Home Depot again with Andrew to get some wood for a project.  As we were pulling into the parking lot I hear Deker say "I am not going to tell him what we got".  I said sshh Deker don't say anything.  Then as we walk into Home Depot Deker says "I am not going to tell Dad what we got here" and told him not to say anything and he says "But I didn't tell him what we got here."  Then as we walked by the tools he pointed to the tools said "I am not going to tell him that is where we got it."  By this time Andrew knows exactly what we got him and I said something and Deker said "But I didn't tell him what we got!"

When were were down in Caliente, on the day of his birthday we sang Happy Birthday and had cake with all that were there.  We made this Snickers Cake that one of my sisters posted about on Smithalicious.  It was so good.  Now, though, Bauer's favorite song is "Happy Daddy" and wants to sing it All the time. 

Happy Birthday, Andrew, thank you for being such a wonderful husband and father!

Museum Comes to Life

Back in September the Idaho Historical Museum did a "Museum Comes to Life" day where they have lots of stuff you can do or see made.  Our good friends, the Moss' told us about it so we all went down.  It was so much fun. 

Inside the museum there was this model train that the boys were fascinated with and didn't want to leave.  We saw a whole bunch of old clocks.  There was even a really old time clock and a nice lady helped each boy date and time stamp their own "time cards". 

I didn't get a picture of this one, but there was a guy that was showing how to make paper.  And gave us a paper he made while we watched. 

Outside the museum was this huge Idaho Potato.

There were also some old fire trucks, police cars, ambulance and lots of other things. 

Also outside across the park was this cool water exhibit.  You can't see very much of it, but it was a bathtub with all kinds of faucets and different heights.  The boys really loved playing in this one. 

 Bauer especially loved it and got really wet. 

 There were some old Army cars, tents, etc.  The boys had fun getting in this side car that was attached to a motorcycle. 

  Were were so glad that our friends told us about it and can't wait to go back next year. 

Labor day Weekend

On the Saturday of Labor Day weekend, the City of Boise held their annual Spirit of Boise Balloon Classic.  It actually starts on Wednesday and went through Sunday.  They start inflating the balloon right at Sunrise (around 7:00).  On Saturday I bravely woke the boys up before 6:00 in the morning, got them dressed and grabbed some breakfast on our way downtown.  It was a fairly nice morning (last year was really cold) and the boys had a lot of fun.  I was so glad that I had my camera ready and was able to capture these pictures of the boys being very entranced and in awe of the balloons as they started inflating. 

Bauer pointing to one of the balloons.  I just love the face  he is making. 

Deker.  I love how bright blue his eyes are. 

Keagan looking quite entranced.  When I told the boys on Friday night we were doing this, Keagan told me that his technology teacher would be there.  I didn't think we would see her because there are so many people.  But she was actually a crew member for one of the first balloons we saw as we got into the park.  Keagan said hi to her and she showed them the inside of the basket and how the balloons inflate and what her job is.

The balloons as they started inflated and lifting off. 

I love this picture of all the boys as well. 

The Mickey Mouse balloon.

The Balloon Festival is at a park that has a stream running through it.  So of course on our way back to the car the boys had to play in it with sticks and talk to the ducks that are there.  

As we walked back to our car, Deker walked along the water with a long stick dragging in the water. 

I was really looking forward to Labor Day this year.  With Keagan now in school and Andrew's work schedule, there are very few days that we have an entire day to spend together doing fun stuff as a family so we took this opportunity and went to the zoo.  We packed a lunch as well so that we could take as much time as we wanted. 

Here are the boys in their favorite "hut".

This was the last weekend of the Butterfly exhibit.  It costs and extra dollar to get in, but it was really worth it.  The boys and I went last year, but this was Andrew's first time.  It is always fun to see the different colors of butterflies.

This is one of my favorites.  When the butterfly is open like this, it is this pretty blue color, but the other side of its wings are brown. 

Usually when we are there this huge turtle is just sitting there.  This time, it was quite entertaining to watch.  It was trying to climb up on the wall. 

The birds nest.  I love looking back at other pictures and seeing how the boys have grown. 

Next to the zoo is a rose garden that is free to wander around in.  We decided to go look at the flowers (the boys, of course only cared about the water fountain and going through the different paths.   Here are a few pictures we took of the flowers.

We had such a wonderful day and really enjoyed having a day to spend together as a family.