Updates

I can explain. I got a new computer. Really! I still haven't tried uploading photos from my pc to my new laptop or from my camera to the laptop. So, I'm lame.

Here's a bullet point rundown of what's new:

• got a new laptop...a mac! I have coveted one forever. It's secondhand and I got a great deal on it. It's just lovely.
• Saturday, we got a limo and went wine-tasting. Most of the wines were just so-so, but there were a few gems. All in all, a VERY fun day that ended with us at a waterslide park. I had never been to a waterpark before, but it was so amazingly fun! I felt like a kid!
• Lola showed me a piece of paper on which she had been drawing. My jaw dropped when I saw it! She had drawn a sun and wrote in the middle S-U-N! Holy smokes, I did NOT know she knew how to spell sun! It now hangs out on our fridge door. My little girl is growing up fast!
• Elise has a new hobby. She pretends to be a dog! She will crawl around on all fours, yipping and yapping. Here's the best part: when she gets to you, she starts licking you! It took me a while to piece it all together. I could not figure out for the life of me, why my 19 month old was obsessively licking my pant legs!
• Elise is growing up too. She has started trying to sing songs that are familiar to her, like the ABC song. It's pretty cute.
  
• pictures/video to follow soon!
• I bought the girls each a new pair of shoes. They are identical because Lola just loves wearing the same thing as Elise. The shoes have lights that light up when they walk. This provided Elise with non-stop entertainment for a whole day...she tried to catch the lights as she walked! Too funny!!!
  

Beach Day!

Today was a beach day...it was supposed to be yesterday, but I ended up working on some loose ends that really needed to get tied up. I was getting so much done that I didn't stop until it was too late to go. Lola had a martial arts class at 5:30 and there was no way it would have been worth it to try to go and come back in time. So I promised we could go today instead.

I have a low, low tolerance for the beach. I know I should love it, but I just don't. It's not that it's not fun, it's the hassle. And the sand. Oh, how I don't like the sand everywhere.
Elise is at a tough age right now...she wanted to just run headfirst into the waves and got pissed off everytime I would try to hold her hand or hold her body when the waves would crash in. It didn't help that the lifeguards kept warning us about the rip current every few minutes. I felt like I didn't have enough eyes and hands while we were in the water. I finally convinced the kids that ice cream at home was way more appealing than the beach.
We're planning to go again for a friend's get-together on Saturday too, but this time Dan will be with me and I think the beach we're going to will probably have calmer waters than this today.


Elise the Daredevil

Can I have a bite of your ice cream?

These were taken from inside the car as we were driving alongside the Payette river to Boise. The fog is incredibly dense and just literally sits on top of the river. This was a beautiful drive.

Murray, ID

We had a short stay in this historic mining town. This was once a booming hotspot and now it's almost a ghost town. The Sprag Pole restaurant has decent food (um, minus the coffee...pretty much undrinkable) and the museum is pretty extensive, you'd be surprised.

I didn't think I would find mining history interesting, but I have to admit, I was fascinated. I was especially fascinated with one of it's more famous residents, Molly B'Damn.

ahem...more pics....

I am really trying to give you all the "short" version of our trip and trying to pick out the best photos that represent different aspects, but I really could not pass up showing you what we got to look at every day. It's just too awesome. I must have taken about 50 photos that were just of trees, mountains and rivers. And it was pretty cool to imagine early explorers and their expeditions, like Lewis & Clark. This area is surprisingly still relatively unspoiled.



This was a gorgeous mountain pass, only a few miles from Montana.


Dan and his cousin Matt, enjoying the views.

More trip pics

4th of July...our friend's parents have a condo overlooking the Coeur D'Alene lake. They take their fireworks display pretty seriously. They were truly spectacular. I'm not usually very into the whole fireworks thing, but these were really fun and the kids loved them. Although, Elise fell asleep before the grand finale.


This was our first day at the camp site. The river is unusually high because of the very long winter they experienced this year. Typically, this spot on the river is very shallow and the kids can play in the rocks.


One benefit of all the flooding were these neat little sand lots that were left behind. Lola is playing with her cousin Noah here.


A frog!!! The highlight of the camping portion of our trip.


Sharing the frog. I totally forget what they named it. It was cute, whatever it was.

New and Improved Trip Blog

The kids digging for bugs...


Nice views


Elise was pretty happy to run around endlessly


Lola with her cousin Myria



hmm. Do you think Lola knew I was taking a picture???

Idaho trip, part deux

Tomorrow we begin the second leg of our trip...we are driving south and we are told it's a beautiful drive, albeit somewhat dangerous in parts. I have soooo much to blog about this trip, but I really wanted to do it with the related photos, so, as a result, I've been mum about the whole thing. I forgot my camera cord so no photos until we get back.
In short, we got here, then spent 3 days visiting the resort (of which we are proud owners of a waterfront lot that is totally undeveloped because the economy bombed on us) and stayed in a lovely little condo. Next up, camping in the mountains. We had campers to sleep in so it wasn't so "roughin' it"....running water, etc...The folks we camped with do it every weekend and they do it BIG. They busted out the karaoke machine once the young'uns were asleep, tummies filled with s'mores, then things got really interesting!
More fun days followed...picnicking, strawberry-picking, visiting family, etc. The kids are in heaven because there is, no joke, a trampoline in every other yard here, plus the grammas and aunties are all slipping them popsicles and gummi bears. I'm trying hard to just look the other way, while I cringe inwardly.

more after our long drive tomorrow....!

Happy 4th, folks

We are having fun up here in northern Idaho. The weather is whacked, but that's ok. Today, it looks like rain and we're secretly happy about that because it's been super hot and muggy up until now. I have tons of photos of our girls, deliriously happy playing with their big ol' pile of cousins. But, of course, I forgot my camera cord to upload any photos, so that will all have to wait till we get back. We'll be in the north for a few more days, then head south near Boise. We miss our friends, but we're having fun!