Vacation Part 1-Twin Falls Idaho

I have so many pictures and so much to say that I plan to split our vacation into two posts.

The Thursday before we left I planned to finish up packing. I had already done a lot and just needed to do some last minute things. Needless to say it did not turn out that way. Eli dislocated his elbow and had to have that fixed so my plans got pushed behind. I was so worried it was broken but thankfully it was not. We would be boating the entire following week and I had no idea how to deal with a cast if I was going to have to.

I finally got all the packing done. We got up at 3:30 our time to make our plane trip flying out of Detroit. Eli got a special bag with special things just for our trip on the airplane. He picked it out and it was cars. He was so excited to go on the airplane and as we waited to board told Anthony all about them.

As we were boarding the plane the sun was coming up and it was beautiful.

We flew from Detroit to Denver. All of us slept that flight for most of the way and it was about 3 hours. It felt great. We had a short layover and then were on our way to Boise where we got a rental car and made our way to Twin Falls.

At this point I think we were all sick of being in tight confined spaces. It took us about 2 hours and I was about ready to go crazy. Lilliana was not a happy camper and just cried and cried for the last few minutes. We went to visit my parents first at their new building they just built for their business. I had not seen it yet but had heard a lot about it. It was wonderful. I am so proud of my parents. It is amazing what they have built from that little lathe in our tiny garage some 10 years ago. I am not sure exactly but I think I was around 15 or maybe younger when they started the business.

We all worked at the business at one point or another so it brought back some memories. Needless to say it was never my favorite job but I did learn a lot. They own a machine shop. My dad is a big perfectionist and because of that it has made him a great machinist and very successful. My mom runs the office and whatever else my dad needs which has included in the past some machine work. We have all learned a little bit.

Eli got on his safety goggles so my mom could give us a tour.


Then he grabbed grandma's hand and away we went.


He even got to "drive" the forklift.


Lilliana enjoyed being held by grandma. She usually cries but was surprisingly ok with it. She sat with her while grandma finished her last minute things before she was to leave for a week of vacation with us to the river.=

Grandma then closed up the safe with Eli. He was fascinated with it and had to help her.


After visiting my parents we then made the trip another 20 minutes to see my grandparents as we would be staying the night with them. At this point I was going crazy in the car as Lilliana was just screaming. She is not nearly as great of a traveler as Eli was. He was always so good. She also was teething and little did we know two little teeth would pop through two days later and 2 more would be on the way along with 2 other ones beginning to come in.

My grandparents had just built their house and done a lot of landscaping. I love them dearly and I could not wait to see them. When we got there we just relaxed for a while. Eli played with the dogs and sat with them. He also played with some cars that my grandma had gotten him.

Eli loves dogs and their poor dog was mauled by Eli.

I went out and looked at all my grandparent's landscaping. They have barely lived in the house a year and it looks like they have lived there for years with all the work they have done. Sometimes I wish they would slow down because I worry for their health but I know it keeps them going.

Then we enjoyed a wonderful dinner. Eli is so picky but grandma got him to eat. She would say, "its delicious!" Then Eli would say it too. It was too cute. Grandma had also made us pound cake with strawberries. It was soo good. Eli loved it too.


After dinner my grandpa gave me an old film camera. I was so excited to get it. He ended up giving me another one and three lenses total. I had fun playing with it and am excited to use them more. I know it will really help with exposure and learning plus they are great decorating pieces.


Then we put the kids to bed and I had some fun photographing the sunset. Idaho is beautiful and I never really realized that until I moved away. I just took it for granted as I grew up there and saw it all the time. I love that you can see for miles and miles. There are no trees to block your view and it is great. It makes for some great views. My grandparents live out in the country now and it was perfect. I watched a storm blow in.....


....and then I watched the sun set........

We visited with my grandparents and then Anthony and I went for a drive.


We went for a drive because for our rental car they gave us a burnt orange Charger. It was great to get out and sadly we could not even get a burn out in the car but we had a great drive. We saw an owl and watched the moon rise.


The car was great. I would never buy one but it got us into some trouble....more on that later. It was great to enjoy some time together though. Then it was bed time!

Sadly, I was up at the crack of dawn because Lilliana was on Michigan time not Idaho time. It ended up working out though because I was able to get some great pictures of the sun rise.

At one point the clouds has such a pretty purple hue. I miss that here in Michigan. There is nothing like a good desert sunrise and sunset...


Finally everybody woke up and Grandma cuddled with the kids then Grandpa took Eli to go get the paper. Eli thought that was the coolest thing.
Then Eli got to ride Grandpa's new lawn tractor. It is a lot like his and he thought that was the coolest thing.
Soon it was time to tell them good bye as we were on our way to see our my other Grandma.

We went and had Chinese with my Grandma Gloria, Aunt, two cousins, and sister Tosha along with her husband and Isaac. It was a lot of us but fun to see everybody. Chloe and Eli had a blast together and my cousins Olyssa and Gunner enjoyed them too.

It was so good to see my Grandma Gloria. I know she misses us a lot as we miss her. I always enjoy being around my Aunt too so it was just a good time all around. We went to the local college to take some pictures.

Eli just grabbed Isaac's hand like it was nothing and walked with he and Chloe. It was so cute. He is so not shy and loves everybody.......
The kids played in the fountain. Eli of course had to get into it. Silly boy was stepping on the ledge and fell in.


After visiting them it was time to head to the river. Stay tuned for the next part of our vacation.............

Birds, Bees, Frogs, and a couple of Kids

I for some reason was exhausted today. The kids seem to be too as they were very low key today.

Eli wanted to go outside today so we went out. At first he wanted to do bubbles but decided chalk was his choice of play. So away we went to play with chalk.
All he seemed to want to do was count and stack them which was fine we worked on counting.

Lilliana was content to watch her brother and the cars go by with that silly finger that has been in her mouth since birth it seems

I should add that that dress is a 12 month dress!!! Although I do question the size I still can't believe it fits her.

We also have pumpkins growing in the cracks of our sidewalks.


Eli decided that he would move it to another crack. I was going to have to pull it at one point but was interested to see how big it would get.


I took some pictures of some bees. We also have a huge pine tree next to us and I realized today most of the birds live in it. I walked over and they all got super mad and went crazy. I saw bluejays, doves, cardinals, robins, and some other ones. The two doves were in the backyard. I did not have my telephoto on just my prime lens so this was the best picture I could get.



Eli decided to start being a goon. He is talented.


He is just hilarious and been doing some funny things. You know that picture you see of the kid sharing his ice cream with the dog? Well Eli had a moment like that today. He was eating lunch and had his spoon in his yogurt eating and then his other hand was dipping into it feeding it to Kenya. I failed to get a picture only because it was at the table and I had already told him not to do it so I did not want him to be ok but it was a brilliant thought after the fact. Lilliana of course fell asleep while I was getting lunch.


We all took a much needed nap. Anthony was able to get home early tonight so he helped with dinner. It was so nice. He found a baby toad outside so I went and took some photos of it.

All in all it was a pretty boring day. I did get a lot done including some more baby food and my car cleaned but other than that nothing too exciting. This next week will be super busy but I am looking forward to it.

I just have to advertise for a friend of mine. She just recently got an embroidery machine and I wanted some cute bibs. Lilliana drools a lot so I wanted something that was not the typical in the store look. So she made me some and they turned out great. You can check out her Facebook page here. She makes some great things but I am partial to these. So thank you so much Jessi! I think these will be a hit!