Jellystone and Camping

We have had a very busy past couple of weeks so I'm going to try and cram it all into one post. Last weekend, the 18th and 19th we went to Nancy's family Ranch near City of Rocks in Idaho for a family reunion. We had a really good time with family and enjoyed some really great food and fun. We ventured out to City of Rocks on Saturday to find a place to rock climb and ended up helping my brother Eric tow their jeep back to the Ranch. All went well though, Travis and Eric were able to fix it, and Eric and Nicky got home just fine. They have been at dental school in Virginia the last four years so it was especially nice to be able to do fun things with them during the Summer months. Here are a few pictures:

Helping set up the tent
Enjoying a sucker by the stream
Uncle Eric in his "house"

This last weekend, Travis had some business in Island Park and we left Tuesday to spend the rest of the week up at the river. My cousin Holly was there with her 2 girls and Brenner had a great time with them. McKenzie is almost 3, and although her and Brenner loved to be together, they tormented each other constantly. Holly and I were on gaurd at all times trying to keep the peace. Uncle Steve built them a little playhouse and they had fun climbing up and down the ladder to the loft.

It's funny because I have been going there since I was pretty much zero, but we never really went anywhere outside of Ashton and "The River" area. It wasn't until a couple of years ago that I actually got to go to Yellowstone and see Old Faithful and the whole deal. So this time we decided to go again, since we heard rumor of a grizzly bear hanging around, and I wanted to be able to tell Brenner that we did visit Old Faithful when he was a little boy. Shocking, he was ornery and slept through most of the drive there so he didn't see the animals we had been telling him about. When we pulled into the parking lot at the Yellowstone Lodge he looked around and wailed "Animals!" Like he knew he had missed them and was really upset. He was quickly soothed with the promise of ice cream, and thoroughly enjoyed a custom built cone of his own.

Brenner and Travis also got the fishing bug and now are both addicts. Travis is now a fly-fisherman, and Brenner has his very own Sponge Bob pole with a bug-looking thing on the end for him to cast and reel in. We had to go buy him his own because Kenz had one and it was a BATTLE. He knows how to share just great, but has a very small amount of patience when it comes to waiting his turn.

Here are some pictures from the trip:

Boise and Stuff

This last weekend we visited my brother and sister in law in Boise ID. We had so much fun and they really spoiled us with good food and great entertainment, not to mention some dental work on the side. Unfortunately I forgot my camera but Nicky sent me some pics that I thought I'd share:
Anyone who knows my brother Eric knows he loves his quaint accessories. He got this hat out to wear that day and Brenner immediately glommed onto it. Of course we all thought it was cute so we had to get a picture.
This is Trav holding their sweet baby girl Eva ("EBA!" as Brenner puts it) and me in the background looking, as usual, like I've had a stroke or some kind of accident.

Nicky got a killer stroller that I lust after. Obviously Brenner likes it too.

We went on a walk one morning and I'm pushing along my umbrella stroller because my jogger has a bent wheel, all the while thinking to myself "Single or double jogger?" because Travis promised me an amazing stroller of my choice. I figure I might as well go with a double, since Brenner can't really ride a bike or anything and I'll probably be toting them both along wherever. But the double seems so HUGE! Right now I'm thinking about the BOB double I saw at REI, it's pretty neat and has a carseat adapter. Any thoughts?

I was thinking today, it's kinda funny how some of us live through our kids. We went to REI because I have been looking at some Keen sandals for Brenner. He has sweaty stinky feet like his sweet Mother, and so his current sandals were getting gross. (At least that was my excuse for the new purchase) Anyway, looking back on it, I think it's funny how excited I was about the shoes when Brenner could care less about what's on his feet, as long as he can still run-a-muck around the store. Every morning I make sure Brenner has a hot breakfast with whole grain, or eggs, fruit, etc. I try to have a very healthy meal for him to start out the day. Then I sit next to him with my bowl of strawberry frosted miniwheats or wheatchex and bananas. Yes I could cook myself some eggs or waffles along with him, but I do enjoy my cereal immensely. I am absurdly buying 3 boxes of the miniwheats at a time, like I'm storing up for the apocalypse or something, but I can't get enough of them! Maybe I enjoy the cereal so much because my Mother believed the same thing as I do: healthy, hot breakfast to start the day. I do so love her so much for that. Hmmm... something to think about.

Holiday

This Fourth of July we went to my family's place on the Snake River. (Actually the Warm River) I went there as a little girl almost every year and now as a little family we really love it. This year, even though there were zillions of man-eating mosquitos, we had a lot of fun. It's a lot different when you have a little savage to chase the whole time, but thank goodness for his Nana, who took naps with him and watched him so I could relax. Travis had been working in Island Park the whole week prior, so Brenner and I were very glad to see him and we spent some time together. Travis cooked some killer dutch oven food, we ate at Trail's Inn, and watched the spectacular Ashton Parade. The good news is I found the charging cord to the camera, but the bad news is that it wasn't charged for the parade. I got some good video though. Brenner was on the verge of getting run over in his efforts to collect saltwater taffy, even though his mean horrible mother only let him have one piece. Good fun. Here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure:

So we had a great trip with no problems. Might I also add how much I love portable DVD players. Brenner watched "wetters" (Letter Factory) about 5 times and knows all the sounds and letters. Thanks Leapfrog! I hope everyone else had a great Fourth!