Virginia Weather

 We had some crazy rainstorms in July.  They were uncharacteristic of the west, but they were so awesome.  They totally reminded me of the rainstorms we had in Virginia.  I had to snap pictures is was so cool.

This storm started out as just rain, a lot of rain.

Then it turned to hail.

I love this shot of the hail in the tree.

And, of course, the best storms end with a rainbow.  I'm so going to miss this view.

The Zoo For The Last Time

 I know I've said this before, but I absolutely LOVE the Idaho Falls zoo.  It's not very large, but I think it's a great size, actually big for a small town zoo.  I am really going to miss it.


After visiting the Potato Museum with Cami and her girls we headed back to the house to visit and catch up.  After about an 30 minutes at the house we decided to leave the kids in the watchful hands of Samantha and Sarah and we headed to Cafe Rio for lunch.  Yummy!  It was so nice to go out without kids.  Thanks Cami.


When we got back the kids were restless and wanted to go do something.  We decided to take them to the zoo.  It was a ton of fun.  The weather was beautiful, there were a number of baby animals, and the kids had friends to hang out with.  It was the perfect outing.

These pelicans were awesome.  They kept trying to eat things out of people's hands, mainly cell phones, sunglasses, and the kids water bottles.

The kids were so excited to see the peacock in all his glory.

Gracie just had to say hi to him.

Love this picture of a baby llama. (Stole it from Cami's blog.)

Petting a big llama.

Ben took a little time to play on the mini playground.

Adam enjoying a little time with the goats even though he couldn't go in.

We let the kids go in the goat cage to pet them.  They were fine at first, but then some of the goats decided to play.

OK maybe they were having a little bit of a fight.

I've seen goats do that on TV, but never in person.  We watched for a little bit and then decided it was probably best to get the kids out.

Of course we had to have a picture on the tiger.  Too bad Cami's oldest, Darin, was at scout camp and couldn't make it.  Ben sure missed him.

Having a drink in the lions mouth is fun, but it's even better 3 at a time (with 1 on top.)

When it was time to see the baby zebra, Gracie wanted a better look, one without the fence in the way.

Hannah and Julia had to get in on the fun.

If you look close you can see the cute baby swans.

The zoo was a lot of fun and we ended the day with a trip to McDonald's to eat and play in the play area.  It was so much fun to see Cami and her girls.  I love the time we get to spend with them.  Thanks for coming up.

Potato Museum, Um Yes Please

So, my great friend Cami decided to come and visit me again in July.  She has been so wonderful to me and is always willing to go on trips up to Idaho Falls to see and play with me.  For the longest time we've talked about going to the Potato Museum in Blackfoot, so, knowing it was our last outing in Idaho Falls before I moved, we decided to go for it.  I met her in Blackfoot on the 14th for a fun filled trip down potato lane.

All the kids in hanging out at the sign in front of the museum.

As cool as the potato museum sounds to everyone, I must admit I didn't think there'd be many people lined up to learn about potatoes in the middle of July.  To my surprise when we drove up there were 2 senior citizen tour buses already in the museum enjoying everything potato.  It was a little crowded, but we didn't mind too much.  Besides all the old ladies loved looking at and commenting about my cute little boys.  I'll take that any day.

The museum was small which was perfect for the kids, less boredom.  It featured many wonderful potato items from the largest potato chip in the world, to old farm equipment, to a large collection of Mr. Potato Heads.  What more could you want in a potato museum.

Julia, Cami's daughter, looking at the worlds largest potato chip.  Yuck, I mean Yummy!  (I didn't get a picture of this with my camera so I stole this one from Cami's blog.  Thanks Cami.)

Gracie ready to sort potatoes a long time ago.  Show us how it's done Gracie!

Ben and Hannah smiling by some kind of old farm equipment.

Ben wanted a picture of himself sitting on the Spudnik.  I'm not sure he was suppose to be up there, but there were no signs saying not to, so we went for it. . .  quickly.

Then, of course, Gracie had to have a turn.

Dan wanted a turn too, but he wasn't too sure about it once he got up there.

Sarah and Samantha being willing to let me take their picture, well kind of willing.

Gracie checking out the Mr. Potato Head collection.

After seeing all that was inside, we let the kids go play on the old train car next to the museum.  They had a blast climbing all over the thing and pretending to drive it.  Ohh to be a kid again.

Most of the kids 'posing' for a picture on the train car.

Even Dan had fun climbing on the train.

Hannah having fun on the train.

Beating The Heat

This is one happy baby.

There was something wrong with our furnace/AC in our house so for the last part of the winter and we had no heat and the we had no AC in the summer.  For the most part it wasn't a problem.  In the winter the kids had little heaters they used in their rooms downstairs and the fireplace still worked upstairs.  In the summer it took awhile for the heat to set in.  The first part of July it started getting HOT.  There were days the temperature in the house would reach 91 and we were all roasting (even the downstairs didn't cool us down.)  Dan and Adam's room was in the front of the house so they would get the afternoon heat.  I felt so bad for them.  We had one fan in the house and the boys quickly learned to love the fan, especially Adam.

He LOVED sitting in front of the fan.  What a cutie!

Fireworks

We did the fireworks quickly this time and I must say, with a bunch of little kids in tow, it was the perfect way to see them.  We arrived down at the Greenway just before dark, had a little birthday cake thingy for Dan, and then watched the fireworks.  We were able to get a pretty good seat and the kids were so excited.  Too bad the fireworks lasted too long.  I loved it, but about 3/4 of the way into them all the kids were bored and wanted to go home. Really!  My kids are so weird.  I guess I'll have to work on that.

Gracie enjoying the show.

Fireworks!  Pretty!

Sarah and I watching the fireworks.  Adam enjoyed them as long as someone was holding him.

Because the kids weren't too interested in watching the fireworks, we decided to pack up and be ready to leave just at the end.  It's amazing the difference it made.  We had very little traffic problems and were able to get home in record time.  All was going so well until about 5 minutes from the house when Kenny realized he no longer had his phone.  He was sure he had it at the fireworks so, he dropped us off at the house and I put the kids to bed while he went back to look for it.  Amazingly enough he found the phone, unharmed, right where we had been sitting.  It must have fallen out of his pocket or something.  We were so happy to have it back and though the kids claimed boredom during the fireworks show, they all loved it and want to go next year.

Dan's (Other) Cake

The cake from Walmart.   Had a rough ride to the fireworks.  :)

Because it was the 4th of July when we celebrated Dan's birthday, we decided to take his cake to the fireworks.  Life's been so crazy lately with Kenny being gone and the uncertainty of everything that I just decided this year to forgo making the cake and go ahead and buy one at the store.  It was a hard decision, I don't know why I care so much about the cake, but I think it was best for me (and everyone else.)

We didn't want to sit and wait for the fireworks forever because we knew the kids wouldn't enjoy that so we purposely went late to the fireworks.  We still managed to get a good seat, but it didn't leave us much time for Dan's cake.  We sang to him, he blew out the candles, and everyone took about 3 bites before the fireworks began.  It turned out to be just enough time and a lot of fun for the birthday boy.

Dan couldn't wait to blow out the candles so he started picking at the frosting with his fingers.

Blowing out his 2 candles.

Gracie enjoying her cake bites.

Cute little Hannah eating cake.

A great picture of Sarah enjoying her cake.  :)   I think I caught her off guard.

Presents For Dan (Finally)

We finally got around to having Dan's party on July 4th.  Kenny got home from Washington on the 1st, but Dan wasn't feeling really well so we decided to wait on his party.  Finally, on the 4th, we decided to have the party whether he has feeling good or not.  As you can see in the pictures, he wasn't feeling the best, but hopefully he enjoyed it anyway.

Dan with his gifts.  We're such bad parents this year, we didn't even bother to wrap them.  Sorry Dan!

Daddy helping Dan open his tunnel.

Dan liking his tunnel, but not quite sure what to do with it.

Adam showing Dan how to use the tunnel.

Now he gets it and enjoys it.

Dan was very interested in his water toy until Ben wanted to be "helpful" and squirted Dan with the ball.

This is what Dan thought of that.  Poor kid!

Adam (on the other hand) LOVED the new toy.  Then again, he LOVES water of any kind.

Daddy trying to help Dan learn to love is toy.

That wasn't too successful.  He really just wanted to play in his tunnel.

The other kids, on the other hand, loved the new toy.

Dan and Gracie enjoying some Chicken in a Bisket while the other kids played with the water ball.

I'm happy to report that after Dan got some sleep and became less grumpy he actually did enjoy his water ball.  The tunnel has been a huge hit and he even plays with his cars.  So even though the opening of the presents didn't go so well, they were good choices for him.  Man I love this little guy.