Yellowstone Park

As soon as Erich got back from his 2 week detail in Texas we loaded up and headed out for a family vacation to Yellowstone National Park and Helena, MT where we spent a very fun few days hanging out with my brother and his family. This was Erich's first trip to the Park. We were planning on hiking around a lot but there was so much snow that the hiking was limited--we should have brought our skis not our tennis shoes! On the side of the roads there was still four plus feet of snow in areas. The snow made it beautiful though. Of course we saw lots of animals, primarily buffalo. We even saw a wolf and a grizzly bear.
Jake was very nervous about the geysers. I never thought about geysers being scary but they sure were to Jake. He kept telling them to go to sleep. I was taking a picture of Erich in front of Old Faithful, I thought Jake was right behind me but lo and behold the moment the geyser started he had turned around and high tailed it out of there back to the car. The kid was trucking at a full sprint-- he made it several hundred yards before we were able to catch up to him. Jake is at such a fun age he made the whole trip a whole lot more entertaining. It is just so fun to watch him discover the world for the first time.

Once in Helena we had a great time watching Jake play with his older two cousins. The three boys played their little hearts out, which meant Erich and I could enjoy some time with my brother Chuck and his wife. Nothing beats hanging out with family!!!

All in all it was a very needed and wonderful vacation. I love road trips and even more importantly I love having my husband back!

A big welcome to the sun, but not to the ticks

Since I have been slacking this will be one massive post.

SKIING:
Usually Erich and I cross-country ski because we can take the kids with us. For Valentines day, however we decided to buy ourselves downhill ski tickets. We live close to Sun Valley which is allegedly world class skiing (I am still partial to Discovery, Big Mountain, and Brighton). I was thoroughly impressed with my bargain hunting skills. I found lift tickets for $2 bucks apiece (they are usually $80+ apiece); we left our kids at daycare and headed out for what I thought would be record breaking frugal ski trip. If all had gone as planned it would have been.....but we'll get to that later. It was so awesome to ski without the kids. We couldn't believe it when it only took us five minutes after parking to head up to the mountain (usually it is more like an hour long ordeal getting all the kids and gear ready). It was a super hot day and the skiing was great, the views spectacular, we were feeling good. As the day went on it got hotter and hotter and the snow slushier and slushier. We decided to go to a less traveled route, not such a good idea. The slush was so difficult to navigate through that Erich fell an sliced his ear. So then we became that embarassing couple, you know the ones that have to call in ski patrol. Although Erich being the tough guy that he is did ski down to the bottom of the hill before getting any help. Anyhow after a quick trip to Urgent Care to get Erich's ear stitched up our frugal trip became a little more expensive. Injuries and all, however, it was sure fun to ski together just the two of us. I think this will be a tradition. Maybe next year we will even try teaching Jake.

THE SUN IS OUT
It is finally starting to thaw out here, which means evenings biking and playing in the back yard, and trading in our skis for hiking shoes. Last Saturday we decided to go check out a waterfall. It was pretty spectacular. You walk out to this canyon and look over a giant spring of water (we live over a huge aquifer). You walk down just a mile down the canyon and the spring-fed creek is really moving. There are even impressive waterfalls. The water, since it is spring-fed, has a beautiful blue hue. It would have been all around amazing if I didn't look down and see several ticks crawling up Erich's leg. Usually as soon as I see ticks I run for the car, but I actually finished the hike out before turning around. Thankfully none of the ticks got any bites in us.....Did I mention how much I HATE ticks!!!






FAMILY VACATION
Erich isn't big on vacationing, but each year when he goes to Boise for training he takes us with him. His training this year was this last week. We had LOTS of fun this year. With kids just staying in a hotel, eating yummy breakfasts and playing in the pool is exciting. Add to that the opportunity to go to the big parks, the zoo, the playlands and it is quite a lot of fun. The best part, however, was getting to see some great friends! Jake is still talking about his friends Boston and Jenna!

Sticking around and enjoying town

After a several weekends of road trips we were ready to just stick around home for awhile. So the last month we've explored the area around twin falls--going on a few ski trips, play dates and dinner parties. It's fun Jake is finally at the age where he actually plays WITH kids instead of just BY them. He has a neighbor boy he just adores and always asks for. We had some friends over and they had a riot sliding down the stairs together in a big mosh pile. Jake is also getting into crafts. His favorite are painting and cutting shapes.
McKinley's big accomplishment is learning to sit up on her own. One day she could sit for a few seconds, the next day a few minutes. She was so proud of herself she just sat there and giggled. Those are the moments you just love being a mom! We've started feeding her real food but she hasn't quite figured out how to swallow, she has however mastered the art of spitting it all out!

Why I love Winter

Summer used to be my favorite season until I married Erich. Since Erich is gone so much in the summer fighting fires, winter is when our family really gets to play. The last two weekends we've been on a cabin theme. Last weekend my cousin Chelsea was nice enough to invite us to her in-laws cabin in Island Park. It was a very relaxing winter wonderland trip. I didn't realize just how much snow they get up in Island Park, snow as high as our car. Jake had quite the time following Chelsea and Justin's three little boys around. Aside from the company the highlight was sledding down the hill in kayaks, a fun and different way of sledding. We also made a big hole the boys jumped in...Jake only after much coaxing.



I laughed pretty good when I got this picture. I guess this is what you get when you try and make three little boys pose for a picture!


This weekend we went the more rustic approach. Erich and I are part of a nordic skiing club in town. The club puts up a canvas tent that you can rent to ski into so we backpacked the kids in and head a very fun little family adventure. It was pretty windy and Jake was sure the sound of the wind through the trees was a waterfall...he kept on asking for us to take him to see the waterfall.
It was our first backpacking trip with the two kids and overall it was a very fun time. Since we had to carry our gear down we didn't want to take sleeping bags for the kids so we put them in our down coats instead...I thought they looked pretty cute sleeping that way!

The Pains of Parenthood

We love our little guy but he sure has a lot of personality and it can be hard to contain all his enthusiasm and energy. Unfortunately Erich has the mark to prove that sometimes parenting is painful. He and Jake were playing with Jake's wooden airplane (that his uncle made for him), Jake got a little excited and whopped Erich good in the face busting it open in two places. Of course this was the day or two before we had an appointment for family portraits!

McKinley thankfully is a little less rough on us (unless we are talking about nights of sleep). We've been struggling with tummy time for a month or so and finally today she stayed on her tummy for a whole five minutes without crying...a very exciting moment (yes I know when you are a parent you get excited over little things that are fairly unintersting to the rest of the world but thrilling to you).

Now that the weather is a little nicer we've been able to get out skiing. Although our first skiing trip with both kids was a bit disastrous and very discouraging, we gave it another chance and the kids have been great since. Jake has become quite the little ski instructor telling us to slow down or not fall or to go this way. We took Gauge on his first trip and he loved it!!! On the way up there Jake insisted on holding Gauge...it was pretty funny as Gauge pretty much took over Jake's car seat. Our little boy sure loves his dogs.

Happy Holidays

Christmas was extra magical this year. For the first time Jake got into Christmas songs, Santa clause, and presents. (Well actually Jake liked to talk about Santa clause but not visit Santa clause. We waited in line 45 minutes so Jake could sit on Santa's lap, but when it was our turn Jake SCREAMED and yelled scary, scary!) Nonetheless Jake got what he wanted from Santa a big Thomas the train set. Although I am not sure who has more fun with it, Erich or Jake :) It's a great bonding thing for them.

We spent the holidays in Utah with Erich's family. Erich's one sister has five kids and they really helped get Jake pumped for Christmas. There is nothing like Christmas morning with lots of kids.

Since we had so much family gathered together we blessed McKinley. It's a good thing we had the blessing when we did because she has just about grown out of her dress!

Welcome Winter

I love winter--it means time for skiing and sledding and the years best holidays! To kick off the season Erich and I went to Park City for the ski swap. If you need gear this is the place to go--plus it is a whole new kind of shopping experience. The first night of the swap runs from 8pm to 1 am. People from all over come to this event. We showed up an hour early and the line was already several hundred yards long, people had been camped out in line for hours. It was hard to imagine there would be any gear left by the time we got in but there was plenty. We were quite the spectacle with a month old baby and 2 year old.
Anyhow both Erich and I bought new skate skis which we are really excited to try out--and I don't think we'll have to wait long as the snow has been coming. Last year we thought Twin Falls was just lots warmer than MT or Northern Idaho because we had no snow but we were wrong...we've had snow on the ground for a couple of weeks now and it just keeps on coming!
Anyhow last weekend we got the kids all bundled up and went outside to play. After what seemed like an hour of bundling kids up in snow gear we finally headed out on McKinley's first ski trip. She did great--fell right asleep in her little backpack. And Jake helped us look for a Christmas tree. It's a lot harder having two kids and we didn't make it terribly far but it was fun to get out and start the ski season. I think we will make it a tradition to ski back in the woods to find a tree. (Yes they do have trees in Twin Falls...if you drive far enough up into the hills!)
Anyhow hopefully there will be more winter fun posts coming.

Oh yeah, and one more little detail...our family got even bigger! We, or I should say Erich decided we needed a pointer (a special kind of hunting dog for those unfamiliar with hunting) so we bought a very cute little German Shorthair puppy we named Gauge. I was petrified at first but it has actually been lots of fun. Jake LOVES having a little puppy and puppy loves harassing Jake so it's lots of fun!