Cross Country Road Trip, Idaho

We started our Allen Family reunion in Idaho on Wednesday night with dinner, s'mores, and cousin fun while we waited for everyone to show up.  All 6 of my siblings, most of their spouses (except for 2) and all of their children gathered at my brother's house in Idaho Falls.  It was a full house with 14 adults and 18 kids (5 of which were under 2)!   On Thursday we went to Rigby Lake.  The water was FREEZING but the sandy beach was fun, the toys were great, the food was yummy, and you couldn't beat the company!

Celeste obviously enjoyed the sandy beach and food!

There is Lilah enjoying the fun slide!

Some of my sisters and my mom!

The best toy there was the Allen's new kayak.   Calvin had a lot of fun with it and gave his cousins rides.

Cousins!

Friday was the 4th of July.  That morning we went to the parade.  We had a great spot thanks to Jana.  I LOVED the parade - it was exactly what you'd expect from a small, west, conservative town.  After the parade we went back for lunch and an afternoon of bouncy house/water slide fun.  Ross and Jana rented a huge blow up bouncy water slide and it was set up and ready to go when we got back.  That evening we did a few fireworks on the front lawn and then went to watch the big downtown show from afar.  It was fabulous!

There is most of us!

 Various cousin and family shots as we wait for and watch the parade!

A couple of parade shots, to demonstrate why I loved the parade!

 The big, blow up, bouncy slide!

Aunt Nancy and Uncle Marshall were such good sports!  All the cousins LOVE them!

On Saturday Grandma and Grandpa took the whole crew to Bear World.  I have to say I was impressed! The animals were so fun to see but then they had a petting zoo, baby bears, and rides for the kids too.  The kids were in heaven!  They loved it!  That afternoon we went to a local dairy for some delicious ice cream! That night we were sad to say goodbye, but we were off for our next adventure.

Our drive through the park

The whole group

The Petting Zoo

The rides!

Here is Celeste with one of her 'baby friends'.  The five cousins under the age of 2 were her baby friends and she loved them!  I wish I had a picture of her with all them.  This is Addy, the oldest of her baby friends!

As bears!

We drove to Rexburg to see Mike's brother Sean and his family.  They live on a sheep farm in northern Rexburg and make cheese and artisan bread.  On Sunday we went to church and then came home for a relaxing day of visiting and playing.  We had a delicious dinner and dessert.  It was so good to see them and to finally get to see their farm!

Getting re-aquainted with cousin Ginny

 We played with blocks and Legos

Lilah hanging out with the new sheep dogs!

Waiting to eat!

Calvin at the dunes with his Dad and Uncle Sean

On Monday morning we were up bright and early for our drive to Washington.  We decided to take a slightly different route so we go drive by Craters of the Moon.  Unfortunately we took a wrong turn and our slightly different route took us up through the mountains of central ID and added an additional 2 hours to our drive!  I have to say that it was considerably more scenic and much prettier then the normal route - but there are very few places to get gas and no where to get lunch in the mountains of Idaho!

We passed some cowboys herding cows down the highway.  Luckily they posted a card board box sign warning us "cows on road" so we were ready for them (lol, not really)!

Cross Country Road Trip, Driving West

We've been planning our cross country drive for over a year.  We were excited, but quite frankly, a little worried too.  This was either going to be really fun or a complete disaster.  I wasn't sure what to expect...
On our first day we drove from Virginia, to West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana and into Illinois.  It was a long day in the car (14 hours)  but it was so exciting to start our trip!   The kids were so good!  They colored, listened to music, books on tape, watched the countryside change and Calvin started his quest to find all 50 state license plates.  Although it was a bit long, we had an enjoyable day in the car!

Getting gas in western Virginia

Mike stretching his legs

These were our good behavior clothes pins - the kids decorated them!  If they were good, they had 3 clothespins, if they weren't, they lost clothespins.  If you didn't have atleast 2 clothespins when we got to the hotel you lost swimming time!  They worked very well!

On our second day we drove to Carthage, Nauvoo, and then into Iowa.  Spending half a day in the car is much better! 

We watched  video at the visitors center and toured the jail at Carthage.  The window on the left is the one that Joseph Smith fell through.  We didn't take a picture, but I was amazed that they still had the original door with the bullet holes in it.

This is the jail that Joseph, Hyrum and the others should've been in that day.  It's also where they hid John Taylor after he was shot.

Carthage Jail - the 2nd story window on the right is the window Joseph fell out of.

We drove to Nauvoo and right before parking at the temple, Madeline pulled out her tooth!  We loved Nauvoo - the kids had  great time and we loved walking around and enjoying all the sites.

Anna Elise trying to help Madeline with her tooth

The temple!

Some of us were more excited to be there then others =)

Making a family rope

Dressing up and playing pioneer games

We also went to the blacksmiths shop and got prairie diamonds, Brigham Young's house, and learned about candles, bread, and a few other things!

Then we drove through Iowa for the rest of the day.

On our third day we drove through South Dakota.  We took a quick detour and drove through a small portion of the Bad Lands.

 I was surprised that they let us walk and climb all over the rocks.

It was really windy and the rocks were "slippery' and hard to walk on, but it was still really fun!

We saw goats and a ton of little prairie dogs along our way.

We then went to Mt. Rushmore!  It was windy and cold - but so cool!

Posing

Calvin holding up the presidents

Anna Elise trying to pick George Washington's nose

 Madeline squishing George Washington

The kids finally got their nose picking picture at the vending machine in the parking deck.

We stayed in South Dakota that night.  The kids had fun swimming and chilling at the hotel. We made sure that every hotel we stayed at had a swimming pool.  The kids would probably say that was their favorite part of the trip!

Our final day we drove through Wyoming and into Idaho - we made it to Idaho Falls just in time for dinner with part of the Allen clan!

Mountains

Buffalo

Mike smelling the Ponderosa Pines - did you know that their bark smells like vanilla or butterscotch?  I didn't believe him, but we all smelled them and they smell delicious!

The speed limit in parts of Wyoming is 80, but unfortunately not this particular part.  The cop was very nice- it wasn't nearly as bad as it could've been.  I was also impressed at how fast it was- it only took 10 mins.

We were so glad to finally arrive in Idaho Falls and know that we didn't have to travel again for 4 days!  The trip was fun - but we were ready for a break!

Happy Fathers Day!

Mike was able to drive a Ferrari!  He got a lap with a professional driving and then he got to drive two laps.  He did great and had a good time.  The kids had  blast watching their Dad and checking out all the cars. It was a fun afternoon!

The kids checking out a Lamborghini

Mike driving the Ferrari

On Your Mark, Get Set, Go!

Calvin participated in the Cub Scout Pinewood Derby.  There were 4 participants from his troop and Calvin took first place!  It was a fun evening and Calvin was very excited!

One of his winning races

Summer Fun!

After getting home and recovering from our trip we were busy trying to pack the rest of our summer fun into a few weeks! 

Celeste needed to work on a few things so she got a BIG Girl Charp (as she called it).  She was able to get dressed by herself, go to the bathroom without help, walk on her own, sit on her own chair at dinner - things that 'normal' three year olds at our house usually do.  It worked really well!



Madeline borrowed her big sisters bike and hit a rock.  Unfortunately she fell right into a thorn bush, a very big and pokey one!  She had scratches from head to toe!

Mike hung one of our old tires from a tree in the woods behind the house and the kids have a great time swinging on it.

Mike and I celebrated 13 years of marriage by going to the temple, out to dinner, and getting an ice cream treat!

We had to go to the beach atleast once so we decided to try a different beach - Buckroe - and we LOVED it.  We are definitely going back next summer, hopefully more then once!

Calvin competed in the Cub Scout Cardboard Regatta - unfortunately his boat didn't float upright (again) but he had a great time swimming (again).  We learn more each year about cardboard boats and hopefully can make something that floats and stays upright next year ;) 

We have been working really hard on our new 'yard' (can you call clay, weeds, and wild forest a yard ?).  We have been busy planting 18 decorative and fruit trees at the front of our property - we are hoping they can provide some shade, privacy, and fruit!  We have made big plans to eventually trade our clay and weeds in for some grass.  We'll see how that goes in the fall.