Of course, before we knew it, 10 days had past since returning from Idaho and it was time for Micah and Ezra to use their passports for the first time... to go to Canada! Nana and Grandad had offered to take us on vacation while Matt worked a brutal work stretch, so we set off this time for a road trip to Niagara Falls and Bruce Peninsula in Ontario, Canada. As you can see, the boys were pretty good travelers on the way up ;) Our only hiccup was the crossing guard who was concerned that I might be transporting my children across the border without their father's permission... fortunately we were able to convince him otherwise and get on our way! Niagara Falls here we come!
Once safely back from Idaho, we spent a few days just holed up in the house sleeping a lot, unpacking, doing laundry, and enjoying our house. ...But then we heard about a nearby park with a natural play area from a friend that we just had to go check out... and we were off exploring again. And that's how we found Russ Nature Reserve. All the boys had a blast exploring the different stations (including Dad!). We'll definitely be coming back!
Of course, before we knew it, 10 days had past since returning from Idaho and it was time for Micah and Ezra to use their passports for the first time... to go to Canada! Nana and Grandad had offered to take us on vacation while Matt worked a brutal work stretch, so we set off this time for a road trip to Niagara Falls and Bruce Peninsula in Ontario, Canada. As you can see, the boys were pretty good travelers on the way up ;) Our only hiccup was the crossing guard who was concerned that I might be transporting my children across the border without their father's permission... fortunately we were able to convince him otherwise and get on our way! Niagara Falls here we come!
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Monday it was time to head home. We had definitely enjoyed our time in Stanley, but one room for all of us was starting to wear on everyone's sleep. Though we were definitely going to miss whoever cleaned our room, as they were wonderful to the boys and even left the trucks and bears having adventures around the room while we were gone. So we packed up and headed back to Boise down the mountain pass in the rain. And that's where our plan hit a detour. After a hard night of rain, the mountain pass was littered with rocks from small pebbles up to football size. We were doing great at avoiding them until a large rock popped out from a trailer driving in front of us and immediately rolled under our (low clearance) car. We knew we had a flat tire immediately and were able to pull off very quickly and change it like pros. We thought we were in the clear and headed back down the mountain. It became very clear very quickly that something more was wrong with our car as it struggled to accelerate. We had to pull off yet again, and this time our car was done. We quickly noticed it was leaking oil like crazy and there was extensive damage to the underside of the vehicle; the rock had just maimed the undercarriage. Great. By the way, no cell service either. So we flagged down the first vehicle we saw. Luckily, it was an Idaho Fish and Wildlife vehicle with a couple working on tracking salmon in the nearby waterways who were happy to help us. They were fabulous; they drove to Stanley, called a tow, came back and took us to the restaurant where the tow agreed to meet us, and gave us their number if we needed them again.
By this time our flight was gone, we still had no cell service, but the tow did show up and drove us and the rental car back to Boise. The boys were angels and slept virtually the whole 2 hours to Boise where we checked in with the car rental folks, then headed to the terminal to talk to Delta about our flights. Fortunately, the lady working took pity on us and our situation and was able to switch our flights to the following morning free of charge! Apparently, we were happy to hear, a group who really needed our seats was able to use them on the flight we had missed since we never showed. The Delta lady then arranged for a hotel for us (we had to pay, but she called several hotels before finding a spot for us, so we were grateful) and sent us to catch the shuttle and get some sleep before our 5:30 AM flight the next day. I'm happy to report that after very little sleep, we did make that flight and got home around lunch time after having had to run to catch our connection in Minneapolis. We were so happy to have made it home! Since getting home we have taken some much needed R&R time, done tons of laundry, and re-acclimated to a normal schedule. Oh, and Ezra's front top tooth is coming in! Never a dull moment here! Finally, the perfect beautiful hiking weather arrived for our Saturday and Sunday hikes! We were stoked and ready to go... and then hit a problem before we even got to the trail head on Saturday. We were planning to drive to what is called the Fourth of July tail head for a hike up to the summit of a mountain and then ridge walk over to a second summit and perhaps a third if we were really feeling it. But the nicest gravel road we had used thus far had a section that had just been destroyed and washed out that was now sitting with a foot of water covering it... with another five miles of driving before we even got to the trail head of what was already going to be a 6-9 mile hike depending on how far we wanted to go. We hadn't planned for this and were, quite frankly, floundering with what we wanted to do since our little rented car was definitely not going to make it through that. Fortunately some locals also pulled up pretty bummed about the situation, but with much more knowledge of the area, and were able to point us to a similar hike that was close by that hadn't come up in all our research of the hikes in the area (we got more than one comment when we were hiking from locals who couldn't believe we had found our way out here "because this isn't an easy place to find", and boy was that the truth).
We were still really bummed about not being able to do the hike we had most been looking forward to, but decided to give the recommendation a try. And so we found ourselves at the trail head of Horton Peak instead (after having gotten lost trying to find it - this really was not our morning). Fortunately, our luck turned around at this point and we had an absolutely gorgeous hike up and back down Horton Peak (about 6.5 miles round trip). It had snowed the night before at the higher elevations, so we got to walk through forests of snow much to Micah's delight who kept exclaiming "it's winter!" and "I want to touch it!", followed by "it's cold!" The 360 views from the top were spectacular and had we gotten an earlier start we could have easily ride walked over to another summit. We settled for just the one summit, however, since we knew it would get colder as the afternoon wore on, and headed down the mountain after a break and a little investigation of the old watch tower that sits at the top. Micah was all energy and walked about half of the way down before he got a little too tired and silly and needed to be carried for the remainder of the hike. Ezra was apparently very upset to hear we were leaving the summit, as you can see above, lol. Sunday's hike started out much smoother; we actually made it to the trail head with no problems for starters. We decided to switch our hiking partners up for the day and Ezra rode with Matt and Micah with me which was a fun switch for our last day. Our plan for the day was to hike the much more popular Alpine and Sawtooth Lakes trail. It was a very different hike from all the previous days because there were actually people, and a lot of them at that, hiking all day on the trail with us. We actually talked to quite a few people and groups (even a group who's daughter lives in Indy!) and they all just loved the boys (though they couldn't believe we were hauling them on an 8ish mile round trip hike!). Alpine Lake was a very small detour off the main trail, so we skipped it on the way up (though you hike on the cliffs above and look down on it on your way up to Sawtooth Lake) and just headed for Sawtooth Lake to start with. It sits high up in a mountain pass surround by the jagged Sawtooth Mountains and was another gorgeous hike. Micah's only demand was that "Dada throw a big rock in the lake while I throw little ones in", so we made that happen when we got to Sawtooth Lake along with our traditional snack break. The trail continued up into the mountains and we saw many backpackers headed up for longer hikes, but we headed back and hit up Alpine Lake on the way down where Micah enjoyed climbing on the rocks before we headed the rest of the way down to the car. We laugh about it, but before this hike we were beginning to wonder if there were any children in the area, because we never saw any (granted we really didn't see anyone on our hikes and town was very small). We did see another baby on this hike though! Apparently there just aren't very many crazy people who like to haul small children into the middle of the mountains for fun... ah well. We were thrilled to have had such a fun time, but it was time to say goodbye. Of course, as luck would have it, it was cold and rainy on Thursday and Friday, making for less than ideal hiking weather with small children. However, there is quite literally nothing else to do in the middle of the mountains in Idaho but spend time outdoors, so we made the most of it and got a hike in each morning. We were all ready to warm up and get hot food in the afternoons though!
On Thursday, we did a medium (a little over 5 miles) hike up to Gladiator Pass. We weathered a brief shower in the car before starting the hike in sunny weather. Micah sang to us and recited some of his favorite stories while riding on Daddy's back, and Ezra squawked a little but mostly smiled on my back as we hiked up. However, as we neared the top, we got caught in an oncoming cloud that started spitting rain and dropping the temperatures, so we made a pretty hasty retreat back down before anyone got too cold. Ezra just didn't even want to deal and fell asleep for the hike down, haha. On Friday, the high was less than 50 degrees with rain, so we knew we weren't going too far. We decided to do two short hikes that never took us too far from the car in case of a downpour: Pettit Lake and Redfish Lake. Both were pieces of much longer trails that circles lakes and their surrounding areas. We just did short out and backs along one side of the lake for each of them. We then elected for an afternoon in the hotel resting and staying warm. Fortunately, the weekend looked to be beautiful, so we got prepped for some longer (and warmer!) hikes. After a few days home, we all packed up yet again and headed to Idaho for our first vacation with just the four of us. We flew out of Dayton early Tuesday morning, had a long layover in Minneapolis, MN before finally landing in Boise, ID that afternoon. We drove around the city, explored one of their largest parks, and ate downtown before turning in to our hotel for the night.
Wednesday morning we got an early start driving the nearly 4 hours to Craters of the Moon National Monument where we spent the day exploring the lava fields and tunnels that make up this unique landscape. We started with a loop hike called Broken Top Loop that took us around an old volcano and by some of the lava tunnels that if you wanted to crawl you were free to explore. We would have been all over that in our childless days... but not so much now. Of course, if you ask Micah, the highlight of the hike was getting back to the parking lot and having a school bus parked near our car. He was SOOO excited and had to touch it and walk around it and show us where the engine was.... cutest little boy ever. After the loop hike (and the bus excitement) we hiked Indian Tunnel, which is a giant lava tunnel that has some holes in the ceiling that act as skylights allowing you to walk the cave without a flashlight. It was perfect with the boys, and Micah thought it was really cool because he loves tunnels. He's a pretty fearless explorer! After spending the afternoon hiking we still had to drive a couple of hours up Sun Valley to Stanley, ID where we would be staying the rest of the week. It was a beautiful drive, and Stanley sits in the middle of a valley surrounded by multiple mountain ranges. Hiking here we come! So we came back to see Daddy for a night... then it was off to Newburgh with Nana and Grandad to say goodbye to Great Grammy. Great Grammy is moving to Florida and sold the home she has been in for over 50 years. Gayle and Dave came into town earlier in the week to help with the move as well, so Ezra got to meet them for the first time too. Since the boys wouldn't be much help packing, we stopped by Great Grammy's house for a bit, then went on to Grandma and Grandpa's house to stay for a couple of nights and visit. The boys had a good time at Grandpa and Grandma's house playing outside and swimming! They were both little fish in that pool, which was funny because Ezra hated the pool the previous times we had tried swimming with him. Micah was also quite the little daredevil and wanted to slide into the pool without anyone catching him so he could go underwater!
Unfortunately, the trip didn't go entirely as planned. Grandad was supposed to drive the moving truck down to Florida, but Hurricane Irma moved in and ruined that plan, so Grandad and Nana ended up coming back to Dayton for the weekend with us while a plan was worked out for how and when to move Great Grammy to Florida. Fortunately, we got to have some fun hiking with Nana and Grandad for the day they were here. Ezra also turned 7 months old this week and is working on his two lower front teeth! He's developing quite the personality. He likes to let you know exactly what he doesn't want you to do by squawking the second you try to do something he doesn't like. He is also determined to learn to stand up and likes to pull up on anything he can. Unfortunately, this results in him falling over immediately upon pulling up, so I'm having to really watch him so he doesn't fall too badly. He has started to take to food much more readily and tries anything put in front of him, as well as plasters his face with said food in the process. Finally, he enjoys stealing toys that Micah is playing with because he thinks he's big and should be allowed to do everything Micah can. So it begins.... Micah, in the meantime, has started talking almost exclusively in full sentences AND now asks complete questions as well! His first complete question: "Mama, can you come in here?" I did a double take, haha. He also quotes whole sections of books correctly, loves to sing songs, and likes to tell you what to do (though now that he can ask questions, he does ask sometimes too). He also loves to climb, balance, and jump over and around anything and everything. We've (with Nana and Grandad's help) ordered Ezra and Micah a special surprise that we hope will be here next month to help with all that physical need for movement (and to hopefully spare my couches from getting climbed to death). If August was the lazy month, September is going to be the complete opposite. We have trips planned up to our ears, so get ready for some fun! The boys and I kicked September off with a quick trip to Pittsburgh to see my brother, Uncle Alex, for the first time in almost a year. He's been overseas working and traveling and had yet to meet Ezra. Alex was also bringing his girlfriend, Camille, home to meet everyone too so we were excited to be able to make the trip!
We stayed with Uncle Jon, Aunt Jen, and the cousins which allowed the boys lots of play time together. The first night Nana and Grandad were super-grandparents and babysat all the boys while the younger couples went out (my other half was working, so I was the odd one without my better half). I had a great night though getting to enjoy some adult interaction, catching up with Alex, and learning more about Camille. Night 2 we celebrated Grandad's birthday a little early since we were all together. Alex and Camille kicked the night off by slaving in the kitchen most of the day to make a special Italian dinner for everyone - carbonara and crepes. It was SO good. Then the cousins all put their hand prints on a glass jar for Grandad's dark-chocolate kisses he likes to eat, and Jen made an amazing 4-layer chocolate cake for dessert. Quite frankly it was a little disappointing to have to head home the next day after all the good food and company, but Uncle Alex was headed back to California with Camille, and we missed Daddy. Until next time! |
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