There are a few other things I'd like to include from our trip but do not necessarily stand alone.
First, the trip to the toy store. Charming toy store/drug store in the city of Moscow, Idaho. Hubby remembered this toy and hobby store from his university days and is so glad it is still there. Very fun stuff and we let the kids each pick a new item - Superman Legos (of course) for T and mermaid dolls for Lil Sister. They loved seeing the train run along the ceiling. Plus, there were so many fun toys and games to look at, too.
Next, random photos from our hotel stay. The kids LOVED staying in a hotel. They are still asking to go back. It's a little aged but charming. Every time we would come around a corner our little daughter had to hold her arms out to show the way - like a little Vanna White, I thought.
They also very much enjoyed sitting at the small table, having dinner or a snack, or having snacks and a show before dinner. It was Lil Sister's first taste of donuts. They also could not believe that on our vacation I allowed "unhealthy" potato chips to be eaten as a snack. See those special cups, too? From the Pantry Restaurant within the hotel where we ate many of our meals. These kids ate eggs, bacon, and toast two meals of a day on many of our days we were there. Between the complimentary "continental" breakfast and their favorite meal at the Pantry, they ate a lot of eggs.
As I said in a previous posting, the kids refused to sleep in beds. However, they would curl up with their dad and hear stories before bed. Unfortunately, they stayed up well past their bedtimes every night we were at the hotel. It has been tough to get them back on schedule. They liked staying up and sleeping in - I know that story.
I had to include this photo of Lil Sister playing with her cars in the room. She really does love cars. Oh, she likes her princesses and girly stuff but she always goes back to cars. Here she is doing one of her favorite pastimes with the cars, parking them in their spots.
Lastly, on our way out of town we met up with our adopted Aunt Betty. She is a very special lady to us with a special history. She really should have been Hubby's aunt but it just did not work out. She never married and travels around visiting all her nephews, nieces, great-nephews, great-nieces, and a few honorary ones like us, too. She is extremely spry for her experienced age. It was wonderful to catch up with her before we departed the northern part of the state.
On to more vacation photos - as I said, there is much to be said about such a simple vacation. I know it's not some action packed trip to the beach or Disney, but it was simple and perfect for us. We really are pretty simple folks and our kids are pretty much the same. We went out to our friends' farm today for a visit and the kids were content to pick weeds and throw rocks (more on that later) but we just feel life gets so full of busy, busy, busy that we need to enjoy calm and simple as much as possible.
This is our brief visit to T Rex Dad's university. We say we have a "mixed marriage" because we went to rival schools. He went up north and I attended school in the southwestern part of the state. We could add my grad school which is the state university out east but we won't confuse the matter too much.
This is the University of Idaho located in Moscow, Idaho. We fully expect our children to attend a state university. At least that's what we are budgeting for. We figure the best way to encourage a post-secondary education is to take them regularly to the universities and talk with them about the future plans. At this point we are encouraging careers that are trades. For example, T wants to be a large animal veterinarian. I would consider that a career trade. As it would turn out, the state veterinary school is located at this university. He was very excited to once again visit the campus. Our last visit was three years ago and he was Lil Sister's age. She was just our tiny bean and stayed in the sling most of the time.
We took advantage of the break in the weather (much of our trip had temperatures of 32-39 degrees with rain and wind - cold) but our first break after we toured Besta's farm was to walk part of the vast campus. The first photos are of "Hello Walk". The rule is if you see someone walking along there you have to say "hello". Few folks were out since it is summer break and the weather had been frightful but still, the few we encountered we greeted. The kids walked past their grandparent's Greek homes where they lived while attending school 60+ years ago. We even purchased a few items at the Vandal store - still though, I cannot bring myself to wear Vandal attire. I'm a Bronco/Bengal. I did suggested they get mixed marriage shirts, though.
As mentioned previously, "Besta" (Norwegian for "Grandma") was T Rex Dad's maternal grandmother. She lived nearly 102 years. She was an amazing lady and she owned her farm until she died. The farm was part of her parent's homestead, acquired in 1893. My mother-in-law kept it for a bit after Besta's passing, but eventually it was too much work to keep things going so she sold the land to the folks that had been farming it for Besta. We loved having the family homestead in the family, but it went to great people who care greatly for the land, so we are happy about that.
When you visit, it's like stepping back in time. There are thousands of acres of crops on endless rolling farmland. Hubby and I loved hearing Besta talk about her time on the homestead and the various crops she had chose each year and how she would wait to sell them till prices were right. (a guessing game) We would hear her tales of the hail storms that would cause damage and how she had to collect insurance for the losses that year. It was a fascinating process. Even more interesting were her tales of being the wife of a farmer during the Depression or what she thought the first time she saw an airplane in the sky... But I digress!
I am not surprised that our son wants to be a farmer. We did talk with him about how much work farming is and that we still want him to have a trade to take care of the five kids he wants to have. He did decide that being a large animal veterinarian would allow him to care for the animals on his farm as well as those farms around his and provide enough to pay for his large family. Love his thinking. He came up with that on his own. Five kids, though...hope he finds a wife that is good with that! He was very excited to see Besta's farm.
One funny story from our visit, being the "big city" folks that we are. We live in Idaho's most populated city. This isn't saying much since our entire state has fewer people in it than my birth place of Las Vegas. Still, our city is a big city to me and definitely very different from a tiny Northern Idaho town like Troy, Idaho (population ~862 people). Our store goeslike this: we were driving down Sumner Road to view the family farm, the road being named so because of Besta's husband Bill, when we encountered a horse roaming around loose by the road. In our experience with equines, it's not a good idea for them to roam around loose, and it is certainly never allowed in a city like ours! When we saw this horse, we stopped our family photoshoot, I rounded up the kids, and Hubby insisted he catch the horse and try and take him back to the farm. (he later said he wasn't even sure if the horse was from "our " farm). Using skills he learned from caring for my old horse, he gingerly guided the horse back towards the main farm house. (a long walk) The horse was very friendly, and totally ignored the dog that came up and started barking at him (and the horse). While it was obvious to Hubby that the horse must know the dog, he still didn't know what to do. Just then, someone came driving very quickly away from the house towards the main road he was standing beside. They slowed down and asked what he was doing with their horse! He explained that it was wandering down the road and that we were afraid it might 'get away' or that a car might hit him. She laughed and said he had free run of their place and all the farms around. "Don't worry...: (smirk) And on she drove. Hubby patted the horse and walked back to where we were waiting and told his tale. He felt horribly embarrassed, and we both just shook our heads at ourselves and we agreed "we are dumb city folks."
Aside from that, it was an uneventful trip to Troy. It's a charming town. A step back into a simpler time (which is why we go there). Oh, I should point out, the house shown in the photo is Besta's old house, built in 1903 or so, which Besta and family moved to from their farm in 1933 so the three children could be closer to school. Grandpa Bill and later his son, Hubby's Uncle Twain, would drive out to the farm every day to tend the crops. The old house on the farm is gone but Besta's house in Troy is still there in that tiny little town. We know the new owners of the house, but chose not to bother them during this brief visit. They have done wonderful things with the house and the yard, fixing it up, and restoring many things back to the original turn of the century (circa 1900) style.
There was young wheat growing on Besta's old farm land. and the kids loved showing off in it. TRex enjoyed walking around taking photos with his Dad. Lil Sister insisted on keeping Baby and me company. I think she was feeling cold and hungry but my sweet little girl refused to say so. We loved our visit back to the homestead and look forward to visiting there again!!!
As I mentioned previously, our vacation was about family and teaching the kids about their elders as well as their ancestors. We made two stops at cemeteries up north. The first was to visit Uncle Twain's grave site. I actually never met him but he was Hubby's uncle, his mother's brother, and a World War II Veteran. He was actually a driver for several generals (probably General Patton at some point) during the war. We have quite a lot of his old war memorabilia. He was an amazing man. I have no photos from that first visit as it was quite cold and rainy. The kids were really good about not complaining and being reverent at the grave site and I just did not capture any photos on that blustery day.
The next day we met up with Grandma and Grandpa N and visiting Grandma and Grandpa Sumner's grave sites. Grandma Sumner aka Besta died about 6 weeks before T was born. Actually, prior to her passing we shared our chosen name for him. She promised not to tell anyone and even at he end, she would not tell. His middle name was her husband's, Grandpa Sumner's, middle name. T noticed it on the headstone and pointed it out. We took the opportunity to clean the headstone and enjoy the quiet and remember their lives. Besta was without Grandpa for over 50 years. She never remarried saying, "I just did not want to have to take care of an old geezer." She lived nearly 102 years.
It was a beautiful visit to Besta's. We took advantage of the break in the weather and headed to her farm. Actually, Grandma N sold it a couple years ago but we still visit there and the family that took over is nice about allowing visits. More on that in the next posting. For now, here are the cemetery photos.
A big attraction on our vacation was the indoor, heated swimming pool at the hotel. Both kids will be taking swimming lessons this summer. It's just too cold here during the non-summer months for me to be the least bit motivated to take them to year round swimming. T is getting pretty good in the water but I still do not want him life-vest free unless either myself or his dad can be close by, and I am not a fan of swimming. I cannot recall when I lost my love of swimming but unless the water is a balmy 85-90 degrees I don't do swimming. The first night I did suit up "just in case", so I am throwing in a profile pic of me in my swim suit. It is not a maternity suit but I thought it is the first photo that actually shows the growing baby bump, otherwise, most folks cannot tell I am pregnant. Plus, I am reading my hypno-birthing book and it has reminded me to integrate the baby into our lives now so I am trying to do so already in the blog.
The kids had SO much fun. It took Lil Sister about 5 seconds to get the hang of the life vest and getting around in it. Like her first time swimming in this pool 3 years ago, she took to the water like a fish. Every night we were there the kids swam for at least an hour. Each night they made new friends. I was particularly proud of T because one evening there was another boy there that kept getting into trouble and he befriended that young man and kept him out of trouble. He is my little peacekeeper.
Lil Sister was particularly proud of her hand-me-down swim suit complete with tutu and a strawberry on the front. T was so happy that he could wear his glasses in the pool - those new sport glasses are getting their money's worth. The good thing about swimming was the kids slept really good come bed time. Speaking of sleeping, they would not sleep on the hotel beds - we had to make up bedrolls on the floor for them (aka pallets as they called them). Worked like a charm and they would sleep all night and we did not have to rent an extra room.
We embarked on Tuesday, May 21st. I had to work on the 20th but we had spent the previous weekend preparing for our trip. I actually managed to pack all of my things and all the kids things into one suitcase for the three of us. Hubby paid me a huge compliment and said I packed like his parents - that is actually saying a lot. I was quite efficient. I did not need to pack all the shorts that I did because it was so cold and rainy most of the time we did not even use them. Still, we had plenty to wear especially after washing at the hotel.
We drove straight through the first day. We made several stops to let the kids rest and stretch. We did pre-medicate Lil Sister with low dose Zofran. She, like her mother, gets really motion sick. The meds worked like a charm, and she did great without a stitch of nausea or vomiting. They took their naps in the car and then woke up to watch one show. We arrived at our hotel just in time for dinner, baths, and bedtime. We tried to stay on our own local time but it was tough not falling into the other time zone since it allowed us to sleep in an extra hour.
The next day we met up with Grandma and Grandpa N in a neighboring town for visiting with family. The main reason for this trip was to visit with family, particularly some of our elderly relatives that we may not get a chance to see again. All in their 90's. They all still live on their own but some are moving slower these days.
First stop, Aunt P and Uncle B's place. Aunt P is Grandma N's sister. They only have one grandson and he has never been married so they will likely never have any great-grandchildren. We like to think of the kids as their surrogate great-grandkids. It was fun that several other family members who heard we were in town came by to visit as well.The kids had a great time recruiting new playmates in their elderly relatives, all of whom were eager to play or read to them. Plus, I had strategically packed some new toys to entertain them - sticker books, reading books, paper dolls, Lego action figures, etc. Uncle B had to show off his small garden. He is 93 years young and still plays three rounds of golf a week.
Then onto Aunt L and Uncle M's place - they have a giant garden and a rather large yard which we took advantage of as the kids were desperate to run around. Both were long time educators and Uncle M was the city's mayor for a while. Aunt L and Uncle M do not have any grandchildren so again, our kids are the surrogate grandkids. I love "chatting" politics with Uncle M although this visit I did not get much chance as young T kept asking him about his travels to Egypt and told him how he was already saving for a trip to see the mummies there. They kindly provided us some cuttings from the garden to plant in our yard (spinach and ground cherries) and also some roses for each of the kids to enjoy on the car ride back to the hotel, although our little super heroes fell asleep. Aunt L is Grandpa N's older sister. I definitely see a resemblance in the photo of them side by side. Sweet, sweet lady a lot like dear Grandpa N. I also had to sneak in a profile pic of my shadow.
After their power nap and dinner, we hit the pool. Stay tuned. More photos to come.
