Baldapalooza 2015

Saturday Emily and I were on a mission to Boise.  Sure, we ran our errands that are necessary when we make it to the big town, but we were there for Baldapalooza.  This family friendly music festival raises money for kids with cancer.  In its first year, it raised money for a Hall of Heroes to go up in the children's oncology unit at St. Luke's.  That's a bunch of photos with stories about kids that are there to encourage, support, inspire the families that are there.  And the Hughstons happen to love one of those kids and his family.

Kean was in the room beside us during the NICU days, and it sure was nice to have his mom Lonni around.  It wasn't easy to find someone normal, and not only was this family normal, they were lovely.  We've kept in touch since then, and just before Kean turned three he was diagnosed with cancer.  The next year, Lonnie helped bring Baldapalooza to life and this year (the third one) was amazing!

Friends joined us to enjoy the bouncy houses, face painting, a mighty big hill that was good for rolling down, and lots of bands.  We saw the Runaway Hamsters, a kids' group made up of a set of triplets and their older sister.  We watched one of our morning news anchors sing with his band, a few other local bands, and the highlight was Andy Grammar.

Runaway Hamsters

Doug Petcash,
KTVB news anchor by day, rock star by night

Nadia was there, too...

Swiftsure Jr. Rodeo

Last Friday night was the grand finale of the summer riding session, the Jr. Rodeo!
Emily started off racing to grab ribbons off the tail of goats while she waited her turn in the arena.  Then up on Stuart Little, she showed off her skills doing pole bending, barrels, a trail ride, and sorting cattle (which were a little bigger than Stuart!).

Baldy

Emily has persistently asked to ride the gondola up Baldy since the beginning of summer.  Luckily, the smoke has thinned enough that we could call it "almost blue skies" and yesterday was the day.  We were joined by our good friends, The Sauvageaus (Miss Amy is also going to be Mrs. Sauvageau, Emily's first grade teacher!).

We took up picnic lunches and enjoyed a nice day up on Bald Mountain.  

Grace, Hannah, Emily, & Samantha

At the bottom there was a spider jump, and we couldn't escape without the 3 older girls giving it a try.  

August is the Sunday of Summer

We are in the final stretch of summer, the countdown for me is less than 10, which means Emily will be at a daycare next week.  She's excited to be with a couple of her friends, and it's going to seem like a week long play date for her!

Our pear trees have produced quite the crop, and it's almost time to start picking.  Gerda is doing her share, any branch that droops to her level is subject to her helping herself to a snack.

Another sign that summer is over is that today was Emily's last riding lesson of the summer session, and she spent it working on barrels and poles for Friday night's rodeo. 

Jeanne in the above photo is the volunteer that helps out during Emily's lesson.  She adores Emily, and asks every session to work with her, spoiling her along the way with surprises from her travels and gifts for the holidays.

Seattle

We left Lakeview around 3:30 and enjoyed a pretty drive up toward Seattle, making one detour because of a fire and only encountering a little rainfall along the way.  There was more sleeping than stopping on this trip, but we still didn't arrive at our hotel until 1:30 in the morning.

Saturday Aaron was shooting the at Washington State competition, so Emily and I ventured into the city after dropping him off.  First we hit the aquarium.

After that, it was over to the Great Wheel, lunch on the pier, a carousel ride, and a little touristy shopping.  That's when we headed back to the hotel for a good nap, we were exhausted!

Sunday we were ready to journey back.  We took the whole day, once again making stops along the way.  Our first, and biggest, stop was the Cougar Mountain Zoo.  

This past week we spent a lot of time indoors avoiding the smoke.  She did go riding on Monday, Thursday we got out by going swimming at the hotel pool, and had a playdate on Friday.  

Going Back a Couple Weeks

On the 12th, we dropped Gerda off at boarding and hit the road for Lakeview, Oregon so that Aaron could help out at Thunder Ranch.  Aaron has been going here for years, but this is the first time that it worked out in our schedule to go along.  Clint and Heidi, owners of Thunder Ranch, were kind enough to let us stay in their guest cabin while we were there.

The road trip was a long one, so we made our first stop in Boise for lunch.  That's where I realized that I didn't pack Emily a good pair of outdoor shoes appropriate for hiking around the ranch.  So, after lunch, she scored a pair of Nike tennis shoes we nicknamed her rainbow bright shoes based on their neon colors.

Then it was back in the car, making numerous stops along the way at random roadside parks, and Aaron has down every gun shop between home and Lakeview.  It was at one of these shops that we happened to come across a pair of Merrell hiking shoes in Emily's size.  Now considering that was what we were looking for we ended up with rainbow brights, Emily was convinced she needed a second pair of shoes.  So, Aaron made a deal to play rock, paper, scissors, shoot with her.  If she won, she could have the shoes.  If he won, she would have to walk out of the store without a fit and leave the shoes behind.  On "shoot", Emily used her finger and thump to make a "gun", which was only appropriate in a gun shop, but it was decided that gun takes all, and she won the shoes.  Just be careful when challenging Emily to this now!

As we got into Oregon, the landscape turned to sand dunes, so one stop was to let Emily out to explore.

We arrived at the ranch later in the evening.  The guest cabin was the perfect amount of rustic with conveniences like running water and electricity.  While Aaron was helping Clint teach the class on Thursday, Emily and I hiked, fished, and relaxed.  Later the afternoon, Emily showed off her skills at shooting, hitting a target at 131 yards.

Friday morning was spent doing more of the same, but we also spent a large part of the day watching the class.  Emily was mesmerized by Clint's teaching, loved the ranch cat named Mustache, and loved playing with a little dog named Millie, who's favorite thing is to catch rocks.

Friday, around 3, we packed up for leg 2 of the roadtrip... driving from Lakeview to Seattle.

A Day Out

Going to Twin usually means Costco, Target, and a few other errands... along with some bribery in order to get Emily in a mood happy enough to endure all of it on top of the two and a half hours of drive time in peace.

Tuesday was a different day for us in Twin.  My car had some recalls to take care of, and the dealer agreed to detail it for me, which meant we needed to entertain ourselves for 8 hours... and I didn't have a single errand to run.

We started off at the Shoshone Falls and then went over to Dierkes Lake, where she played at the playground and we walked on the docks and spotted fish.  Next, we headed to the Herrett Musuem where we looked at fossils.  Then we had lunch before going to watch the Minions at the movie theater.    Finally, we ended up at the bowling alley for a couple games.  I never thought it would be so easy to entertain ourselves in Twin!

Faryn

Getting home wasn't all happiness.  On Wednesday the 19th, it was time to say our goodbyes to Faryn.  She was a great dog, the calmest, sweetest dog that ever was... and making this decision is never easy because you just never want it to be time.  While we were away, she just stopped eating for Aaron, so she had been in great care at the vet's office for the past few days.  When I went to see her Wednesday morning, I knew it was time.  She lived a lot longer with her diabetes and blindness than we ever thought she could, yet we are all so very sad.  Like I tell Emily, Faryn is Nadia's dog for now.

But these are a few of my favorite shots of my girls...

The Final Stretch

Monday morning we visited Bear Country, USA before leaving Rapid City.  This zoo is one that you drive through and look at the animals from your car.

At the very end, you can get out of the car and look at the baby animals.  There were wolf pups and bear cubs, as well as many more smaller mammals like beavers, skunks, and river otters to also enjoy.  

And Emily was able to find souvenir penny machines at Wall Drug, Mt. Rushmore, and Bear Country!

She loves searching out the machines that flatten pennies. and her collection has really grown this summer.

After everyone had their fill of looking at animals (and it was getting quite warm), it was time for more driving.  The destination for Monday night was Cody, Wyoming so that we could get up Tuesday and have time to drive through Yellowstone.  I opted out of driving to see Old Faithful, we will save that for another trip.  We were pretty successful driving north around the lake and got to see a deer, a couple bison, and some elk, but the highlight of the day was spotting a bear!

the bear... really!

Yellowstone was quite chilly that day, so we didn't linger too long outside of the car.  I even picked up a couple sweatshirts in the park, and Emily brought home 5 more pennies which filled up her first book!

The 4 hour stretch from Yellowstone to Hailey was a long one for Emily, she was getting pretty anxious to get home and see her Dad after being gone for over a week!