Spring Break: A Short Trip West

During Spring Break this year, we took the kids to the Boise area to visit family and see some things "out west". Okay, not very far west, but at least we didn't stay home. We first went to Jerome to visit Steve's sister Jennie and her family. The boys played with their cousins (Trey, Landon and Kamryn), Sarah played with the "little sister", Kamryn, and Rachel played with their dog, Harley, and Steve's Blackberry. (She thought she was going to die not being able to check her email for four days!) After the all the boys were in bed, the big girls watched Twilight together...fun flick...and then went to bed.

In the morning, I went to breakfast with one of my college roommates (Nichole Hopkins Prince) that I recently reconnected with. We had a wonderful visit, like only a year or so had passed (would you believe almost 18?). It was sad to part, but we promised to get together again, with the kids, this summer.

We traveled to Caldwell to Mike and Krystal's house and spent the next two days with them. Mike's birthday was that day, and we had a little party for him that night. The next morning, Mike and Krystal had both taken the day off so we met Kristina and her kids at the Idaho Discovery Center in Boise. What a fun place! We spent about three hours there discovering science together. I was really surprised how fun it was for the little ones all the way up to the adults.

Joshua, Bryson, Rachel, Julie, Nathan, Steve & Sarah
at the Discovery Center

Here are a few of our favorite things...

The robotic head, complete with a button to make the eyes blink.

Nathan's favorite hang-out was the grocery store. It had little shopping carts, pretend food, manual-crank conveyor belts, beeping scan pads, and cash registers. So cute!

Josh and Bryson liked watching the indoor tornado.

The bubble wall was one of my favorites!

The boys liked trying to put their hands through without popping the bubble. ...Oops!!

Joshua's very favorite thing was the "electricity" station where he could make connections with wires to make bells ring, buzzers buzz, and lights light up. It sure made his face light up when he figured out by himself how to use the buzzer button to turn on the light! What a smart kid.

Bryson's favorite thing was the giant microscope. He watched microscopic little worms wiggle around the slide. He was so intrigued, he watched them for a really long time.

Just a note (because I know you're wondering): The girls were there, too, but not often where the camera was. They were usually off with their cousins. Also, Sarah wasn't feeling very well (she had a head cold that agitated her PLE), so she was a really good sport, but did a lot of sitting and didn't have as much fun as the rest of us.

Later that night, Krystal took us all to the YMCA and we swam. It was a really fun pool. They had a zero-depth pool with fountains, a lazy river, and a water slide. We all had a fun time, but were totally worn out by the time we got back home. The kids slept pretty well that night!

The next morning, we packed up and went over to Kristina's new house in Meridian for breakfast. The house is beautiful. They seem happy to be there, and loving all the space. We visited for a while and then headed back home to Pocatello. It was a just right trip. Just the right amount of time away, just the right amount of fun, just the right amount of visit time. We had a really good time together.