A Trip to the BIG city: Boise Weekend

Jeff had a business meeting to go to down in Boise on Friday. Since the kids are out of school it seemed like the perfect opportunity to go with him and make a fun weekend out of it. We got up EARLY Friday morning and drove down. We made it just in time for his 11:30 meeting. The kids and I dropped him off. The hotel where his meetings were just happened to be very close to the Boise temple so we just had to go and look around a bit. It was of course beautiful and the kids had fun playing around the fountain and finding all of the hidden (secret) doors in the side of the building. The roses were gorgeous.

After we left the temple we found a super walmart and bought some lunch. We then drove around a bit till we found a cute little neighborhood park for the kids to play in. We had our little picnic and the kids had fun--at least until the rain came.

After that we went to see one of my oldest and "bestest" friends--Docena. The kids played around and wreaked their own special brand of havoc while she and I caught up and had a nice long chat. I miss her! --not that I can't pick up the phone and call her anytime I want--it's just that life is busy and we typically don't end up taking the time to call those people that mean the most to us. There is something to be said however for True friendship--it never dies! You can be away from one another for years and the minute you are together again--it's just as if you've never missed a beat. She and I are so different from one another and yet our friendship has always "worked". Her yin seems to complement my yang. I wish that I had gotten some pictures with her but I confess--I forgot.

The rest of the weekend we got to spend with the Bailey's! Like I said--True Friendship never dies. On Saturday after checking out the local Cabellas and Costco we took all of the kids to the Boise Discovery Center. It was SO great! We loved it! Melinda came prepared--armed with a whole loaf of bread. There were hundreds of ducks and geese outside just waiting to swarm unsuspecting hillbillies like us. The kids had more fun feeding all of those geese than one would think possible. Andrew kept trying to let them eat out of his hand--I'm pretty sure he learned his lesson fairly quick--although he might want to protect some other fairly sensitive areas as well. Matt kept tossing bread pieces surrepticiously onto Jeffs feet and the geese would start pecking his shoes and toes.

Ashley was SO great with Andrew. That girl chased him all over that place. He Loved her!!! He didn't want to show me all of the cool stuff that he found--he wanted to show Ashley. He's a fast little bugger too and she kept up with him like a champ.

Addison and Kelsy had fun in the Green screen room

One of the favorite activities for all of the kids was the elevator chair. You pull yourself up and then let go and it smoothly drops you back down.

My artistic little Addison loved the spirograph. I remember as a kid loving this particular activity too.

The pin tray--always a crowd pleaser!

Kaylee had a good time with the low/high pressure wheel.

Remember Bernoullie's Principle???

Ahhhh! The bed of nails--There are times when I wish that I had one of these at home.

We stayed at a hotel with an indoor pool and of course that was a favorite activity. the kids are all little fish when it comes to swimming--they love it. Any chance I can give them to be in the water is a good thing for me. It was especially nice this weekend since it rained off and on.

Ashley watched the kids Saturday night while Matt and Melinda and I went to eat at Tucano's. Tucano's is a Brazillian restraunt that serves all-you-can-eat meat and salad bar.They just keep bringing different types of Brazillian prepared meat dishes around for you to try. Matt and Jeff were in "hog heaven". I have to admit--the choices were pretty good although I did pass on the chicken hearts. We were so stuffed by the time we left that we could hardly move.

It was a really great weekend. We loved being with the Bailey's again. We miss them so much. I can't wait for the next time we can get together.

I love that drive--it's so fun to watch the river. It was REALLY poppin' this particular trip. The good snows from last year are still melting and so all of the rivers were running pretty high. It was fun to see them. Every time I make that drive I'm amazed by the sheer power of that white water as well as the actual distance that the white water lasts. It just keeps going and going and going--so cool for an adventure junkie like me to contemplate.

The trip home was beautiful and thankfully uneventful. We stopped for a while in McCall, ate lunch at our favorite mexican restraunt there in Mccall and played at the beach. The weather was a little chilly but it's always fun to dig in the sand and wade in the water. We always stop off at that Maverick station for ice cream sandwiches too. They make for a good travel bribe! We all need those on long trips like that.