50th Anniversary Surprise! 2020

We decided to throw a little surprise for my parents 50th Anniversary, and have all of us kids in town which hasn't happened in years. Angela had been meaning to show my mom this fun little park -- Mary Alice Park, so she told them to meet her there. Brian and I got there first and took a picture of the three of us. When my parents got there, Brian went and hid in the shed until all of the local siblings arrived. 

They thought just having us all there was fun, so we had Emma pretend to take our picture. My dad made the comment that all we were missing was Brian, and I said I would photoshop him in later. Instead of taking a picture, Emma took a video as Brian came out of the shed to surprise them.

It was a happy successful surprise!

All six siblings together.

The few grandkids that were there: Jacob, Isabelle, Christopher, Lucas, and Emma.

Ice-cream!

The next day we went to the CSI ropes course.

Jacob and Emma all geared up for the zip-line.

Emma and Jake on the mini-ropes course.

Jacob, Emma, Halle, Hannah, Brett, and Emery playing with the koosh.

Emma came up on the ropes course with me!!

I was so excited and proud to have her up there trying this hard, scary (but very fun) thing!

Then we went to Centennial. Emma and Emery heading off to meet the other kids at the floating docks, and Jacob and Lucas practiced their paddling in the docked in loading area before Jacob followed them out for a little bit.

Austin, Jacob, Cooper, and Lucas. Fun to have a group of boy cousins running around!

Emma and Jack heading out to play king of the paddleboard and docks.

Lucas and Emery playing in the shallow water.

And to finish off the day, we did family photos which will be on a later post, but I grabbed a couple fun selfies while Mom and Dad were doing their pictures.

August 2020

McCall 2020

Canoeing up in McCall! Sooooooooo beautiful! The kids loved playing in the water, even though it was very cold! It took some convincing to get the kids in the canoe, but we all got in. The roughest spot was right at the beginning because we had to paddle hard against the flow to get into the entry spot. Once we got past that, it was a nice, peaceful float.

A little pic-nic lunch on the sand about halfway down the river loop.

It was the kids' first time on a canoe, and they were pretty sure it was going to tip! Jake had the hardest time adjusting to it, but we all made it back without being dumped.

After canoeing, they played with sand toys on the beach before heading out for some yummy dinner and a hotel.

August 2020

August 2020

A quick trip to Twin Falls. I almost always say no to the ice-cream truck, but the kids lucked out when it drove right by Angela's house, because she likes to spoil everyone! A little play time with Christopher, then off to the next adventure!

We went to Dierke's Lake with Amber's kids. Emma went up on the rock cliff with Hannah, but ended up coming back down. Maybe next time! The kids didn't feel quite ready to handle a paddle board on their own, so Hannah and Maddy took them out.

Lucas insisted on cowering in the middle holding onto the one handle on the paddleboard with Maddy. He was all smiles though!

Emma and Jake

Playing king of the dock. Emma in pink, Hannah and Cooper in the middle, Jake behind in the water, Lucas in orange.

Lucas and Lizzy taking a snuggly nap.

Roaring Springs with some friends: Victoria, Emma, Max and Nate. Jacob trying out the new Snake River Run slide. It's his second favorite slide, after Pipeline Mines.

Lucas has been learning to ride his bike this summer! This was his first time doing the whole loop around the park though, and he was so proud of himself!

Emma's our little  big bookworm! We go to the library almost every week, and she loads up! And she reads the whole pile in about a week!!

August 2020