Bye, Bye Boise

An Afternoon at the Lake

This morning three-year-old McKayla greeted me in the bathroom by exclaiming, "I'm so exciting to go on the boat! Are you exciting to go on the boat, Marika?"

We spent our final full day in Idaho boating at Spring Shores near Boise. In the 100+ degree weather, the water was wonderful and we had fun taking turns getting pulled by Keith on the tubes.

When Zach caught a glimpse of Nathan's tattooed arm (a cross), he said to him, "I'm looking at your church tattoo!"




( that's me in the middle, hanging on for dear life!)

A Lovely, Exhausting Day

lindsay's bridal shower...

followed by another evening in boise- video games, hot tub, patio furniture, potato salad, wedding plans, noise, fireworks, steak, beer, guitar, kuddies, corn on the cob, and so much more....














i ate this... ALL of it!

and slept like a log.

Morning with McKayla

out for "coffee"

blowing bubbles

We Arrived!

Zach: Lindsay's my favorite aunt!

Marika: WHAT?! Why is Lindsay your favorite aunt?

Zach: 'Cuz she gots dogs!

Road Tripping...

Spent long hours on the road today. This is what we listened to...

Outside the fast food restaurant where we stopped for a quick bite to eat, there were four guys with a bunch of signs. These signs were written on cardboard and the only one I could actually read said,

"My family was killed by an evil swamp donkey... need money for revenge!"

The Road Home

We headed home this morning, caravaning with Wes, Vicki, and Julia to Colorado Springs. We stopped along the way at Capulin Volcano in New Mexico, where we hiked into the vent of the volcano and then along the outer rim- my first hike in flip flops (and, hopefully, my last)! Although the bugs were nasty, the views were terrific- from the top we could see into Oklahoma and Colorado and watch the birds soar through the air below us.

(we had fun playing around with the panoramic feature on our camera)

(if you look closely, you can see the caterpillars crawling around)

(zach LOVES his new cowboy boots!)

(sitting among the lava rock)

(prickly pear cactus)

The stop at the volcano was a nice break from the car ride. Nathan and I have been playing endless games of hangman, taking countless silly pictures with Nathan's cell phone, and finding numerous ways to work on writing the alphabet all in an attempt to entertain Zach for the 6 hour car ride. Yet all Zach wanted was knock-knock jokes.

A million knock-knock jokes.

We've gotten really, really good at coming up with spur-of-the-moment knock-knock jokes. These aren't the best ones, they are just the ones I remember...

Before dinner it was- Knock, Knock. Who's there? Mistake. Mistake who? I hope mistake is almost ready because I sure am hungry!

At the canyon- Knock, Knock. Who's there? Desert. Desert who? Knock Knock Who's there? Desert. Desert who? Knock Knock Who's there? Canyon. Canyon who? Canyon believe I didn't say desert again?!

And, in the car- Knock, Knock. Who's there? Texas. Texas who? Texas certain kind of person to like this many knock-knock jokes!

After returning to Colorado Springs, we headed to Poor Richard's for a late supper with Dan and Sue.

"No one needs a vacation so much as the person who has just returned from one."

-Elbert Hubbard

(On Wednesday morning Nathan and I will leave for Boise.)