Long Time, No Post

I know, I know, it has been FOREVER since I posted.  Things have just been kind of crazy around these parts.  But, if you ask me what specifically has been crazy about it, I really couldn't tell you.  It seems like we have just been going, going, going lately. 

A few weeks ago we went to the Spirit of Boise Balloon Classic.  We went to the nighttime glow down at Ann Morrision Park.  They had food vendors.  Like two of them.  Okay, it was more than two food vendors, but not by many more!  We waited in line for an hour and a half for our food! It was madness!  The kids really enjoyed it though.  They had live music going on before dusk, when they lit up all the balloons.  Then, there was a visit from the Mickey Mouse balloon, from Disneyland.  Talk about Braison and Lilian being in their own little heaven!!  Unfortunately, we didn't get a photo of this because we were in line for food.  Grandma took them over to see the Mickey balloon though.

I don't know who is more excited, Braison or Grandma!!

Lilian really enjoyed the balloons, but was also very excited about the candy that was brought by Mickey Mouse!

The kids went camping with their Grandpa and Grandma a couple of weeks ago.  They left on a Friday morning and came home on Sunday night.  They went to a campground near Baker City, Oregon.  The kids had a BLAST and that is putting it very mildly. 

They got to take their Cruiser, what a treat!!



Of course, there was lots of rock throwing.  And, their very favorite part of the trip...

S'MORES!!



Braison explained to us over and over again what all was involved in making a s'more, it was adorable.  Lilian had a hard time staying in bed, as in, she fell out of bed at least once each night.  She is always a wild sleeper, sometimes I go into her room and she will be on the floor under her bed.  Silly girl.  Anyway, camping was a huge hit and I am so glad that they got to go.  It also happened to be their first trip away from home without Mommy or Daddy.  Sad day, our babies are growing up.

And, since Grandpa is funner than a Barrel Full of Monkeys...the kids also had their first experience fishing.  Kind of odd, I never remember fishing much with my dad, but the few times that we did go, turned out to be much more than just fishing trips and stick out in my mind.  Like the time that we went up to our cabin to go fishing because my mom was having a baby shower at our house and wanted us out of her hair.  We caught a few fish, which I named, and were getting ready to head home when my dad realized that there was a hole in the gas tank of our little Fiat.  So, he had to fix it, with a 2x4 and a couple of nails.  I have absolutely no idea how he made this work.  I just remember sitting in the passenger seat while he jacked up one side of the car and got under there to fix it.  We made it home fine.  I remember running into a house full of old ladies (I think they were like the same age as I am now, but they seemed so OLD then) with my fish on a string, so excited to introduce my mom to my new "friends." Dinner. Whatever.

Anyway, Ron and I aren't really into fishing, but ever since the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse episode where Donald Duck goes fishing, the kids have been very anxious to try it out.  Lucky for them, Grandpa has a large pond and a little boat right in his yard!

Lilian getting lessons.

Lilian and Grandpa

Braison getting lessons

Braison and Grandpa

Neither one of them caught anything, unfortunately, but they still had a great time!  And, what wonderful memories to start making with Grandpa.

At the end of July, my Grandma DeLorus (my dad's mom) came to visit.  She also had my Aunt Sherill and my cousin's daughter, Timber, with her.  They were visiting from Colorado and came over to Boise, from Blackfoot, for a couple of days to visit the family here.

This was the best we could do with three toddlers who wanted nothing to do with a photo shoot!

It was great to see them and we are so glad that they were able to come and visit us!

And, here are just a couple of fun photos:

Braison with "Sport" which he made at Build-A-Bear

And, Lilian with "Pinky" which she made at Build-A-Bear

They had a blast building their own stuffed animals.  I tried to get them to pick a bear, but they were much more interested in baseballs and flamingos, oh well.  As long as they are happy, that is all that really matters.

I am sure there are other things that I should have blogged about, but it is late and I am tired.  

Vacation Time!

1 Car +
2 Two year olds +
3 Adults +
4,000 Miles +
5 Days =
One priceless, whirlwind vacation

Last week we headed out to Sioux Falls, South Dakota for Ron's family reunion (on his mother's side).  Ron's sister, Jen, rode along with us and we were so grateful to have her! She was another driver for the 24ish hour drives each way, a helper with the kids, and just a great addition to our vacation!

Here are the kids in Wyoming, about half way there.  We traveled through the night, so the kids could sleep.  On the way out we went by way of Targee and Teton National Parks.  Well, we hit Targee at just about dark.  Jen was driving and hit a skunk.  Then, she came around another curve and there were two moose right on the side of the rode.  Around the very next curve was a buck, right on the side of the road, ready to dart into traffic.  This is when Jen pulled over and let Ron take over.  Needless to say, traveling through the parks at night allows you to see all of the wildlife that you want to see in the day time, but never manage to.  We ran into (not literally, but close enough) 4 moose, 6 deer (3 bucks), 5 elk, numerous rabbits (one of which we did literally run into), and that one stinky skunk, which we haven't fully forgotten just yet :o)

So, after 24 hours of straight drive time, we finally pulled into Sioux Falls and checked into the hotel.   This was the first time the kids stayed in a hotel, we have stayed with family or friends on our past trips.

They thought it was really cool be be staying in the hotel, especially since they had an indoor pool to play in!
After we got into town on Friday, we went to dinner with Ron's dad, brother, grandmother, uncle, and his uncle's girlfriend.  After dinner we ventured to the park, to let the kids run free after being cooped up for so long and so that the adults could visit some more.  It was so great to see all of them!

This is Ron and his younger brother, Jake.

Saturday was the day of the family reunion.  It was great to see so much of the family.  There were about 200 people at the reunion, with Ron's great-grandfather's branch having the highest number of attendees, there were 69 of us, I believe.

This is Ron's grandfather with all of his children (minus Sheryl), all of his grandchildren, and all of his great-grandchildren. 

They catered in a lunch for everyone and they held the reunion at a large park, so the kids were entertained, well, mostly....Lilian got a little bored.

Saturday evening we had a BBQ with Ron's uncle, aunt, and their kids.  Then, we left the kids to their own devices and headed down to the Harley motorcycle rally that was going on downtown.  We had just got to the stage and started drinking our first beverage when they called the show.  There was a large storm, with damaging hail on the way, so they had to pack it up.  We wound up at a bar for the rest of the evening where we waited out the storm and got to spend time with one of Ron's favorite uncle and aunt.

Here are the kids, they did very well taking care of each other while we were out :o) Addie, Harm, Ellie, Lilian, and Braison.

Jen, myself, Lilian, Ron, and Braison.

Sunday was a fairly relaxed day, after a brunch with some of the family, Ron and his brother took the kids swimming, FINALLY!

Daddy and Lilian

Uncle Jake and Braison

Sunday evening we had dinner with Ron's dad and then went out for ice cream.  We spent the rest of the day just relaxing with them.

Monday we went and visited with Ron's grandparents (on his dad's side).

The kids with grandma Buseman

With grandpa Buseman

Four generations

The Buseman clan; Jen, Jake, Grandpa Buseman, Kevin (Ron's dad), Braison, Ron, Lilian, and Grandma Buseman.

After we visited we headed to the zoo.  The Sioux Falls Zoo is about 20 times better than the Boise Zoo!
When you first enter they have a museum with stuffed (once living) animals, kids play places, and the gift shop.

Then, you go through the rest of the zoo to see all of the still living animals.  They also have a wonderful petting zoo part where you can feed different kinds of animals.

Braison and Uncle Jake feeding the ducks.

Braison feeding the goats.

This is pretty much what Lilian thought of the entire zoo, and how she remained almost the entire day.

Braison, Lilian, and Uncle Jake watching the monkeys.

Lilian and Aunt Jen looking at the alligators, which turned out to be both of the kids' favorite exhibit.  They both chose stuffed alligators from the gift shop to remember their trip by.


Then, after the zoo on Monday, it was time to head home.  Since we would be traveling through the night again, we decided to take a different route home.  We headed south through Nebraska, we stopped in Niobrara, Nebraska to have dinner with Ron's grandfather (the one in the photo above from the reunion), then headed west through Nebraska, Wyoming, and Utah.  In Utah we caught the interstate north to home.  It is much nicer traveling on the interstate through the night.  The route is still the same amount of time, so 24ish hours later we finally arrived home.

Now, we just need a little vacation to recover from our vacation!

WHOA....What a Weekend!

We had a crazy busy weekend! We started off the weekend by heading out for some camping on Friday afternoon.  This was the kids' first camping trip, so we only planned to be out for one night and also planned to go somewhere fairly close to home, just in case.  Well, camping was a HUGE hit with them!  They loved every part of it and wanted to stay longer, but we didn't really come prepared, so we had to just promise that we would do it again very soon.  We wound up finding a place along the river outside of Crouch. Here are some photos:

We got home Saturday in the mid-afternoon.  We had originally planned to go to the drag races, but with Braison having over sensitive sensory issues, we bagged that idea (even though they both said that they wanted to go).  Instead, we met my dad and step-mom in Emmett for the Cherry Festival parade and carnival.  I only got a photo of grandpa, Braison, grandma, and Lilian waiting for the parade:

The kids really enjoyed it and walked away with a ton of candy!  We then went and perused the carnival and vendors.  The kids and Ron enjoyed Pronto Pup corn dogs and I an elephant ear.  It was a nice evening, even though we got home late and the kids were cranky :o)

Then, on Sunday we got up and got to all of our chores that needed to be done around the house.  We got the laundry done, house cleaned, camper cleaned, and the car cleaned.  It was a productive morning.  Then, we headed off to the circus.  We met up there with Ron's sister, Jen.  The kids really enjoyed themselves.  They wanted to ride the elephant, get a photo with the python, and go down the big slide, but I squashed all of those hopes.  Not because I don't want them to do the things that they want to, but because all of these things were outrageously expensive and I knew (I just knew) that once they got up the ladder to the top of that elephant, once they laid that python on their necks, and once they realized how high up that slide really was....they would change their minds.  So, I promised them that next year they could do all of those things, if they still wanted too.  Here is a photo from the circus, celebrating Father's Day:

After the circus we went out to dinner with Aunt Jen and she gave the kids each a little gift (Braison a Mickey Mouse shirt and Lilian a new dress).  She sure does spoil them, and they sure do love it!

All in all we had a wonderful, eventful, fun-filled weekend....but, I was okay to go back to work today, as I really needed a break! :o)

Update...Photo Style

Helping mommy shop...you know it would be really handy if more grocery stores had Costco sized shopping carts.

Visiting Mr. Doug's fire truck...

Last weekend we went to the Caldwell air show, I haven't got the photos off of my camera yet, but here are the photos I took with my phone while we were riding in the helicopter.

Here is Lake Lowell from the sky:

We had a few nice days, we were able to get out and fly kites for the first time. (Again, photos taken with the phone, so not the best quality)

I will post a few more photos from the air show tomorrow, since we finally got a new computer!! Yay!