Since Devin was off track and the inversion was awful and we love our Idaho cousins, we headed up to Boise for some time with Aunt Christy's family! I think this is my favorite picture from the trip. Christy's boys are always so great with my kids, and that makes me so grateful! Nora's face says it all about how we feel visiting our Idaho cousins.
The boys were sooo excited. We had to postpone the trip a week so we wouldn't get everyone sick with our colds, which definitely made the boys sad, but the wait was worth it because we had so much fun! Nora was the worst sleeper in Boise--traveling as a 4-month-old is never fun--but even with no sleep she was a sweetheart and proved to us all the she could roll both ways very well (when we first got there I told Christy that since she'd learned to roll onto her tummy she couldn't go back, which clearly Nora wanted to prove wrong). But this non-sleeping also made for some sweet cuddles and a very quiet ride home! Mostly I just took pictures of Nora on this trip because the boys were always off having too much fun.
Devin and Landon were in heaven with the nicer weather and big cousins to play with and loved when the boys came home from school so they could play soccer or wall ball. They also got along so well with Paige and those three were so cute playing together and using their imaginations together. There was lots of playing with cars, coloring, painting, and TV watching. Paige was also such a sweetheart with Nora and was so interested in all the goings on with her and was so worried when she would cry. Paige was also the best book reader to Nora. The cousins all thought it was so funny that Nora was enamored with her hand and that she could fit her whole hand in her mouth.
We were lucky enough to have our delayed stay overlap with Porter's Eagle Court of Honor. I'm glad the boys have such great cousin role models to look up to. They thought the Court of Honor was pretty neat and hopefully this will help inspire them both to get their Eagles one day. We were sure proud of Porter, and I was glad I could be helpful in getting things ready for this special night.
Christy and Phil are always such great hosts and it was so nice to chat with them and get away from home for a bit. Boise is always a fun place to visit when we want to get away and but still visit with family. There was a raptor preserve close to their house, which I knew Devin especially would dig, so Christy and I headed there with the littles one afternoon when there was a break in the clouds.
The preserve's main project right now is breeding California Condors for release by the Grand Canyon. Those birds are so big! I liked seeing the Bald Eagle and Devin's favorite was the Peregrine Falcon; there were lots of other live raptors and lots of stuffed birds to see. We got to see a screech owl in a bird presentation, where Landon kept freaking the lady out because he kept standing up trying to pet the owl.
I think Paige and the boys all had fun here and it was nice to get out and see something different. If we're back up there in the fall I want to visit again to see the falcon demonstrations they do. After leaving Devin told me he wanted to become a falconer--as long as he could still also be a dinosaur hunter! I love him.
On the way home we stopped at Shoshone Falls in Twin Falls to see the sights, of which there weren't many. I knew the waterfall wouldn't be amazing in the winter, but I thought there would be more water than there was! The gorge was still amazing though, and I definitely want to go back when the water is flowing.
It was still a nice stop and a fun place to let the boys run around before getting back into the car. They rolled down the hills while I fed Nora, and I was able to get this adorable shot of Devin entertaining Nora, so it was definitely worth it to stop here.
One funny story was that there were only Porta-Potties, which apparently was too gross for Landon, so he had an accident. He just kept coming back out (I was feeding Nora) to tell me he would just go outside to which I told him "no" repeatedly, apparently all the indecision took too long. He wasn't very upset about this though, he was more upset that he couldn't roll down the hill anymore! He is a funny kid. And clearly this vacation did me good because I didn't even freak out like I normally would when the accident occurred.
