We were so excited that we were able to go back and visit Northern Idaho. We have fallen in love with that place, the beauty, the forests, hiking trails, and clear lakes. It is heaven to us!
Day 1 Friday (May 31): We drove from our home in Nampa through Eagle, McCall, Lewiston, Moscow, and then Coeur D'Alene. We love the scenic route and enjoy the views along the way. Plus we stop by a local butcher who sells Buffalo Jerky and Peperoni sticks.....Unforgettable from last visit we made from August. Even the kids love it. Joe and I put together book that the kids could use dry erase markers to practice tracing the alphabet, which turned out to be a great hit the whole 9 day vacation! They love learning and have missed being in preschool. We got to our hotel and swam that night. That was their favorite part.
Day 2 Saturday: The kids and I woke early (they are an hour behind us, so it was 7 am our time, 6 am their time). We decided to let Joe sleep because we left right after he got off work because we were to excited, and he couldn't sleep. So the kids and I ate a little bit of breakfast and then took a walk. They did pretty good and we came back around 8 am to wake Joe up. We then ate breakfast with him, and then headed to Silverwood Theme Park. We did a variety of rides, including some of the bigger and faster roller coasters. They were both tall enough to ride with Joe and I. Addie and JoJo was at first hesitant to ride them. But we did a couple of them and the Adults had a blast! Joe and I also went on a few of the rides that the kids were too small to ride. We just took turns while the other rode. And then we would mix it up with kid rides. The kids absolutely loved the Kid Land area. Their favorite rides were the Frog, where it would raise them up and drop them down, up and down again and again. Also they liked the butterfly swing that would swing them forward and backward. It started to rain and they were closing up the rides. Perfect timing because that evening we met up with some of my cousins Kyla Neibaur Gundry and family along with Kyle Avery and family. They both live in Post Falls, close by. We met them at a splash pad and it was fun catching up.
Day 3 Sunday: We woke up, had breakfast, and then went to Sacrament meeting. We try really hard to make it to church while we are on vacation. We hope to show gratitude to Heavenly Father for all of our many blessing, and try show by example to our kids how important attending is. We went back to Silverwood and enjoyed the park. We talked Addie into riding the bigger roller coaster rides and she loved them. JoJo was not willing to go, and that was fine. I was impressed he went on them the first day. He also had started to have a cough and runny nose. Again Joe and I would just take turns with Addie. We played until they kicked us out at 6 pm.
Day 4 Monday: So technically Sunday night Addie's 4th tooth came out! And she got 5 quarters from the tooth fairy. So that was exciting. She was excited to use them on spraying people who rode the raft and log rides. We love swimming in the pool! Since we have done swim lessons in February-March, the kids have gained more confidence with swimming and putting their face in the water. Especially Addie! She can stay down for a few seconds and tries to swim with her arms and legs. They are both doing so good. We then went to the park 11-6 just doesn't seem like enough. However Joe and Addie started to have the head cold too....We always seem to get sick on vacation....
Day 5 Tuesday: The park was closed. So we hiked up around the lake. It was beautiful and we enjoyed the views. Addie enjoyed the hike, but JoJo seemed to get tired quickly and just wanted to play with the sticks and the bark on the trees. We tried to play a few games along the way, like throwing pinecones down the cliff to the lake. Or looking for flowers, which there were a few here and there. We finally got to a point when we decided they had been good sports and headed back to the van. We went to our favorite lake swimming spot, Honeysuckle Beach we stayed all day there and enjoyed the sand and the freezing cold lake! It was really cold! But that didn't stop Addie. She jumped off the dock countless times, with Joe joining her occasionally throughout. Her confidence in the water has really increased. JoJo and I built a sand castle with some of Addie's help. JoJo loves the sand, rocks and sticks and could spend hours just messing around along the water's edge. The water was a bit too cold for him and I, but we waded up to our waists. We then went to see Captain Marvel, a superhero movie that the kids just absolutely enjoy.
Day 6 Wednesday: The park was closed again. And it was a little bit cold and rainy, so instead of going to the lake as planned, we drove to Missoula Montana. I have always wanted to visit there because of the movie "A River Runs Through It." The drive was fun, and I loved driving through Wallace Idaho! That was a fun surprise that I didn't expect. It was a cute small town with the older building, churches and homes. Then we took MaClay Flat Nature trail around a canal and river. We spent awhile there enjoying nature. Again JoJo didn't enjoy the physical activity of walking and got bored with it. LOL, we intend to do more hiking so hopefully he will enjoy it more. Addie seems to no mind at all. Both kids expressed interest in actually camping and wanted to set up a tent. So we are making plans to do just that in the future. As we were wondering around the we jokingly told the kids that we were lost and were going to have to make camp there. So we picked out various spots that would be our "bed". JoJo was all for this! But Addie was adamant we find the van, haha!
Day 7 Thursday: It was raining and pretty cold so we figured there was a high chance of rides being closed and why risk the kids getting more sick? Which was disappointing because we had already planned around the other 2 days the park was closed. Oh well, we decided to make it a day of movies....Trying to make lemonade out of the lemons given to us. We saw Aladdin with actual people (not the cartoon) and enjoyed that. We also took the kids to Secret Life of Pets.
Day 8 Friday: The kids seemed to be doing a little bit better, and I started to feel sick. LOL, That's ok! We were able to go to the park and enjoy the rides again. After a few days off we were ready to enjoy ourselves again. And JoJo tried the bigger rollercoasters again! He was brave, but didn't enjoy them and was a good sport in waiting in line with us while we swapped kids. Addie really loved going on the rides and by now was raising her arms up in the air while going up and down the hills. She didn't want us to hold her in anymore. What a dare devil! And it was rainy throughout the day so we had to wait for the rides to reopen. We went to the arcade building the kids loved watching others play the games and then wanted a turn of their own. Not my favorite activity, but what are you going to do in the cold and rain while things are closed?
Day 9 Saturday: The first day that the water park was open and it was freezing!! So sad! We really wanted to try it this time but just didn't feel up to it due to sickness and the cold. But that's ok! We enjoyed another day at the theme park. And we did a few more arcade games. And then towards the end of the day we went to a magic show Phantasm. And the kids LOVED every minute of it. They enjoyed the card tricks (where they were able to catch cards from the demonstration), disappearing acts, time machine and all of the various tricks. At the end they waited in line to have their cards signed and a picture taken by the magician and his assistants. We were glad that we made it to this show, even though we weren't planning on it. Completely worth the time and wait.
Day 10 Sunday: We woke up feeling pretty run down, sick, and tired. So w edecided not to go and share our germs at Sacrament meeting and also decided not to go for a few hours to the park. Instead Addie swam around the pool (I swear she would do this everyday, all day if we let her!). We ate breakfast and headed back home. We drove through Washington and Oregon route. It was not as pretty and I will not want to take it again. Joe decided to take it because there were more places to stop in case we needed a bathroom stop. It was during this time that I decided to learn a game that Joe has become obsessed with ;0) Contest of Champions Marvel Superhero game you can play for free on your phone. And I must admit that I enjoyed myself on that long dreary drive.
Perhaps 10 days is a little long to spend on a vacation....Well, at least a vacation that we were all sick, the weather was cold and rainy, and our plans didn't pan out so well. But, as always, we enjoyed just being together and traveling!
