Way To Go Idaho

The week started out a little rocky.  Noah has had a hard time adjusting to being back home.  Despite the fact that he was a total angel for Aunt Teri and Grandma, he acted like a holy terror for the first few days he was home. . . Bossing Tayton around, throwing tantrums and generally not listening and causing trouble.  The worst of it was the we've caught him pooping in the yard.  For Heavens Sake!  Where's that coming from?  Not sure why this started up again. But we had that trouble when he was first potty training.  I called Teri to ask what kind of potty habits they practiced while Noah was with the and they all just laughed.  Grrr!!  We certainly can't have any of that!

Jon had Tuesday morning off, so he took the kids to Tracy Aviary in Salt Lake.  The kids really enjoyed it, but Noah started to have a melt down part way through, so they had to cut the visit short.  Both kids said the peacocks were their favorite bird, but Jon said his favorite was the eagle.  Power hungry I think!  

Due to government sequestration, Thursday and Friday were furlough days again.  That's 4 of the 11 total days I will experience this fiscal year with rumors that more are coming in fiscal 14.  Oh my.  Anyway, we decided to make it another fun furlough weekend, so off to Boise to visit Aunt Beezer and Uncle Dana.  

When we arrived on Thursday, we stopped by Beezer's office for a few minutes, then headed off to the farm to see Uncle Dana.  Lucky us, he was doing some work with the tractor, so Noah got to ride with him while Beezer, Tayton and I rode the Ranger around a section waiting for them to finish a couple of rounds.  Then Tayton wanted a turn, so they both got a ride.  Very fun!   They loved it!  Reminded me of the days when my dad farmed and we would take the old blue Ford LTD down to the field to bring dad lunch while he was cutting hay or grain.  I remember sitting on the wheel well inside the tractor and sitting on my dads lap while he let me steer the swather.  I don't know what I did, but I made the swather buck a few times.  Good thing Dana didn't let the kids drive!

 On Friday, we went to the Boise zoo.  What a neat zoo.  I loved the butterfly enclosure where they let you walk around I. An area with all the butterflies flying around, landing in the flowers and even on me a few times.  We also got to go I with the wallabies.  Very neat.  The kids loved the parried dogs the best but also loved feeding the goats at the zoo farm.  Hungry little critters!  It was at the zoo that I discovered that Noah must be going through a growth spurt because he was ravenously hungry every 2 hours and was really ornery if he didn't get food right away.  After the zoo, we got to visit Virginia for a few minutes where the kids told her about the zoo and ate a bowl of ice.  She was so kind and gave them each a book that we've read three times each already.  

Poor Botti dog, he was the life of the party and the kids enjoyed following him everywhere and mauling on him.  Most of all, they loved playing in his bed and playing with his toys.  We enjoyed a few dips in the swimming pool. . . I mean hot tub. . . But the kids treated it like a swimming pool, jumping here and there, splashing around like fish.  We loved looking out over the river to see the swan, geese, Cameroons fishing, folks floating by and the airplane that would fly over on its return trips from crop dusting.  

On Saturday we got the special opportunity to go to Mark and Debbie's to see the trains.  They were so great to let us see the horses.  Tayton didn't want anything to do with them.  She thought they were big and scary until Beezer got on, the. She wanted a ride too.  We loved it so much that then she didn't want to get off.  Noah on the other hand was so anxious to see the trains that he just kept begging us to leave the horses and go see the trains.  Finally got to go see the trains and it is every kids dram come true.  These men have grown up to live their childhood dreams and still play with trains, but now they get to play with big boy trains.  We all got to ride around on the long train, then Mark got out special little Thomas Engine's for each of the kids.  He taught Noah how to drive his own, so he got him out on the main line and away Noah went without even a second glance at any of us. . . he was in a dream come true.  Then Tayton got on a little Thomas and I walked along beside her for the whole track. .. and we're talking about an estimated 1 mile worth of laid track.  Wow! Beezer and Debbie followed behind us and kept up with her during the last little bit when we turned her up and she went faster than I could walk.  Second time around for her, I got to take the little managers car and follow behind her.  Noah got to ride a few other trains around too.  It was such a special day.  That's all both the kids and talk about now.  They keep asking when we can go back so they can ride trains all by themselves again.  Doesn't get much better!!!

The kids were fun and a handful, giving Beezer and Dana a run for their money.  Tayton and her poor eating antics made Dana laugh ever night at dinner.  She'd want to get down, so I'd make her eat more first and then she kept giving Dana the cute eyes hoping that he'd throw her a line to get her out of eating dinner.  They were so excited to see Dana come home from the farm every night and wanted to sit by him, even during the movie.  

It's a long drive, but so worth it.  The kids had fun and I enjoyed the time with some people I love so dearly!  To top off this fabulous weekend, when we got home, the kids ran to hug Sony before Jon.  I laughed at that one. .. then Noah went to poop outside in the window well.  Lovely!  So the next 30 minutes were spent putting him down in the window well and getting him to clean up his own poop.  I'm sure the whole neighborhood heard him crying like a banshee because he didn't want to get near the poop. . . . do you think the lesson has been learned?