A Day In The Life.. On Vacation!

This will be a multitasking blog post.  Why??  Because I'm busy.  And we just got back from a trip.  And I forgot to post last week.  And I just have to do it this way.  It will make me happy.  And I'm hot.  So happy is good!

So let's go back 2 weeks for a day in the life.  I'll go day to day for these last two weeks and share our vacation trip along the way.  Plus I don't have pictures for the first of the two weeks.  I didn't take pictures.  I was busy.

Monday...  So this was a Monday when we went to the local pool.  The kids swam and I read a book.  It was lovely.  Below is a picture in Lava Hot Springs.  That's where we spent last week. 

The boys.

Tuesday... This Tuesday was stormy.  I went to do missionary visits and then it began to rain.  The plan was to go to the drive in, but it rained and rained.  So we didn't go to the drive in.  The picture below is to prove that I, Jennie, wore swim gear and even went in the water.

The girls.

Wednesday...  This paricular Wednesday I went into the dentist.  I have had a molar hurting like crazy cakes and thought for sure that if I didn't go in that I would bite down on something hard and break my tooth and we would be up in Idaho. So I went in.  Nothing.  That was the verdict.  There is just no explanation for the pain.  There's no swelling, no infection, nada.  So he gave me a script for an antibiotic.  Just in case.  I should fill it and take it and see if it helps. 

We also had the missionaries and our neighbors over for dinner.  Lots of fun!

  This is a picture of the kids in the tent watching the laptop.  Ruthie is telling her brothers to shut up.  They are giggling and hiding from the camera.  Sheesh.

Thursday...  This is the day I took the hoodlums, I mean my wonderful children, to the Leonardo.  Fun museum for sure!  Go!  You'll love it.

This is my husband.  Striking a pose.

Friday...  Ruthie and I went to get our hair cut.  Always a good thing.  Daniel and I went to the temple on a date.  Good stuff.

This is supposed to show my eye that was bright red and just all around bugged.  I went through 5 contacts from Monday to Friday in my right eye alone.  I wore my glasses most of the time.  I don't know what was going on with the eye, but I'm all clear now.

Saturday... We got up early and headed to the cemetary to help a boy in our ward with this Eagle project.  We cleaned up headstones-trimming and edging and sweeping, then recorded names and took pictures.  All the information goes to be recorded as family history records.  It was so much fun.  All our family was able to be there to help.  Thanks Nate!

We had a family reunion with my mom's family.  It was fun to catch up with my aunts and uncles.  We played games and ate good food.

Here are the kids and Daniel watching the laptop.  See the fence behind them?  We were in a spot with a fence around it. It was so peaceful to not have neighbors right next to us. 

Sunday... Went to church and then packed for the trip.  Finally... The trip!

Sam, in the car.

Monday...  Took off for Lava after Daniel had a dentist appointment.  This was just a 6 month cleaning. We spent the rest of our afternoon setting up camp and walkiing into town to sight see a little.  Here are Daniel, Isaac and Ruthie on the river.

Tuesday... The plan was to hit the river and then head to the Olympic pools.  Instead we packed a lunch and treats and just went to the pool.  The first two pictures are all of us at the pool.  We spent most of the day there playing.  This is Daniel, Ruthie and me on the river.  Sam went down and then got in the car.  He had had an allergic reaction to the chlorine on Tuesday and didn't want to go back on the raft.

Wednesday...  We spent a couple hours on the river.  It was low so we bumped our bums on lots of rocks.  Here's our site.

Thursday... Time to pack up for home.  Sam in the tent while packing up. After getting home we decided that we were still on vacation.  So we packed up quilts and treats and really went to the drive in.  We watched Turbo and Monsters University.  We didn't get home unitl 1 am. 

Friday... Sleep in, laundry and grocery shopping.  Daniel went to work.  I made dinner for a gal in our ward who is having contractions but so not close enough to her due date. 

Saturday... Lazy day.  Yard work, house work, more laundry.  Daniel had put the pool up and found holes.  He tried patching, but to no avail.  So the kids slashed it with a razor and shot at it with a BB gun.  Daniel finally took it down and threw it away.  I spoke at a baptism for a woman in our ward.  It was so fun to be a part of it.  I love convert baptisms.

Sunday... Meetings, church, choir practice, home teachers, home teaching and family get together.  We went to my brother's house and hung out with cousins for a while.  Time to get back to the normals of life. 

Here are the kids at the drive in Thursday night.

Have a fun week!

Just A Little Trip.

 My Grandma just turned 100!  Can you believe it?  Think of all the things she's seen in the past 100 years.  Depression, War, Inventions, Big Bands, Elvis, Beatles, Michael Jackson, Bieber. She watched her "show", Guiding Light from the very beginning, when it was on the radio in 1952, to when the final episode aired in 2009. 

So we decided to make a trip out of it.  We got in the car last Friday morning and drove over 800 miles to the California coast.  Our hotel room got upgraded.  We didn't complain.  Ruthie and dad just chillin' on the couch.

 Isaac and Sam shared the second bedroom.  And they thoroughly enjoyed having their own TV and bathroom.

We even had a kitchen.  I wish I had brought microwave popcorn.  We even had a dishwasher.  On to the party. 

On Saturday we went swimming, got dressed, ate lunch, then headed to the church for the party.  I got to see cousins who I haven't seen in years.  Here is our family with Great Grandma Nunes.

Singing Happy Birthday and blowing out candles.  Grandma has lived in the same house since the 1940's.  My Grandpa died in 1992, right before his 92nd birthday.  We Nunes' believe in long life.  My dad will be around a while. 

That evening we all (my parents and all my siblings and families) went to the AT&T park in San Francisco to see the Giants play.  Look at that view!

The night was beautiful and slightly brisk.  Perfect for a baseball game.

We got the first row.  A couple of my sisters and their kids are behind us.

We aren't big baseball fans.  Although I was raised on the Giants and 49ers.  But it was so fun to be there with Abbie and Poppy and cousins and stuff.  That's right, my siblings are the "stuff".  I was there for the garlic fries.  Oh Baby!

Guess who loved them too?? She should be in commercials.  Ruthie sat next to my two brothers, who are gigantic Giants fans.  Their wives and boys were at home.  Too fast a trip for babies.  Ruthie kept saying she was so glad I wasn't like my brothers, who were yelling and making a raucous during the 7th inning stretch and when we all sang Sweet Caroline in support of Boston.  I pointed out that I was singing loudly too.  And I knew all the words to Sweet Caroline and wasn't holding back! It's my job to embarrass.

Sam was bundled in his hoodie, dad's jacket, a blanket and snow hat and gloves.  He wouldn't eat the garlic fries.  More for us.  He was shivering the whole time.  But.. he still had fun.

Isaac and dad had fun together.  They watched the boats in the harbor and enjoyed the game.  Isaac was next to another of my sisters who had her baby.  Isaac loved when cousin Washington would look at him and try to grab him.  He was embarrassed by his dad at this moment.

 

And here is the proof that I was there and having a ball.  The game went only 2 hours and 20 minutes.  Fast!!

We drove home Sunday and are still recovering.  What a fun and exciting trip.  We are so glad we got to go out and see Great Grandma Nunes and go to a baseball game with Abbie and Poppy. 

Happy 100 years Grandma!  We love you and are so glad we got to see you!

Yellowstone. Part Siete.

I am just not sure where the Spanish parts came in.  Just happened.  So this is the seventh and final installment of our Yellowstone vacay.  Yay. Here is a picture in front of the Yellowstone sign.  We didn't actually take it until we were leaving the park on Thursday night. 

On our travels and stops we looked at license plates.  There were only 6 state license plates we didn't see: Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Vermont, West Virginia and Rhode Island. And Canada was representing.  We saw Alberta, Quebec, Ontario, British Columbia and Saskatchewan.  But no Nova Scotia. It was a fun and exciting game.  And seriously..  Hawaii?!  What's the deal?  Can't just drive over and tour Yellowstone?!

This is the last line of stopped traffic we sat in while in Yellowstone.  1 hour is just too long to sit with no bison or bears to look at. At least we had movies and the DVD player.  And snacks.

Lot's of road work.

And here's our mode of transport for the trip. We had finally gotten the parts to put the container on the Durango rather than the van.  Otherwise we wouldn't have had enough room for the kids to come. 

As we drove through Malad Idaho, Daniel yelled out, while I was asleep, "Hey, there's Abbie and Poppy!"  And there they were.  On their way home from Mount Rushmore.  We drove by them and talked on the phone for a bit.  What a fun way to end our trip.  Then when we got home and looked through the mail, there was a post card from Mount Rushmore that Abbie and Poppy sent to the kids.

We've already begun looking at the campgrounds near Mount Rushmore for our trip next year.  Thanks for a great vacation Yellowstone!

Yellowstone. Part Seis.

On Thursday we began our day eating breakfast at the Running Bear Pancake House.  Then we stayed in West Yellowstone to go to the Bear and Wolf Discovery Center.  You have to be very quiet when you go in.  Here is my brood looking at the bears.

They had little kids go in and hide bear treats while the bears were out.  When the kids got out and the bears went back in, the bears went to work finding all the hidden treats.  Can you see the giant man eating ravens?  Huge I tell you!

Looking for treats.

Then we went to see the wolves.  Here is a mass of bones from a previous meal.

And two wolves.

Ruthie standing on the Wolf Den.

This is also a sanctuary for birds who can't be released back into the wild.  There were 2 Golden Eagles, a Great Horned Owl, a Hawk and this is Iris, the Bald Eagle. 

Inside the museum we found this polar bear.  No Sam, he's not coming for ya.

Then we went to a bakery there in town and ordered yummy sandwiches for lunch.  We'd been packing our own lunch in everyday and it had gotten old.  We went back into Yellowstone and saw more cool stuff before heading out and waving goodbye.  We had dinner at the campground that night.  They do a BBQ each night.  We had burgers and grilled cheese and Daniel had a buffalo burger. Much to our great dismay and dissatisfaction, yet with great understanding, the pool was closed for 24 hours because a toddler had a big accident in the water.  Gross.  So we bought some yummy fudge from the store and I got a cool Yellowstone tote bag. Then we went back to the tent and played games and told ghost stories by a campfire. One more post should finish us up!

Yellowstone. Part Cinco.

Waterfalls. On Wednesday's continued adventures we went to the Grand Canyon.  It was confusing.  You mean we're going to the Grand Canyon??  How can we go to the Grand Canyon when we're in Wyoming?!  Anyhoo, we saw waterfalls at the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. 

It was very pretty.

Hi Ruthie. 

Hey Sam.

What'd'ya know Ike?



Me and him.  Him and me. 

In the canyon there was a spot with a chunk of ice.  It doesn't see the sun.  That's the ice behind the branch.

I made Isaac stand by me while Ruthie took a picture.

Then I made Sam wait while Ruthie took a picture.

Then I took the camera from Ruthie and she got mad.  This is her mad face.

After the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone we headed out to go get dinner.  On our way to West Yellowstone we ran into sit and wait traffic.  This time it was road construction.  I think they chose a bad week for road construction. Back in West Yellowstone we ate dinner at the Three Bears restaurant.  It was divine.  Daniel was feeling saucy and got a great big piece of cake for dessert. That's what it was called.  It was huge but we ate the whole thing. Then back to camp to swim.