Idaho-on the road

Be prepared to judge our blatant un-safeness. Growing up, Idaho was always the place where I perceived driving laws as more of suggestions. I think the first time I drove I was 14 on the loooong, straight highway on the way to Salmon after the turn off near Mud Lake. Maybe I was 15, but I don't think so.

On this trip we taught Rachel the fun and freedom of not abiding by the laws. But it's only okay in Idaho (especially on the ranch). :) Her first taste of underage driving:

Riding in the back of the car free from the confines of a car seat. What fun! (Note, when we went out on the highways she still was in her car seat--it was just driving short distances on the back roads that she got this special treat.)

All the kids living it up loving the lap more than the buckles:

(Good thing they got a break-after 2, then 3 more hours driving to get to Salmon Annie was NOT happy with her car seat)

Of course, Mom had to get a picture of all of us and how unsafe we were. As if what she was doing was safe in a moving car. :)

Rachel and Jared also got to play in the tractor.

Rachel wasn't too happy about the sun being right in her face, but was content to sit and enjoy the view while Jared worked the controls. He did NOT want to get out of that tractor.

Lucky for him Uncle Boyd was very accommodating and let him drive the tractor himself. It was amusing to see the tractor weaving slowly back and forth as Jared steered all over. Hopefully all this driving/law breaking experience doesn't lead to joy-riding hoodlums in a few years. :)

Idaho-The Petting Zoo

Just up the street from the ranch some neighbors have lots of animals for a petting zoo as a kind of side business. They were nice enough to let us come visit for free on Tuesday morning. Rachel LOVED it! So did Annie.

When we first got there the sheep came running full speed right at Rachel and Molly. Rachel thought it was the funniest thing in the world and screamed in delight as the sheep nuzzled her. Molly not so much. I think it may have traumatized her for life. Or at least for the day. :)

There were lots of cute baby goats all around. Carrie and I reminisced about the time years ago when Justin and I went with her to a 4-H meeting and got chased around by a big goat. This time the kids did the chasing, mostly. This goat was really interested in making a meal out of Rachel's clothes, which Rachel thought was hilarious.

Annie liked looking at the animals more than touching them. Actually she didn't mind touching them, it's more when they touch her that she backs away from them.

This little pony was a hit. Rachel got to feed it some carrots.

She also got to feed the pigs some lollypops. Apparently they like the sweet stuff. They eat the sucker, and spit out the stick.

Jared liked feeding the pigs, too:

The littlest kids all gathered looking at the goat:

Notice Megan's protective stance, shielding Molly from more trauma. :) I love the look on Brooklyn's face.

I love this picture because it shows so well what the dog was doing the entire time: looking longingly at the bunnies, chasing them around the outside of the fence when one got close enough to tease him.

Here's a goat eating my shirt:

Rachel and Sophie holding bunnies:

I think Annie's favorite were the ducks. (Notice the dog trying to eat the bunny through the fence.)

If I was holding Annie when a duck walked by she would arch her back to get out of my arms, and when I put her down, she was off, trying to catch herself a duck. Rachel and Sophie had a grand ol' time chasing the ducks mercilessly for quite a while as well.

The petting zoo may become a must-do activity every time we head up to Idaho from now on. It sure was a hit.

Idaho-Monday

We have so many pictures from Idaho, we'll see if we can wade through them all.

We woke up Monday morning with Rachel not feeling all that hot. She didn't feel like doing much except laying around. Of course Annie thought it was a grand idea, and joined in the fun, playing peekaboo under the covers and "hiding" from Daddy whenever he came in the room. Rachel thought it was hilarious laying under the covers giggling and Dad couldn't figure out where she had gone.

Annie with Grandma Pat:

Annie and Eloise with Grandma Knight. It was fun to get to meet Eloise, Todd and Savannah's 3-month-old. What a cutie!

Rachel spend the morning feeling yucky and laying around watching movies. I think she probably felt better after a little while, but of course our little girl is getting wise to the ways of the world, and milked it for all it was worth, realizing that sick=movies. After a couple movies we convinced her to go over to Aunt Barbara's house to play. She felt fine and had a good time the rest of the day. Jake left after lunch to head back to Tucson for work while we stayed and played the rest of the week.

Annie and Rachel loved playing with Brooklyn, my cousin Emily's little girl. She's 13, almost 14 months, and is a real cutie. Brooklyn would go pat Annie on the head and say "Ooohhh." Or sometimes she would give her a nice, juicy open mouthed kiss. Aaaahh.

Brooklyn sporting Annie's sunglasses:

That evening we all got together at Grandpa Jolley's house for a BBQ. All the family that was around came and it was nice to hang out all together. All the girls were having a good time on the swing. Until water from the canopy started dripping on them.

The trio of kids getting fed:

One of Rachel's favorite things about the ranch was being able to hang out outside as much as she wanted, and run around free in the open air.

Of course she ran from me as I was trying to get a picture of her. But she finally turned around. Isn't the whole place beautiful?!

Rachel and Sophie had a blast running from Ellie on the rope swing trying not to get tagged by her.

The 4 sisters. After this last year with Reah being in ICU for months and all her complications, and my mom's run in with the truck, we're glad to have them all around and doing well.

A nice color coordinated picture of Todd's family:

Rachel and Jared headed back over to Barbara's house for a fun bath together before we all turned in for the night. So fun to have cousins around!

Idaho-the rest of the weekend

Saturday afternoon we went down to my Aunt Reah's house, about a half mile down the road from the ranch. Lucky for Rachel, 2 of Reah's grandkids, Molly and Sophie, came to spend most of the week up there while the rest of their family went on a pioneer trek. My cousin, Megan, came to help out with the kids. They had a real good time playing together. Even though Molly doesn't look all that happy (she likes giving the stink eye to strangers) she LOVED Annie. She has a thing for babies. Rachel and Sophie are only about 6 months apart, so they had a grand time together.

One of the best things about Reah and Jim's place was the kittens. There was one older kitty, and a really tiny one. Both were real tolerant of the kids picking them up and "loving" them gently and not so gently sometimes. Rachel loved them!

Annie loves to swing!

We returned to Grandpa Jolley's house to find deer in the yard. They must really love that yard because there were deer there nearly every evening. One night we even saw two fawns with their moms.

Daddy and Annie loving the porch swing:

The night before Jake went back to Tucson there was a pretty sunset, so we went out to enjoy it together....

on the 4-wheeler.

It was a lovely little ride. It was so nice to actually feel cold enough to wear a jacket sometimes. Such a foreign experience for us Arizonans.

Idaho Trip: Friday Night and Saturday Morning

On Friday July 22nd we all took a trip up to Salmon Idaho to see Annette's family that live up there. Friday morning we drove to the airport in Mesa, AZ and flew from Mesa to Idaho Falls. We rented a car in "I. F." and drove the remainder of the way to Salmon. We arrived at the Jolley Ranch around 9 pm.

Barbara and Boyd were hosting a Stokes family reunion that weekend and there were pony rides for the kids Friday evening. We arrived just in time for Rachel to ride a pony. What fun!

Saturday morning we took it easy and played outside in the cool weather and the green grass (novelties for us desert rats).

Here's Rachel being a good big sister by helping Annie learn to walk.

Annie loves being outside. She was happy to be out and about.

Colette had the presence of mind to have Grandma snap a family portrait with the lovely green background.

Annie got a shoulder ride from Colette.

After frolicking for a while, we decided to go see the cows. Annie was not content to sit on the fence - she wanted to go chase the cows. Unfortunately for her, Daddy was a party pooper and wouldn't let her harass the livestock.

After seeing the cows, Colette took the girls for a ride on one of the 4-wheelers on the ranch.

The rest of July

I'm trying to catch up on our other pictures so I can get on with blogging about our fun trip to Idaho last week. So here are the rest of July's pictures...

Annie is a big eater. About a month and a half ago when she decided she'd had it with baby food. She would clamp her mouth shut whenever we tried to feed it to her, as she stared longingly at the real-people-food on our plates. We can trick her to eat baby oatmeal if we have chunks of strawberries or peaches or something mixed in with every bite. Until last week she only had her two bottom teeth, but she's gotten along very well with the two teeth and can manage to open many a lid, and gnaw off pieces of apple and other hard foods.

 

When she notices us eating an apple or peach, or any fruit really, she gets this look in her eyes and does the dolphin laugh to let us know she wants what we've got. Then she steals it and devours it all, unless we manage to sneak a few bites in.

Here's the stylin' girl with her shades:

The girls on their bikes:

Rachel's trike is actually convertible and can become a rocking-horse type toy. Annie was a fan.

After Rachel's shenanigans with the scissors, she lost scissor privileges for a week. She got them back and within 24 hours she gave herself bangs and lost the use of the scissors once again. Silly kid. Can't wait until she starts working on Annie's hair...

Rachel did swim lessons at the city for the last two sessions this summer, which lasted through most of July. The first two weeks we were at Sunnyside Pool because Clements swim lessons were full. It was really good for Rachel because it wasn't shallow enough for her to touch anywhere, so she actually got used to putting her head under water (though one day she came home and told me "I floated under the water today," which she soon clarified meant "I was drowning today." Luckily her teacher got her pretty quick and she wasn't traumatized.)

For the last session we got in at Clements Pool, which is closer to home and has a beach entry and a big slide all the kids get to go down the last day of the session. Unfortunately her teacher was a little soft with the kids and didn't really push them to do anything hard, so Rachel wouldn't put her face in the water hardly at all until the second to last day of the session when she had a substitute. The sub was great and she put her whole head under water at least 5 times during the class. Amazing what a difference high expectations make. On the last day of the session Rachel went down the slide twice, which she loved, and is a special treat because during regular pool hours they don't let kids go down with an adult, so if they're not good swimmers they just can't go. Annie and I had been in the parent-tot class since it's a lot cooler to wait while Rachel has her swimming lesson in the pool than on the side of the pool. So after Rachel was done with the slide it was pretty much free play and she spent the entire time swimming from me to the wall and back again, putting her face under water with abandon. I was really impressed at how well she was doing--not real swimming, but she's got the leg and arm motions down and she's definitely ready for the next level. Next summer she'll be swimming for real, I'm sure.

Annie fun

This is one of Annie's favorite activities in the world:



Whenever she is in our bedroom she heads straight to our bed and tries to get up on it. She recently discovered trampolines are just as much fun...