O U R * F A M I L Y * V A C A T I O N

We had a great vacation visiting friends in Utah and friends in Idaho and on to Casey's home town BURLEY IDAHO. It was so wonderful to be able to enjoy such cooler weather and have a great amount of time planned with grandma and grandpa.

The 1st weekend-Was a rendezvous camping trip. The kids make this every year with their grandparents. They have a great time. It's all centered around everyone dressing up in the clothes of that era (1800's)which you know the kids love. They have a ton of kid games planned and the kids all have a way of finding each other and running up and down the canyon all day long. The spot we camp at is perfect. You can see the kids in their rather large pack at any time in the meadow. It was so beautiful and GREEN-which coming from AZ is such a delight right now.

The 2nd week Aunt Sylvia had a get together at her house with all her grandchildren. We also went to enjoy all the cousins and have some fun. We were there for hours!! Aunt Sylvia's house is three acres of green lush grass and amazing play area with a sandbox. The kids played and played. I loved it, we had around 20 kids running in and out and all around. Us moms, aunt's and grandma's sat and enjoyed the time talking.

Casey decided to come in early for a nice SURPRISE!!! He called me and said that he had switched his flight to later that NIGHT! I quickly drove to Utah and picked him up. The kids woke up that morning so happy to have their daddy. It was nice to have the extra time with him since he has been gone a lot this summer. We spent the next few days just really enjoying each other and the no need for a schedule or routine.

We drove to REXBURG IDAHO to visit a wonderful family that we have known for the past few years. The PARKINSON'S adopted their son about six months before we adopted Elijah. It was great to get the boys together again and have them play with each other. They have a lot in common. They both are African American boys, with all sisters, living in a Caucasian household. I loved the opportunity for Elijah to see and hopefully understand that he isn't the only one that is black living in a white home, or that he isn't the only one adopted. Since we are so open about this I hope he already gets this, however I can't help but give him as many experiences or opportunities to understand that.

We took a couple opportunities to get the kids together and go swimming. In the middle of Burley there is the SNAKE RIVER-so we loaded the kids up and went down to the docks to swim. The next time we drove down to Twin Falls Idaho(about 20 mins away) and went to DIERKIES LAKE. It is also right off the Snake river. They have made public use out of. They man made a beach, a small water area for the young toddlers, and then a larger area for the older children to swim with diving board. They also have large rocks used by the teenagers to jump or dive off of. It's a wonderful set up. They have lifeguards, and a cop to monitor for safety. They have picnic area's with grass and large trees. The best part is for all 9 of us to go it was a total $3.00 for the whole day. I hope to post pics soon!

THE 4th of JULY! Casey's family is big on the 4th traditions. We meet up at the parade-at our usual family spot and sit and watch, and the kids all run for the candy. Then again off to Aunt Sylvia's house. Where the running, yelling, water playing, picture taking & games begin. We eat like crazy and socialize for hours. This was a blast! We were all so tired by the end of the day (7ish) that we took the kids home, bathed them, put them in their jammies and went outside to do some of our own fireworks, in the process we watched the towns fireworks all around us and then we were all ready for bed.

We had such a wonderful time being surrounded by family that we don't get to see all the time. It's was so peaceful and quite there from our everyday routine, it was a nice break to say the least!