Soooo..... we have THREE weeks left of Summer. Yep. Just 3 (well, 19 days to be exact.) HOW DID THAT HAPPEN? I know we just got back from a 3 week trip to Idaho, but that means we had 6 weeks of Summer before our Idaho trip and I don't even know what we did really, haha!
Anyway. let's just delve right in. We celebrated the 4th of July. We chose to stay in Oklahoma because our neighborhood makes it so special, and there's no 4th of July celebration in America the way a "red state" celebrates it.... because Red states LOVE America! And Oklahoma is THE reddest state in the whole nation so we celebrate BIG. And it was everything I imagined/remembered/expected it to be. So much fun. Such a profound feeling of love and pride for America and what we can hopefully get back to in the coming years.
The next day we loaded up my car with a zillion pounds and prepped for my drive to Idaho that I would start at 6 AM on July 6th. We drove for 15 hours that day (well, 13 but 2 hours of it was potty stops and food breaks). Because of the luggage raft, the wind drags, and going up-up-up in elevation, I got HORRIBLE gas mileage. Like, worse than a normal car- not a HYBRID. It was ridiculous!!!! (It was not like that on the way home because Shawn took half our luggage home with him on the plane and we were going DOWN in elevation so it was fine).
Anyway, day 1 we went through Kansas, Colorado and stayed the night in Wyoming. The next day we drove to Utah and then onto Idaho. It was only 8 1/2 hours so it was much better. The plan all along was to go to Riggins with the family- my favorite camping spot in the world. However, we were in the middle of a heatwave. Not just a little one. But triple digits and record setting. Triple digits on sand is horrible. Our feet would blister. Plus there is no shade. So we had to nix it. But we didn't want to cancel camping all together so we chose a different location: Stanley. It was GORGEOUS. Truly breathtaking. I can't deny that. It wasn't quite as much fun, simply because there was no floating in the river right by the tents. We camped right on the water but the current was too strong to get in right there. On the banks yes, where the water was only a couple of inches high. But no deep swimming right there. To swim anywhere we had to drive to get there. Now, when we DID drive anywhere, it was BEAUTIFUL. But it would have been fun to just have the swimming right there in front of us. That was our biggest complaint. So if that's all there was to complain about, that just shows you how spoiled we were. It was truly magnificent.
We were able to go to 2 hot springs. The Sunbeam ones and the Kirkham ones. Kirkham was one of the most beautiful places I've ever been in my life- it is truly incredible! But it was so crowded! There was nowhere to sit and relax because of all the people there. The Sunbeam ones, however, were really relaxing. And it was crazy because the water was SOOOO divided. One foot could be submerged in HOT water and one foot in COLD water. Or you could be sitting in hot water but your legs and feet were soaking in cold water. It was bizarre but so cool; truly amazing and so much fun for the kids to experience.
We played crossnet which was much more exciting than I thought it would be. We roasted marshmallows. We created Spirit animals for ourselves (I'm an Emu, hahaha!). We stayed up late talking around the campfire. We jumped off the tallest bridge I've personally ever jumped off it (at least I think it was the tallest....). We tried the hottest hot sauce in the world! We ate junk food. We floated down small stretches of the salmon river. We went to Red Fish and jumped off docks and swam in the CLEAREST, most beautiful water I've ever swam in. It was so beautiful!! Crowded, but beautiful. We watched a wedding on the beach even! Even though Riggins holds a special place in my heart, Stanley was stunning and I am so glad I was able to experience it with Shawn and the kids.
Back in Boise, we floated the river in Star, swam in my Mom's country club pool (with a diving board and waitstaff- fancy!), Shawn and I went on a couples' date with Lana and Laura and their husbands, and we had both a family ice cream night and a pizza dinner night. The kids just love their Idaho cousins. There are so many of them and most of them are around their ages. It is so much fun. We didn't get to play with Nana and Pops because they had Covid. We borrowed their tubes and saw them at their house and waved, but there was no hugging and no "hanging out." Nana and I stood across the driveway from each other and cried. I couldn't stop the tears from rolling down my cheeks. I wanted to hug her so bad- her AND Pops. I never get to see them and all I wanted was a big giant hug from each of them. I wanted to tell them how much I love them up close, not from 15 feet away. I wanted my girls to spend the night at their house because Nana wanted to have a sleepover with them. We had all these plans with her but couldn't do any of them. And I just wept. It was heart breaking. Covid has taken so much from so many people. (A week later Pops went to the hospital where he is still there today, suffering. We are praying HARD for him. It's just not fair. It's soul-crushing.)
On Friday we drove up to Coeur d'Alene to see Nana and Pops Smidt. Their house is my favorite. Man... it just feels like coming home! It is so comforting and welcoming and even though it's not a new house, I think it's my favorite house in the world. They moved into that house when I was 6 years old and it holds some of my very dearest childhood memories. I have memories in that house from almost every stage of my life. It's always the house I can come home to. We moved around a lot when I was a kid and it never bothered me at all. Until my parents moved to Star and lived in that same house for 10 years- a house I grew to love as well. It was only when they left that house that I realized that all my life I loved their Star house the most because it was our house the longest of them my entire childhood. It helped shape me. Well now that house is gone so I can't claim it anymore, but Nana's house isn't; hers is still there for me. And no matter where I move or what phase of life I move into, Nana's house is the ONE house that has stayed consistent; the one house I can count on to envelope me and lift my burdens when I walk through those doors. Her house is HOME.
Saturday, Jim and Sherene were kind enough to bring their Wave Runners to let us ride them for a few hours at Higgins Point. It was SO much fun. I haven't ridden a Wave Runner in so many years and I never have with Shawn! We chased waves together and went as fast as we could get them. It was the BEST! Sherene stayed up on shore with my kids so that Shawn and I could take them out and ride them all over the lake. Half the time we'd take the kids out with us, but when we could go alone and let loose it was RAD! The kids did love it too though. I was making them face their fears by going super fast with them. At first they were scared but the more we did it and the more they realized they weren't going to fall off, they relaxed and laughed so hard when we'd fly in the air. It was just so FUN!Sunday we went to Tubbs to jump off rocks. We had such a short window of time in CDA so Sunday was the only day we could squeeze it in. It was nice though, because I love to hike Tubbs. Being in nature is soothing to my soul. It was a perfect morning. By noon, though, it became PACKED. So we decided to head back and went to Nana's to get ready for Sunday dinner and rolled tacos! Mmmmm!
Monday we went to Silverwood. It was one of the best days we've ever had with the kids. I'm serious. My kids are not easy. I am the first to admit that. They are the biggest whiners, they complain about everything, and boy do they fight.... They're awesome at times but for the most part, I feel like they whine more than any kids.... ever! However- they didn't complain ONCE at Silverwood. It was amazing. Honestly- amazing. I almost want to cry because I'm so thankful for how good they acted! They didn't fight ONCE. Not even ONCE! They never complained. They waited in super long lines oh-so-patiently without any complaints- never asking why the lines were long or when it would be our turn. They just waited. They didn't whine about a thing. They were so excited and full of joy all day. We were there for almost 9 hours and they just loved every minute. We were all so happy. Even when it was hot and crowded. Luckily it was cloudy 90% of the day so it wasn't unbearable, but even the heat was not something that they complained over at all. Oh! And Piper rode all the BIG scary rides! Her and Sully rode Timber Terror! I was able to look at Sully's face when he came down the big drop on the roller coaster and it was so funny! It made him really nervous, but he did like it. I'm just so proud of him because he is only 5! But he did it! It was just fun to do some big rides with the kids for the first time. We didn't go into the kiddie section even once. It was so cool! I love this new phase of life we are moving into. Babies are so sweet and special, but having kids is really a lot of fun!
We only spent 90 minutes at the water park because the crowds were too much for us to handle. The floating river was like sardines. Honestly- it wasn't even safe for the kids to swim without us. Tubes were going over their heads and pushing them down into the water and they couldn't get back up. So we just couldn't do everything we wanted to do over there. It was INSANE. We DID get to go down some big slides where half of the slide was pitch black inside. I thought my kids would hate it or get scared but they didn't! It's only one person at a time so I couldn't go down with Sully and he came out laughing at the end! I didn't even like the pitch black part of it, but he wasn't bothered. All 3 of the kids did it and loved it! Sully did it twice and would have done it again if we had time!
Tuesday we played some tennis and the kids got to go ride horses at Sherene's. Piper has an INTENSE obsession with horses, so every time we go to CDA we go to Sherene's to make all her horse dreams come true! If we could afford land within our school district, we would have done that in a second. Unfortunately, we can't. Not in Bixby or Jenks. It's too expensive. So that's why we chose the neighborhood we're in because land wasn't even an option for us if we wanted to stay within their school boundaries. If we ever get the chance to build on land and have horses and chickens we will do it in a second. That is a huge dream of ours and I pray that someday we get to make the dream a reality!
Wednesday came before we knew it... The day we had to leave. The last few hours with family is always heavy. So many never-ending hugs and “wait, we need more pictures!” and those last conversations about everything and nothing…. And then, the real goodbyes happen. I almost never cry UNTIL I part with them (that’s what happened with my parents- I was tough until we drove away). Except this time. When I hugged my Nana and Pops this time around I openly sobbed while squeezing them tight because saying goodbye to grandparents in their late 80’s is never a certain thing. Never a “oh, I’ll see you again next year.” Because you just don’t know. Especially with everything that’s going on in the world right now. The uncertainty breaks my heart.
