Summer Time Catch Up Cont.

Chicago:

Jonathan had a conference in Chicago. His paper was chosen as Most Outstanding, so he presented it at the conference. I had a great time all by myself, while Jonathan was in meetings, I walked down by the waterfront, exploring the Museum Campus, the Harbor, and the many Gardens and Sculptures. I had complete solitude. It was wonderful, although I found myself thinking that the boys would have loved to see this or that. The last morning we were there Jonathan presented his paper. He did an excellent job. He was articulate and his Power Point presentation was well put together. He also had quite a few follow-up questions during the question and answer portion of the meeting. I am glad that I was able to be there to support him. After his presentation we had a few hours before we had to be at the air port, so we took a walk down to the Navy Pier. We walked down the boardwalk taking in our surroundings. It was nice to just hang out with each other and not have two wild and crazy rascal pants interrupting every other word. We enjoyed our solitude, but we were happy to see the boys when we arrived at Nana's and Papa's in Idaho.

4th of July:
We arrived in Rexburg Idaho a couple of days before the 4th of July to find that the boys hadn't missed us at all. They had been on air plane rides, sleeping in hotel rooms and playing in the swimming pool. I knew that they really did miss us because they wouldn't let us go anywhere with out them knowing where we were going, how long we would be gone and when we would be back. Ahhhhh, it feels good to be needed!! The 4th of July was a fun day. We drove down to the center of town to watch the holiday parade. The boys had a great time watching all of the floats drive by and picking up candy as it was tossed out. My favorite float was the shopping cart for one of the local super markets. We also had the Air Force fly four jets over head. Isaac and Owen thought that that was the best part. After the parade was over we drove over to the local Fire Works stand and purchased some major explosives. After a wonderful BBQ, Uncle Ralphy put on a pretty impressive fireworks show for us. It was nice to be with family as we celebrated our Nations birthday.

Bear World:

We visited Bear World again, which is always a fun experience. It cracks me up how excited the boys get to see bears lying down sleeping. We saw a white Elk that was a beautiful snowy white. We saw bears of course and a bunch of ground hogs that looked like they were getting ready for a ground hog shindig. We visited the petting zoo area, which had interesting hens, baby fawns, ducks and ducklings, and this awesome boar. The boar was my favorite! He found a shady little napping place and just lay there no matter how much noise was made. He had little kids daring each other to touch him with their tiny fingers. I just laughed while I watched the apprehention on their faces as they hoped that he wouldn't wake up and chomp their fingers off. I took a great picture of Jonathan with him. It was a fun day with the boys and cousins.

Jackson Hole:

Our next stop was Jackson Hole. We drove over and swam at the Aquatic Center. The boys had a great time of course. I would have too if I hadn't forgotten to put my swimming suit on before we left. I swear some days get so crazy that I would forget my head if it wasn't attached to me. The boys had fun on the water slides and Jonathan perfected his dives and flips off the diving board. We also rode down the alpine slides. I think that it is safe to say that the Alpine slides are one of our favorite things to do. We had some good races between all of us. It was also fun riding up the ski lift to get to the top. After a long day of family and fun we headed back to Rexburg. On the way back we stopped to enjoy a Mulberry Shake. I wouldn't mind having one right about now. Owen and Sam were so tuckered out that they fell asleep on top of each other. It was so cute.

Big Spring & Mesa Falls:

Our visit to Big Springs was a refreshing experience. I love mountain water, it is crisp, clean and crystal clear. Big Springs is the beginning of a large river, it bubbles up out of the earth and then flows down through the valley. It is a slow flowing river so Jonathan was able to teach the boys how to skip rocks accross it. I realized after this adventure that I am out numbered when it comes to country life vs. city life. The boys keep asking when we get to move to the country. Don't get me wrong, I am a country girl at heart, but there is something about the energy of the city that I love. I love the diversity and culture that a city brings as well as all of the museums and arts. After skipping every rock they could get their hands on we moved on to Mesa Falls. We had been to Mesa Falls before, but the beauty and force of the water fall is breath taking. We all had a great time exploring the vegitation and flowers that the area had to offer. We even had the oppertunity to watch a Bald Eagle fly around in the mist to cool herself off and then return to her babies in their nest.

The Sanders Family:

We have been good friends with the Sanders for so long. They were our up stairs neighbors when we first moved back to Boston. Jen and Matt are like our brother and sister, in a non wierd way since they are married. We rung in the New Millenium with them, we have shared birthdays, Jen and I were pregnant with Isaac and Benjamin together. I could go on and on, but won't. After Matt graduated from the Kennedy School of Government and one job under his belt they moved away to sunny Carmel, CA and left us behind. We were so excited to hear that they moved to Sugar City, Idaho for Matt's new job, which is the next town over from Rexburg, so we couldn't pass up the chance to get caught up in person. I was so happy to see Jen, we hung out and had yummy deserts and talked and talked, it was like we had never been apart, we picked up right where we left off. Before we knew it, it was 11:00 pm and we were still going strong. Jonathan and Matt were having a great time as well. It was so much fun. The boys had a great time to, as you can see from the picture. It was crazy to see how much Emily has grown, she is a beautiful young woman now.

Teton National Park:
We had so much fun with the Sanders the night before, that we took them with us to the Teton's the next morning. It was a glorious day! We hiked into Phelp's Lake. The hike was pretty easy, not too many inclines. It had a few gigantic rocks that the boys had a blast trying

to climb. They were successful with a few of them and then there were the ones that they weren't. All along the hike I was informed, by all of the little boy scouts, of all the different types of plants, rocks and mineral deposits that were found along the path. Once we made it to the Lake we were happy to take our shoes and sox off and dip our feet in. The boys even waded out to some large trees that had fallen into the water. It was a relaxing afternoon. On our way home, we stopped and had a Chuck-Wagon BBQ Dinner in an Indian Teepee. The boys thought that they had died and gone to heaven. It was a nice ending to our vacation with Nana and Papa.