Meridian, Idaho

A week and a half before school started the kids and I went to Meridian, ID to visit my brother and his family. My kids were so excited to see their cousins. We traveled across eastern Oregon to get there. David likes to compare eastern OR to the surface of the moon but with some bodies of water. There is not much out there. We traveled 8 hours and made it in time for dinner. All I can say is portable DVD players are heaven sent. George got to the point of saying, "not another movie".

Our first day 3/4 of us went to the Boise Zoo and the other quarter went to the Discovery Zone right next to the zoo. While there I started to get a headache and could feel it getting worse. By the time we got home I was so nauseated. I slept most of the afternoon and evening while Uncle Craig and Aunt Janell took the kids to see a movie. The girls went to see Nancy Drew and the boys went to see Fantastic Four. Thanks Craig and Janell!

George and Nathan

Cassie, Lucy, Sarah, Callie, and Ginger

Lucy and Callie going down the giraffe slide. Lucy loves to slide!!!

Here is Callie and George in the Butterfly Exhibit. They really liked that.

Here is a traditional picture taking spot for my brothers family. The eagle's nest.

While traveling I held onto some of Carson's money, so it wasn't lost. He had $10 that he was dying to spend. When he went to the Discovery Zone I gave it to him knowing he wouldn't have it when he got back. After meeting up with Uncle Craig, Kendall, Carson, and Ann Marie after the zoo, Carson was happy to tell me that he rented a paddle boat for all of them. I think that was well spent!

The next day Carson went with Kendall(12) and Nathan(10) to their Grandma's house to do some yard work. It wasn't the highlight of his trip but he had fun. Ginger, George, Ann Marie, and Cassie went to play and Janell's sisters house. While Callie, Lucy, Janell, and myself did some last minute school shopping. We had fun walking the mall and sampling some caramel apples.

We all had so much fun visiting. The kids took turns sleeping out on the trampoline each night. The last night Ginger had an upset stomach and threw up a couple of times. So the next day we got a bit of a late start but we made it home about a half an hour after the sun set.

The morning we left Aunt Janell made up Aunt Gina's famous waffles and buttermilk syrup. Yum!