2011 summer vacation–week 1

We took off for Idaho late Friday night (or early Saturday morning, depending on how you look at it). We left around 1am or so, the idea being to get the first chunk of the drive out of the way while the kids slept. Never. again. The kids were actually fine, but the cats. Oh, the cats! Actually, just Zelda. She’s the high-strung one. Thankfully Isis just goes with the flow. Anyway, Zelda just cried the entire first few hours. Then once I finally dug out the anxiety drops I’d bought (note to self: keep them much more handy on the trip home!), she’d just calmed down when she puked! All I can say is thank goodness the cats were both crated because otherwise our brand new van would have been christened with cat vomit. We pulled over, and I got her out on her leash to clean her off while Derk cleaned out the cage. Not even a half hour later, she pooped all over her cage. Let’s just say we very nearly left her on the side of the road at that point (okay, not really, but I can’t deny it crossed my mind…). After that I probably overdosed her on the anxiety drops (not really, they’re homeopathic, but I did give her more than the bottle says, I’m sure), and she was quiet the rest of the drive to St. George. Once we got to Grandma Dean’s house we all took showers first thing. Then we took Grandma out to lunch at the Mexican restaurant Derk’s uncle owns. Then it was back on the road to Salt Lake where we were going to spend a couple of days.

Monday morning we headed out of Salt Lake and stopped in Pocatello to attend Anoni’s first birthday party. It was so fun to finally meet Anoni and to have a little break from the car. We had a good visit, and their girlies really enjoyed playing with the cats (and I’m sure they really enjoyed getting a break from the crates!). Isn’t her little tutu just precious?!

We arrived in Coeur d’Alene around 1am Tuesday morning. On Wednesday all of the cousins from my side went to the park and had a blast together. It was so fun to have them all together.

Thursday we went on a hike around Tubb’s Hill with Jessica and her boyfriend Mike and their dog Clyde. I got so many gorgeous scenery shots! How I miss living in the Northwest. The day was cool and overcast, but it was perfect hiking weather. I also had no idea how much attention Great Danes get! Almost everyone who passed us on the trail wanted to stop and talk to Jess about Clyde.

Sunday we went to my Mom’s house and celebrated Logan’s 5th birthday. I tried to get a shot of these 3 cuties sitting on a bench together, but you can see how productive that venture was…

The cousins had a lot of fun jumping on the trampoline, running amuck through Nana’s house, and eating cake.

We had a really great first week!