So I’m sitting here wondering where the summer went. I feel like we’ve crammed two months worth of activities into July alone. Several times last week I went to the calendar thinking it was already August as a result.

We left town right as school got out this year for the kids. We brought home some cousins to stay with us after that trip and then we drove back a second time to Idaho. We had one more trip to Las Vegas for a family event the 3rd weekend in July. Now I’m sitting here with the vacation and traveling done, looking at the calendar and realizing my kids start school in 14 days and feeling rather dazed.

So naturally, I redirect my thoughts to all the future things I want to get done, etc.! Before I know it the weather will be great again and I’ll be balancing my time with outside yard and garden time. There’s so much I want to do.

I’m also finding myself longing to get back into some projects that I can wrap up. My photo project is moving back up to the front of the list. I want to get all my backups organized, tagged, etc. and I want copies of all my new digital photos to have paper copies in the photo books too.

I’ve recently thrown baking into my hobby list of things I want to improve on. I baked my first loaf of homemade bread last week. I’ve made a lot of things from scratch, but bread was always more intimidating to me and it’d always been so much easier to pick up a loaf when shopping at the store. It was much easier than I was expecting and it’s been received extremely well. I’m getting ready to branch out into specialty and dessert breads.

Before I know it I’ll be celebrating kid’s birthdays, Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Time flies.

Traveling requires a lot of compromise. Convenience, time and cost are the major players and sometimes they’re not always on the same side. With two trips to Idaho this summer for various family events we knew we’d have to buck up and take the hit in the convenience department to make both happen. No amount of pulling for that private or charter jet could counter the bank account’s argument that the cost of gas versus airline tickets was a landslide. On the upside, I don’t mind driving and enjoy having time to visit with Blake. However, 64 hours of it in a month’s time is a little extreme. So on our last drive home we stopped over in Las Vegas to spend the night with Grandma. This is the first time we’ve been over the Hoover Dam in a couple years and the progress they’ve made on the new freeway through there is amazing! I only wish these pictures could do justice to the instant queasy feeling in your stomach you get when you see it in person. That gorge is a LONG way down!

As you can see from the pictures, the supporting arch is nearly complete. The road will continue where the side connection towers show. It is an amazing engineering feat in my mind.

Another sad but interesting tidbit is how much the water level has dropped. When I was first married our trips over the dam were very different. There was water in all the white areas of these photos. the water line used to come right up under the time towers. We’ve watched it drop ever since.

My kids were greatly intrigued with the dam on this trip. Taylor recognized many of the buildings and structures from the movie Transformers and kept himself occupied trying to figure out where they were all placed. Cidnie started to comprehend the enormity of the dam and the value of resources like water. It’s fun to watch your kids grow.

I’m still not sure I’m going to have the guts to drive over the dam when the road is finished. I suspect it will feel a lot like the uneasiness I experienced about half way over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. 17.6 miles of bridge-tunnel is a very long way. I’m not sure how high this new archway and road over the dam is, I just know craning my neck to look up at it makes my stomach churn.

Our second trip to Idaho was so packed with events, I’m still trying to sort through the pictures and remember all we did. This one however was a real keeper.

Granted, the fish is small, but it was Taylor’s first fishing experience and he was the only one who caught one! He was SO delighted! Clearly dad wasn’t sad either…*snort*

I have to preface this with the story of how Taylor has had two big “to do” items on his list of wishes lately. One was to go bowling (for real, not just the Wii) and two was to go fishing. Last month, his dad surprised him one night with a bowling trip. I wish we’d had a camera for his song and dance of joy. After he squealed delight and danced around for several minutes he stopped suddenly and said, “What about fishing?”

So this fishing trip has been a long time coming. The best part was that his very first time was a success! He was so proud.

Our first day in Idaho was Grandma Sherie’s birthday. Yellowstone Bear World was the first stop. Cidnie wasn’t going to get that close to her cousin’s house without stopping to pick her up. I think the two were in cahoots because Amy just happened to be playing hooky from school that day and was more than delighted when we showed up.

Taylor proved to be our entertainment on this trip. He was delighted watching the baby bears and his giggles became a bit infectious.

Then we moved over to feeding the fish and ducks where we missed a golden video moment. Taylor got right down between the railings to hand the swan a piece of bread and freaked when it reached up and grabbed it right out of his fingers. He jumped back screaming “Holy Crap!” several times followed by several “Did you see that?” questions and a final, “That was A W E S O M E!!” For future reference, swans have really long necks.

We paused for a bear picture on the way to the petting zoo…

Cidnie and Amy enjoyed petting the deer and feeding the animals. Taylor kept a careful distance between himself and most of the animals. Although he did get brave enough to get down to near eye level with one of the ducks and when it came to him for a handout he jumped up exclaiming, “It thinks I’m food!”

Our final stop was to let the kids play on some of the rides. Just when we thought Taylor couldn’t give us more giggles he put on his funniest show. He wasn’t too sure about any of the rides. He made the worker let him off the first round of the little roller coaster before deciding to go back later to stay on it. But the little lift ride left everyone within ear shot in stitches of laughter. You can see from the pictures how he has a death grip on the railing and when he started going up he yelled down to the worker “DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!”

It was a fun start to our first trip to Idaho this summer. We got home to find Grandma had one BIG bouquet of balloons waiting for her. Taylor’s next highlight was sucking helium with Grandpa and singing Happy Birthday with chipmunk voices. It was so fun to be there with Grandma on her birthday. Wish we could do it every year!!

I was feeling a bit reflective this morning of our trip up the North Pacific coast several years ago. The red woods were one of our favorite stops. Cid was so small and not so sure about this building made out of a tree trunk.

I have one last post on our trip to Texas. On our last day there we went to Sea World and it was the highlight for all of us. The park was perfect and quiet for most of our day there. In fact, the only “crowd” we saw at all didn’t come until about 4 PM and up to that point it felt like we almost had the entire park to ourselves!

The first show we took in was just getting started when we got there and included choreographed swimmers with dolphins. It was such fun to watch!

The second show we took in was one Blake remembered with the Sea Lions. It was all about the mystery case of the missing fish. I managed to capture a few meaningful and crisp photos of the action. The opening “warm up” show was done so well. The guy who did the one man entertainment while passing the final minutes to show time was engaging and so much fun. The kids laughed the entire time! The show didn’t disappoint either.

We walked ourselves silly stopping for fun photos here and there. Surprisingly, Cidnie hammed it up.

Getting wet was of course another big highlight for the kids. Make that getting soaked!

Feeding and touching the dolphins in the nursery was another favorite:

We enjoyed double Shamu shows, the first one during the day:

The other a special Halloween show done at night:

It was a full day of fun that made the next day’s drive home not only worth it but quiet to boot! It was a GREAT week in San Antonio and we look forward to going back.

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A week ago today was my daughter’s eleventh birthday. (How’s that for family planning when planning is outside your power? My kid’s b-days are a whopping 3 days apart! *giggle*) We took in the Natural Bridge Caverns and dinner at a fun little spot off the Guadalupe river. At first she wasn’t so sure this sounded like a stellar birthday list of activities.

But the first event turned her around as she panned for gems:

Then the cousins arrived and we got to be explorers in a 75 minute tour of the caves. Her favorite part was going down 180 feet and she asked the guide every couple of minutes how far we’d gone down! She also enjoyed how big it was, the bat foot prints on the ceiling and finding things like fried eggs, king faces and the statue of liberty in the formations.

Then it was on to dinner at the Gristmill:

And the smiles came even before the birthday treat that had Cidnie written all over it….Strawberry Shortcake!!

We even got a case of the sillies…

If there was any doubt the day was stellar it was laid to rest when we got back to the room and she opened her gifts. The coveted Nintendo DS she’s been asking for for 2 years now was waiting for her!

I think we’ll wrap this one up as a resounding success. *grins*

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Our second day in Texas was Tay’s sixth birthday. I’m not at all sure how that happened as it feels like only yesterday he was toddling around my ankles. Time is funny that way. My little boy is growing up.

It was also Columbus Day so we rallied the cousins and headed to the coast for the day. Even though we’d just spent 15+ hours in the car the kids were great about tacking on about 6 more for the round trip to the coast. I think it paid off.

We had lunch on the bay where Tay enjoyed a really fun birthday bowl (to which he replied “this is the best day of my whole life!”) and took a ton of pictures with his camera.

Then it was off to the Texas State Aquarium!

Where the kids got to hold “spiky and slimy things” which made them both a bit squeamish at first but both held the little critters in their hands.

But the dolphins won his heart.

Then it was off to the beach…

And finally back to the room for a bath and presents!

Now just for kicks and giggles, I’ll share one of the few photos I have of our first visit to Corpus about 12 years ago!

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Do I start with the laundry? Grocery shopping? Uploading and sharing photos? There’s so many options.

I’m proud to say that I did get the grocery shopping done. I made myself go right after dropping off kids at school this morning! I did some laundry before we left so I’ll put that off for a little longer and dive into some photo shares!

I have to start with a fun story of my technology working. As we approached Tucson last Saturday I noticed a mountain outline on the horizon. I was almost positive it was the one described in Stephenie Meyer’s book, The Host but wasn’t completely sure. Well, I grabbed my Kindle and typed in mountain peak in the search option. Sure enough several options popped right up for the book and I read her description matching exactly what I was seeing. I grabbed the camera and starting snapping some photos. As we got closer I found the reference in the book about Picacho Peak just before I saw the first sign. Success. It was so fun to have my Kindle put to such great use!

Next it was on to park fun at Six Flags:

The park was decked out for Halloween fun, and they even colored the water of several water rides in the spirit of Halloween!

On our second ride we got a little wet. Dad and Tay got a little soaked and dad’s phone that was in his pocket didn’t survive.

The kids still weren’t wet enough so we hit this ride and finished the job so we all looked like we just stepped out of the pool!

Dad talked Cidnie into taking on his favorite style ride. Suffice it to say there was plenty of screaming and maybe a few choice words from her.

It was a great start to a really fun week. We wrapped up the evening with a nice dinner at my sister’s where the kids had a right good time playing with cousins. We’re so happy we got to go visit them and have so much fun doing it!

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I’m typing today’s entry from the hotel room in San Antonio, TX. We are having such a great time! I’m hoping to have Blake help me set up some file upload stuff on this laptop later so I can share pictures on my blog.

Here’s a short wrap-up to date:

Saturday - all day in the car! *blech*
Sunday - sleep in, relax, take in some fun at 6 Flags, nice dinner with family
Monday - Tay’s birthday, drove to Corpus Christi, had a birthday lunch on the bay, went to the aquarium and the beach
Tuesday - sleep in, fantastic lunch, shopping, Riverwalk, ice cream and evening with familly
Wednesday - sleep in, watch TV, catch up on blog, build Erector car………
Thursday - Cid’s birthday, plans to go to the caves and a fun dinner spot
Friday - heading to Sea World
Saturday - another fun, full day in the car…*double blech*

In the meantime, I’m going to go update my Facebook page and get a few pictures there.