Back to the Lake

After the great Falling in the Water Incident of 2013, Amy was not so happy to go back to our favorite spot at the pond. I finally got her to go yesterday by allowing her to bring her tiny plastic parrot. Uh, I guess parrots are effective flotation devices. 

She got in, but stuck to the shallowest little spot. It went out about 10 feet and was maybe 8 inches deep. The water was super clear and there were good rocks at the bottom. She was satisfied. Rocks? Welllll, ok.

She sat just like this for a long time, rubbing her hands in the gravel and staring out at the lake. I liked the little ripple reflections on her face. It wasn't exactly a swim, but it cooled us off anyway.

Stormy evening

Summer is the dry season in Idaho. In July, we average a third of an inch of precipitation. That's like a half an hour worth of summer in Georgia. Nevertheless, it does sometimes rumble a little. The other day there was a fire in the mountains (run boy run!) that made a huge smoke plume over town all morning. I think it must have helped with moisture condensation because we had a pretty nice thunderstorm in the late afternoon. Classic bruisy sky followed by wind, then thunder and some good hard rain. I loved it. Thunderstorms make it feel like summer, although it is pretty nice that 95% of our summer days are blue. 

Look! There was even a rainbow!!

Check out this crazy sky. This is that magic moment right at sunset when everything is pink. It was amped up even more because there was rain in parts of the sky. Everything was gold and blue. 

Boise Zoo

 We have another small zoo here in Boise. It's a lot like the Tucson Zoo in that it is much smaller than zoo Atlanta, it is mostly full of toddlers, and it's in the middle of a city park. This one might even be smaller than the Tucson zoo, and certainly has more meager exhibits, but it's fun and they have a few cool things that Tucson didn't.
For example, they have a small boat ride! It's a small solar powered barge that takes you from the main entrance to "Africa" passing foxes, lemurs, and ducks. They charge a dollar to go on, but it's donated to conservation.

This is Ames right after our passage. It was pretty hot and she really only wanted to see giraffes.

When you are a toddler, wallabys are kangaroos.  Here are "Kanga, Woo, and other Kanga"

The primate exhibits are pretty terrible compared to the digs at the Atlanta Zoo, but ours has a tiny baby! The docent said this mama was very proud and always positions her new baby right up front where everyone can see it.

The zoo has a small butterfly garden in the summer months. You walk inside and there are bunches of flowering bushes and trays of fruit laying around. They give you a guide sheet so you can identify the butterflies you see. They told Amy that sometimes butterflies land on you and not to be afraid. She wasn't at all afraid and spent about 45 minutes trying to get butterflies to land on her. "Here butterfly! Look at my arm butterfly!!"

Here she is luring them with a leaf. 

Here she is trying to act like a tree. Note her branches. It sort of worked, one landed on her dress. 

Her favorite part of the zoo was the animatronic dinosaurs. These were all over the zoo. They're pretty huge, and they move realistically (I guess) and they roar. 

Rrrrrrrrrroar!

I'm all for conservation, but this is ridiculous. 

Wedding Weekend 2 (in which we drink a lot)

When Emily gets married you have to get up really early to start drinking get your makeup put on by professionals who will make you look as if you have not been up all night looking at old yearbooks.

We started with champagne at 8:15 when it was my turn in the makeup chair and Karinna's turn in the hair chair. When we ran out of that, Whitney brought out a bottle of UGA label wine from 2002, the year we graduated. It wasn't great or anything, but it was sure fun to see.

Congratulations Emi!

Flower girls don't wear makeup, but their mommies do try to get their hair to curl. This is attempt #1.

So much makeup!! (and wearing a robe made by Emily's mom that matches my friends)

The flower girls were so good the whole day. They got up early and watched the big girls get ready allllllll day. The wedding  wasn't until 5:30. They played outside, they ran around the basement, and they took turns on the ipad. The curlers are another attempt at getting curls in Ames' hair.

By this point, we've moved on to bourbon and have gotten ourselves to the wedding location. It's probably about 3 pm here.  Still 2 hours to go, no real bridesmaidly responsibilities yet, except picking on the groom across the hall.

Still not wedding time, but we've been allowed to get dressed at this point. All roommates are crammed into the bathroom of the bridal suite, drinking the bottle of champagne sent over by the best man. Thanks buddy! 

I would like to say we did not drink and giggle all day long but that would be a lie. 

Rob arrived before the wedding to make sure the cutest little flower girl made it to the show. So cute! (note: no curls whatsoever)

The bride watching people arriving.

This is after the ceremony and after Amy woke up from her little nap that prevented her from walking up the aisle.

beginning reception nap #2. Daddy didn't mind one bit.

Back at the house for the after party. Guess it's time for bed!

Wedding weekend

I have a bunch of pictures of Emily's wedding weekend. I'll split them up into rehearsal day and wedding day. 

It was at a pretty place called the Monte Verde Inn in Forest Hills California, just downhill from Tahoe and uphill from Sacramento. Whitney, Karinna, Charity, Emily and the flower girls stayed with us in a vacation home overlooking a really steep canyon down to the river. It was so much fun having all the girls back together again. 

Here we are taking a walk before the rehearsal.

Aunt Whitney showed Amy Gail how to select ripe raspberries along the trail. She LOVED it. All the raspberries you can eat???!!!!!! Hell yes!

We walked down to the stream and splashed around a little before heading back to get spiffied up for the rehearsal.

Amy brought her lizards with her so they would know just what to do on the big day.

Rehearsal? Pshaw. We're experts with lots of experience. We got this.

That night, aunt Whitney and aunt Karinna read bedtime stories and gave Amy some birthday presents. It was so fun to see my roommates taking care of my baby.

The view was pretty incredible. The house was a good find by Whitney. So much fun.

Arggh! Amy turned 3!

Amy's birthday was the day after Emily's wedding, so we were already in California. We drove to San Jose to spend the day with the Kunkels who had prepared a pirate birthday party on their boat. Amy pretty much thought she was in heaven.

Here "Lulu" is taking the birthday girl to see her cake and all the snacks. She ate just about a whole bag of cheetos herself on her "birthday ship"

We went out just a little ways through the harbor. Mostly the party took place in the marina.

Amy really wanted to spend the night in the Crow's nest. Alas, no crow's nest.

Thar be cake ahead!

Time to sing! Even Amy joins in with Daddy, Ray, and Reece. Happy Birthday!!

The cake was covered with pirates. Yay!

We partied until the moon came up. It was a super view of June's SuperMoon.

The marina looked really cool at sunset.

Goodbye party. Thanks for the swashbuckling fun!

Neighborhood Lake

Sometimes after dinner we like to take a little bike ride to the lake to hang out before it gets dark. It's been getting dark really really late here, so we have plenty of time to sit on the little dock and watch birds and pick plants.

Amy likes to collect plants for Mr. Conductor. He's a very hungry herbivore. It takes a lot of grass. 

This is the little path down to the spot we like. Most times we have the whole lake (pond really) to ourselves. Sometimes there are people fishing.

This is the parking lot.

Mr. Conductor has leaves, sticks, and even a few flowers here. Lucky guy. He stays very far from the edge of the water. He has heard stories of the first two Mr. Conductors and their mishaps with water.

This is seconds before a water mishap. Amy was wading and fell over and freaked out trying to get out of the water. Hmm, maybe her panic is why I'm having such a hard time getting her in the pool this summer.

Rob's Birthday

Rob Jones had a birthday! It's our special 3 months when we are the same age. We were married when we were the same age and had Amy when we were the same age. 

We made Rob's favorite dinner and then he chose berry pie for his birthday cake. There are still some things I can't remember where I put them from the move, so I couldn't find the birthday candles. 33 tealights it is! What a lovely glow.

Enjoying his daughter singing happy birthday.

He got them all in one breath!

The pie was pretty yummy if I do say so myself. I modified Alice Water's recipe to be less snooty and more cool. We had homemade whipped cream. 

Happy birthday, birthday boy!

Day out with Reece

After Amy's birthday we spent a few days visiting the Kunkels in San Jose. One day we spent the whole afternoon with Reece and Ray in Vasona Park in Los Gatos. It's a pretty awesome park with many playgrounds, good swings (Amy's favorite), a carousel, and a train. It had everything. 

Amy and her steed, heading back to the castle.

Then we rode the train. It was a long ride all around the park. There were crossings and everything.

 Then, there was swinging. Lots and lots of swinging. We had to take turns pushing because there would never be enough swinging.

I love my aunt Reece!!!