Fun, Family, Fourth

Whew! I forget how exhausting playing with 5 age 5 and under can be. Lots of fun, but exhausting none the less. My parents came and visited us for the long Fourth of July weekend and brought my sister’s three boys with them. That meant we had two 5-year olds, two 3-year olds, and an 18 month old in the house. Busy, busy, busy!

Since they have a long drive from the Vancouver area we agreed to meet them in Boise and hotel it overnight. Shortens their drive a bit and allowed us to visit the zoo the next day.

All five kids had a blast at the zoo. Jack was enamored with the Butterfly Garden. Matty was a little leery of the animatronic dinosaurs but braved it anyway. Noah couldn’t get enough of the ‘Monkey Slide.’ Emilie, as usual, made a mad dash for the Jelly tanks. Even little Owen shocked everyone by walking around the entire zoo. Granted he was flat out spent by the time we were done, but he made it.

In all honesty, with the heat and everything. Most everyone was wiped out by the time we wrapped up with the Zoo. So after a quick lunch and group meltdown by 2/3 of the kids over a flattened penny at the MK center we made a judgment call and headed back home. Emilie was out cold 1/2 block from the MK center parking lot. Jack made it to the bridge over the Boise River. I think there were similar results in my folks’ rig. The kids then snoozed until Buhl when we stopped at the Cloverleaf Creamery. It was a day that called for ice cream. This was despite the place being packed by a tour bus full of senior citizens from West Texas who had somehow managed to find their way to tiny Buhl, Idaho.

After polishing off half a dozen ice cream cones as a group, we took the kids home and dumped them in the kiddie pool where they played till they dropped. Next day was Independence day so we packed everyone back into the cars and went back to Buhl for the parade. As usual the kids had a blast. The airplane flyovers were a hit and there was candy galore. Plus we sat in with a great group of kids that were all playing together, sharing pop-its and snacks pre-parade. Got to love small towns for this reason alone.

 

Once home from the parade it was tons of yummy food, fireworks, and a good old water fight. There was also a wiener and s’more roast. None of the kids napped and pretty much just fell over from sheer exhaustion about 8pm. Well, most of them did. We had a couple hold-out every night it seemed.

Saturday we stayed home and chilled out as much as you possibly can with five little kids. For those wondering, it really isn’t much. It is amazing how much energy is packed into those kids!

Sunday morning Mom, Dad, and crew headed back to the westside. It was a great visit all around, but too short as usual. I have tons of things I’d love to do with and show these kids but there never seems to be enough time to fit it all in. I guess that’s part of the reason we keep having them come back. That and the fact, that we love seeing them.