Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes Bike Ride

Keira and Matt, our neighbors, invited us to go on their annual bike ride. Joe and I did it two years ago. This year Joe was out of town but Barclay came with us. We started at Heyburn State Park near Plummer and went to Harrison, ate ice cream, and then turned around back to Heyburn. It is about 13 miles roundtrip. Matt was kind enough to haul the boys in the trailer which allowed me to enjoy myself a lot more. Here are some photos from our first stop.

Camping Trip at Priest Lake

Somewhat spontaneously we went camping at Priest Lake. We have not been there since our second wedding anniversary and this time we were at a completely different part of the lake. We lucked out with a gorgeous spot right on the beach. Private, rustic and beautiful. Despite some rain, we had a really nice time. We did bubbles, smores, attempted to fish (Talan hooked his own eyelid which forced us to give up), played games and befriended lots of kids and dogs. Joe cooked some amazing food, we all slept well surprisingly and we went through all of the clothes I packed as the kids kept getting soaked either from rain or from dashing into the lake for no reason in particular. :)

Today, Father's Day, has been very low key as we had a lot of house chores to do. We got back yesterday afternoon but went on a 12 mile bike-ride with Matt and Keira in the early evening so we didn't unpack or anything. Talan was up all night throwing up and keeping us awake so we are deadly tired and lethargic with tons of laundry and cleaning to under-take. Not exactly a fun Father's day. Did I mention Talan was sick last Father's Day. I hope this isn't a pattern.

Happy Father's Day Dad.

Joe is back

Joe is back. Yippee. Poor Talan was signing to the lifeguard today at the Kroc Center "daddy works". :) The lifeguard had no idea what Talan was saying/signing and as I was being whipped around the lazy river I couldn't interpret. We had so much fun today at the Cove. The boys love the "active" pool where they both jumped in a million times. We also went back and forth over and over. I even got to throw Mason on the count of three high into the water. They have so much more confidence. We played ring-around-the-rosy and went under water for the fall down part. Talan wasn't wild about that but Mason loved it. We did spend some time in the hot pool. I also, finally, went down the big slide although I got in trouble for leaving my kids unattended. Whatever! This was the first time the boys had a positive reaction to the lazy river so I was very pleasantly surprised. Talan just stood and watched, he enjoyed standing on top of the water sprays changing it up for the people floating by.
I was positive we were going to take a nap afterwards but that never happened as the movie "monster house" was on and they got very engaged with that (previously they had only seen it at Mason Paul's house). Then Joe came home and the prospect of a nap was over. At least, I thought, they'd go to bed early. Nope! Talan is right next to me playing with plastic ice cream and cones and a scooper. He isn't getting real dessert tonight as he did not eat his dinner. So sad. Consequences are tough sometimes! :) I am going to pretend to go to bed to get him to sleep. Wish me luck. :)

First Week of Summer

Last week was Mason's last week of school. Barclay, thankfully, went to the "graduation" with me. It was long and hot! Mason was very well behaved and Talan spent the two hours looking for things that interested him (like pregnant bellies some of which were on men!). I am excited that our time with Noah's Ark has come to a close. It was great for Mason but now that Talan will be at the NIC Child Development Center, that chapter of our lives in closed. I have been in touch with the Post Falls Kindergarten Center to make sure that Mason has the best placement there for his personality/needs. As he needs consistency, they suggested he go daily and so has been placed in the M-F afternoon session which is 12:20 to 3:05pm. Fortunately, they have a "gap" program on site for before and after school care. And it is flexible which will be great because I am always needing flexibility. :) I am feeling like my kids are more or less squared away for the upcoming school year although my clinical rotations (which will be either very early or very late) will throw a monkey wrench into the whole thing but I am hoping between Joe, Keira, DiAnna, Barclay and Missy that I will have someone to cover those odd times.

A wonderful bonus of living so far North is that daylight starts at 4:30am. This morning I was awake by 5am and Talan woke up at 6am. Unbelievably, Mason is still asleep and it is 6:45am. We walked down to the river with Missy and Mason Paul yesterday arriving back home just after 3pm. From that point on he was out playing with Dillon coming home once for coins as the ice-cream truck was here and once to say hi to Aunt B when she stopped by. Finally at 7:30 he came in and promptly fell asleep on the sofa watching TV by 8pm with no dinner or anything. He has been asleep ever since. Amazing! Mason is the Rooster of our family so this is truly unusual.

Last week was my CNA clinical and written exams. I passed both and have already received my certification card in the mail. :) That is a huge relief. Finally it felt like summer! Then I had my wonderful women's retreat (photos are posted on Facebook) all weekend. Missy had the boys for 48 hours and she said it went well! Fabulous. She said it wasn't nearly as bad as she had anticipated! LOL If you saw our boys together you would understand. They just incite each other into complete mayhem most of the time. I was so relieved it went well as I was dreading hearing how difficult it was. So, my boys can surprise me with decent behavior some of the time! Missy and Sean did take them to the Post Falls Days where they participated in the Big Wheel race for the second year in a row. And while no one won their race, they each got a ribbon and, more importantly, a coupon for a happy meal (yes, it was sponsored by McDonald's). They redeemed their coupons after nap and so that is essentially how Saturday was spent. :)

We also had a fabulous time attending DiAnna's daughter's high school graduation party. There were pinatas. and giant trampolines, smores and cake! We were in hog heaven. :) Talan and DiAnna's 6 year old daughter Lori Ann were being pretty cute together. Mason, of course, was hanging out with the bigger boys which always delights him! I got to spend a little time with DiAnna so that was fun for me as well.

Joe has been coming home on Monday afternoons and leaving Tuesday evenings for the past two weeks. And as crazy as it sounds, it has been totally worth it to reconnect with him. The boys miss him so much these days. When they were a little younger I don't think they noticed it nearly as much . Tuesday, a week ago, we had a picnic on Lake Coeur d'Alene. That was a nice day and the boys enjoyed the sand and the drift wood. This week, we took the boys to see an open captioned performance of the new movie "Up" which was adorable. Then we had donuts at Krispy Kreme which we haven't done in ages! Tuesday morning the boys woke us up with donut breath, they had busted into them while we were sleeping in. Funny but not at the same time if you know what I mean.

Mason had a fiasco swim lesson this week. I think I will dis-enroll him. It was torturous. Every time I enroll him in something, he acts atrociously. My sanity is not worth him learning how to swim. LOL Next week the boys have a week of camp together M-F 9am to 3pm (costing $95 each-what is not to love about that!). I am hoping to have some fun myself and Joe will be home too! But I do also need to work on my summer class Medical Terminology. It is self-paced and so far, I only started yesterday! NVG (not very good for those of you unfamiliar with Bridget Jones!).

Today we are trying out a free Sesame Street Music Workshop after my yoga class. Missy and Mason Paul are joining us.

Oh, Mason is awake now. If you want to know more about our new tractor, ask Joe. :) LOL