Independence Day!

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday weekend over the 4th of July. We had a really enjoyable day just hanging out and relaxing. You know...the stuff I enjoy doing best. :0)

Swimming Lessons......Part 2

It has been a crazy couple of weeks around here. Which, of course, means I have a lot of catching up to do with my blog here. And...because it would take too much time and effort to keep everything straight....none of these next several posts are in any specific order. I was there....just don't ask me to remember which day it actually happened. :0)


Landon finished up his swimming lessons this last week and passed with flying colors! In fact, every box on his certificate was checked off. {We can't say the same for Mackenzee} Not only that, but the class that he was supposed to be in told him he swam too well for their class and automatically bumped him up to the next higher class level. So, he atually passed two levels of swimming classes instead of just one. Way to go Landon!



He is doing so well with his swimming and is turning into quite the little fish. In fact, he passed the "mommy" swimming test out at Bass Lake last week as well. Last year he struggled and ran out of energy while trying to swim out to the dock and ended up needing Jaysen to help him make it there. So, he did not pass the test last year and was "forced" to wear a life jacket if he wanted to go out in the deep water. This year he didn't need any help at all and so he doesn't have to face the "shame" of wearing a life jacket.

Though it was awesome to watch Landon learn new swimming strokes and how to dive, trying to keep Mackenzee entertained in the hot sun for an hour every day for the last two weeks was definitely interesting. She got in trouble with one of the life guards there for pretending the bench on the side of the concrete was a balance beam. She had to get down and take the walk of shame back to her mother {who had already told her not to walk across the bench but apparently does not have as much authority as Mr. Lifeguard}. She later told me that the lifeguard was mean to her and so she hated him. Good times.......

On a different day, a different Mr. Lifeguard was seen walking around with a Hello Kitty towel wrapped around him. Mackenzee laughed and told me that he was a girl.

And, still another Mr. Lifeguard was commented on. Mackenzee was quite taken with him and let everyone sitting around us know by pointing emphatically towards him and then, speaking very loudly, said, "he has BIG muscles!". After which she struck the muscle man pose with her arms up in the air. She was right....the guy did have big muscles...but I am worried about the fact that my three year old is already checking out lifeguards. I may be in trouble. ;0)







Congrats Landon!

Shoshone Ice Caves

One of the things on my "to-do" list for this summer was to hit several of the geological sites here in Idaho. I learned quite a bit about them and the "science" behind them in my geology class that I took several months back and knew I wanted to go check them out with my "new" eyes. Because it is so close, our first stop was the Shoshone Ice Caves. My nephew, Talon, has been visiting and so we took him along for the ride.

Not to be boring here, but I'm going to get a bit of my "science" ON....at least the information I actually retained from the class. Science is NOT my forte.

Forever ago, Idaho was covered in hundreds of volcanoes. In fact, much of the rocks that are around here are volcanic. Of course, they are all pretty much sedentary now and most of them appear as simple hills now. Often, the lava travels underground forming "tubes" in the rock. That is what the Ice Cave is. It is a low pressure wind tunnel underground. The rocks there are porous, meaning they will absorb the water. When the rocks can no longer absorb any more water, there is run-off. Underground....the water accumulates and because of the air traveling through the tunnel, the water freezes.

So, the Ice Cave isn't necessarily a cave....it's a lava tube filled with ice. Make sense? Ok....moving on.

It was a really hot day when we went...about 87 degrees. What was the temperature down in the Ice Cave? Well....it was freezing. :0) 30 degrees. I'm glad they had jackets available for us, because we dressed for the outdoor weather.....not for winter. I should have thought smarter on that one.

I love this picture of Mackenzee....she was so determined to hike out and about without any help whatsoever. Poor Jaysen was so paranoid about it though. There are a lot of ledges out in volcanic rock country....and this little girl showed NO FEAR. The stern look on her face in this picture captures exactly what her stubborn mood was that afternoon. :0)
This is the entrance to the cave....or the first set of stairs going down into the cave. The walls were lined with sparkly ice and we walked on a wooden bridge set up over the ice floor in the cave. The lava tube is 1,000 feet long and is actually one of the natural wonders of the world.

Our tour guide climbed out onto the slab of ice at the end of the tunnel to show how thick and sturdy the ice was. The kids were excited that they were allowed to touch the ice and put their feet on it.

The boys especially enjoyed the tour and were amazed at all of the things they learned. Talon even spotted a red bellied lizard next to the trail. Of course, Landon then begged me to have a pet lizard of his own. {Not gonna happen!}

Because the landmark contains formations that are millions of years old, they have giant "dinosaurs" out front. Landon was desperate to climb on the biggest one and was fairly annoyed at his mother when he was told that it was against the rules. {I'm telling you....I totally win the Meanest Mom award!}

So, one landmark checked off the list and only oodles more left. Though I have been to Balanced Rock oodles of times, neither of my kids have seen it so I'd like to take them out there to hike around a bit. There's also the Hagerman Fossil Beds that are fairly close. Craters of the Moon is at the top of my list but I'm not sure I will make it there this summer. :0( Hopefully something changes so we can check out this other volcanic area.

Didn't know I was such a geek did you? I know....but Landon loves this kind of stuff and is extremely interested in science. I want him to continue to enjoy it and not realize how much I truly hate it. :0)

Photography by Mackenzee

Jordan Mae
Meghan

Aubrey

Grandpa Burnham

Jodie turned the camera back on Mackenzee after Kenzee was done take her snapshots of everyone. You'd think this girl has seen someone take oodles of pictures her whole life or something.......

Aunt Jodie

All of these photos {except for the one of Mackenzee} were taken by my three year old.

The Buxton's came!

Wade, Jodie, Rachel, Aubrey, and even Buster {their dog} came up from California for a short visit and we were so excited that they were able to make it! We don't get to see them too often because they live so far away so it was nice to have them here. We played for days with them and Mackenzee and Buster got to get reacquainted. :0) We all took a trip over to Hop 2 It, which is a ginormous bounce house. Ok, so it is a building that has a bunch of different inflatable bounce houses/slides/obstacle courses. I forgot my camera {dang me! Jodie...don't forget to send your copies my way!} and so I have no proof of the craziness that went on there. But, we did have a good time.

Everyone had so much fun hanging out and spending time together. I learned that the fish at Bass Lake are always biting.....as long as you are always offering them hot dogs. Crazy, huh?

After our swimming adventures we all went to Breanna and Hayley's softball game out in Jerome. Breanna is #4 and Hayley is #11. Both girls did great!

Bill Engvel

That's right people.....the comedian/actor. I saw him {from a distance} and got to watch him perform his "routine". Our friends, the Dixon's, let us know several months back that he was coming to Cactus Pete's in Jackpot, NV and so we called in and reserved tickets. We had so much fun despite the hot sun and laughed our tails off. Such a funny guy. Although.....I will tell you that I have never seen so many mullets in one place in my entire life. Wow....apparently they are not just for middle aged men, but women, children, and the elderly as well. I almost took a picture of some of them, but thought that might be a bit rude of me. :0)

Jaysen and I at the show.

Our friends, Rob and Montay Dixon, that went with us.

Bass Lake

We went for our first official outing down to Bass Lake this last month. My nephew, Talon, was down visiting and so we took him along with some friends to go play in the water and have a picnic.
Cole

Mackenzee and Maggie

Jaysen even came down to the lake to have lunch with us after playing a "strenuous" round of golf. :0)

Rhett tried out some flippers and found they were a bit harder to walk in than he first thought...

Mackenzee changed her mind once we reached the top of the slide...So we had to climb back down.

Sadie double fisting it with the juice boxes......

Landon trying to get Brayden to enjoy the water.....

Talon coming off the slide....

We had so much fun enjoying the cold lake on such a hot day. We love spending time down there throughout the summer enjoying the relaxing atmosphere. The scenery is just gorgeous and it's so nice and quiet down there.