Who said Summer was......

Boring? I looked at the calendar and it was July! Does anyone know where June went??? I love summer because nobody tells me what to do with my kid for 6 hours a day! When Jake is not in school I have the freedom to take him wherever I want! I can declare ownership once again! My little boy becomes all mine! (Well, for 2 1/2 months)!

In order to beat the heat the boys and I headed up North for some cooler temps. Here is what we did in a nutshell. 5 days, 5 different places we crashed at for the night! The boys did great. Jake and Braden our my traveling buddies! Braden is coming along... he still flips out in the car but the positive side of this is that when you reach your destination you are extremely happy to be there!

Day 1 Dressed the boys in cute souvenirs from Italy and headed up to Dad's house! Had a great time but forgot to take pictures.

Day 2 Went to Grandma and Grandpa Bardsley's house. Went to see grandpa who is not feeling well. Wanted a picture with him but got one with grandma instead! Oh well she is cuter anyways. Stayed up all night talking politics with grandpa! Well actually he talked, I wondered how my cute little grandpa could be such a liberal, he says it is called being democrat. I find myself stuck somewhere in the middle not quite republican and not quite democrat. Oh who knows I just would have loved to see grandpa in the 70's! Whew, exhausting!


Day 3 - Met Nana, Teresa and kids and Melissa and kids at Hogle Zoo! Slept at Teresa's house, roasted smores and had a great time. My boys love Aunt Teresa!

I have a picture of me when I was little getting a drink from this same lion's head. There is something particularly disturbing about having children stick their head in a lion's mouth to get a drink. Does anyone else agree with me on this?

Braden loved the zoo but most of all he loved the train. After the train ride the animals just couldn't measure up....until he found this turtle, he loved it? I think he is mesmerized.

Day 4 and 5 - Drove up to ID to visit my best friend Shan! The kids played for two days straight outside. They had a whole village going on in the garden with mud and bugs. They worked as a team to get the swimming pool muddy and Braden could not resist and jumped in to help! Because the kids were having so much fun, Shan and I went to the big city Idaho Falls and shopped and had yummy lunch. Good times!

Day 5 Slept at dads again and Day 6 drove home! Milestone moment...Braden slept in the car for almost 1hr 1/2. This has never happened, it made my whole trip even that much better! Well that's the end! Whew - no wonder I am tired!