This is a long one! Thanks for reading.

We took a trip to Idaho earlier this month to spend some time with family and to go to our baby’s ultrasound. Luckily, all of this fell around the 4th of July so we were able to celebrate up there and got the chance to light some fireworks.

4th of July

Fireworks are really expensive these days but I love to set them off. When our little guy gets older I’d like to visit a state that allows fireworks because I enjoyed them so much as a youngster.

On the 4th we enjoyed some BBQ (put on by my Bro) and then watched my brother and his friends try to blow each other up. Once it got dark outside Chanin and I set off some fountains, ground bloom flowers, etc. We also helped the kiddos with their sparklers. Later in the night my bro and his buddies lit a bunch of mortar shells off, which looked pretty cool.

I don’t really have any good pics but I did take some video with our new videocamera. BUT, that won’t be up for a while.

Mark’s Birthday

While we were up in Idaho it was also Mark’s birthday (July 6th) so my Mom threw a little BBQ party. It was nice to get to hang out with the family and have some good eatin’. Mom made an angel food cake and Chanin decorated it all fancy. Mmmmm…

Lucky Peak and Idaho City

Since this was Chanin’s first chance to spend some time in Idaho I really wanted to show her some of the scenery. My Mom and Mark recommended the drive to Lucky Peak Park and Idaho City. We headed up there and made our first stop at Lucky Peak State Park. Just as we were driving in we saw a deer running around looking really scared. Then, as we pulled in we saw another and we were able to snap a picture. That was really cool, especially for us city folk.

The park had a nice little lake for swimming and a park area to hang out in. We strolled around a bit and Chanin shot some pictures (below) and I shot some video (again, won’t be up for a while). We’d love to head back to this area again the next time we’re up in Idaho.

We continued our drive to Idaho City along a road that followed the river. The scenery was beautiful and changed from dry rolling hills to very green mountains with lots of trees.

In Idaho City we stopped at a restaurant for a little bit to eat. On the outside it looked pretty normal but when we walked in we discovered that it was really small and very much a locals hangout. Initially, we felt a little uncomfortable because we didn’t know the routine. But, once we sat down and ordered our food we settled in just fine. Luckily, we never heard any banjos playing!

Here’s the route we took. I had the GPS record our path.

Grandma’s House

No trip to Idaho would be complete without a visit to Grandma’s house for some good ol’ home cooked Mexican food.

Grandma made:

• - Chile Verde
• - Chile Colorado
• - Beans
• - Grandma’s Special Macaroni
• - Homemade Tortillas
• - Salsa and Pico de Gallo

We hung out at Grandma and Grandpa’s house for a while and picked some fresh fruit from the trees. We’d love to have a bunch of fruit trees like they do but we just don’t have any room!