Boise!

 We took our annual Boise summer trip! It was the best. The drive there went well and we made it safety.

 

So basically we did a whole lot of swimming. These are photos from different days and times swimming, but I decided to lump them all together. Just know that we swam a lot. 

 

I found my old platforms from middle school and was wearing them and Johnny seemed unsure about them. haha

And of course, a night swim!

Aside from all the swimming, we had a theme of throwing a lot of parties! We had celebrated Johnny's birthday a day early back home in Utah and then drove to Idaho that same day. So we ended up there for his actual birthday. So he got to spend his whole special day swimming and having fun and then that evening my mom was super nice and threw him a little shark party and he was so excited!  To see more of the photos from both of his parties CLICK HERE.

Next, Little did my sister, Erin, know but we had plans to surprise her the next day with an early birthday party. So her birthday is in October but she is having her baby like the same week of her birthday so even if we are able to come see the baby, she wont be in the position to do or enjoy anything big. So I had the idea to do a party while we were there. The big reason too is that she's turning 40 so feels like something fun should happen, baby or not!

I got my mom involved, of course, and it turned into a whole thing. My original idea was to just do a Wizard of Oz theme, since she loves that movie, and have like a cake and some decorations and then surprise her and take her on a hot air balloon ride, since there's a hot air balloon in the movie. But alas, nobody would take her up since she's too pregnant. But then my mom found that there was a Oz themed escape room in Boise so we decided to do that instead and give her a gift card to go on a hot air balloon ride next season when they start back up again in spring and she's not pregnant anymore.

So my mom took my idea and ran with it and next thing I know we've got this whole thing. She got a plastic yellow brick road and we put it down the back path and the kids all dressed up as different characters from the movie.

So Erin showed up that morning and Buck came at her with a leaf blower to be the “tornado” that blows her over the rainbow. She was so confused. Haha So we blow her to the backyard gate and there she is greeted by Rose and Ginny dressed as munchkins. There were also big fake lollipops around and a cardboard cut out Glinda (of which my mom has had for decades for some reason we can't remember.) They sing her a little song and give her some ruby red slippers to wear and a basket with a stuffed Toto in it. The June, the Wicked Witch, jumps out and threatens her and them runs off. Then Erin walked down the path to Winta, the Scarecrow, where Winta says some lines and then follows with Erin to the Tin Man, Johnny, who says his lines and then joins in and next the Lion, Hazel, jumps out and follows too. They have to go through some poppies and then to the Emerald city, and Harvey was there as the Wizard, who told her to get the broom from the Witch so Erin went to the back and June was there, who threw some stuffed monkeys at her and then Erin found that we had placed a pail of water there so she used it and dumped the water on June who then “melted” and Erin went back to the “city” where we all got emerald colored glasses and they all got their rewards- a medal for Lion, a heart clock for Tin man, and a diploma for Scarecrow. 

Then we went inside and she was surprised by all the food and the amazing cake that we paid someone to make. We had themed food and treats. We ate, and then my mom even had some games like a bingo game and a quiz about the movie. We watched a little bit of the movie too. Then we surprised Erin with the card for the hot air balloon and revealed to her about the escape room.

 

Then we went to the escape room and it ended up being tons of fun! They let all the kids come too. And the kids were all into it, especially June and Hazel, who now want to go to all the escape rooms they can. (you get locked in a room that has puzzles and clues you have to figure out to get out.) This one had three rooms we progressed though. From a room from Dorothy's home in Kansas to Munchkin land, to a room from Oz's castle. We made it in decent time and the kids really did get to help out too. A fun day!

 

And THEN, we were there on my Dad's birthday too!  For his birthday he wanted to smoke a brisket, so he did, and we ate that and did the night swim and then he took the next day off work and watched the new Lightyear movie with the kids! We also had a yummy ice cream cake. So yes, we had a lot of cake that week.

No matter who is opening presents, the kids will surround.

Another theme was my sister's garden. She wanted some help making flower arrangements from her garden to give to a women's shelter so my mom and I helped with that one evening.

Sunday night we all had dinner over there and that called for a little photo shoot in Erin's garden!

 

And now for a few random photos. 

Me, looking weird.

 

Cuddles.

 

A quick date to a fancy grocery store. Oddly, one of our favorite past times.

 

Dessert with my high school friends!

 

Ice cream at my sister's friend's place! Local and hand churned!

 

The drive home was pretty wild. We saw storms forming around us and then we watched the night sky lighting up off in the distance from the lightening. Next thing you know, we're in the middle of it! Lightening all around us, strong winds and tons of rain. Our tires couldn't grip the road at one point for several minutes! We were in the middle of nowhere too so we couldn't really stop anywhere. It was completely dark outside too so whenever the lightening flashed it lit up the whole sky and showed the outlines of the huge clouds. Thankfully we made it home safety.

 

Another top notch week in Boise! We're so grateful for that family time and all the memories!