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This post is a continuation of a previous post. Please start with that if you need some background information.

Scenic Soccer

We had a variety of things planned for our third day [insert musical reference here, such as “Consuming Fire”]. The day started off with our cousin/nephew’s soccer game, which consisted mostly of viewing the scenery and chortling at the coach’s comments. We arrived at the soccer park too early, mainly because the kids needed to expend some energy, so we explored the part of the park that was not soccer fields.

As I noted earlier, there aren’t many real trees in Idaho. The soccer park was one of the few places that had trees, although it was too early in the season for leaves.

And here’s the scenery at the soccer game:

Rock, Table, Scissors

After the soccer game, we went back to the house to pick up the rest of the family. The boys wanted to hike a mountain since we don’t have that opportunity very much otherwise. So we went into Boise, grabbed lunch, found the old penitentiary, and hiked up Table Rock.

We chose the less-strenuous path because of the small children. It was longer but less steep, at least that’s what the sign said. Some people aren’t convinced that it was less strenuous. Much of it was flat, albeit winding.

The view from the top was great.

No, that’s no one we know. I just thought it would make a great picture.

Boise Zoo

Beta had a great time the whole time during the hike. Some other children, however, were done at the top and did not want to hike back down. We had planned to stop by the zoo before heading back to the house, but considered dropping it due to the crankiness factor. Once we were back in the car and the kids had some water and suckers, everyone was happy again and ready to hit the zoo.

The kids liked watching the tiger

Beta and the lion are watching the same thing, although I do not know what it is.

When it was time to leave the zoo, we received many protests. So put Zoo Boise on the list of things that kids like to do. The playground and prairie dog exhibit were the highlights for the kids. Mine was the bird that sounded like an elephant.

Bouncy Boise

The next day we just stayed around the local area (Boise is the nearest big city, local area is not). We broke out the bounce house. You don’t need to tell kids when to stop playing on the bounce house because they gradually stop as they become hurt or tired.

And I’ll put this picture in here, even though it is not bouncy. The kids didn’t play in the bouncy castle all day – we did send them outside too. They gravitated to the sandbox, so they could get dirty and need cleaning when they came back inside.

Not-So-Scenic Drive

The next day was our final full day. Since tomorrow would be travelling all day, we decided to stay around the house again. Well, almost. The boys had seen the snow-capped peaks of the distant mountains and wanted to visit them. I think they wanted to go hiking again and hike up to the snow. So in the afternoon I packed up the older boys and drove about a half hour east into the mountains.

The speed limit on the 2-lane road was 65 mph, and it wound through the mountains.

It was snowing in the mountains.

And it was cloudy.

I did not always go 65. That particular 2-lane road does not have many options – no intersecting roads and no shoulders. I didn’t want to keep driving, so I finally found a turn-around spot and pulled over.

Alpha and Beta got out of the minivan, but it was cold so they didn’t want to go anywhere. Well, they wanted to go hiking but they also wanted to be warm.

So we were there about 5 minutes; then we got back in the van and went back to the house. My nephew never even got out of the vehicle. He fell asleep on the way back to his house, as did Beta.

Going Home

Then came cleaning and packing. That meant we had to say goodbye to the bounce house.

The next morning we were up at 7:00 and out the door around 8:30, after some final packing and cleaning. We arrived in Boise without any delays or problems, which was good because they started the boarding process as we were walking to our gate. That’s too close for how I like to plan things, but I am glad we didn’t have to wait long with small children.

Now we’re back home, and the kids have fond memories of their trip to see relatives out west. And tumbleweeds.