Silver Mountain fun

So one day we decided it was time for a family vaca. It had been way too long since we got away from home, and because we have two little ones that hate being in the car, we drove about 25 minutes to Kellogg, ID. For those of you who don't know, Kellogg is a small resort town. There's not a whole lot there but big mountains, a resort, a mine, and a humongous car dealership. (Dave smith I think owns pretty much all of Kellogg. Every empty lot is filled with new cars and trucks.) Anyhow. We booked one night at the resort and took off. It was a beautiful room and resort. It's nestled in the mountains and because we went in the middle of the week, there wasn't hardly anyone around.

The Morning Star Lodge

You can't tell, but behind all these clouds is the big ski mountain and gondola. It's beautiful!

The resort has little firepits around with benches so you can roast smores at night, and there's a big separate building that has a huge waterpark in it. That's what lured us there to begin with. I'd like to say it was for the kids, but I think really we wanted to go swim just as much. :)
The lazy river, baby pool, and family hot tub was my favorite features. But it was cool watching people try out the surfing. Luckily, no one's clothes got ripped off by the force of the water. (It really does happen!) Jacob's first time in a swimming pool was great. He loved it and was so relaxed with me in the lazy river that he even fell asleep! Kids were splashing and we went under a waterfall, but he just flinched a little and stayed asleep. lol It was so precious! I can't wait until we can go back!!!!

Day 1 Adventures:

Ethan's floating the lazy river

This was part of the kiddie pool. Jacob loved it!

Such a happy guy!

'lilly pads' for the kids to cross. Ethan didn't want to use the net above his head though.

Dad's helping him across.

Jacob had had enough of the water for one day.

s'more time!

I love these boys!!

Ethan loved the tv. (They had cable, and we don't at home. lol)

Day 2, we packed the bags to check out, but were still able to spend all day at the water park. We ate breakfast, went to check out some cars, then came back to the water for some more play!

Jacob was enjoying one of the fountains

Sparklers

Wow! What a fabulous 4th of July!  The day kicked off pretty slow, and we spent most the morning cleaning the house and getting food ready, for the masses. (not really, just my parents, us, and a friend of mine. But we really did have tons of food!) Then before everyone came, we made our own little fireworks/ flags with glue and glitter.

Here's mine and Rory's: Rory did the flag and I did the fireworks!

And here is Mr. Ethan's:

We couldn't hang his up though because he put puddles of glue on the paper, and it would've just ran all down my fridge! :) Jaocb tried Cheerio's for the first time today too. It was so cute watching him try to eat them. He would get them in his hand, but they would just stick to them, and he just couldn't quite get them in his mouth. It was too cute!

While he was attempting to eat them, I  had to be a little more festive and make some yummy chocolate strawberries!

So after we got all the crafts done it was about time for everyone to come on over. We had a delicious bbq. The meat turned out great! (Go to http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/zesty-slow-cooker-chicken-barbecue/detail.aspx for the recipe). Then after we gorged ourselves, we settled down and waited for dark. There was a ton of people in the area and neighborhood doing their own fireworks, so we got quite a show. We bought fireworks but didn't go to the reservation, so they weren't anything grandiose. But they were still fun. Ethan was a little skeptical about the sparklers, but was loving those popper things. (I don't know what they're called. You just throw them on the ground and they would pop) He would get handfuls of them, throw them down then bow. It was pretty funny. Jacob wasn't really sure what to make of all the fireworks. He was to tired to care I think though.

Here's some more of the action. Below they are dancing and playing with the sparklers.

After pretty much all the stand fireworks were over, Rory decided to try something he had heard of, and that was steel wool 'fireworks'. It ended up being the coolest fireworks of the night. There's no way to really describe it, so I'm posting a video. Enjoy and I hope everyone else had a happy 4th of July!

lazy days

 It has finally started warming up around here and even though I prefer the cold (well, not cold, but cooler) weather, it has been nice to take the kids out to play. Jacob loves loves, LOVES being outside and our backyard is typically the gathering place for all the neighborhood kids. (we have to closest big swing set) Here's Ethan with one of his buddies. He always tell me that he thinks Katie is 'just so beautiful'. :)

 

 But the last couple weeks have been the same as usual around here.  Rory has been working his tail off, Ethan has been playing like crazy, and Jacob has been busy growing! He's getting huge! I already have him wearing 18-24 mo. clothes and he's only 7 months old today! I love that little guy to pieces though. He's been having some major constipation issues since starting the solids, but after a painful couple days and a couple suppositories, we're back on the right track. Whew! He's getting tons of teeth too. I think the last count yesterday was 8, but he's been fussy, so there might be more on the way! I really hope not though, otherwise he's going to be weaned! I can't take this biting anymore! OUCH! Here's some more super cute pics from June. Ethan went in and laid on the bed with Jacob one day and fell asleep cuddling.You can't really see it in the picture, but Jacob has his arm around Ethans neck. How sweet!

Then, on another day Jacob was sleeping again on the bed, and I heard Ethan wake him up. (this happens pretty frequently unfortunately) I didn't hear any other crying or anything, so I thought he must've gone back to sleep. After a few minutes, I went in to check on him and this is what I saw.

Do you see Jacob's little hand up on the top? lol 

At least Ethan left him a little hole to breathe out of! When I asked Ethan what he was thinking, he just said that Jacob was wanting to play with his toys. Silly boy! I tell you, it seems like everyday is an adventure with these two!