Trip To Idaho

Sunday we drove 5 1/2 hours from Mom's to Jon's. Jon's family was tired from their busy life and having relatives over just before us...for Sarah's graduation. We missed the graduation on purpose...because their family wanted less relatives crowding them and staying at their house. We were tired from our travels. So we all hung out and rested Sunday after we arrived. The kids got reacquainted. Jon made a delicious dinner. Cream cheese chicken with fettuccine noodles. Monday was memorial day. Jon had work off and the kids had school off. The kids mostly stayed home. We made them go to the park when we played pickleball. Emily wasn't feeling well so she stayed home to rest. Jon, Ster, Spencer and I played pickleball. They have a nice walk from their house to the park..along a green and pretty water canal with ducks. Athena loved the ducklings and the squirrels and the birds. The grownups left the kids and went to lunch at Zupa's cafe. Then hit Duck Donuts. The donuts were cake like ,too hot for frosting (so it was melted icing) and expensive. I didn't like them. For dinner we had butter chicken curry and nan. It was yummy. We played Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza. 

Jon and Emily did a ceremony to give us wands he made himself. With certificates they made too. After the ceremony Athena was trying out her wand and nothing magical was happening. She said "My wand doesn't work". Then someone said "you are not allowed a wand until age eleven...so it won't work just yet"

To be fair...in Universal studios you buy a wand and you walk around using it in the Potter themed town and magical stuff and sounds occur. But these wands are made of pure wood and we are not at Universal.

 Tuesday Spencer, Lucy and Ben went to school. Pickleball again: Jon, Ster, Luke and I. Luke caught on fast and was good at it. Yay We took Ty for a haircut. Yay. So handsome when his hair isn't grown out. Ty wants to grow his hair but I can't stand it . And Ster wants to buzz both boys heads to military cuts but I fight for their right to have hair.

We went to Target because it is a super short walk from their house. It reminded me how much higher the prices are there than Walmart.

When the kids were all back from school and clubs we took whoever wanted to and went to the YMCA pool. It was Ty, Athena, Lucy, Sarah, Sterling, Jon and Tiff. Spencer was at baseball practice. The swim test was easy. We were happy about that. It meant Athena could use the water slide and Ty could do that and the diving board. Also, the hot tub allows kids accompanied by adults. So, it was a great time. One Athena almost missed out on because she left her swim suit in Provo! Athena has more confidence than I did at her age. She is as bad at swimming as I was back then. But she proudly claims she can swim. When I was her age I claimed I was a bad swimmer.
For dinner Emily made homemade macaroni and cheese and chicken nuggets. Jon made homemade french fries and broccoli. We watched The Mario movie until bedtime. Wednesday morning Jon made a full breakfast of sausage and pancakes and fruit. We said goodbye and hit the road.

Luke was feeling depressed most of our stay in Idaho. It's hard moving away from your life, home and all your friends. I felt bad for him. We (Ster, Jon and I) talked about reasons for depression and validated his feelings. Luke spent a lot of time laying around on their tall soft carpet (we had hard floors and rough, short carpet in Japan) and claimed the hall near the boys' bedroom in the basement was his Hall of Depression.
We did make him hang out with others and participate in stuff some of the time.
One time I walked past Luke on the carpet he was wearing dark sunglasses and he looked like a COOL dude.With his Luigi hat, long curly hair and glasses. Nobody has ever looked so cool wallowing as Luke did.

Once we got back to Provo Luke started to feel like his depression was going away. He is feeling better and hopefully that will continue. We just want our Luke to be happy and healthy and safe.