Day 3 in Boise: Saturday

Saturday Tim and Kelly had to go to a funeral for a relative of Tim's, and they took 10 of the children with them. Wilson and Parrick were scheduled to run races that morning with the Idaho Christian Running Club, so Curt and I went to cheer them on. The race was held at Camels Back Park in the foothills north of Boise. It's a large, very popular park, and despite the damp, chilly weather, many families, teams, and individuals were there for exercise, recreation, workouts and classes.

We found this mural painted on the wall of the Boise Food Co-op:

And you can see from the hill in the distance how the park got its name:

Wilson (12) and Patrick (10 1/2) are new to the running club scene, but in their first races a couple of weeks ago they both finished in first place by wide margins...so they were excited to see how things would go this day.

Before the races, they were running and chasing around with other kids all over the huge park. I would have been saving my energy for the race, but for these two active guys, tearing around the park just barely warmed them up.

 

Though they were both interested in running the 4k race (the longest available that day for their age group), they worked out a different strategy between themselves. They decided that Patrick should run the 3k and Wilson run the 4k. That way they wouldn't be competing against each other, and they would both have the possibility of winning first place. Pretty smart guys.

Patrick's 3k was first. There were about 13 kids in his race. There he is in the green shorts, just before the starting gun.

Patrick stayed in about the middle of the pack as long as we could see him after the start. Then the runners were out of sight for quite a while. The next time I saw him, in about the last kilometer of the race, he was running across the base of the hill in the distance all by himself, with no other kids in sight.

And here he is, driving in to the finish line, at least a minute ahead of the next contestant:

Wilson had a chance to congratulate his little brother briefly before his race was called.

Here's Wilson (teal shirt and red shorts) with the 17 other contestants for the 4k race:

And Lo and behold, he did the same thing Patrick did! Started in the middle of the pack, and about 10-12 minutes later, he crossed the base of the hill all alone:

A few minutes later he crossed the finish line at least 2 minutes ahead of the second place runner:

Two brothers enjoying the feel of victory:

And once Wilson caught his breath, congratulating one another. (There, now you can really see the Camels Back Hill in the distance.)

What a thrill it was for us to be able to watch their great running, and to cheer them on. The amazing thing was that just minutes after their races, they were back at running and chasing with friends all over the park again. Where DO they get that energy????

In the afternoon, we met our friends Nan and Kevin Kelley at Jessica's shop. Nan is also an avid knitter, so we figured that would be a great place to meet and visit for a couple of hours.  It was a busy afternoon at the shop, with lots of people in and out to browse, purchase yarn, sit and knit a while, or just visit.

Curt and Kevin weren't in the mood to knit that day (!), so they escaped all the estrogen and went off and did guy things... Visited a gun shop, a micro-brewery, stuff like that.

When they returned, Curt had to show Kevin the cool glow-in-the-dark yarn that Jess had pointed out to Curt yesterday. Kevin looks utterly fascinated.

The afternoon's next event was to visit Rand at work.

MotoTech is an outdoor motor sports shop, with motorcycles, Can-Ams, snowmobiles, and ATVs. The perfect place for Rand to have fun while working!

He's the "yard guy," so he pretty much does everything that's outside the realm of the sales staff or service techs.

When the new "toys" come in, Rand uncrates them and sets them up for their final assembly.

He is constantly rearranging vehicles around the yard as trade-ins and consignment vehicles come and go, as well as the stock of new machines. Here he's moving a motorcycle....

....to make room for a Snowmoblie, on the tines of the forklift:

After seeing Rand's great work set-up, Curt and I headed back to the motel for a dip in the pool, hot tub and sauna. Then off to Rand and Hudson's place for dinner. Brenna cooked a delicious meal: shrimp amd pasta, and roasted carrots. We had a wonderful long visit with all 4 young people living in the townhouse (Rand, Brenna, Hudson and Sarah), and Jessica joined us as well. It's so much fun to see our kids sharing friends. For years Rand, Hudson and Jessica have enjoyed the same large circle of friends and have done most of their recreation activities (as well as Hudson and Rand doing much of their work) together. It's wonderful to see them enjoying each other's company so much!

Day 2 in Boise

Friday morning after breakfast, I gave Kelly a call. She had kept Patrick (10) and Robert (8) home from school so they'd be able to spend time with Curt and me. As we talked, we decided to take a few more children out of school and go to the Boise Aquarium. So Curt and I picked up Annika (14) from West Junior High, and Kelly picked up Rebecca (9) and Wilson (12) from Compass Charter School. Heidi and Micah, who are both in the highly accelerated Treasure Valley Math and Science Curriculum, needed to stay in school all day. But the rest of us met at the Aquarium. What a great way to spend the day!

Before we went inside I had a chance to snap photos of some beautiful Boise fall colors:

The moment we were inside, the children's hands were in the water...which is exactly what the Aquarium is designed for.

 Here is our crew (all but Baby Chelsea) trying to touch the elusive fish... L to R: Dottie, Annika, Melissa, Patrick, Millie, Elin, Robert, Wilson, Mom Kelly, and Rebecca.

Robert, Elin, Dottie, Patrick and Annika feeding the fish.

The favorite tank was the one that held the Sharks and Rays. The Sharks were a little more elusive, but the Rays seemed to enjoy being touched and petted. They would swim right up to the edge of the tank where the kids could reach them easily.

Melissa reaching for a ray. 

Rebecca and Robert making contact.

As Elin was reaching for this Ray, I readjusted my iPad to catch the full Ray underwater. I got it on camera. Later when I was editing photos, I saw that I also caught an amazing triumphant grin from Elin after she touched him. Even though I didn't get all of her, there's no way I could crop her out of the photo. That grin says it all!

Rebecca almost had to climb into the tank to touch the shark:

While we were there, a little boy with Down Syndrome, named Henry, just latched onto Curt. Henry's mother said, "He's always loved the Grandpas." He took Curt's finger and led him all over the aquarium, wanting to share every experience with him. Our grandkids were so sweet to share their Grandaddy with Henry.

There were some non-water based critters there as well. Here's Patrick communing with a boa constrictor:

And we were told that the iguana was so nasty tempered that nobody could commune with him...so he was kept behind glass.

Annika loves to take photos, so I let her take my iPad around the aquarium to shoot some of the more photogenic residents. She came back with dozens of beautiful shots, but I'll show you just a few:

Here she is putting a few more photos on her mom's cell phone:

As we wound up the afternoon, Kelly took most of the children home...little ones for naps and older ones to do a little make-up schoolwork from missing school part of the day. Curt and I took Annika and Rebecca back to Jessica's yarn shop...one of their favorite places! (We're not sure if they enjoy the yarn more, or the candy dish that Jessica keeps filled on the counter. The candy dish, I think.)

There's so much to see in the shop, that every time I go in I notice something new. This time I saw a beautiful hand-knitted dress on display. I was delighted to find out that our Jessica had knitted it. So I had to get front and back views with its creator:

We had a musical evening back at the Waterman household. I gave the little girls a ukulele lesson...

Annika worked on some folk songs with her guitar...

...the three oldest children, Heidi (16), Annika (14) and Micah (13), serenaded us with a lovely rendition of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah...

...and then Heidi played some beautiful Gerschwin numbers for us. At 16, she already has several piano students of her own. She takes after her Grammie (though she got a much earlier start. I didn't  start teaching music until I was in my 50's!)

While the music was playing, Elin sat happily on Curt's lap, playing with a little elf doll I knitted for her as we were driving on our camping trip during the summer. It's such fun to see her enjoy it!

Another full day, and a wonderful opportunity to enjoy our children and grandchildren!

Visiting Family in Boise, Idaho

The past several days have been a whirlwind of activity. All four of our grown children, and all twelve grandchildren live in Boise. That's wonderful for us. When we travel here we can make a clean sweep and see everyone. This has been a terrific trip so far, with lots of time to visit the whole crew...and we still have another full day to go. 

Wednesday our dear friend Shirley drove us to the San Antonio airport. What a blessing that was!

The flight was uneventful (the best kind!), although delayed. We finally settled into our motel room about 1:30 a.m. And it was an early start Thursday morning to get breakfast and pick up our rental car. But any fatigue we felt vanished when we got to Kelly's house (our oldest daughter, who with her husband Tim has all 12 of our grandchildren), and saw the excitement of the 5 little girls who are at home all day. The oldest seven children were at school.

Dottie (5) and Millie (6) with their paper dolls.

Curt and Elin (2 1/2)

Celsea (1) getting a little TLC from mom Kelly.

Grammie Karen with Millie (6), Melissa (4) and Dottie (5).

We had lots of fun reading books, playing paper dolls, visiting, and just getting reacquainted before it was time to head over to Rand and Hudson's house for lunch. Rand and Hudson are our two youngest children and they share a townhouse with two friends: Brenna, Rand's girlfriend, and Sarah, a longtime friend of Jessica, Rand and Hudson. Rand had invited us over for BLT & Avocado sandwiches, and when we arrived the house smelled wonderful with the bacon cooking!

It's always so much fun for us to see the different personalities of our children expressed in their homes. 

Hudson and the cat named Maybe.

And Curt with Penelope:

Curt, Hudson and Rand in the back yard. 

And both the boys have gotten new modes of transportation since we last saw them. Hudson and his VW Jetta:

...and Rand's classic Shadow motorcycle:

Then we couldn't wait to see Jessica, so we visited her at The Twisted Ewe, a lovely yarn and fiber shop that she manages. If you've been reading this blog through our summer travels, you know how lucky I feel to have a daughter who manages a yarn shop!

Curt can make himself right at home anywhere, even in a yarn shop!

It was a quick visit, because we needed to get back to Kelly's on the other side of town to see the older grandchildren as they came home from school. We stayed for a delicious dinner of lasagna, Caesar salad, and homemade artisan bread. Honestly, I don't  know how Kelly does it all, with twelve children!

Two and a half year old Elin carrying cups to the table...three at a time, and she didn't spill a drop!

Kelly and Tim serving up 16 hungry people...all part of a normal day.

And a few more stories for the little ones before bed:

Whew! That was quite a jam-packed first day in Boise. We certainly slept well that night!