Our Summer Vacation - Post 3: Idaho

We spent a little over a week in Idaho with the Miller family.  Time flew by way too fast.  The worst part - everyone had to keep reminding me that we were leaving.  I did okay when I just thought of the whole thing as just another summer visit and then we would be flying home (not to Japan).  So once a day or more I and my Mom or one of my sisters would have to choke back a few tears, change the subject quickly and keep having fun.  Saying goodbye was really hard this time (I will blame it on the hormones associated with the growing belly - everyone else come up with your own excuses - I MISS ALL OF YOU TERRIBLY).

We spent our time eating yummy food, letting the cousins have sleepovers and hang out (not nearly enough).  We helped work some Low Line Angus (mini cows).  Jason of course refused to be the babysitter or hang out with us girls - so he found work to do to stay busy (plus who doesn't love a chainsaw and a big tree).

Branding Cattle (the dry ice method)

A little roping!

Calf Wrestling

This is what the girls do while the boys work cattle.

Loving Cowboy boots with a tutu (need to find her a pair)

First Lessons on Balance

Getting Atty to hold still for a picture

One accident hit us while we were in Idaho.  Just a few days before we left all of the adults (minus the pregnant one) were in the middle of an intense volleyball game.  The kids were playing off somewhere - the toddlers on the porch.  Well Charlotte and Atty were on the porch swing (freshly repaired by Jason and recently rehung) watching Lincoln playing with a car.  Atty and Charlotte leaned a little too far over the back to see and flipped the porch swing completely over (all 3 kids swallowed by the swing).  I was holding baby Sailor and went running, they climbed our from the carnage very upset.  Charlotte was hysterical.

I know from experience after you get stitches in your chin - every time you bump it, it feels like it has split open again.  She was so scarred about it happening all over again.  It was so sad.  Fortunately the other two didn't get a scratch or even really a bump.