Idaho

We just got back from a week in Idaho. April opened her coffee shop a few months ago and we were all very excited about checking it out. April lives in a very small town called Mullan, Idaho with less than one thousand residents. The scenery is breathtakingly beautiful. The weather was gorgeous the entire time we were there. It was a wonderful relief from the heat wave we have been experiencing in Houston this summer.

We (Dave, Isabella, Christa, Paige, Will, and I) flew into Spokane, Washington Tuesday afternoon, picked up our mini van rental and then drove the 1 1/2 hour trip to Mullan. We immediately drove to the coffee shop and were very impressed with the building, the food, and the drinks. My mom and dad (who along with Morgan would join us on Friday) rented a house a couple blocks away from April's house and the coffee shop. We spent the next couple of days relaxing, spending time with April and her family. We drove to Cour de Lain to go shopping on Wednesday. It is a beautiful small town with a huge lake. It reminded me of Lucerne, Switzerland.

Thursday evening Christa drove to Spokane to pick up Brad from the airport. My parents used some free airline tickets that had whacked out times and ended up having to lose a day of travel. They finally made it in Friday morning. Saturday we went on a silver mine tour, the kids got to pan for gold, and then we took the longest gondola ride up the mountain (19 minutes long). The view and weather were gorgeous. Sunday everyone except my parents went for a bike ride on the Hiawatha Trail. It was about a 15 mile bike ride. The first 1.7 miles you had to go through a dark, cold, wet tunnel. Poor Isabella and Olivia (who were being pulled in a trailer on the back of Dave's bike) got splattered with mud. Isabella was not a happy camper.

Sunday we drove back to Spokane, dropped Brad off at the airport and checked into the Holiday Inn to get ready for our very early flight out. Funny thing was that Brad's flights got all messed up, we ended up seeing him in Denver for about an hour and then flew home within minutes of each other. (Brad had different flights because he stopped in Denver for a work conference beforehand).

We arrived Monday back into the heat wave of 2009. Things are back to normal. My goal for the rest of the summer is to start eating healthier (I have gained 6 pounds so far and am almost 19 weeks pregnant), exercise, start working on lesson plans, and spend as much quality time with Isabella as possible.