mele, garrett and i met my mom, anthony and gg in idaho the day after my birthday. it was a very memorable trip for me and the kids. we were there for 4 days. i was sad quincy wasn't there to experience idaho, and relatives that we don't get to see much of. grandma nagai (gg) is a tilley. she was raised in burley idaho, along with her brother and sister. the tilley's have owned the road they have all once lived on, for over 100 years. i enjoyed having some one-on-one time with gg and aunt june. i love hearing about or genealogy. hearing of their backgrounds, and some of their history. i love my aunt june. she is one of the nicest ladies you will ever meet. truly. parker wanted to name tilley after aunt june. since june had only 4 letters, he then argued her last name. tilley. i admit, i didn't love it till she was born. but after our visit, i have a greater love for her name, and where it comes from and who it represents.
we stayed at mike and jenny tilley's home. we took over the basement. literally. the floor was covered with little boys, and tilley and i. their house sits on the snake river. it's gorgeous. the house and the river. most days, the water was glass. the kids spend the entire day out by the dock. digging in the sand, or jumping off the dock, and floating down the river. i don't think i heard them say "i'm bored" once. i hear a lot of that at home, so it was nice for a change. uncle mike would go to work in the morning, he owns the budge car dealership in town. my uncle dick (june's husband) once owned it. i have lots of fond memories with my uncle dick. he never really said much, but the kids just flocked to him. he was a great man, as was his dad henry tilley. every time i visit burley, the smell reminds me of my uncle dick, and grandpa tilley. i remember sitting in the tractor with grandpa as a little girl. he was such a hard worker. gg had some amazing stories. of course we went through every last relatives names. picking a name for a baby is so hard.
the sunset's on the snake are amazing. they put arizona's sunsets to shame. really tho. it's been since high school that i've been on a boat. i forget how much i don't love it. they scare me. my parents had jet ski's when i was younger, and those scared me. i like the shore, and the water. but it's hard for me to relax on a boat. this was the kids first time, and they loved it. and seemed to be little naturals. parker of course will try anything, and has not one ounce of fear in him. he was the first to try wake boarding, and the first to cliff jump. the others follow shortly after, but he never hesitates. it's a love/hate from a mothers stand point.
one of the day's we packed lunch and went to "the ropes," it's straight out of a movie. a fairytale. huge trees over hanging the river, with a bunch of rope swings hanging from them. we docked the boat, and the kids swung...and swung. just on the shore, besides all the green grass there was a picnic table, and on the other side of the table was a potato farm. the kids thought it was a maze. they gathered all the little potatoes that were above ground. some even washed them and took a bite....and then spit them out. next to the potato farm was a wheat field. the kids ran through that. it was taller than most of the kids. it was funny to see the wheat move, and not even be able to see the tops of their heads. would be scary at night though.
the boys wake boarded and wake surfed on the way back. bless uncle tony's heart. he is so patient with the kids. they all wanted to try wake surfing, so anthony gave them each a turn at it. trust me, getting little p's 70 pound butt up, isn't an easy task. tilley has the second least amount of fear of my kids. she too will try anything. we stopped at the cliff's again, and this time tilley jumped. off a 20+ foot cliff. and then did it again, and again. then someone had a stupid idea that phoebe (16 months old) needed to go off. mostly for a picture. i took her up, so mele could be in the water. once i got up there with her, i didn't know how i could do it. jumping off with her would be worse, cus we'd go deeper. going back down the cliff by foot, can be just as scary. dropping her off was the best option. she bawled after, and my heart broke. shortly after she forgave me, and we all swore we wouldn't tell her daddy what had happened.
conway caught a fish with his bare hands. it was nearly dead, but still...he caught it. and was so proud. he carried it around, to show everyone, and then put it back in the river. later that night we head to rupert for the 4th of july firework's. rupert and burley organize their fireworks, so they aren't on the same day. smart. the show was a bust. and afterwards we had some road rage drama. mele and i almost got in a brawl with some chica's. i'm not ok with the f bomb being dropped 5 times in front of my kids. it was bumper to bumper and we were all anxious to get home. problem was, if i didn't stay behind, and follow my family members in the car in front of me, i'd be completely lost. what's new.
parker drove up one night, to drop d3 off after basketball camp. he then drove right back home the next morning at 5am. i was sad he wasn't able to stay, but he at least got to experience the boring drive of prairies, got to see the snake and visit with family for a couple hours. he wanted d3 to get some lake action before he headed back to az. unfortunately the only day he was there, it was chilly, and the water was so choppy. we ate at the mexican food restaurant next too my uncle mikes dealership, just like we do every time we're in idaho. the food is "ok," doesn't compare to some of the mexican food places we have in arizona tho.
we finished the trip off with smores. wait...that's how we started the trip too. we cooked smores over the stove every day and night. i don't love smores, but it was a social thing...and ok, with a symphony bar, it's alright. but this time it was in the pit. with the sun setting behind us. a huge thank you to my family for letting us crash for those nights. they made us feel so comfortable. it was fun visiting with uncle kent, who a couple years ago had an accident. he is an amazing man, and reminds me so much of uncle dick. he collects antiques, and took us over to see some of them. these are like antiques worth hundreds of thousands, and he knows about every single one. the name, where they came from and so forth. we met his girlfriend nikki and her boys reiff and ashton, who are so cute. the kids ran from house to house, which is so nice when on a dirt road. we had 5 buck pizza 3 times while we were there. the kids, and my favorite. went to party hardy, and cooper got the ultimate bloody nose! i guess the true finale was adam playing his violin for us. no words can describe how good this dude is. he drives an hour once a week for private lessons in salt lake. his teacher is or was a well known violinist. i didn't get pictures, just video of him. he serenaded the kids to sleep. so talented! we hope to be invited back soon. it's kinda nice only being 3 hours away, instead of 13! until next time tilley's!
