Vacation July 2009

Last week we were off on the Ellersick family road trip of 2009 and this was our luck about 7 hours in to the trip........."yes", it's a blown tire.



We already had difficulty that morning before leaving the house due to the lights not working on our trailer and had to stop at a U haul place in Bellevue for an attempt to rig something together to at least get us to Boise. The tire was #2 on our list of things gone wrong, and it's only day 1. ;) So there we are on the side of the road...(in the 100 degree weather) and we call the state police.....nothing! So we call our insurance to see what they could do for us.......nothing! Who finally comes through for us within 15 minutes of the phone call????? LES SCHWAB!!!! I can NOT say enough how thankful we are that they were so efficient in helping us. They had the spare put on, had us follow them back to their shop to replace the tires and back on the road (all while the kids and I sat inside in the air conditioning eating popcorn and using the bathroom) in about 45 minutes. They will be getting our business for a long time to come, I recommend them to any of you needing tires......emergency or not.

So while stranded on the freeway we notice the air conditioner is not blowing unless it's on full blast.....strange....and not only that when we would turn it off the lights on the dash all start to ding and light up at once. (should we have given up on vacation at this point???? Probably.) So the rest of the trip was spent with us either getting blasted out of the car with an icy wind that was the ac.....or dying of heat stroke with it off and a "ding ding ding ding ding" every few minutes. Sounds like FUN huh? I know you are all jealous of our trip at this point and are probably rethinking your Mexico cruises and trading it in for a road trip through the northwest desert but let me mention one more piece of the puzzle. I had a horrible itchy, hivey, rash the whole time! Not just a little scratch but my WHOLE body would be covered with white welts that would flare up it just about caused me to jump out of the moving vehicle. After dr visits and steroid pills and creams it's finally subsiding a bit and we think it was a new birth control that I had recently started after quitting nursing. All I know is it was one of the worst things I have ever experienced and I can only hope and pray it NEVER returns......don't take good health for granted that is for sure.



So after tires we were back on the road and what should have taken us about 12 hours with stops turned into about 18 hours. LONG DAY!!! We made it to Boise safe and sound and all was well. I must mention that the kids were WONDERFUL given the circumstances and very big helpers for us so that was a huge relief.

They look so tired.

After one night in Boise we were in the car again heading to Idaho Falls and that drive was easy and uneventful....yeah!! We spent the 4th with Grandpa and Grandma Hebdon, Mike and Bonnie, and Jen and Jackson. We had other family stopping by and Justins Uncle Lynn was there too so it was really fun to spend time with everyone that we have not seen in a long time. It's been about 4 years since we have been there and they have moved to a new house that has lot's of room for everyone so that was nice. The kids played and had a great time swimming and celebrating the holiday festivities.

Hanging out on the back sun room.

At the parade.

She is beautiful!

Two great things in one....pool and cake pops.

4th of July BBQ

I think he likes it.

"let me out"

Who needs a suit?

you slip better this way right???

Haylee was in 7th heaven with Uncle Lynns dogs that he brought along, she is slightly obsessed with animals and has been asking for one every day since. The poor dogs are probably still in a state of shock from the mauling they received.

Next was the fire works and this year we voted not to fight crowds and traffic and just do them ourselves. So Jen had hauled up a dusty tote filled with all sorts of illegals that they had had for years that we thought would work just fine. ;) Okay okay so we only did a few of them....but they were good ones. :) This was poor Jackson just about the whole time, he is not too fond of loud noises.....after this he's not too fond of his uncles either. ;)

Jen will now show us the "dance of the sparkler".........

"Make it stop!!!:

Love her!!!

and her

and them too. :)

Thankfully no one fell into the burning ring of fire.

This next stop on our trip was one of the highlights I must say. It's called Bear World and it's just outside of Idaho Falls towards Yellowstone and I think it's one of the neatest things I have ever done. You get to drive through this park area and bears are all over the place sometimes close enough to touch. You have to keep windows up of course but to see these huge grizzlies up close like that is very surreal. The kids were SO excited and really had so much fun.

Gavin would have been out there had I let him, he was gripping the window so tight and growling it was hilarious.

Cooling off

This white elk was really pretty

wolves

After you drive through there is a gift shop, rides, petting zoo, and little bear cubs to see as well. The nice thing is you can drive through the bears as many times as you want so when the kids got worn out playing we hopped back in the car and did another loop.

Are we noticing a theme with this girl yet? Where there are animals.......Haylee is chasing them.

Here she is again, quite bravely sticking her arm through there.

I don't think she'd of cared if we left her there.

Gavin was growling away.

There were no lines for the rides so they went over and over again......it really was a great day!

Thank you to Grandpa and Grandma for letting us come and stay, we miss you already and wish we lived closer. We love you very much and hopefully it won't be as long before we see you again.

"Goodbye" Idaho Falls.........."hello" Yellowstone! We met up with my side of the family to camp for a week on Hebgan Lake in West Yellowstone and had a great time. Besides the rain and our tent trailer leaking (we knew things were going WAY too smoothly) and my rash still going strong. The area where we camped was beautiful and right on the lake and the 3 spots we reserved were all right next to each other in a circle so we could just hang out and not have to be going back and forth all the time. My Dad was there, my sister Heather and her husband Larry, my sister Gretchen with her boy Collin and she brought our other neice Tekyiah, and my other sister Sarah and her daughter Naomi.

Gavin is a hard age for camping because he is still not walking but VERY busy and wants down all the time so it made for a dirty little boy. He had fun though, slept horrible but had fun.

Dad and Naomi Sarah and Gavin

Collin and Grace

Gavin, Naomi, and Aunt Heather

Haylee

Collin getting kisses

On our way into Yellowstone, we thought this would attract animals. ;)

first animal sighting

Mud pots and geysers

Gretchen and Collin

Waiting for Old Faithful

It was freezing outside but we couldn't pass up the ice cream.

The whole clan.....

Little cowboy

Sorting through their new rocks.

Aunt Heather and Collin

Sarah and Naomi

Farkle competition

The view from our camp

Fom the dock, our tent trailer is on the left and my Dads is on the right

Heather and Larrys traveling house.......it was wonderful to have when the rain came.

Grace and Tekyiah

waiting for our food

The grand canyon of yellowstone.

It's beautiful.

Down at the bottom

So you think until you look over the edge.....yikes!

Lots of buffalo out that day

and deer

Our last night we celebrated Naomis 5th birthday, she and Haylee are two peas in a pod.....they played and played we hardly saw them.

It was so great to have these kids together making the memories they did. Grace says "it was the best vacation ever!" It started out a little rocky but ended great.

Our last leg of the trip we stopped in Coeur D Alane at Grandma's to break up the long trip. The weather was perfect and we swam all day with a little break for an ice cream cone from the resort. We head back up there in two weeks and after getting a little taste we are SO ready.

So we are back home now safe and sound and the rain was here to greet us when we pulled in. :) It was a long week and it's nice to be in our own beds again sleeping through the night.....(Gavin). The next vacation better include warm beaches and unbrella drinks is all I've got to say! ;)