"Camping" in McCall.

I always joke that our camping trips to McCall are really "glamping" trips.  We have water and electricity hook-ups and are a stones throw away from town.  That being said, it is gorgeous and fun-filled.  My dad, Kevin and I snuck away for an evening round of golf. 

My dad talked us into a drink on the balcony afterwards.  Good call Pops!

 

One morning, Kevin and my dad took Kendall fishing.  She caught three nice fish.  She did all of the casting and reeling in, but wanted nothing to do with touching them.  That's my girl!

While they were fishing, I rode bikes into town with my mom and Sid.

We enjoyed coffee in the big chair, toured the farmer's market and shopped the thrift stores.

We spent the evenings by the fire.

We enjoyed some quality time with grandma and papa.

And, genuinely allowed ourselves to relax!

The Meghan "Train".

I took the kids to their first concert.  Meghan Trainor!  It was absolutely a great experience.  The concert was at the Ford Idaho Amphitheater.  Boise was the first stop on her tour. 

The venue was so laid back.  There was not a bad seat in the house.  The crowd was super cool.  One of the workers saw us trying to take a selfie and offered to snap one for us.

Megan Trainor put on quite the show.  Her messaging was super positive...family, loving yourself and generally enjoying life.

The ladies behind us took picture of Kendall and Sidney, so that they would be in the same picture as Meghan Trainor.  Look really close and you can see it:)

The encore was, of course, NO.  The girls sang, danced, stood on their chairs and had the time of their life.

The icing on the cake was running into their friends Cortni and Cadence.

Montana or Bust!

We took a trip to Montana this year, via Yellowstone Park. 

The girls had received their monthly news letter from the The Kif Brown Foundation Cancer Fighting Kids Club.  In the newsletter, there was a road trip game.  We all had a good time trying to find each of the items on the list.  It took us four days, but we found everything except a vehicle that said "wash me".

The first animal we spotted was an elk (courtesy of eagle eye Sid).

We went to several of the boiling water pits.  It was crazy to see steaming boiling water on such a cold day.

Behind the girls, the water is boiling.

A beautiful view along the way.

It was crazy weather.  We found a hillside of flowers among the snow fall.

A few miles away, once we dropped out of snow country, Kevin and the girls posed for a picture.

Another gorgeous view (and not just because it is Kevin).

We saw a ton of buffalo, but here are a couple that were pretty close.  Those animal move fast.  We watch a lone buffalo trek across a field.

As we were heading out of the park, we saw this huge black bear on the side of the road.  He was digging for food and had no interest in us.  Although, I did get a bit freaked out as we were passing by with my head hanging out the window taking pictures (such a tourist).

We took our picture with the sign as we exited the park.

We were not able to take Beartooth Pass to get to Billings as it had been closed for the day due to gusting winds and ice.  A couple days later Roy, Sherry, Kevin and I took a drive up to the top of the pass.  Amazing views!

 

On the way home, we stopped in Virginia City, Montana.  It is an old gold mining town.  There was an old fashioned candy shop, which we visited of course.  However, the highlight of the trip was the old time pictures that we had taken.  The girls had such a great time getting dressed up and acting their parts.  Here are just a few. 

Kendall drinking straight out of the whiskey bottle.

Good times!

 

Spending some time on the lake.

Kevin and I bought some sit on top kayaks last year for he and I.  Sidney and Kendall would sit on the back while we towed them around the lakes.  For Father's Day this year, Kevin wanted to get the girls some smaller kayaks that he had spotted at the store.  He wanted all four of us to be able to go out.  We have been spending some quiet, early mornings on the lake.  It is so beautiful and relaxing.  We are literally the only people out there, minus a couple of fisherman from shore.  The girls spend hours jumping of the kayaks and "jogging" around the lake, as they have learned that they cannot go under in their life jackets. 

Sidney...queen of the lake.

Sweet Kendall, I believe she thinks she is paddle boarding.

Off to Summer Camp.

Kendall went to her second year of summer camp.  Last year, she was super nervous.  This year she was ready to go.  She had checked out a couple books from the library on camp pranks.  She spent several days practicing on us.  Hannah stayed at our house the day before camp, so both girls were plotting and super excited. 

Last year her counselor was the mysterious "Mo".  We have never met Mo, but have been hearing all about her for the past year.  The weekend before camp, we were standing in line at Michael's when the young lady in front of us turned around and said, "Kendall?"  Sure enough, it was Mo.  Although Mo was a counselor again this year, Kendall and Hannah had a different cabin counselor.  Their counselor was Gabby, who was equally as awesome!

Kevin and Sidney took Kendall to catch the bus to camp.  The kids get on the bus in Boise and spend the next two hours giggling, singing and generally having a good time.

 

Kendall remembered to bring her group photo home this year.  She was on top of the moon and super tired when she got home.  Definitely a good time was had!

A Much Needed Break.

As many of you know, this latest type of chemo has been very hard on Kevin.  He has been having quite a bit of pain and the side effects have been snowballing.  He has been on a 3 week cycle, in which lately he has only had 2-3 good days.  He had a scan two weeks ago Friday.  Last Thursday he was scheduled for chemo.  We kept the appointment with the intention of talking to the doctor about taking some time off.  Kevin wants to take July and August off so that he can spend some time with the girls while they are out of school for the summer. 

During the visit, the doctor reviewed the scan and saw some things on his spine that he wanted to check out further before making any decisions.  Last night Kevin had an MRI, and today we learned the results.  It was good news.  The stuff on his spine was not cancerous, but rather residual from the radiation therapy he received in the beginning.  I must say that the time between last Thursday and this Thursday crawled very slowly.  For the first time, we found ourselves putting things kind of on hold as we awaited more info.  We are grateful that it was not the spread of the cancer. 

Kevin is going to take the much needed break that his mind and body are asking for.  When he starts back up in a few months, it will be with a new treatment.  He is going to try a new immunotherapy drug.  The drug has had favorable results, but is only FDA approved for a couple types of cancer.  Esophageal cancer is not one of them.  Fortunately, he was able to get approved through the drug company to trial it.  From what we have heard, the side effects are minimal compared to what he has been experiencing. 

We are thankful that we have been given the gift of more time together.  Kevin was diagnosed on October 27th, 2014.  At that time, they gave him 12-18 months of life.  As he reminded me on April 28th (ironically the day he was honored at the middle school track meet), he has won some battles.  He is a warrior.  He has fought harder than I could have ever hoped and imagined.  He will continue to fight, but for the moment, he will recuperate.  Now, off to have some fun!

Blessing or a Curse?

So here is a funny story.  Wish Granters held their sixth annual playhouse raffle a few weeks back.  Raffle tickets are $1 each and they usually pick two of the houses to auction off.  We take the girls each year and let them throw a few dollars into the playhouse raffle of their choosing.  The drawing is held on a Sunday afternoon at 4pm.  This year the  girls had left for my parents house the Friday prior to the raffle. 

 

On Saturday, as Kevin and I were driving around pretending we were newly married and had no obligations, he declared that he had a "really bad feeling about this playhouse thing."  He just knew the girls were going to win one this year, then what?  I laughed him off.  The next day as I was out in the garage, I heard my phone ring inside the house.  I looked down at my watch.  No kidding...4:15pm.  I answer the phone only to learn we are the proud owners of a new playhouse.  They would be delivering it to our driveway the following morning.

 

WHAT?  Like any good parent, we plotted ways at which we could lie to our children and tell them they had not won the playhouse.  Our good conscience won out, and we called to tell them the news.  We had to pull the phone away from our ears as squeals and giggles emitted from the other end.

 

The next day our troubles began. The playhouse was delivered and it was definitely too big to fit through the side gate.  The only way to get it into the back yard was to get a forklift (or something) and take it around the block to the grass alley between us and our back neighbor.  WAY too far for a group of men to carry.  After searching for a forklift to rent for a day or so, I texted our neighbor Matt.  He knows all kinds of people.  He immediately told me he would ask his buddy "Joe".  I debated in my head whether "Joe" was a fictional character and wondered whether Matt would ever get back to us.  Five hours later, Matt came through.  "Joe" said we needed to call tuff shed.  They would have a 'guy'.  What a great idea! 

 

The following Monday they came over and took the new playhouse around the block and into the backyard.  There it sits.  A permanent part of our residence now.  Never to be moved again.

 

Terrell had a leftover piece of linoleum, so we laid that down.  I went to Walmart and bought a $4 spray can of chalkboard paint.  Now let the party begin!

 

Yes, it has been a party.  Hannah slept over last night, and the girls were out there playing by 8 am.  They are still out there playing 5 hours later.

Kendall minding the store and pretending to eat a cupcake. 

Sidney working the drive thru.

 Do you think we can talk Grandma Karen into some window treatments?

Summer Fun!

The girls earned a pass to Roaring Springs through a reading program at school.  The pass had to be used by June 30th.  So on June 26th, I braved the water park with 4 crazy girls.  If I was going for it, I thought why not invite a couple of more.  Cortni and Cadence joined us for the day.  Cortni and Cadence had a season pass last year, so they knew all the perfect places including a shady picnic table that we called "home". 

 

We all managed to head in the same direction for the first few hours, which made wrangling everyone together for lunch a snap.  My girls were so much braver this year.  Kendall had a full year to get over her fear of roller coasters, plus she had a couple of friends to brave her up.  Sidney was a bit timid at first, but after a few trips down the mat slide she was ready to go.

I am a bit of a thrill ride junky (most of the time).  The only ride I had not experienced was the half-pipe otherwise known as "The Avalanche".  Cortni jumped at the chance to ride on it with me, which made me happy because none of the other girls seemed remotely interested in those shenanigans.  The girls spent the day running from ride to ride. 

What is a theme park without a selfie?  I really need to learn how to do a proper duck face...or not!