2nd Annual 4th of July Trip

Airline miles for 3 tickets: 105,000

Rental car for 7 1/2 days: $260

Days spent on vacation: 8

Hours driven on the trip: 9

Number of kids in house aged 8 and under: 6

Number of fights between the two 2 years old: endless

Dollars donated by the residents of Hailey for the firework show: $22,000

Kids who threw-up in the car: 1

Kids who threw-up in the airport on the way home: 1

New t-shirt for kid who threw-up in the airport: $13.83

Time spent at the antique fair in Hailey, ID: 3 hours

Time spent at Tai Pan Trading: 45 minutes (so not enough time)

Cost to ship all of my "treasures" home: $108.00

Days 'til we do it again next year: 357 (as of this post)

Memories made on vacation: PRICELESS!!

We had such a great time in Hailey, Idaho over the 4th. Mindy's little girl, Mylie, is so adorable. She is such a great baby. Doesn't really cry unless hungry or tired. There were plenty of kids around to entertain her. Owen was fascinated with her and absolutely loved her. He gave her kisses, hugs, and even asked to hold her a few times. That surprised me! Caroline loved Mylie as well and every time she saw Mylie, she would say: "Baby! Baby! Baby!"

We got to relax and cool off in the wonderful weather up there. The hottest day in Hailey while we were there was 89 degrees. Then it cooled off so nicely at night we slept with the windows open. What a treat especially this time of year. We didn't do a whole lot of activities, which was nice. We hung out, relaxed, ate, laughed, ate, enjoyed the kids, ate, and cooled off. Did I mention all of the yummy food we ate? It was soooooo delicious.

The visit started with the day we got to Mindy's house, Caroline bonked her head on the headboard of the guest room bed, right on her eyebrow of the left eye. Thank heavens it wasn't hard enough that it split the eye open and we avoided a trip to the ER while we were there.

All of us went to the 4th of July parade. We saw some neat cars, fire trucks, had candy thrown to us and passed out to us. Owen was a little bit scared of the horns on the fire trucks. He ran and wanted to sit on my lap. Once he realized it was okay, he clapped and cheered for more. Later that day, Mindy and I snuck off to the antique fair and had a grand old time. She got some great pieces and I found a few treasures myself.

That night, we did the whole sparkler-thing for the little kids and, this year, Owen loved them. He thought they were really neat. Caroline turned in really early and missed the whole show again this year. It was just fine by me because she had been really cranky since her schedule was off and was going to bed much later than usual. Since it doesn't get dark up there 'til around 10:00 or so, she wasn't in bed until 9:15 or 9:30 and then up with the sun at around 7:30. Not enough time for her beauty sleep. Owen had a fabulous nap that day and saw the whole show. He loved it and wanted more fireworks.

The Town of Hailey has an incredible firework show, both from the neighborhood where my sister lives, and the actual show put on by the Town. Some residents go to the neighboring town of Shoshone, which is on an Indian reservation, and buy their firworks there and bring 'em back for all to enjoy. That is a lot of fun, even if it is illegal fireworks! :-)

Adam and Jason, Mindy's husband, and their son, Carson, went for a great hike to 4th of July Lake in the Sawtooth National Forest, and then continued on in their hike up to Washington Lake. Adam enjoyed the hike and although it was an "easy" hike and only 5 miles round trip, all of them were beat by the time they got home.

We left early Sunday morning and drove back down to SLC to stay with Adam's parents. We got stuck in some bad traffic around Farmington. Once we stopped, Caroline woke up and proceeded to throw up her french fries and apple juice we just got her in Tremonton. Poor little girl. She tried so hard to be in good spirits the rest of the trip, but continued to throw up a couple of times each day, including the day we left. That day, she threw up on Adam as we were trying to get ready and to the airport. Adam's mom helped us run another load of laundry quickly, ran to the store to get some Gatorade. We are both very thankful for her and she was a big help with the kids.

Owen wasn't left behind in the throw up regard either. As Adam and I were eating our breakfast by the gate in the airport, Owen and Caroline were in their stroller. I would ask Owen if he wanted a bite of my cinnamon roll, which he refused. Odd! I asked him if he wanted a drink, which he refused. Odd! I asked him what he wanted and he said to sit on my lap. I proceeded to unbuckle him from the stroller. He climbed down and came over to me. He turned around so his back was facing me so I could hoist him onto my lap. Before I got the chance to do that, he proceeded to throw up all down the front of him, on my leg, etc. etc. Adam was sent on an errand to find a replacement outfit because I didn't pack a replacement in my carry-on outfit for him, I packed one for Caroline. After all, she was the one who threw up that morning.

All Adam could find was a shirt. He took the dirty shirt and shorts to the men's bathroom. He rinsed out the shirt and washed the shorts. Adam attempted to dry the shorts under the hand dryers in the bathroom, but was getting too many dirty looks. We tried to put the "clean" shorts back on Owen, but he refused. So, my little boy flew home in his new shirt, diaper, socks and shoes. He was happy with that, I could have cared less and didn't want to battle him over stupid shorts.

When we got home, Adam's brother, Steve, who lives in Washington was down here during the same exact days we were gone. But, on his way to the airport, he was able to stop by our house and see our family. We haven't seen Steve in about 5 years, and he has never met the kids. We are so glad we got the little bit of time to spend with Steve.

Even after all of this, I still can't wait to do it all again next year. I've already put in my "reservations" at my sister's house and am looking forward to the antique fair and Tai Pan Trading. (Why can't we have a Tai Pan Trading down here!!!!!????? That store is the freakin' bomb! Then again, maybe it's a good thing we don't have one here. I'd be there ALL THE TIME.)

I'll post some pictures of our trip once we take all 400+ pictures off the camera card. I just don't have the energy to do it right now. Stay tuned.