Idaho July 31 - Aug 7, 2025

Idaho July 31 - Aug 7, 2025

Thursday:

This year for for our summer trip we decided to bring along Yvette and Vivian. James and Noelle couldn't be with us this year. Noelle is currently in Boston and James just arrived home to San Diego after being out at sea. Wilson is once again staying with Aunt Susan. We flew out of O'Hare early Friday morning. Yvette and Vivian slept over the night prior. We had a direct flight to Spokane Washington. We had the last row of our plane. I sat next to Yvette, Greta and Vivian sat together, and Matt was in front of Yvette and I. Greta and Vivian played a trick on Yvette when she fell asleep with her mouth wide open. They threw ginger chew wrappers in her mouth. Once to Spokane we rented our vehicle and made our way to a Mexican restaurant called Mole right on the Spokane river. I had amazing salad with Aji tuna on it with berries. It was a hot afternoon, 95° and sunny. The weather didn't stop crazies from dressing in banana costumes and walking around. Afterwards, we drove to Coeur d'Alene Idaho to Tubbs Hill, where we cliff jumped. Everyone did it. It was probably 25 to 30 feet high. We then hit Safeway grocery store to stock up on our food supply. Afterwards we drove to our ARB&B right on the Coeur d'Alene River just south of Coeur d'Alene. It's super cute. We can see the marina right from our back patio. There's three bedrooms, a really nicely, remodeled kitchen and cute decor. Our neighbors are really fun too. It didn't take long for Matt and I to have a conversation with them. Sounds like one of the guys used to be a professional kayaker. Another one of the guys does rodeo and his wife is a physical therapist. The older couple, who are each 85, still enjoy jet skiing up here! When Matt and I went on a walk this evening, we saw several tame deer, not budging as we walk by. We walked past Shooters restaurant where a lady in her 30s was playing guitar and signing. We were all pretty beat tonight. The kids watched their program of the week, the Miraculous Lady Bug Show on Netflix. Matt and I went to bed around 9:45.

Friday:

I was so excited to get up this morning and run since I wasn't able to run yesterday. I did a 25 minute out & 25 minute back course along the Coeur d'Alene River. Right as I got back it started sprinkling. That didn't stop Matt from going out on his run. Once back to our place, we chilled for a while and let the kids sleep in. Eventually, they got up around 10:30 AM. Matt made them spam omelettes. We all took a walk down to the marina to look at the boats. Afterwards, we drove to Coeur d'Alene to do a little shopping. We hit a bookstore and purchased huckleberry chocolate. I also found a spice store, Matt wasn't too excited about my purchase but I couldn't pass on chai spice and chai tea. We next went to the boardwalk for our picnic lunch. We then walked along the boardwalk looking at the million dollar homes. Matt certainly knows how to make us all laugh. He walked super gay-like swinging his hips with his lunch bags in his hands. Fortunately, I captured that on video. We then went to Silver Mountain resort. We had reserved tickets for ride and dine. We took the gondola up the mountain. We took another chairlift to a hiking trail. We hiked along the side of the mountain probably around 2.5 miles. Yvette and Vivian did awesome…and Greta too. We made our way back to the top of the mountain where the musician had just started. He was probably in his 30's, he did get Matt's approval, so he was classified as good. We ate our barbecue ribs, grilled chicken, corn on the cob and watermelon. Greta and Vivian practiced lassoing over bullhorns. We were all getting pretty spent so we made our way back down the mountain in the gondola. Our whole gondola ride we made silly noises mimicking farts. Leave it to Matt to start that!! I have a tally on Matt counting how many times he says "jeepers". Too many!! Once back to our place Matt and I binged watched Sullivan's crossing. Matt and I crashed much earlier than the girls. They stayed up and who know what they did. I bet midnight Mac n cheese was made and maybe FaceTime calls with Lucy and her boyfriend. Greta is good at solving their issues.

Saturday:

This morning I ran again along the river. Once back we packed up and headed to our boat rental, KJ Motorsports. The girls were super excited seeing several black wild rabbits—-simple entertainment. We rented a pontoon for 3 hrs. Fortunately it came with a tube to pull behind. Matt was our boat captain and I was the photographer. The girls enjoyed hrs of tubing. We had picnic lunches listening to tunes on our boat. Once our 3 hr tour ended we hit an Idaho Ice cream shop. Yvette and I were super pumped finding coffee ice cream. We made our way back to our place to chill. I did yoga on our front porch while Matt watched Zero day on Netflix. The girls chilled until we made our way to the Bar and Grill "shooters" at the Marina right down the road. We had live music to listen to while we

enjoyed fish and chips and Shirley temples. Afterwards Matt and I went for a walk. Our neighbors must think all we do is work out. Once back to our place Matt and I finished the final season of Sullivan's crossing. The girls did pranks on us tonight. "Matt, the toliet is smoking". "Matt, the dishwasher is running water". Now…guess what the prank was. Speaking of pranks, Matt's cousin Dave and his son stayed out our house while we were gone. Ethan had a 100k trail race in Verona. They decided to mow a penis into our lawn as a prank. Both Eric and Chuck our neighbors saw it and let us know. We actually were informed by our video camera. The landscaper was even caught on our camera applying fertilizer to the penis. LOL. Tonight was our final night in Coeur d'lane.

Sunday:

This morning on my run a moose ran across the road right behind me…oh my, did that scare me. I knew it was something large by the sound of the footsteps. Now that is something I haven't experienced. Unfortunately Vivian didn't feel too good this morning. She threw up a couple of times. She took front seat of the car for this stretch. We had 4.5 hrs to get to McCall. We played the game of…I'm going on a road trip and plan to bring…through the alphabet. We also played two truths and a lie. We got Jimmy John's for lunch today. Once to McCall we checked into our ARB &B. Our place was very clean and unique. The floors were concrete. The kitchen was huge!! It was an open layout with the living room. The back of our place had boulders going up the hill. It reminded us of our rental in Estes Park. We decided to have dinner at the food trucks near the beach to Payette Lake. Everyone loved their tacos. We hit Albertsons grocery for more snacks and went back to our ARB&B. Matt and I went on a walk through the neighborhood. The air, nature, views, desolate feel of the town is unbeatable. Matt and I talked of living here someday—-maybe in the winter. Greta & Vivian took a little bike ride downtown. Matt and I were totally cool with it given all the bike paths and minimal cars on the road. We were all pretty tired tonight so we hit the sack rather early.

Monday:

Thank goodness for Matt, cuddle monster, who helped out Yvette early this morning after she had a nightmare. Only a few minutes of cuddling and she was out. This morning I ran to and from Ponderosa State Park. The vegetation, tall evergreens, is so beautiful! Once back, Matt also went out on a 6 mile run. We both spotted deer that were so tame. They weren't scared of humans one bit. We played banana grams while it rained. Once 11am rolled around we decided to wake up Vivian so we could start the day's adventures. We hoped in our car and headed to Goose Creek Falls trailhead. We hiked 1.2 miles down the mountain to the bridge that crossed the falls. We went another 1/4 mile to the falls. There was a step descent to the base. Vivian and Greta made their way down and dipped in the mountain fed cool water. They took photos with Greta's new camera that Eric Christenson gave her. Matt, Yvette, and I took in the beauty from above. We hiked our way back out. Everyone did great!! We then hit the food trucks again…this time for fried rice. We bought vanilla cake at Albertons for dessert. Jill-Jill has caught on to the girls code for a cute boy. They say to one another, "time for a drink". (Like a sip of soda). And they think I don't have a clue. We did a little drive through the scenic area of Ponderosa State Park. We found where we wanted to do sunset photos this evening—-the highest point of the park that overlooks Payette Lake. Once back to our place we showered up and got fancy for the photos. We headed back to the park, not sure if the photos would turn out….it was storming and windy…but we attempted anyway. Why not add to the adventure. Plus another opportunity to do karaoke in the car. Everyone hit the high note! After our photos we headed back to our place for episodes of Friends and crashed soon thereafter.

Tuesday:

This morning I did another run out and back to Ponderosa State Park. We had to pack up this morning and depart by 10am. We hit a grab and go place for breakfast for the car ride. Our next stop was Pine Creek campground. We did a 1/2 mile round trip hike to the hot springs. The water was around 125 degrees. Greta ended up getting blisters the water was so warm. Afterwards we made our way to the river to dip our feet in and do riverside sincrozized yoga. Leave it to girls! We next made our way to Boise and checked into our VRBO. Greta took one look at the outside and said, "what is this?" Dad says, "don't judge a book by its cover." He was right, once we checked out the inside we were pretty astonished. It has 3 levels, it is big, wide open, cute patio with hanging T lights. There are tons of bikes, surf boards, & wake boards to use. We chilled for a bit watching Jeopardy. Once our tummies were growling we dressed up and went downtown for dinner at restaurant called Bittercreek Alehouse. We sat at a tall booth outside on the patio, allowing us great opportunity for people watching. Not only did we spot several cute boys passing by we also started searching online for cute actors and actresses. We hiked around awhile downtown. We then drove past where Matt and Kelly used to live 25 years ago here in Boise. We stopped one final time at Albertsons, the local grocery store, for our final purchases of snacks. Once back to our VRBO, we watch Landman and hit the sack.

Wednesday:

This morning, I ran along the Boise River on the bike path. To get there I had to run past the White waterpark. They have a man-made area for people to boogie board and surf. It's pretty cool. We let the kids sleep in. I guess they were up till 3 AM the night prior. Matt couldn't sleep and went to check on them. Greta was doing handstands. Matt made the famous spam omelettes for everyone. Afterwards we went shopping for souvenirs. We hit TJ Maxx and then went to a donut shop. The girls were in heaven. You purchased the flavored donut you wanted and then they top it with more sweetness. We came back to our place and changed into our swimsuits. We walked down to the Whitewater park and all took turns surfing on the man-made tide. All of us made it up except Matt. Maybe his big butt has something to do with it, LOL. Afterwards we showered up and found lime scooters to use to make our way downtown for dinner. We ate at the same area we did the night before, a sister restaurant. We had great views to people watch. Tonight we witnessed a pretty intense fight. I thought it was between two lesbians. I guess I am not really sure. There was slapping and screaming going on in the alleyway. I think it ended in a breakup. We caught an Uber ride back to our place and watched a Netflix program, Chicago PD. We hit the sack soon thereafter.

Thursday:

This morning was our final morning here in Idaho. I chose to do boho beautiful yoga, my hips were catching a lot, even with simple twisting movements. I had breakfast on our back porch to get a little Vitamin D. We woke up the kids and packed up. Our flight left at 12:30. We have a direct flight to O'Hare. We plan to drive right to Green Bay to get the girls home. Plus Greta is going to get her braces adjusted.

Our trip was all we could have asked for. Matt survived a week with 4 women. Wait, I guess he has done that before, Puerta Vallerta Spring break 2025. Go Matt!!

We all had our moments, even myself. Like when Matt said I wasn't allowed to buy water. Greta says, "look guys, this is my mom's tantrum."

The good news is we all experienced firsts. Vivian, Yvette, and Greta's first time in Idaho, Jill's first time beating Matt at sport (catching a wave)and Matt's first time not frying his mashed potato body.

Until next time.

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