Honoring George

In my post about the weekend trip to Spokane Steve and I took last fall, I mentioned that I'd seen my aunt, uncle, and cousins twice already that year, both times for memorial services in Idaho. My dad's service was in July; in March, we gathered to remember George, my brother-in-law Brian's dad. 

I'm not sure when I met George for the first time; I certainly knew him by the time my sister married Brian in 1996. I usually saw him a few times a year at family gatherings and I always enjoyed chatting with him. I remember George as kind and friendly, quiet, but with a quick sense of humor. 

Honoring George (affiliate link)

While George was not technically related to me, he felt like family. I'm glad I was able to be there for his memorial service. 

Family Fun in Idaho

In a way, scrapping photos from a trip is like taking that trip all over again, right? That's what I keep telling myself. This is the second page from our July 2019 family reunion in Idaho.  

Family Fun! (affiliate link)

We were supposed to meet up in Montana this summer, but that was canceled. I'm so glad that we have technology that keeps us connected, even if we can't get together in person. Emails, phone calls, and Zoom get-togethers make such a difference. 

MCI-DEN-BOI

I've been struggling with how to scrap last summer's family reunion in Boise. I had enough photos for two pages, but they would be back-to-back rather than side-to-side once I put them in the album. So I wanted to treat the event as two 1-pagers instead of one 2-pager. 

I decided to cut down all of the activity photos to squares and set them aside for the second page. The first page would include our group photo. When I started digging through my travel product, I came across the "You Are Here" journaling card that happened to have Kansas City printed on it. We'd flown from Kansas City to Boise (via Denver) to attend the reunion, so I came up with the idea to fussy cut a Boise photo and use an arrow to connect the two cities.  

Kansas City to Boise (affiliate link)

I included just a single line of journaling to explain that we'd gone directly from our Missouri/Kansas trip to the reunion in Idaho in order to maximize our vacation days. The second page, with all the reunion activity photos, has lots of journaling. I'll share that page tomorrow. 

Family-Friendly Things to Do in Boise, Idaho (Part 7)

This is the seventh and final post about our family's adventures in July 2019. If you haven't already, I recommend reading the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth posts about this trip. 

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After our week exploring Missouri and Kansas, we flew to Boise, Idaho for a family reunion. My parents and my sister's family live there now. My aunt, uncle, and cousins and their families drove over from Spokane for a long weekend.

The first morning we were there, my mom joined Steve, Trevor, and me to do the Boise Urban Adventure Quest. It started at the State Capitol.

The Quest took us by Freak Alley, JUMP, the Anne Frank Memorial, the Boise Art Museum, and the Basque Block.

  

  

We also passed by the library. Or, more accurately, the Library! The next time I'm in town, I'm going to visit the four branches to find the one with exclamation point shelves.

As always, we had great fun doing the Quest. It wasn't our best showing (2 mistakes) and our time was terrible (we stopped to tour JUMP, took photos at a bunch of places, and looked around a bit at other sites), but we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. And it introduced us to places we didn't know existed that we'll explore further during future visits.

We finished the Quest a half block from Boise Fry Company, so that's where we had lunch. We've eaten there during both of our previous Boise trips, and it never disappoints. We did find it funny that we went all the way to Idaho and they had Heretic on tap... it's only a few miles from our house and hosts Steve's homebrew club meetings.

And check this out! Idaho potatoes, of course... but I spy California sweet potatoes. And the 'Ruddy Spuddy' boxes are labeled California Potatoes. Funny!

We spent the rest of the day hanging out with our extended family (19 people) at my sister's house. We played a bunch of games, indoors and out. That's my nephew, Timothy, with cousin Aiden on his back and cousin Lillian as his cornhole partner. 

Here are cousins Trevor, Ethan, and Aiden playing a non-standard version of cornhole while Lillian and Allison watch. 

My godson Teagan and my niece Allison both helped me work on a Diamond Art project (affiliate link here and throughout the post). Both kids are 6 and did a great job. 

Meanwhile, Timothy, Lillian, Trevor and Grandma played Harry Potter Labyrinth. We LOVE Labyrinth. It's one of our favorite games. 

We ate a lot, too.

On Saturday, we did a float trip on the Boise River. 

It's mostly relaxing, with bursts of excitement here and there. In addition to the excitement of the rapids, there was unexpected 'excitement' when my brother-in-law helped save a young girl who was not wearing a life jacket. He was injured in the process, but all ended well. Please, parents: insist your children wear life jackets, even if they're strong swimmers. And wear your own!

We stopped for lunch along the river.

In the afternoon, we returned to Kari's house for more food and family fun. And a group photo.

This Disney-themed Eye Found It game is great fun for all ages. 

Nertz is a family favorite, too. 

All too soon, it was time for us to head home. We had a fantastic time exploring Missouri and Kansas, plus returning to Idaho. This trip brings us up to 32 states... only 18 more to go! Follow the link to see our updated map, plus recommendations for all 32 states we've visited. Any guesses where we're headed next?!

Cousins

During our family reunion in Bandon, Oregon in 2017, it was important to me to get a photo of my sister and me with our two cousins. The four of us posed for a very nice photo on the beach... then two seconds later, Matt put Kari and me in a headlock and Tim popped up the bunny ears. I love the contrast between the two photos!   

KMCT (affiliate link)

I titled the page with our initials (Kari, Matt, Cindy and Tim). Then I searched through all my word stickers to act as my journaling. I added Treasured, Family, and Moments to the first photo, then Yup, So Typical, and a wink to the second picture. All the details about the what-where-when are on the previous layout in the album, so I didn't feel like I needed to add those on this one. I like the simplicity. 

It's been two years since I've seen Matt and Tim and the rest of the extended family, but I don't have to wait much longer! We're all meeting in Boise soon for another reunion. I'm really looking forward to seeing everyone.