Kiersten’s Blog

While in Sacramento, we did some fun things.  We took the kids to Fairy Tale Town.  They loved it!  I used to love that place as a kid and in going back, I remember why.  I have lots of good memories of time spent there.

We were also able to do some other fun things.  London has been asking to go fishing, so my dad took her and Preston out.  When they got back, I went next door to my Grandma’s house where they were, to ask if they caught anything and London said, “No, but we went to McDonalds!”  I’m glad she had a good time.  Once they were back, the kids sat outside and played with the worms.  When I said, “EEEEWWWWW!” to London, she responded with, “No, they’re cute!” as she watched one crawl all over her hands.  Funny girl.

While they were gone fishing, Kenton and Bree took Ashton and their other 2 boys to the Railroad Museum.  Ashton LOVED it.  He wouldn’t stop talking about it, he enjoyed it so much.

I had some old friends over to visit while we were in town too.  Some of them I had not seen since high school.  It was fun to see each other again.  Then, of course, we spent more time with family.  We took the kids to the park with Jana and Jordan and Mila.

London and her only girl cousin

The kids also spent some time helping Grandpa in the back yard, cleaning up the garden and building a fence.

Ashton dragged this thing all the way across the yard

They were pretty excited to have found a bird nest!

We had a great time and I can’t wait to go back again!

I had been itching to go to Sacramento for some time.  Jana had a baby in August and Bree had a baby in September.  I had seen not many pictures of either and I was excited to finally meet the babies.  I was really excited when a few months ago, I found a sale on a flight from San Diego to San Francisco, which made it totally worth it to fly, rather than drive.  I really don’t like that drive.  I can’t say that I enjoy flying either, but it doesn’t take as long so the experience is over sooner.  The kids were over-the-top excited about the prospect of flying on an airplane.  The last time we flew was when Ashton was a baby so, of course, he doesn’t remember it.  On our way there, we left early and the flight was fairly uneventful.  It’s kind of nice flying as a family because they let you go straight to the front of the security line!  I had no idea!  But that was good, because Ashton was not fun to try to keep in line while worrying about all of my luggage and the rest of my family.  We didn’t check any luggage because I am a cheapskate and I didn’t really want to pay for it.  $25 each way?  I don’t think so!  Once we got to San Francisco was where the craziness began.  Ashton had to be rolling a suitcase at all times.  He just had to.  And we were trying to figure out where my mom was.  We finally realized that we were on different levels.  I figured the only option for us would be to take the elevator down, but Ashton had other plans.  Taylor walked down the stairs with London while I tried to get Ashton on the escalator by myself with 2 suitcases.  I wouldn’t recommend trying that yourself.  You would probably end up with a scared 2-year-old that you make sit on the moving stairs while you run to the top trying to retrieve your bag that somehow didn’t make it on with you (probably because you were more worried about the 2-year-old).  I got the bag and Taylor was at the bottom waiting to help with the dismount of the escalator.  All was well and we headed to Grandma and Grandpa’s house for a grand time of mostly playing foosball and just relaxing.  And we made it just in time for Preston’s birthday party!

The return trip was a little more difficult.  We were dropped off at the airport extra early because we didn’t know until we got there that our flight was delayed.  Because of the delay, we had to change gates.  We gathered our stuff and headed to our new gate.  Once again, Taylor was with London and I was dragging Ashton along.  He stopped for a minute to tell me that he was going to go fast like Lightening McQueen.  The problem, though, was that he stopped right in front of a lady being pushed in a wheel chair.  Of course she couldn’t help but tell me that I need to watch my kid.  Sorry lady, he’s 2.  And it just doesn’t phase me anymore.  Old ladies tell me all the time that I’m a bad mom.  It’s always the highlight of my day, or something.  Anyway, we were fine and Ashton fell asleep soon after take-off and slept until morning.  What a good little guy!  We had a great time, as always.

We’re home. I feel like we’ve been gone for two weeks. Wait, we pretty much have. So someday soon when we have internet again and I don’t have to blog via iPhone (yes, I got one for Christmas!), I’ll fill you in on the craziness around here and the joys of traveling with kids. Don’t worry, I won’t forget about the time that the old lady in the airport told me that I need to watch my kid, or how adventurous I was to take an escalator with a two-year-old and two suitcases. Those are stories to be told. And they will be. Just not tonight. I have some catching up to do with my own bed.

. . . continued.

We all met Friday night for dessert.  Then Saturday was the day of the reunion.  The sisters got together during the day (I think) while the cousins and the kids spent the morning at the Railroad Museum Caboose Club Ice Cream Social.  The Railroad Museum is in Old Sacramento.  I sometimes forget what a neat place Old Sac is until I go back.  We had a great time.  Sure it was hot, but we did some cool stuff.  We saw a protest march in the streets.

We had a ride on an old train.

The conductor even came and stamped our tickets!

We got a nice view of the tower bridge one way and the state capitol building the other way.

The tracks follow the river for a bit.  Then we stopped, the engine moved to the other side, and we were pulled back to Old Sac.  Not only did we get a train ride, we also got ice cream

and we were able walk through a different train car

and try out a handcar.

Then we saw a magic show (which the kids LOVED)

All the kids (and Kenton, who sat with them all while the rest of us stood in the back) waiting for the show to start

and were off for naps, but not without stopping for some salt water taffy first.

Saturday evening was spent with everybody at the church where we had a yummy potluck dinner and a show.

The woman who started it all (and Liz)

My mom’s family is quite musical so we had a talent show that was packed full of fun and good talent.  It gave me an opportunity to play my violin and London was excited to sing (which, sadly I got no pictures of).  I love spending time with my extended family (although it might have been Henrie family overload for Taylor) and was glad that we were able to bring Mylie home with us for another week of fun before we could finally catch up from our vacation.  Oh wait, that STILL hasn’t happened.  Either way, it was a fun month and I can’t wait to see everybody again!

Our last leg of our vacation was spent in Sacramento for a Whitaker reunion (my mom and her sisters).  I always love getting together with my cousins.  We grew up visiting each other and writing letters since we lived all over the west (mostly coast).  Now it’s fun to get together with our kids and let the kids play.  We spent some time at my parents house (which happens to be right next door to my grandma’s house.  The kids got to spend some time with the grandparents and we got to slow down a bit after a few crazy days of traveling.

When most cousins were in town, we met on Thursday night for gelato at The Fountains in Roseville.  The gelato was great and so was the company.

The kids played for a while around the fountain until they were ready for bed.

The kids were really excited about this lion we saw

I don’t remember what kind of gelato I ended up with (probably mint chocolate because that’s always the best.  Oh, I do remember, half mint chocolate and half some chocolate hazelnut yumminess), but I do remember that Ashton wanted a pink one.  I had him try strawberry and raspberry but he kept pointing at the rose petal one and saying, “that pink one!”  So I got him that pink one but I had them only give me half rose petal and half strawberry since I was sure he wouldn’t like it and would want strawberry.  I was wrong.  He ate all of the rose petal half and left the whole strawberry half.  Weird.

We spent most of the day Friday with cousins at the sprayground.  For some reason, my kids are not huge sprayground fans but they had a lot of fun with their second cousins and they loved playing at the adjoining park.

We couldn’t find London’s swimsuit bottom, so the poor girl had to go in her underwear.  It was a little traumatic at first, but it didn’t take her long before she forgot all about it and had a great time.

To be continued . . .

The next day was spent at Yellowstone.  Brittany and her family joined us.  I went to Yellowstone a number of times as a student at BYU-Idaho.  It was fun to go again with my family.  Before we got there, though, we had to stop in Ashton for a photo-op.

We took the south loop and saw some amazing things.  We stopped at some mud pots.

Then, of course we stopped at Old Faithful.  I was ready to leave before it went off because the kids were driving me nuts, but I’m glad we stayed to see it.  It’s pretty incredible.  The kids also thought it was pretty cool.

After Old Faithful, we hit the road so that we could make it all the way around the loop and see the waterfalls and the grand canyon of Yellowstone before it got dark.

It took a little longer than expected because there were bison crossing the road.

Luckily we got there just in time.  As we pulled up, the wind was blowing and the rain was starting.

We snapped a couple of pictures and were on our way, stopping at a cute little diner in West Yellowstone for dinner.  It was late by the time we got back to Brittany and Kirk’s house and the next day was a long, long drive.  I think our day was worth it, though.

I still have a number of entries to write about our vacation.  Someday I’ll have it all caught up.  Today you get to hear about our travels in Idaho.  After the reunion was over, we decided to spend an extra couple of days in Idaho.  We had a week before our next reunion started in Sacramento so we thought we would take advantage of our free time and see some sights.  We spent our first day visiting Jackson Hole and Grand Teton National Park.

It’s kind of pathetic that in all of my 7 years spent in Rexburg, I never once went to the Grand Tetons and only visited Jackson Hole twice.  People come from all over the world to see these sights and I was just a couple of hours away and never went!  We had a nice little visit this time.  It’s beautiful there.

"Look, Mom, I have antlers!"

Jenny Lake and the Tetons

I told Taylor to take a different way back so we could go by the ski resort in Teton Village, but instead of me watching the scenery, I fell asleep and missed the whole thing.  Bummer.  We did, however, have a great day and saw some beautiful sights.

While in Idaho, we were able to get together with three of my former roommates who still reside in Southeast Idaho.  Leah hosted the get-together which included lots of yummy food and lots of fun for the kids.  It was a beautiful day so we stayed outside where the kids could run around.  And, of course, the girls dressed up.  Three of the four of us have girls the same age.  Dress-up is inevitable.

They had a great time together and I had a great time catching up with old friends.

That morning we went to church with a different old roommate of mine.  The other thing they all have in common?  All are redheads.  At least they were when we were roommates.

And speaking of redheads, we got to spend some time with the Ashton’s while we were in Rexburg.  Brother Ashton was my violin teacher at Ricks/BYU-Idaho.  I was his first student.  I was the one who, when he came to audition for the job, was taught a lesson by him (and the others in the running for the position) which was observed by the hiring committee (and anybody else who wanted to attend).  So I think we have a special bond.  We had a nice visit.  The kids also had a great time, since the Ashton’s are now grandparents and they treated our kids like their own.  We went out to the beautiful garden and picked and ate fresh vegetables.

We sat out on the back deck and chatted while we watched the sunset.  I think the Ashton’s probably have one of the best views of the sunset in all of Rexburg.

I can remember as a student, many times going up to their house just to watch the sun set.  I’m glad our kids got a little taste of what that was like and I’m glad we were able to spend some time there and reminisce.

Our main purpose of our trip to Idaho was for a family reunion on my dad’s side.  Much of his family still lives in Alberta.  I even have a cousin in Alaska.  Rexburg seemed to be a pretty central location.  Plus, Brittany wanted to plan it and she lives in Rexburg.  We rented a house in Idaho Falls where a lot of us stayed.  It was fun staying up late and chatting with cousins and aunts and uncles.  Living so far away, we don’t see that side of the family very often.  Some cousins I haven’t seen in probably 15 years or more.  I had a great time with them and getting to know all of them again.

We had a lot of fun activities planned.  We spent one day at the park where we had a barbecue.

The kids played at the sprayground and got to ride the carousel.

If you can't tell, my kids aren't huge sprayground fans. Plus, she was a little on the cold side.

That afternoon, Taylor and I went with a couple of my cousins and their spouses (we dumped the kids off on the grandparents) and headed over to the BYU-Idaho campus for a look around.  We haven’t been back since we moved almost seven years ago.  In that amount of time, many things have changed.  New buildings have been built and additions and renovations have been made to many existing buildings.

This is where Taylor and I spent all of our time as students, and consequently, where we met.

The university has grown to more than twice the size it was when I started there in 1998.  It was exciting to see what has been done and what is being done.

The next day we went to Mesa Falls.  There is a mile-long trail to see the lower falls, which Taylor, Alan, Brittany, and I all ran while everybody else went to the upper falls.

It was a nice little run and definitely nice to get some exercise.  The view was gorgeous.  After our run, we met up with the rest of the family and walked over to see the upper falls, which was also fantastic.

That evening, Wayne and Jenna blessed their baby girl at the house and we all sat around listening to stories from my grandma and her kids.

I really had a nice time with the Henrie’s and hope it’s not another 15 years before we all get together again.

Our first day of our vacation consisted of driving.  We drove and drove and drove.  Then we drove some more.  We stopped along the way for home-made pizza, watermelon and home-made ice cream cones with my BFF, Bree.  It was fun to take a break from the car and my kids had a blast playing with her kids.  I wish we lived closer!

We ended the day at Alan and Marisa’s house.  We slept there and headed for Idaho the next morning.  It’s so nice to have family and friends along the way.  It was fun to finally see Alan and Marisa’s house.  I wish we could have spent more time with them.  I’m just glad they came to Idaho too so we could see more of them.

P.S. For my personal traveling with kids tips, go here.