First Day of School (5th and 1st)

I'm just going to throw a few pictures up here because on the first day of school, that's what it's all about. Mom's were all over the place with their camera's, it was great, and I'm sure that blogs all over the country are being populated with similar pictures. I asked Gray if he wanted a picture of himself in front of his classroom (which by the way is the same room where I had 5th grade, kind of surreal) and he conveniently didn't hear me and walked away.

Naomi kept herself occupied all morning playing with lego's. Her red sign says "First Day of School". I can't believe she's in first grade. For homework last night she had to memorize her lunch number.

Here she is doing her get acquainted with the classroom exercise. We found her cubby (stuff that stays at school), her mailbox (stuff that goes home), the bathroom and the lunchroom. What more do you need to know?

Here they are at the end of the day still with big smiles. They both love their teachers, had fun seeing all of their friends again and much to my relief fell asleep at 8:30.

Moon Landing

So we finally made it to one on the strangest places in this country, Craters of the Moon National Monument in Idaho. The landscape goes from flat farmland to black lava rock in strange formations and we wondered if we had just entered the twilight zone.


We did a few short hikes in blistering heat. It was neat to see the lava flow caves where ice remains year-long (and what a wonderful respite from the sun).

This was such a crazy hill of glittery black rock and when the kids would run it sounded hollow.

Discovering Idaho

Last week we spent a few days in Sun Valley and Ketchum, ID. Kory had business meetings for a few days so the kids and I explored the area. It was fun since we'd never been to this part of Idaho. Ketchum was fun with lots of little shops and everything in walking distance of where we were staying. It was such a bike/pedestrian friendly town. There were bikes all over and the motorists were so aware of everyone either on bike or foot.

During one day the kids and I took the lift up to Mt. Baldy and hiked around. It was beautiful.


Yes, Naomi did get worn out and Gray was so nice to carry her back to the lift.