A Rich Person's Adventure

As part of my husband's family reunion, his older brother rented three boats -- two pontoons and a speedboat -- and five families headed out to Cour d'Alene lake in northern Idaho to go boating.

It wasn't a great day -- windy, so the lake was choppy, and not terribly warm, so the lake was cold. But that didn't stop us from having fun!

Hubby got to drive a boat (for the first time):


The ride out was nice -- C and a cousin chilled on the seats --


But once we got to a little cove, the fun began. M dove off the side of the speedboat:


And her uncle let her have a turn driving the boats.


C was one of the brave souls that went tubing... (it was REALLY cold!)


A wanted a turn in the water, so Hubby swam with her (well, carried her, practically) from one boat to the next -- if you look closely, she's freezing and clinging to his neck!


But settled for a speedboat ride instead.


K and I were "smart" and never got in.

But we really liked riding on the little speedboat. Especially when we went fast!!

We've been to Cour d'Alene lake many times, but we'd never been out on boats before (it being a fairly expensive thing...). I'm glad, though, that we have relatives with deep pockets! It sure was fun!

Denver Aquarium

We stopped at the Denver Aquarium on our recent trip to Washington state. Mostly because we knew there was NOTHING to do in Billings, which was our next stop, but also because we like aquariums. And we didn't get tickets for the Denver Mint.

When we first entered, it was decorated like a ship. The girls -- especially A (she even asked to go all the way back to it), had fun pushing buttons, and playing with the wheels.

There were lots of interesting exhibits. Everyone's favorite was the flash flood (what does one do for a local natural exhibit when the aquarium is in a desert? Well... tarantulas, snakes, birds, and flash floods!) where there was a "thunderstorm" and the river overflowed and got us a bit wet. It was too dark to take pictures, though. There was also a tunnel where you could walk through and see the fish around...

but K wasn't too fond of that. (Or perhaps it's just the huge manta ray overhead?)

One of the other things the girls liked was the tank where you could go up underneath and see the fish from the inside. It made for some very interesting pictures.

And they even got to pet a sting ray at the end -- though only C and A were interested. (K would have nothing to do with it, although I tried to get her to pet the ray...)

And this one, because K looked at them and said, "Bubbles!"

In the end, though, it wasn't enough for us... especially for the price. It was nice, it was fun -- it only took 1 hour! -- but it was way overpriced. C'est la vie.

Twin Lakes, Big Cottonwood Canyon, UT

It's almost a tradition for Peter and I to escape the heat of July 24th and head 20 minutes up the canyon where it is (ahhhhh....) 20 degrees cooler. I was a little sad that this three nights of camping meant that we didn't see a single parade this year, but Zach was quick to forgive, so we're all good.

We stayed at the Spruces, up Big Cottonwood Canyon, where we've camped a couple of times before. This was our first time in the upper campground, and I will say I like it better at the lower. It's closer to the river and my kids + rocks + water = hours of enjoyment.

Brighton Ski Area is at the top of the canyon, where we had thought to just take a walk around Silver Lake. Very easy and perfect for young ones, it is a boardwalk. I was surprised at how busy it was on the 24th! There are always silly people trying to fish and there just really isn't room for it with lots of others walking along... I guess I had forgotten that off of the boardwalk are some trailheads, so we decided on one to take: Twin Lakes. At this point I was so very glad we had brought the Kelty kid pack for my free-loading Ben.

The hike was shady and pleasant starting out, but we were hiking at about 11:00 am, and I'm sad to say that after about 1/4 mile, we were on the mountainside and most of it was rather sunny. Probably a better hike for the morning or late afternoon hours. There were a few shady spots on the way up for drink breaks. The kids did awesome, we had another family with us and the hike up probably lasted about an hour. I wondered why it was one lake, since it's name is plural... Peter told me it used to be two. It is a reservoir and we did have to keep the kids away from the most tempting spot to throw rocks and sticks in, since it was right near the spillway.



Also at the lake, Peter was snagged by, what else, an AMWAY SALESMAN for 20 minutes or so. Seriously, they ought to have signs prohibiting that stuff in the great out of doors! :o)



We hiked a different way down, basically on the service road for the ski resort and the pleasant surprises were the little waterfalls to see on the way. Mostly dusty and pebbly, but it was a lot quicker and we were hungry for lunch!

RibbonWalk Urban Forest - Charlotte, NC

We dropped Jonah off at a friend's house for the afternoon and I decided to take the remaining three kiddies to the RibbonWalk Urban Forest. It was a very hot afternoon, but I figured we wouldn't be gone long. I was right about that, but for all the wrong reasons.


I was woefully unprepared for this adventure. I didn't really think it would be that big of a deal. I figured it was a county maintained park, and based on the trails at Francis Beatty, I thought this would be a little more...um...PAVED. When they say hiking, they aren't kidding. Crocs and flip flops are not going to cut it for footwear. It was buggy, so don't forget the insect repellent like Carter reminded me I did every 15 seconds or so. Also, it felt a little creepy being in this huge forest all by myself. We ran into a couple of other people (none with children) but I just couldn't shake the thought that the four of us could go missing here without a trace.


The scenery was gorgeous with tall trees and small ponds dotting the landscape. Courtney came to the astute conclusion that we should:

1. Go back with Dad.
2. In the fall.
3. When there are no flies.
4. Or mosquitoes.
5. And the leaves are probably gorgeous.


It is a slice of heaven not far from downtown (Courtney liked this gnarly tree), but follow the Scout motto and BE PREPARED.

Finally taking the bait

Let's go!

1. Twin Lakes
2. Lake Blanche
3. Park City Mountain Resort
4. Promontory Point
5. Treehouse Museum (Ogden)
6. Cherry Hill
7. Heber Valley Railroad

Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden--Belmont, NC

On Saturday afternoon, my mom and Courtney and I decided to brave the 100 degree heat and visit the Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden. I got a family membership, and I'm glad I did because I will definitely be back. It was breathtakingly gorgeous!

They were banding hummingbirds to learn more about their migration to Central America each year. We got to watch them work up close as they weighed each bird and noted their age and other statistics. I believe they logged at least 73 hummingbirds on Saturday. The hummingbirds were everywhere!

I love a good pergola.

Courtney walking through the maze. The maze has various stopping points for kids that teach them about the different parts of a plant--roots, stems, flowers.

I got so many ideas for my own garden. I could definitely see the value in coming every couple of months to see what is growing. In September they are going to let off 1,500 butterflies in the Orchid Conservatory which should be an awesome site to see. They allow picnicking anywhere on the grounds and there is a 1/2 mile woodland trail in addition to the grounds which take about an hour or so to walk through. I think it would be a great place for a Sunday afternoon with the family.

Adventure Park USA

I've seen Adventure Park USA from my drives along Interstate 70, which goes from Baltimore to Chicago (and beyond, but we stop there :). Just before you hit Frederick, Maryland you can see a roller coaster from the freeway and I've always wanted to give it a shot.

My husband spent the last half of last week at Boy Scout Camp, so I thought I'd kill an evening giving it a try. It was way too hot to do it during the day. My sister and her two little girls came along.

When we pulled up my kids freaked out - very old west flavor and you can see a couple kiddie rides and the roller coaster from the parking lot. When we got inside it was all I could do to keep them with me because you could see a huge ropes course, a Chuckee Cheese type game area and a massive climber toy (also reminiscent of Chuckee Cheese). Here is the thing: you pay PER THING. It's not particularly cheap - so I decided to get a pass for $12 that I thought would include pretty much everything we'd want to do.

We went outside and there was NO ONE there. No workers, no other people, nobody. I had to wander around and FIND a teenager worker to hook us up with the rather small carosel. Then I made her follow us to the little helicopters. The teacups were broken (DARN IT, the kids would've ridden that one a lot). Here is the thing: all around are huge and fun things that are super fun but also super expensive and not included in my pass. Bumper boats, the roller coaster, go carts, etc etc. So my 5 year old was having crabby time about all the things he wanted to do and couldn't - and my 8 year old was ticked about the roller coaster being not an option either (FOUR DOLLARS a ride people!!)

But we dragged them inside and jumped in the single moonbounce ($1.5 a ride without the pass). They liked jumping but the thing was in the corner of the game room and it was SO DARK inside there!! And since all the car driving arcade games were right there, Preston lasted about two minutes and spent the rest of his time pretending to be a race car driver. Xavier really wanted the ropes course, also not included. They did enjoy the huge climbing thing and played in there for a long time.

I kept adding in my head how much we'd done and we STILL hadn't even hit the $12 mark - so I took the three big kids outside for some mini golf. The sun was setting and lovely and they were playing nicely (if not by any sorts of rules...). Then Preston came out with my sister because he'd peed himself. Good times. Luckily, his actual shorts were mostly dry so I took him and my younger niece on the carousel again (after finding a worker, AGAIN). Then we wandered around the nearly empty mini golf course as the big kids finished.

Since I actually ended up having $4 on my "card" (like a Dave and Busters type card, that's how you go on the rides unless you have a pass wristband) since I'd used some gift cards I won at the silent auction to pay for this event. I told Sheely she could use the extra to take a ride on the rollercoaster. After finding a worker the guy told me there was no money on the card. AAARRGGG!! I had to go BACK up to the front and make the teenager fix the problem and go find ANOTHER worker to get her on the dang ride. She did really like it though, so that was something.

After some more moonbounce and climber toy, we called it a night. We did kill two hours and I think the kids did have fun. I may have had one mommy tantrum at my 5 year old because of all his whining about what he COULDN'T do. Maybe I raised my arms and said, rather loud, FINE, then we'll NEVER COME BACK HERE!!! I felt a tiny bit bad about that but it did do the job and he canned it for the rest of the night and found the bright side.

All in all - if you've got big kids and more cash than me to spend on this sort of thing, it's probably worth trying. The go-cart tracks looked fun, and so did the bumper boats. I also saw paintball. The rollercoaster does look fun. I think they have a pass for adults where you can do all that stuff all day - which might be worth looking into. For me, though, until my kids are bigger, I don't think we'll be back.