Ghost Town Getaway

 We had the car loaded and ready to leave early on the 5th. It was a beautiful stormy day, perfect for driving. I love love love driving in the rain. The kids slept most of the trip, they were wore out from staying up late the night before doing fireworks. The drive was beautiful. We went up through Idaho...past Idaho Falls, Island Park and then on in to Montana to the small little ghost town that is Nevada City.

 My dad first took me to this cool old town almost 20 years ago (wow, that makes me feel really old) and really not that much has changed since then. You still check in at the old Nevada City Hotel and take your pick of which quaint little cabin you want to spend the night in. Behind the hotel is the creepy old ghost town museum. The weather was nice and cool so we changed into our jeans and sweatshirts before exploring. The old saloon complete with bullet holes in the bar is still there. (When I was younger we would play cards here and order sodas.)

 Part of the museum houses quite the collection of loud old music machines. We went through many quarters, dimes and nickles trying each one out.

My sisters and I use to dare each other at night to go touch the front door of the creepy old (and I'm sure haunted) house at the end of the road, it's now painted yellow so it didn't look quite as scary as I remember it, but it was still pretty darn creepy.:)

 After looking around we headed down the road for some gold panning. It was fun to learn the right way to pan for gold.  It's very relaxing to do and could be pretty addicting.:) We didn't have much luck finding any gold but we found lots of garnets and Luke found a Sapphire.

Holding their little vials full of treasure and standing in front of a cool old gold dredge.

 

The kids had fun exploring some of the old train cars.

 

After getting some ice cream from the little bakery next to our cabin we waited at the old train depot for a ride on the little train that runs back and forth from Virginia City to Nevada City.

 We ate dinner at the same little cafe in Virginia City that I ate at when I was younger. This was were I had my first buffalo burger as a kid and so of course we had to order buffalo burgers for the kids to try too.

 After dinner we walked around Virgina City. Luke  and Ava thought it was pretty cool to see where a band of outlaws were all hung. Then we drove up to a hill above the town to see the outlaw grave yard.

 We let the kids explore around the hotel that evening while the sunset and then ate peanut butter m&ms and watch a movie in the cabin.  I was too chicken this trip to run down to the old haunted house at the end of the lane and touch the door again before bed.:)

 

Our little lone car parked out in front of our cabin.

 Of course we had to take pictures of the two story outhouse at the back of the hotel.

One of my favorite things about Nevada City is that not many people go there, so you get to enjoy that feeling of being the only ones around. Which makes for a "deliciously scary" fun adventure.

HOME

It's good to be home. Sleeping in our own beds in our own little house. Enjoying some lazy summer days in own backyard. Catching up on a little weeding and mowing. Playing with our lonely Fred and Duce. Filling up our empty fridge with a trip to the grocery store. And of course time to look through all the pictures from the last few months. Lots and lots of pictures of a very fun-cram-it-all-in summer. We have really enjoyed the places we've seen and friends and family we've spent time with. Now hold on to your hats and glasses 'cause this here the wildest ride in the wilderness...that means lots and lots of pictures.:)

 

Last trip to the Bean Museum before they close it to remodel. In the mean time I'm sure we will all be missing this little guy...

 

Mom let the kids each pick out a little something from the gift shop, this took a good half hour, it seemed to be one of the most important decisions those kids would ever make in their lives.:) Ava ended up with a very beloved lion named Lie and Luke has now framed his own very cool sand dollar. Afterwards we stopped by the BYU creamery for ice cream and fries. It was a really fun afternoon together.

 

Tractor rides!:)

 

I can't tell you how much I love these pictures.

Swimming party at the Heaton's pool.

 

A trip to the Carter Creek cabins before Papa John had to head back to Virginia.

Such fun memories there. I just loved being all together enjoying that cool mountain air and beautiful scenery.

 

First stop was the beautiful Provo Falls for lunch and family pictures.

 

Hiking the loop by the cabins and finding tiny little wild strawberries...oh and getting the crap scared out of me by dad! I was really stupid and watched a creepy Bear Attack documentary with Jeremy the day before we left for the cabins. Bears might have been on my mind when I stumbled upon dad hiding out behind a tree. Unfortunately we didn't get to see any wildlife on that hike because I'm sure my ear piercing scream scared anything away for miles. But we did find some cool tracks.

 

Papa John made the kids snap grass necklaces (or what was that grass called mom? ;)) and the girls looked just lovely in their twig headbands.

 

We played Skip-Bo while dinner cooked. And now that is Luke and Ava's most favorite game ever and it is played at our house after dinner on most nights.

 

We enjoyed a big beautiful full moon on a night hike. 

Jeremy and Luke fishing at Mirror Lake and Papa John and Brittany and a few of the kids out in the canoe. They had pretty good luck this trip, we ate fish two nights in a row.

Ruthy loved Brittany and I love the "little old lady" look Ruthy has in this picture as she holds on tight to those wild flowers.:)

 

 

Hanging out in the camper playing games, watching movies and eating crap.

I stink at throwing horse shoes but Sarah and I did come pretty close to beating Scott and Dad.

 

Happy 4th of July! We had a BBQ with the Barker Family and then came over to to watch Papa John and Uncle Scotty light off the canon and other cool artillery things and the kids battled some tanks.

Ruthy kept track of the matches and didn't mind Papa John holding her for the 10 seconds it took to snap a few photos.

holding cool stuff

Jeep ride with Grandma Barker before the firework show.
... keep holding those hats because there are sooo many more pictures to come.:)

One of My Favorites

I love this picture of the kids with their Papa John on his new pride and joy, an old Ford tractor. Man o man has that Papa John been missed around here...it has been 6 months since his last visit. This time we got some tractor rides in, lots of talk about rocks and rock polishing, a trip to the cabins, canoeing on the lake, lots of fishing and even shooting off the canon on the 4th of July. More pictures to come!

9 months old

I took Ruth in for her 9 month check up yesterday. I really really cannot believe she is 9 months already. I think she seems so little still because she isn't crawling yet. Her doctor said that he's not worried about it, that she'll figure it out when she's good and ready. She just would rather scoot and reach and hover in crawling position but no crawling. She has two cute little bottom teeth now and loves loves loves to eat big people food and her favorite baby food is squash.  She now weighs 16lbs 2oz (I think most of her weight is still in those cheeks of hers.) She loves her Gary the horse, swinging, over the moon, crunching up papers with her hands, going for walks in her stroller, mowing the lawn with mom or dad in her backpack, and looking for Duce and Fred. She says Vvvv (the V sound) for Ava, momma, dadda, and babba. AND I am so happy to report that as of a few weeks ago she is now sleeping through the night! Thanks to some tough love...it only took one weekend and she only cried a couple of times for no longer than 10 minutes each. Why I didn't do it sooner is a very good question...maybe I was too tired to think about it.:) I love when I hear her talking to herself in the morning and I get to peek over her crib and see her little face light up with a big smile. That is one thing I remember about all 3 of my kids, that feeling of excitement to hold them,  like it's Christmas every morning.