(mini) Vacation #3: Rexburg, Idaho

Last weekend we took off on Sunday to spend a few days in Rexburg and Idaho Falls. Aaron was being sent back to the Sugar City plant to help with the struggling R&D department, so the kids and I tagged along. Work supplied us with a nice rental car and put us up in Rexburg's newest hotel, so our trip and stay was quite comfortable. We stopped in to see Grandma Bobbie (Sage) when we got to Idaho Falls and spent the evening visiting with her and Aaron's brother, Brent, and his family. We just hung out in the backyard chatting while the kids played under the apple trees.

The kids had fun gathering up all the tiny apples that had fallen off the trees and putting them in a bucket. Then they'd dump them on someone's head and start all over.

Playing "train" on the little slide.

Satyra, Zakai, Pyper & Hakan

Brent, baby Jayden, Zila and Satyra

On Monday we met up with Todd at his ward's end-of-term social down at a park in I.F. They were having a barbecue so we had some yummy food and just messed around for a bit.

Hakan got a little overzealous in an attempt to do a "Superman" on the swing. I think this bothered me more than it did him.

What a sweet face. And of course, Pyper is eating up all the attention Todd can possibly give her!

This little hill provided quite a bit of entertainment...

... until we decided that Hakan's "flail-and-roll" technique might end up getting him hurt.

As we were leaving the kids noticed these "swords" laying on the ground, so they decided to have a quick fight. Little kids got the big swords, big kids got the little swords. That's fair, right?

That look on Hakan's face is the famous forerunner to a serious attack!

Tuesday I took the kids to Porter Park in Rexburg to play with Zila's kids for a while, then later that afternoon Pyper and I got haircuts. Hers turned out super cute and now looks like what I'd originally intended it to look like. (I'll have to remember to take a picture!) Mine I just had trimmed, but it was badly needed. While we were waiting for our stylist, Pyper noticed a lady having her nails done. She decided she'd like that, too, so after her haircut she was somehow able to talk one of the other stylists into painting her nails while I got my hair done. This was really helpful because I wasn't sure how well she'd be able to sit and wait for me. After our hair appointment we went and picked up Todd, Hakan (who I'd left at Brent & Zila's) and Aaron from work then headed back to the hotel. We picked up some pizza and pop (in Idaho it's called POP, Todd!) and called Brent's family to come over and swim. The hotel had an indoor pool and spa, and the kids had fun going back and forth between the two, "swimming" in the big pool until their teeth chattered, then sitting in the hot tub to warm up. That evening we congregated at Brent & Zila's apartment for some board games. We got to meet Todd's girlfriend, Kristen, who didn't seem too put off by our rowdy game behavior.

We'd intended to leave Tuesday evening, but decided to hold off until Wednesday. We packed up, cleared out of the hotel and stopped by Grandma's one more time on our way out of town. We really had a good time while we were there, just playing and enjoying the decidedly cooler summer weather. On Wednesday of this coming week we'll be headed back for the Sage Family Reunion, so watch for a post on Vacation #4!