Andy, Alicia, Dodger & Bronx: Family Vacation

The next part of our vacation was spent up in Northern Idaho visiting the places that Charlotte grew up in and around. It was so fun to see everything and to imagine her as a little girl playing here. We camped the whole time at Bumblebee Campground and we pretty much had the place to ourselves. As soon as we got there and had everything situated and were all settled in we headed back into Pine Hurst, the town Charlotte and her brother grew up in, to visit Uncle Kenny and two of his sons, Michael and Brian.

Uncle Kenny used to be a logger and work a lot in the woods cutting down trees, but he had a tree fall on his leg and hurt his knee so he had to change professions, and he now buys and sells rare glass. He has so many pretty things and it's all so fun to look at, but it makes for a pretty NOT kid friendly house. So we ended up playing outside a lot, which of course was fine with the boys.

Wearing Grandpa's slippers and trying to stay warm.

I guess when Mom & Dad go camping they have an arrangement that Mom does all the cooking and Dad does all of the dishes. Lucky for us, the dishes part seemed to include our trip too!

All ready for bed!

The next day we went and picked up Uncle Kenny and headed to Wallace to visit the store that he sells most of his glass in. I wanted to see his collection, plus I was looking for some pretty glass platters, and I ended up finding 2!

Dodger was sick all night this night and was up most of the time. Sometime in the middle of the night Andy and his dad took Dodger and drove to Wal-Mart which was about 20 minutes away and got him some medicine. He slept pretty good for a few hours after that.

Dodger and Grandpa sleeping in the truck while the rest of us went and looked at glass.

After the shopping was over we went on a 14 mile bike ride. It was supposed to be longer, but I ended up cutting it short. I had a huge headache and was starting to get sick too, and plus after we had been up all night my body just couldn't handle anymore. But in my defense I don't think anyone was too sad to quite either.

Poor Dodger was still not feeling well but they were both so good and I think for the most part really enjoyed the ride.

Andy's mom decided to skip out on this ride with us so she could visit some more with Uncle Kenny.

It was such a pretty ride, through mountains and lots of cute little towns. The towns up there are all tucked away in the canyon, it's kind of claustrophobic but really cute.

That night after our bike ride and a family nap taken by ALL of us at the trailer, we headed back into Pine Hurst to Uncle Kenny's for some very yummy dinner. Brian made us some Baked Ziti that was so good even sick little Dodger ate a ton, it was the first he had eaten all day. Then after dinner Michael and Aunt Roann brought out some presents that they had bought for Dodger and Bronx. It was so cute!!! They got them each a camp chair and Dodger a bat and ball, and they gave Bronx some rubber duckies. I don't know who was more excited Dodger or Michael, but either way it was so nice of them to think about our boys.

Later that night we were able to see Andy's grandpas 30-30 rifle. It's a pretty cool gun. Andy was so excited! Then it was back outside to run around and play.

We of course had to go and test out the new toys.

Mom came home with some of Uncle Kenny's rhubarb, which she made some yummy stuff with.

This was mine and Andy's first moose sighting. Pretty cool, and HUGE!

The next day we went and picked up Uncle Kenny and drove around the different little towns sight seeing. This first little white house is the house that Charlotte grew up in. Her bedroom was where the french doors are now. It's for sale right now so we went and peeked in the windows and walked around the yard.

This is the big backyard.

Doesn't she looks like a peeping-tom? haha

Mom & Uncle Kenny

This is where Charlotte's Uncle Andy lived. I guess it used to be really nice with a pretty yard, but the new owners trashed it and let it all get ugly. My Andy is named after this Andy :)

This is an old building for a mine that Andy's grandpa used to work at.

Andy's great Grandma's old house.

After looking at some of the old houses we went to the cemetery to see where Great Grandma & Grandpa Smith and Grandpa Humphrey are buried. Andy's Grandma Humphrey is buried in Coeur d'Alane. His grandpa died from a heart attack one day while he was walking home from work. He was only like 1/2 a block from their house. Andy's grandma later got remarried and moved away to Coeur d'Alane, she died from cancer when Charlotte was about 21 years old.

After our drive around we went back to our campsite and then went for a walk to see the 'ol swimmin hole that Charlotte used to go swimming in as a little girl. Everything was super flooded while we were there so the swimming hole was a little higher than usual, but we were still able to walk to it and skip rocks. Dodger loved throwing the rocks in the water, but we had to watch him because if he fell in he would have been swept away pretty fast.

Who would have thought that putting the stroller upside down like this and using the tire as a toy could have been so fun?

This is one of my new favorite pictures.

After our walk we went back to the trailer to start making dinner. Uncle Kenny and his family came out to eat some yummy dutch oven cooking and steak. Dodger had so much fun playing with Michael. He loves any attention that he can get. The next morning we packed up our stuff and loaded the trailer and headed back to Utah. We stayed at Dave and Marlene's in Tremonton that night and then hurried home on Sunday.