Grandparents Russell, and Portland!

Friday the boys went to breakfast with Grandpa Russell, they went to Goldy's. 

That afternoon we all went over to the hotel Grandpa and Grandma were staying at. The pool is on the 5th floor! Guy and I hung out in the lounge chairs while Grandma and Nico swam.

After swimming we walked downtown to The Lemon Tree sandwich shop and had an early dinner. The food was very good, just like I remember.

After getting home that night we let Nico open his birthday present. We told him he was going to need it the next day. The Nintendo Switch! This boy saved up $150 to cover half of this, and we paid for the other half for his birthday.

Saturday was party day! We had 17 kids total, and we met at a trampoline park called Jump Time. We had the place almost entirely to ourselves! 

Sweaty kids eating pizza

Jason, Liz, Rory, and Lexie

When it was time to open presents, everyone gathered around him in the corner to watch.

Saturday night was pizza night, we watched episodes of a show called Corner Gas, a 90's Canadian comedy series that Grandpa and Grandma introduced us to. Nico loved it, as did we all.

Sunday we had a busy church morning and met up back at the Clubhouse that afternoon and evening.

Saying goodbye.

We said a temporary goodbye as we would see them later that week (read to the end and you'll see why and where!)

Monday was Nico's actual birthday. We bought him a small gift that he could open that day (some pokemon cards), and I asked him what he wanted for dinner that night. He said Pizza Pie Cafe, so that's where we went! At exactly 5:57PM we sang him Happy Birthday (the time he was born). That hasn't ever been a thing we do, but this year it was!

Then we drove home and cut into the cake I made for him earlier that day.

He has been playing the Switch every moment he can. We have been purposefully lax on the rules for screen time because... it's summer, it's a new game system, and, it's summer! We took the Switch downstairs several times to hook it up to the big screen.

On Tuesday was Grandma Camp! They mixed up some meatloaves, went to the Creperie, and went to see The Lion King.

At the creperie. They have gluten free crepes??!

Wednesday was prep day for our trip to Portland for Tom and Emily's wedding! We went grocery shopping, packed, and... played the Switch. Very important.

Then this morning, off we went! We caravanned to Portland because I am leaving from here to Spokane on Saturday while the boys head home. We were prepared with Walkie Talkies so we could always be in touch. Most of our chatter was, "Nico found an Alabama license plate", or, "There's a rest stop in two miles, let's go". At every rest stop, they checked license plates.

We stopped near Portland to see Multnomah Falls. We climbed up to that bridge you see in the picture, and Nico and Guy walked across it. I couldn't bring myself to. I fall over from dizziness when I'm near high things these days, so it was safer for me to stay on the side. They said you could feel the spray from the waterfall.

We arrived to our Airbnb in the evening, and then went to the rehearsal dinner. It was SO good to see Tom and Emily again.

The dinner was at a Chinese buffet and Nico tried some new things. Sushi with imitation krab, and clams! He also tried a crab leg. He said his favorite was the clams.

Tom and Emily!

We cannot wait to see them married tomorrow!

Then we went back at the Airbnb and the boys played Battleship.

Games, VBS, and the Grandparents Russell!

Last Friday our church had a family game night. I accidentally left my phone at home, so we have no evidence! It wasn't board games, it was outdoor games, most of which included water and water balloons. It was fun but wet!

On Saturday I did henna at the market and then for pizza that night Nico chose Three Stooges to watch. We had the downstairs available because our housemates were out of town. We spent a lot of time down there this past week playing video games!

Long range Match-a-Pair-of-Birds game.

VBS started on Monday.

Tuesday was Grandma Camp day - Box City! They used up old boxes to build stuff - Bruce and Nico built a penguin! Nico is inside the penguin, you can see a bit of his face. The part at the bottom is where eggs come out.

This is from Papa's Grandpa Camp project. These are cuttings from another plant that he's showing them how to grow.

His tallest card stack yet!

On Wednesdays Nico is going to start going to the Youth Group at Papa's and Grandma's church. They are taking all the grandkids there! What fun! This Wednesday night was Messy Game Night. They played Twister with ketchup, mustard, syrup, and flour on the different colors. Nico came home smelling like syrup! He had a lot of fun though. He told me that they talked about "messy hearts", and about how sin makes your heart messy.

And then today, Grandpa and Grandma Russell came into town!! Grandma brought a new shape of cookies with her so we could make Sponge Bob cookies! I put some of the colors into henna cones so they would be easy to apply. Nico did a great job!

He opened some gifts from Grandma and Grandpa, one of them was a pair of SpongeBob pajamas! Grandma made the bottoms, they fit great with room to grow!

A book before bed time.

We will see them again tomorrow! We've got a fun birthday weekend coming up.

Grandparents Russell!!

Last Friday, Nico had an early release from school, and guess who picked him up?? Grandma Russell! The Grandparents Russell came into town shortly before the end of school day, so Grandma walked over to the school to pick him up. That afternoon we made our way to the Botanical Garden.

That evening, Grandma Russell had an activity for us that she had planned superbly well - sugar cookies in the shape of a circle, yellow frosting, and a variety of colors of squeezable frosting. We were to make EMOJI cookies! This was so fun and that first night we made two pans full of them.

Reading a new comic book from Grandma Russell

The next day, Saturday, we went to the James Castle House. This was the house where the artist James Castle used to live, in Boise/Garden City off in the Hill Rd area.

The last time that the Grandparents Russell were in town, we visited the art museum and had seen some of James Castle's works. James Castle was deaf, he made a lot of his drawings using an ink he made himself from charcoal and spit. I loved seeing the house where he used to live. It was inspiring. I saw several of his works that reminded me of art that Grandpa Russell has done. The similarities were astounding!

A few pictures of James Castle's work.

After that, we went to the Boise Art Museum. We're typically not allowed to take pictures in the Art Museum, but they had an exception this time. There was an exhibit by Jae Yong Kim called Donut Ever Forget Me. Several hundred donuts he created (not edible) and decorated.

Tacos for lunch

Nico ate both of these! This was at Madre, a gourmet taco restaurant close to downtown. Excellent!

After lunch, Nico went to the Grandparents Russell's hotel and did some swimming with Grandma! For dinner on Saturday, of course we had PIZZA! We watched Three Stooges while we ate. 

Nico building his pizzas

 Making more emoji cookies after pizza

Sunday was church, and hanging out!

On Monday morning, Grandpa, Guy, and Nico went out to breakfast. Nico ate a pork chop, two slices of bacon, and scrambled eggs. After they came back home, I stayed back while the crew went to visit the Discovery Center and Zoo.

We said goodbye to the Grandparents Russell after dinner on Monday, and they headed back to Arlington Tuesday morning. We will see them again shortly at the very end of May when we make our trip to Arlington! We are looking forward to that. 

Tuesday was a lucky day for Nico because his glasses arrived!! He is taking great care of them, cleaning them often with his little spray bottle and cloth.

Guy and I had a trip to Moscow planned for Wednesday, so we spent a bit of Tuesday packing and getting stuff ready. Plans changed on Tuesday evening and it was decided to postpone our trip. My mom still offered to watch Nico for a few nights, so Guy and I decided to turn our next few days into a staycation. We went to the library, we ran errands, we watched shows and went to Chipotle for dinner. On Wednesday night we took Guy's acoustic bass guitar that used to belong to his Papa (his mom's dad) and had it restrung with new strings. 

You could tell that the guy who did it really enjoyed his work. After taking the old strings off, he conditioned the neck of the guitar with a castor-oil based oil and let it soak in. It instantly brightened it up. 

This afternoon was Ivy's birthday party. Nico wasn't with us but we went anyway! It was at Quarry View Park. Pizza and cupcakes, a pinata, and presents.

Oh, and what has Nico been up to???

They went to Altitude

They went swimming at the hotel that Nico and Lexie and my parents are staying at just for fun.

Hotel breakfast. HAVE to have bacon!!

And now for a thrilling spring break adventures video! Some videos taken by Grandma Russell and Grandma Salisbury. Oh, and some of the pictures in the post were taken by them too!