Vacation Update

We are taking a break from all of our activities and enjoying a night in the hotel so I decided to give a little update so the post next week won't be a novel.

We had a lot of fun in Idaho...who knew it was so beautiful !!. I had driven through Idaho when I was younger but didn't enjoy the beauty or I was in the wrong part of the state to see the beauty. Thirty of my relatives on my mom's side of the family met at a resort community called Tamarack in Donnelly, ID on Wednesday. We had two large chalets, one for the younger folks and one for my mom and her siblings and spouses.
Thursday we loaded up the majority of people and went for a hike down a mountain to Blue Lake. It was absolutely gorgeous. We were hiking among wildflowers in shorts and t-shirts among mountain tops with snow still on top...it was incredible.

Twelve of us went white water rafting down the Payette River on Friday. It was a lot of fun and a beautiful scenic float when we were weren't paddling for our life. Then that evening we went into McCall, ID to walk around the lake community and EJ went ice skating with our cousin, Lake.

Saturday morning we packed up, some of the group went home and the rest of us went to my aunt's house right outside of Boise. We don't get to see them enough so we had a good visit with them until we left on Monday.

Sunday morning we went to Common Ground Biker Church at The Busted Shovel Bar & Grill in Meridian, ID where my uncle is the pastor. We had an awesome morning of worship. After the service my uncle took me for my first motorcycle ride on his Harley. I was scared before we left but once we hit the open road I was completely at ease....I loved it!!!
Monday morning we flew out of Boise to Seattle. That evening we went to a Mariners game with Meadowbrook Church. I have a few handfuls of memories from our time in the Pacific Northwest and many of them include fellowships with Meadowbrook so that was a lot of fun. EJ got to meet some of the people that he has heard about for years and the Mariners won...yay!

Tuesday morning we went to the aquarium, strolled through Pike Place Market then went on a tour of underground Seattle. We learned about how Seattle was formed as a city and saw some of the original city that was built at sea level...then raised to prevent flooding while keeping the original city intact underground. On our walk back to the hotel we stopped at the first Starbucks which looked like just a little local coffee shop because that is what it started as. We then drove to Tacoma and had dinner with some precious friends from back home. It was so good to hear how God is working in their lives and using them where they are.

Jon, Valerie, Scott, Sherrie, EJ, Grace, Dwight, Zannie Today we drove around Redmond which is where we lived when we were out here. We showed EJ our old houses and schools and took him by a local dairy that makes YUMMY ice cream! Then we met some friends for lunch...ice cream then lunch, that's what I'm talking about! We showed EJ Microsoft and Nintendo headquarters. When we got back to downtown Seattle we went to the Experience Music Project which is a museum of music history and we saw the King of Pop's white glove and jacket that he wore at the Motown Festival where he introduced the moonwalk. EJ enjoyed the sound lab where they had drum sets, guitars, keyboards, mixers, etc to play...luckily they closed at 7pm or we would have been there ALL night.Tomorrow we are touring Safeco Field (where the Mariners play) then touring Qwest Field (where the Seahawks play). After that we plan to go on a cruise of the harbor weather permitting. That is it so far...more to come when I get home.