Pillsbury Crossing

I recently heard about this little river crossing south of town and we headed over to check it out. The girls loved it! It was really shallow and had lots of little fish and tadpoles to run after. There were a few people there just driving their cars back and forth across the river. I'm guessing just for the fun of it?

Also, a cool waterfall.

Trying to take a shower?

Catching fish in a bucket.

Lily was still a little unsure about the water. One day she'll like it.

Dad caught a teeny tiny fish!

Bike Ride

We took a small ride this afternoon to the Botanical Gardens per Madelyn's request.

Excited to get rolling.

One of Madelyn's favorite things to do at the garden is pretend this little pergola is a restaurant. She has me stand outside and order food from this window.

Awww. Sisters.

Awww. Mom and sisters.

Toots and Pops!!

What a trip! We got to go to Idaho for two whole weeks!!

Madelyn getting on to her very first airplane. She was pretty excited!

Excuse the bad lighting and huge nose pick but Lily was just so happy to be on that plane. Haha. That didn't last long.

Thank goodness for smart phones. We got by on BeJeweled and selfies.

But we made it to Idaho all in one piece and mostly sane. 

Playing at the park with Uncle Ian. (Look at that tummy!!!)

Hiking R Mountain. Madelyn had big strong legs.

And back to the park but on a different day. Pete and Candace and Laura came up from Provo to visit.

Typical Uncle.

Laura and I went on a sister date and walked around our (Rory and me/my) old stomping ground. Our very first apartment is still as ghetto as ever. It smelled the same too.

One of the highlights of the trip for me was getting to hike Table Rock with Dad, Ian and Jarom. The meadows were all in bloom and it was gorgeous!

If I could be in these mountains every day I'd be a happy girl. And probably a stinky scruffy one too.

I mean, this view!!!

We made it to the top but I forgot to take pictures. I was really hungry and then Dad got zipped by lightening. It wasn't quite zapped but there was a definite crackle. So we ran down before any of us got dead.

Ian checking out a mountain stream while we filtered water on the way down.

Taking a picture of each other.

The next day Mom and I took the girls up Darby Canyon in hopes of reaching the Wind Caves. They were so happy to start!

And the stream at the beginning was really cool.

But then Lily screamed the whole way so we turned around about halfway up the trail and had lunch at the Loaf of Bread rock. We did so many other fun things but that's all the Idaho pictures I took. Thanks Pops and Toots and Adam and Ian!!!!

On the way home we hung out with the Stodtmeisters and Grandparents O'Connor for a few days. Beck was pretty excited to meet his cousins.

Nursing that popsicle. It was HOT.

Thanks for all the fun Stods!

I need to go back to Idaho now.

Tuttle Creek River Pond

Yes.... that is the name of this pond/lake thing that we went to. A little ridiculous but there you have it. It's a fun little beach place for kids!

Obviously Madelyn loved it.

Lily even liked it a bit. (This was before we traumatized her about water by floating a river.)

Building a sand fort with Dad. Notice how they both have their tongues out. Ha. True O'Connor fashion.

Grandma Jo was a good sport about following Lily around.

Treasures!

Rory and the finished project. We then created a heavy artillery assault on the fort and demolished it. Except the leaf flag... that miraculously stayed up. Until Sea Monster Madelyn stomped it.

Topeka

We went and explored Topeka this week. Usually we just drive through and think 'what an ugly town'. It turns out Topeka is actually really cool once you get off the highway.

We hit up the zoo.

Madelyn was way more excited about this water feature than she was about the animals.

Lily loved all the animals though.

Climbing a big wood bridge.

I think one of my favorite spots was the butterfly pavilion. Rory had fun practicing his manual focussing skills.

And we saw black bears up a tree!!

This made me think of Jackson.

After the zoo we had a snack while we waited to ride a train around the park.

Rory took some cute pictures of the girls snacking.

I asked if he was going to take a cute one of me so he took this. Hmmmmm....

Waiting for the train to go.

After the train we rode the carousel! I got a bit car sick but it was still fun.

We had a great time but it was HOT. The girls were a bit tired after that long day. Actually, everyone was.