Day One:
Weather report - the drive started with a little bit of rain, became beautiful, then we drove into lots more rain before we finally ended up in Hawthorne.
Things of interest - we saw people riding horses, cows, horses, sheep, "castles" and other interesting rock formations. We made lots of stops for Alyssa whose "belly hurt" (code words for "has to go the bathroom")
Day Two:
Weather report - a lovely day to drive! Lots of sunshine!
Things of interest - more "castles"
Hannah's quotes - "Where's the killer cows?" (when Gramma pointed out the different colored cows)and "Can we take a slap shot of that?"
Day Three:
Weather report - another lovely, sunny day.
Things of interest - In the morning we went to a real live pumpkin patch with Auntie Ann, Cousin Marcy and Cousin Andrew, just up the road from Cousin Marcy's house. Took a tractor ride to just the right spot and found several pumpkins that had to be cut off from the vine. We were the only ones there!
In the afternoon, Hannah and mommy went for a walk to the College of Idaho, collecting leaves and seeds from trees.
Alyssa's quote - "Chaco is a special dog... can Chaco go to Disneyland with me?" (Chaco is Auntie and and Uncle Glen's dog)
Day Four:
Weather report - once again was beautiful!
Things of interest - We visited Gramma Doris. The girls sang "Silent Night" for her. Hannah sang/performed in her best singing voice. The place where Gramma Doris stays has horses: Joe, Daisy, Tiffany and Bently. Tiffany wasn't happy when we tried closing her gate back up and kept pushing it open before Gramma could latch it. On the drive to see Gramma, we saw a flock of birds flying in an amazing formation... like a big school of fish under water, this mass of birds swam in the sky.
Alyssa's quote - "I love Gramma Doris." and "Are the girls that are in the wheelchairs really old?"
Day Five:
Weather report: Still beautiful and sunny...
Things of interest: Went to the Boise Zoo with Cousins Marcy and Andrew. Hannah's favorite animal was the stripped Hyena. We also saw a Sloth Bear. Alyssa had fun taking some pictures with Gramma's camera. Later that night we had Hamburger Connection for dinner at Cousins Paul, Marcy and Andrew's house. The second generation cousins had a blast playing together running around the house. They even got the cat, Mugsy get in on the fun. We won't mention the outcome of the college football game we watched that night.
Alyssa's quote - Alyssa was playing with an old cell phone "taking" pictures. When Paul commented that the picture Alyssa showed him was cute, she quickly replied, "No! That's him!" as she pointed to Uncle Glen!
Day Six:
Weather report - another grand day.
Things of interest - Went to the Discovery Center of Idaho for "Freddy Fridays" free days from a donation from Fred Meyer. This is a hands on science discovery center. Alyssa's favorite thing was being on TV. Hannah like shopping at the pretend grocery store. The shadow wall was pretty cool too. Chaco got out of the yard by accident when Hannah opened the gate. Hannah was quite upset that she was out and waa afraid she wouldn't come back home. Later that night, Gramma had a wine and cheese night to get together with some friends she hasn't seen in awhile. Gramma enjoyed showing off her grand-girls. And the girls enjoyed entertaining her friends.
Day Seven:
Weather report - There was rain... but then it cleared up and was beautiful, then it clouded over again.... then it was sunny again... it was pattern! (Hannah is now seeing the world in patterns... they are everywhere!)
Things of interest - Went to visit Gramma Doris again. The girls sang, "A, You're Adorable to her." They sang for the other ladies too. Then for lunch we headed over to Joyce and Rob's... the girls got to see sugar beets up close (we passed mountains of them every time we went to see Gramma Doris and also went by the sugar beet plant.) We saw more horses (Hannah gave the nameless baby horse the name Aaron/Erin), and a rainbow. The girls entertained Arleen, Rob's mother with their charm.
Day Eight:
Weather report - yes, we have more rain... and lots of wind!
Things of interest - We had a good start to our day as we headed out of town. We stopped in to see Gramma Doris one more time. And the rain and wind continued... then Alyssa threw up. We made quite a few stops in hair raising winds (literally) and rain to attend to Alyssa before arriving at our hotel for the night. Poor girl was so sweet and docile... and all she wanted to do was have a sip of water which her stomach wanted no parts of! Hannah was a trooper and kept herself entertained. We stayed at the Flying J in Winnemucca longer than planned so that we could wash Alyssa's soiled clothes and blanket... We also saw some real cowboys rounding up a herd of cows.
Day Nine:
Weather report - turned out to be another sunny day... watched the sunrise as we left Hawthorne... what specatular skies! We saw temperatures as low as 35 degrees up on the Montgomery pass... and snow appeared on the mountains that were bare on our trip north.
Things of interest - Alyssa was able to keep down her water and saltine crackers and later toast when we stopped for breakfast in Bishop. She was certainly on the mend as her feisty personality returned. The girls had fun riding the horse and cars at Schat's Bakery. We got to see wild horses roaming the hills. And boy was it WINDY!
