Road Trip!! Shoshone Falls

About 2 hours outside of Boise is the city of Twin Falls.  I had done some research and saw the love everyone seemed to have for Shoshone Falls.  The last day my mother was here we decided to head over and see what all the fuss was about.
The drive itself was pretty uneventful, easy shot on I-84.  When you get to Twin Falls you follow the signs to the park.
Now, when we pulled into TF, it seemed rather flat and unassuming. In fact I was concerned that all the hype on the Google was an elaborate ploy to punk as many people as possible into coming. However, as we drove it became apparent that was not the case.  The ground seemed to just open up and there it was!  They call it the "Niagara of the West".  It is taller than the famed Niagara Falls, so I had kind of assumed that it would be up in the mountains or something, rather than the flat land and magical appearance.  As we got closer and started seeing the view from the various bridges, we got more and more excited.

Cost to get in is 5$ per car.  They have a little concession stand and restrooms and a few little kiosks with plaques and signs to read, all about the history of the falls etc. 

We parked and walked over the the lookout.   IT. WAS.  STUNNING!!  As you overlook the falls, it is almost dizzying.  We went on a day where water level and flow was high.  We had perfectly sunny skies and a nice 83 degree temperature. Just perfect.

                                    

 

Me and son -yes he IS that much taller than me (I am almost 5.11)

my mom and son

my mommy

me and hubba hubba

In sunny weather there seems to be a permanent rainbow!  Just so beautiful.

someday we'll find it, the rainbow connection

If you continue on in the same park, there is Dierks Lake.  They have a little beach and picnic area, you can fish, kayak, swim etc.  The swimming seems to be contained to the one portion of lake inside the docks, but they have a diving board and everything. The water was a really beautiful blue green. It wasnt too terribly crowded(granted it was a monday morning/early afternoon).

Dierks Lake

Definitely a place we would come back to and spend more time.(bring our swimsuits!) 

Happy Traveling!

Finn Playing Soccer

Here are some pictures of Finn playing soccer in a little church league that Michelle had formed.
There were several moms who wanted to enroll their kids in soccer, but didnt want to pay $100 to have a mass of kids in one huddle all trying to kick at the ball. So we formed our own little league and they play and have fun every Saturday.

He actually is pretty good. But everyone is 4 and 5 years old, and so there isnt a whole lot of technique or rules. The Red Team(team Jolley), has the strategy of " We All Hold Hands Like Red Rover and They Can't Break Our Defenses"

The Blue Team has their secret weapon, Hannah. As she is running and kicking the Ball , if she sees people coming to try and get it from her, she lays down ON the ball...being careful not to touch it with her hands of course.

Last Saturday Finn scored 2 goals!

Here is his team rarin and ready to go:

After the game the all celebrated with Otter Pops.

So Thanks Michelle for doing this! Finn has loved it!

An Apple A Day...

Saturday we went to Hendersonville, NC. HV is the Apple Capital of North Carolina and there are apples everywhere. The crisp mountain air makes for great growing conditions!

Out of all the apple farms and orchards only a few let you Pick your own. The one we go to is

Granddads apples. We have gone there several years now and really love it. They have pick your own, or you can buy pre picked. They have a huge orchard with lots of variety. They have a general store where you can buy cider and jams and jellies and cookbooks and country crafts. I myself had a homemade apple turnover. YUM!! The boys got little plastic apple shaped sippy bottles with apple cider in them. They have a gigantic corn maze and you can feed their llamas. It is really a neat place to visit.

So we got there and the apples they had available for picking were Golden Delicious and Honeycrisps. I am not a huge Golden Delicious fan, but I AM a Honeycrisp lover.

Honeycrisps are probably one of THE BEST apples grown. It is a cross between a honeygold and the Macoun. It is crisp, with a firm smooth flesh, sweet and juicy with the perfect apple taste. It makes a great fresh eating apple, great pies, applesauce, juice and cider. It is my all around favorite apple and has a long shelf life. Honeycrisps are not really an apple you can walk into any store and find, which is a shame.

We picked and picked and picked and ate apples. My dad said "these apples couldn't be any better if they were stolen!"(Apparently stolen apples taste better??)

Here are Peter and Finn holding some of their hard picked fruit. I have never seen them eat so many apples!!

Finn getting in the shade and finding the perfect

apple!

another "squints" picture. It was so hot and sunny outside, but that didnt stop Peter from picking a huge bag of apples!!

We ended up with 2 bushels of apples.

Mom and Dad took a bushel and I took a bushel.

They only charge 20 a bushel and we had 100 pounds of apples for $40 total. So for 40 cents a pound, you cant beat it.

I actually need to refrigerate them, or they will lose their crisp.

Tomorrow...APPLESAUCE TUTORIAL!!

4th of July Pictures

For the 4th of July we went to the Baseball Game and Sky Show at Knight Stadium.(yes I know it is the 9th and I am JUST NOW getting the pictures up and talking about it. I am a slug)

A few years ago they moved the Skyshow fireworks from Uptown Charlotte to the baseball stadium.( We have a minor league team called the Charlotte Knights)
Skyshow is the largest fireworks display in the Southeast and they are AMAZING!
.
We went for the first time last year and just had so much fun we decided to make it a yearly tradition.
This year, instead of sitting in the nice seats right behind home plate, we waited until the day of to buy our tickets. That meant we were sitting on the lawn. But hey, for $5 a ticket, you cant beat it.
We spread out a picnic planket and watched the game and then had perfect seats for the fireworks. All we had to do was lay back and they were right over our heads. It was incredible.
I am really glad we went.

Can you tell what Finn enjoyed the most?? That Blue Cotton Candy turned his poop green.

I have to admit I myself enjoyed a bag of Pink cotton candy. Nothing like pure spun sugar to make you enjoy an outdoors event!!

I am not quite sure what this expression is. Fear? silliness? potty time? I guess I'll never know.

The fireworks started off with a big bang and both the boys had their ears covered at first.

Just me and my boys after the show. It was almost 11pm, the humidity had its way with my hair, Finn looks drunk and Peter has on his typical 8 year old smile: the tightlip.

We will be going back next year as well. I think we may just stay in the lawnseats. You cant beat a family outing , fun time and fireworks for a mere $20.