Homeschool Retreat (lots of pictures for a short weekend!)

We are one family less in our group this year. We will really miss the Kishpaughs, and felt their absence on our little getaway a couple of weeks ago. We made our way up to Island Park, Idaho to stay at Ian's family's cabin so that we could bond together as a group. We said we would chat and make school plans etc... but none of that really happened. :) We just had fun with each other.


We started heading up on Thursday night. By the time we got to Pocatello, both Richie and I were aching for Idaho. When we hit Rexburg we nearly cried. The rest in our party weren't as far along as we were, so luckily our friends Mike and Megan were available to hang out. We stopped at Broulims for some food and then met them at Porter Park. Now of course we caught the Burg at the perfect time (the 7 week break-hardly any students around), so maybe our nostalgia was tainted a little, but it just seemed Heavenly. We showed the kids our last apartment, across from Porter Park. (The same girls that lived in the basement are still there!) We played, ate, and talked, then as luck would have it-they were showing a movie in the park. So we caught a bit of that, then hit the road again for the last stretch of road to Island Park.


The James's cabin is a little slice of heaven, right on Henry's Fork. We spent all morning in canoes and row boats that we docked in and out of the backyard.(The water was freezing!) In the afternoon we took a little hike to Big Springs, which is the natural spring where the Henry's Fork begins, and then feeds into the snake river. The water is literally bubbling up from the ground and it the clearest water I think I've ever seen. We stopped at a historic cabin, ate our picnic lunch, and fed some fish. That night we celebrated Ethan's 6th birthday with an awesome Wild Kratt's party that Makenna put on, then BreAnn and Mitch, and Richie and I slipped out to West Yellowstone to see "Singin in the Rain" at the local playhouse.



Babies are notoriously bad sleepers on trips. Benson behaved no differently, and I felt like I was in that newborn haze again. He woke up early Saturday morning and I didn't want to wake the whole cabin up, so we slipped outside and enjoyed snuggling and watching the sun come up as the river floated along. While I was so exhausted, it was a perfect moment with my boy. He was warm in my arms and so still. Besides one fisherman and his son walking by, no one was around and we just listened to the world waking up! We spent all Saturday in Yellowstone. I don't count the time I went as a little girl, because I don't remember it. So it was kind of a first for all of us! I couldn't believe how many people were there and how many different languages we heard! While there was a lot of driving and getting in and out of cars, it was so cool! We had to see old faithful, but the kids decided that it probably wasn't worth the hype. I think they enjoyed other areas more, like this crystal blue pool that was steaming hot. They thought that was fascinating.


Sunday Morning, we packed up, went to Sacrament in Island Park, and then hit the road. We took a bit of a scenic route to check out our old Sugar City apartment, then to the temple in Rexburg, and then wandered through Archer etc to get to Rigby where we could visit with Mikel and Megan again. (I can't believe I didn't take any pictures of us with them!) Besides remembering how windy it gets there, our hearts were aching for the smallness and beauty of it all. We talked for hours with our friends, and the kids played really well on their own. They fed us dinner, and then we made it back home that night.


It was a super great trip, but after 2 big-ish trips, close-ish together, we were DONE with travel and happy to stay put for the next while.