Saturday, November 16, 2013

Boise Trip

Since I was unemployed and Ron was still going to be gone on away rotations for another couple months that we would make a trip to visit Mema (Ron's mom). We were very excited to be going to Boise and looked forward to being spoiled. Unfortunately, the first night there Aidan woke up with a fever. My mommy's intuition kicked in (I was convinced he had another infection as he had been coughing and congested for over a month) so we took him to the doctor's office my mother-in-law works at. Good thing too, poor little guy had a double ear infection. :-( So, the first few days of our visited consisted of getting better. Thank goodness for cuddly grandmas.
Once Aidan was feeling better, our first order of business was to pick out a pumpkin to carve! We went and found a farm that was selling pumpkins. They also had turkeys, Aidan wasn't sure what to think of them. I had teased Mema that was I was going to pick a pumpkin so big we wouldn't be able to pick it up! Well, we found one bigger than Aidan! He thought it was pretty cool!
We did a ton of fun activities during the couple of weeks Mema was able to take off from work. we went and explored the Discovery Center and came out smarter than we went in. So much fun! Aidan had a blast touching EVERYTHING!!!
I had promised Mema that we would help her with her leaf raking. She has a decent sized backyard and a ton of trees. So, we made a game of it. She bought Aidan his own rake and it was his first experience playing in the leaves. He was a hoot to watch! Good to know he's a good helper!
Mema found this beautiful park in downtown Boise while walking with one of her girlfriends. It was gorgeous with all the leaves changing colors! There were waterfalls, birds and a wildlife center. It was a beautiful fall day, and we enjoyed walking (well, chasing) Aidan around. If I lived there, I would definitely had our family pictures taken there!
As Halloween approached we made sure to do all the fun Halloween activities too! We finally got up the nerve to carve that giant pumpkin! I think it turned out very "unique" (take that as you will)! :-) I never said I was a pro! he he We also had a smaller pumpkin just for Aidan.
I wanted to go check out Boo @ the Zoo. I knew they had one here in Denver, but there was never a reason for us to go. So, we dragged Mema along and had an absolutely wonderful time. It was crazy and there were hundreds of people, but Aidan had a blast looking at all the animals. We participated in a costume contest and I was convinced he would win (of course I did). We waited in line a long time and by the time we finished I had wished we had skipped it (and we didn't win either). Oh, well...lesson learned. Overall it was a good time!
Due to the government shutdown, Ron returned home a month early. We were not sure we would get to see him until November, but Ron's AWESOME cousins gave us some of their skymiles (he travels weekly for work) and flew him to see us. We were so excited, it had been three months since we had seen him. So, he was able to enjoy Halloween with us!
While he was visiting, we went and took Aidan for his 1st haircut. I was dreading it, I LOVE his blond curls. I found a kid's salon, which made it a great experience for Aidan. They had a little car he sat on and played games and supplied him with treats. He thought it was the best thing EVER!!! He was such a good boy during the haircut. I cried as all the curls came off. *sigh* I did eventually get used to it, and realized what a grown up little boy he was. But I'm so glad the curls came back! :-)
Ron had to go back early as he had neurosurgery interviews he had to attend. Thankfully Mema had that last week off, so again we took advantage of some of the fun activities available. We went to a little gym (similar to Little Monkey Bizness here in Colorado) and Mema and Aidan played until they were exhausted.
There was also a game center that had a carousel. I had told Mema how much Aidan LOVED carousels, so we had to hit up there too!
The day before we left, we went and checked out this new, gigantic mall area they had just built. There is a playground and fountain area in the middle. The fountains go off to music & lights...so amazing! Aidan was totally mesmerized. He could have stayed there all day and watched it. Made for some very fun pictures too!
And then it came time for us to leave. Bittersweet. I had been away from home from two months and Ron was waiting for us, so I was ready to get back into my routine. But we were going to miss Mema and Aunt Sandy very much. So glad we had this opportunity to make some amazing memories!