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Author Archives: Jess
our exotic vacation to the potato capital of the world
I’m an Idaho girl born and raised– but I didn’t grow up in potato growing Idaho. In fact, I don’t think I really saw a potato field until I was a teenager. I grew up in Boise, which is about as citified as Idaho can get. (And really one of the coolest cities there is, in my humble opinion. The Denver area, where we live now, is pretty cool, but way too big for me. Boise is like a mini Denver.)
My brother, however, married a girl from the potato capital of the world and lives there now. We decided to make this year’s Idaho trip to their neck of the woods. No matter where you go, if you’re with family it’s the perfect place. We had fun.
My brother and his family spent the winter making this little house, built in something like 1913, livable. For $19,000 they got some good bones, but had to totally gut it. The before pictures are pretty scary. It amazes me how some people choose to live. The plaster had completely fallen off the walls in some places so you could see right outside through the walls. My brother and his wife didn’t realize that the black sink was really bright orange enamel until they did a little cleaning before the kitchen demolition. My brother’s done an amazing job turning it into a lovely home for his family. They’ve just got to build a garage and put siding on and they can say it’s done.
My parents came out too and brought one of my little nieces.
The kids played outside every second they could.
We got there just in time to see a baby gecko hatch!
We went swimming at Lava Hot Springs,
played with Papa at the park,
and celebrated his birthday.
Did you know that there is an entire museum dedicated to the Idaho potato?
Well, now you do. One thing I learned is that potatoes are native to South America. They were brought to Europe by Spanish explorers, spread throughout Europe, and then were later brought to North America. So even though Idaho is so uniquely suited to potato growing they’re not from there. I never knew that.
More importantly, though, the museum houses the largest collection of potato mashers (neatly displayed thanks to some kid’s Eagle Scout project) and the world’s largest Pringle (technically a potato “crisp”).
There was also some prep for the front walk to be done, so all the boys pitched in to help.
Little kids sure love to do REAL work.
It kept them busy for a long time.
I sure love my family and it was so good to visit Tyler and Katie and their cute boys. Cramming 7 extra people (or 10!) into a little house with one bathroom can be a little crazy– but it was good crazy. And too short.
(We did venture farther than the Potato Museum– that’s where we saw the bison I posted the other day. It will take a whole other post to show you that, so come back tomorrow.)
These balls would be a fun, simple summer afternoon activity for my little guys.
a Very Visit
Since Jessica (of Very Baby and Balancing Everything) already made a post about our visit I’m going to start at the end of our vacation and work up to the beginning.
You see, when Jonah was a new baby I had a conversation with a friend where she told me her sister was using cloth diapers with her new baby and my incredulous reaction was “What, is she crazy?! A baby generates so much laundry as it is! And a newborn poops constantly!” But within a day or two my curiosity got the better of me and I thought I’d venture a Google search on the internet about modern cloth diapering. In my search I stumbled across a little internet business dedicated to selling fabric and supplies called the One Stop Diaper Shop. A little more surfing led me to a bunch of articles written by the shop owner. They were witty, they were at times hilarious, and they convinced me that I should at least give cloth diapering a try. (You can see the current version of those articles here.) I e-mailed that shop owner with I don’t know what question. Over time there were more e-mails and discussions about natural parenting, diapering, eating healthy, natural childbirth, circumcision. That shop owner, Jessica, invited me to read her private blog with all her research and thoughts (It was my first time hearing of such a thing as a blog and I must admit back then I felt SO voyeuristic!). She introduced me to Hypnobirthing which empowered me in making the birth of my 3rd child my first natural birth.
Anyway, that was a long time ago– probably about 9 years! Over that time we’ve become blog friends. With so much in common– cloth diapering, homeschooling, religion, chronic disorganization, craftiness, parenting philosophy– we felt like we knew each other, but never really KNEW each other. Since she lives in eastern Idaho and we were planning on going up there to visit my brother we decided to set up a date.
The bonus was that my friend Tracy, who I know and love from my involvement with the beginnings of Art of Womanhood and other TJEd related things, is in the same ward (Mormon congregation) as Jessica and her very good friend, so I got to hang out with both of them for a day! We went out to Thai food and then ended up with our families at Jessica’s house.
We basked in the refreshing (is that a good positive spin on it?) Idaho wind.
The kids played in the back yard and gave the batting cage a try.
My kids got a fix for their Lego withdrawals. (Jessica’s boys ran and hid in the closet when they saw me come down with my camera.)
And us moms just hung out and talked and Tracy rubbed my pregnant, swollen feet and ankles (and back and shoulders) for nearly two hours!
She’s a doula (among many, many, many other things) and I wanted to pack her up and take her home with me. All the sitting in the car we had done did a number on my ankles and she was able to get all the swelling to go away! If she didn’t live 10 hours away I would have her come and rub my feet and legs my whole labor. Barry was a good sport to sit and endure all the girl talk. I think their efforts to convince me to join them at Homeschool Swim Camp next year almost convinced him because he’s made a few comments about how I need to start practicing driving the van with the trailer attached.
This whole blogging universe is a pretty crazy thing. It gives us a chance to find kindred spirits and to see a glimpse into others’ lives. I was grateful for the chance to make some of my “imaginary friends” true real life friends.
And did I mention they both have chickens? Someday, someday I will live in a place I can have chickens…