Vacation Days 7 to 11: Cottonwood, ID

The turnaround point of our vacation, and main highlight was a trip to visit Olivia's mom in Cottonwood, ID.

 First glimpse of our destination as we came through town.

 Almost there...

 The rainy weather welcomed us and we were treated to thunder showers two afternoons in a row!

 Noah had fun making popcorn with Grandma's fancy popcorn popper.

 Let the expert handle the actual cooking part.

 More stormy weather.

 Hanging out with Grandma in the garden.

 Still more stormy skies.

Raspberry picking/eating.

 

 He slept very well after running himself ragged each day.

 Picking flowers for Alicia and Bryan who were arriving the next day.

 He picked out the nail polish and was very excited to have blue nails!

Look at the giant hornet nest we found! It was about the size of a volleyball.

We were excited to visit during the annual Raspberry Festival. One of the highlights is the 5K and 10K races.

 Olivia and Noah did the 5K and Victor did the 10K.

 Noah came in 1st place in the 4 year old age group. He of course was the only 4 year old...
Victor came in 2nd in the 10K. Olivia came in last for her age group, but she was running at 4 year old pace. :)

 Other Raspberry Festival fun.

 The joy of his first Polaroid.

 Magic!

 The most delicious raspberry shortcake...

We were at the festival as volunteers, so Noah did his part selling popcorn. He was pretty great. At one point, sales were slow and he turned to Olivia and said he needed to tell more parents with kids about the popcorn because kids like popcorn. A solid marketing strategy if I've ever heard one!

 Victor, Noah, Olivia, Bryan, Alicia, and Sr. Miriram/Mom/Grandma


Shenanigans around our room

 Victor and Brian helped Sr. Placida change a flat tire.

Alicia and Noah hung out in the golf cart.

Magic School Bus reading with Alicia.

Olivia's mom surprised us with an adventure on a combine while harvesting wheat.

The guy Olivia and Noah rode with had a little boy at home and was very interested in answering Noah's questions. Note the medal in his hands. I think he wore that thing for the next 5 days!

Story time with Grandma

 We decided to take a trip out to the river.

 Along the way we stopped at a Nez Perce rock shelter. Apparently it was used from 8,000 years ago until about 600 years ago. Unfortunately, archiologists working with the Nez Perce decided to fill it in with dirt to protect it, so it was not that exciting of a roadside stop.

 The Salmon River was a beautiful place to throw rocks.

 Victor and Noah could throw rocks for hours if they had the time.

Noah decided to get his feet wet...

 ...and then sit in the sand. Messy messy!

Noah had so much fun with this TV tray in our room. He pretended it was everything from a bed to a delivery truck.

 The day we left, they started a construction project just outside our building.

 Noah was enthralled.

 The guy was super nice and asked Noah if he'd like a chance to drive.  Of course he said yes!

We had a fantastic visit, but unfortunately, it was time to get back on the road.