A Trip to See Grandpa Griswald

A couple of weeks ago Mike, Cora, & I had four days off where we didn't already have something planned. We brainstormed for a couple of days and decided it was time to visit Grandpa Griswald, or Riley, & his lovely wife Charlotte in Prineville. Prineville is a short 6 hours away from Boise. We had a beautiful and curvy drive from Boise to Prineville thanks to highway 26 (We didn't take that road home & I don't think I will drive that road again). We arrived at Riley & Char's around dinner time, and of course they were more than gracious hosts and had beverages & dinner ready. Cora loved hamming it up for Riley & Char. Here she is cracking smiles at the dinner table.
The next morning, Riley had plans to brew beer with his neighbor & Charlotte had to work so Mike, Cora, & I decided to drive into Bend for the day. After visiting a local bike shop to get some advice on where we could bike while pulling the Chariot, we headed for Shevlin Park. Here I am pulling Cora behind me. She is such a great little traveler, of course she has been traveling since she was 3 weeks old :)
The ride was pretty good. We found a great trail, but unfortunately it started to get really narrow and the mosquitos started feasting on me so we turned around and opted to run the same trail for a bit of extra exercise. While we were running back up the trail we ran into two of Mike's coworkers/friends from the department. We knew they were going to be in the Bend area, but it was still pretty odd to run into them on a random trail in a different city. Josh & Ben waited for us to finish up our run & we all met up at the parking lot.

Before we could head back into town we helped out the guys by driving them back to Tumalo Falls, where they started their ride.

Next stop, one of my personal Mecca's, The Deschutes Brewery. This photo show just how happy I was to have a delicious Black Butte Porter direct from the tap where it was brewed. See the creamy top, it was pulled from the Nitro Tap. YUMMY!
After the brewery I had to stop at Trader Joe's. Just one thing, I am not allowed to go into Trader Joe's unattended from now on. I had way too much fun in that store. Mike would have been there to help me control myself but poor Cora was so tired she just zonked out in the car. Another quick stop at Dutch Brothers, only one of the best places to get coffee, and we were on our way back to Prineville.
While I prepared our Carne Asada dinner Cora got some quality time with Charlotte. Here she is taking Cora around their property & visiting the neighbor horses. I don't know who had more fun, Cora or Charlotte?

Mike & Cora playing with wind chimes

D & Cora hanging outside the Bunkhouse

Riley & Char's dog Echo. Cora will not stop talking about him :)

The next morning after bumming around the house Mike, Riley, Cora & I all headed out to the Prineville Reservoir. Cora had a great time on the boat. She loved driving and running all over the boat. Here is a cute shot of Riley & Cora.

Here she is looking over the front of the boat. She kept walking from front to back checking out the waves the boat made & saying, "waa waa".

We been on a couple of pontoon boats since Cora was born & Mike has it for them in a bad way, I don't think driving Riley's made it any better. I see a pontoon boat in my future, but I guess we have to get a house where we can park it since we are already pretty ghetto with our camper parked in our driveway, lol.

We had such an amazing time with Riley & Charlotte we can't wait to go back!

July.....Already Over???

I am in serious shock that July is already over. I am also really behind when it comes to updating the blog. So here is the run down of The Holley Pack's adventures in the month of July, minus our trip to Bend which I will write about in another post.
The Holley Pack was in town over the 4th of July weekend due to this weird thing people call work. Mike and I alternate our days so that one of us is always home with Cora. I worked the night of the 3rd and Mike worked the 4th. Even though I was super sleepy I was determined to make it to my friend Stephanie's 4th of July BBQ. Cora had a great time in the kiddie pool, can you tell I forgot a swim diaper?

After swimming it was time to fuel up, well I guess on sugar. Steph's mom, Peggy, took this cute photo of Cora enjoying her 1st ice cream sandwich.
The following weekend the whole pack headed up to Silver Creek Plunge. I have to brag a little bit......the road up to the campground has a very bad reputation. There has been some work on the road to make it better, but the road is still pretty gnarly. For some reason, I decided that I should drive, yes truck & trailer, from Crouch up to the campground. It only took three hours for my knuckles to recover from the white knuckle drive, but I did it and I back the trailer into our spot like a champ!
We settled in and made dinner. This is a shot of Cora eating corn on the cob for the 1st time. Corn on the cob is an amazing thing for a teething child, she LOVED it.

The next morning we all got up and headed into the hills. Mike rode his mountain bike while pulling Cora in the Chariot and I ran. We had a great outing. The dogs enjoyed running free and chasing each other, and I had a great run. After so much exercise we had to come back and eat, right?

After lunch it was time for a soak in the hot spring pool. This pool was amazing. Not really great in the heat of the afternoon, but perfect in the early hours or after dinner. Cora had a great time swimming around with both of us. Here she is relaxing with her daddy.

Beck and Cassius were pooped after their long run. I love this photo of them. Beck is actually pretending to like her little brother.

All of the camper sites had great spots for tents as well. Cora thought the tent site was the best sand box ever. She loved eating the rocks, playing with toys, and dumping the dirt all over herself which all made for interesting diaper changes :)

Saturday night I really didn't feel like cooking and thank goodness my friend Deb was there to save my butt. She had pre made spaghetti and shared it with us. Cora was so happy to eat it. I love this photo, I call it the Pirate Spaghetti photo.

Ok, next trip was to Roseberry Music Festival. We left early Thursday morning and spent one night in McCall at Ponderosa State Park. We did a little hiking the next day up to Duck Lake with our friends Mark & Sarai. After coming back from the hike & packing everything up we headed towards Donnelly, where we camped along Lake Cascade. Friday night we headed into Roseberry for our first night at the show. This is Cora enjoying some strawberries and music.

The two performers for the night were Jeff Crosby, a great local artist; and Bonerama, a group of trombone players from New Orleans. The music was amazing as usual.

Cora enjoyed going up close to the stage and watching the musicians.

Here we are as a family enjoying the music.

Cora was trying to soak it all in.

Saturday night the line up consisted of Keller Williams (AMAZING) and Town Mountain. Town Mountain was running late so Keller Williams started the show, even though he was supposed to be the second act. Keller got interrupted by a wicked rain, thunder, & lighting storm. We toughed it out and it was so worth it! This photo is of Town Mountain coming on stage with Keller Williams.

Our good friends Deb & Tony enjoying the show.

When we got home we decided it would be a fun idea to have our friends The Hudson's over for dinner. After dinner the kids were acting bored so we broke out the sprinkler for them to cool off. Cora loves playing in the water.

Ok so that was the short version of the first three weeks of July. Hopefully I can get a post about our trip to Prineville & Bend posted before Cora wakes up from her nap. Ta Ta for now.

The Sawtooth Relay

Way back when, well 2006 or so I sort of fell in love with running. That year I ran my first marathon. In preparation for that marathon I trained for and participated in The Sawtooth Relay which is a race that starts in Stanley, Idaho and finishes in Ketchum, just outside of Sun Valley. This year I was lucky enough to run in the relay again, and with a great team. I ran one of the same legs and a new leg. My favorite leg of the race is The Galena Summit leg. This leg is very challenging with a total elevation gain of 1,331 and 5.35 miles. The trade off for all the running up hill is an amazing view. I also ran leg 11 which was fast and fun.

Theron & Christina headed up Thursday afternoon and found us a great camping spot just below Pettit Lake. We spent Friday afternoon relaxing and catching up with our good friend Phil & his girlfriend Karen who work in Stanley during the summer months.

Phil & Karen

Whenever Mike, Phil, & Theron get together it always equals TROUBLE. Here they are hamming it up for the camera. DORKS!

Cora & Breckin spent the afternoon, fighting over, I mean playing with Breckin's 4-wheeler. They had a great time taking turns pushing each other and riding on the 4-wheeler together.

Our team, Team Kalimotxo, was made up of The Hudsons, Theron & Christina; Jess, Pam, Bridget & Derek, & myself. Christina's sister, Ericka was our lovely volunteer.
Because my 1st leg was half way through the race I had the luxury of sleeping in until whenever Cora woke up. Not so for my teammate Theron who began the race at 0445. Below are a bunch of photos from the day before the race and the race itself.

That's me starting up the beginning of the hill

Here I am coming across Galena Summit

D, Mike & Cora just past the relay transition point at Galena Summit

Christina & Cora along the race course

By the time we finished Cora was done with having anything to do with anything but sleeping so rather than taking photos at the finish line I was trying to feed her something and get her back into the truck so she would sleep on the drive back to our campsite in Stanley. On Sunday morning all of our team/friends had to drive back to Boise. But before they all left Cora & Breckin had lunch together. Then the two of them had to play a game of Bocce ball. I think Breckin won, because this is Cora all sorts of pissed off.

Mike and I were lucky enough to have the next couple of days off so we decided to stick around and visit Red Fish Lake. Red Fish Lake is one of my most favorite places in Idaho. We were there on a lovely Sunday afternoon and they had live music just outside the lodge. Cora had a great time exploring the beach, so much fun that she decided to go swimming. It just so happened that I didn't pack any extra clothes for Cora that day so I had to go and buy her the only infant sized piece of clothing in the general store. At least she got a cute pair of PJ's out of the deal. It was a great weekend for the relay. The weather was beautiful and the company was great too. I hope to run the race again next year.

We Are in TROUBLE

It's official, we are in so much trouble. Cora has been taking a few steps here and there, but now she is full blown walking. To make matters worse she inherited all of the stubbornness that Mike and I both have making her one INDEPENDENT little girl. I guess I can't be too upset about that since I am the worst when it comes to letting people help me with anything. She is having a great time walking around the house, and especially loves to cruise around the backyard picking up sticks, rocks, and blade of grass. The dogs are a little more uneasy now, thank goodness Beck just gets out of the way and Cassius really doesn't care what she does to him.

We went camping a couple of weekends ago for the first time this season. We met up with a couple of other families from the fire department and had a great time. I enjoyed going for a nice run with my boy Cassius. Mike further wore him out by taking him on a mountain bike ride. Beck was happy to swim in the reservoir with our friends' dog Ruegger (SP?).

This photo is of Jemma, Rocco, & Cora. Jemma & Rocco are the daughter & son of our good friends Cody & Kelli. The three of them are so cute together. Cora really loved hugging on Jemma and stealing her sippy cup. You can see that Cora is mowing on an apple, she was pushing out her two top teeth and that apple kept her happy for almost an entire hour. Her shirt was destroyed even after two washings; one with spray & wash the other with bleach. Oh well, a onzie is a small price to pay for an hour of peace :)

Don't even think of taking my apple away!

Oh yeah, and this is priceless. I heard Cora singing in the back of the truck to herself and when I turned around she was doing this.......

Awesome!! My one year old daughter learned to pick her nose. Is this baby book worthy? They don't have a slot for 1st time nose picked in there, maybe I will add my own slot.

Ok, that is it for now. Hopefully we will have some more fun videos, photos, and stories to come.

Cora's 1st Birthday Party

I can't believe 12 months ago I was here......

And today this happened.Cora turned 1 on the 6th and we celebrated by having a very informal get together for her at Gueber Park. We are so blessed to have such great people in our lives. I want to thank all of those who came out to celebrate with us. Here are a bunch of photos from the party. An especially HUGE THANK YOU to my dear friend Jodane who took most of these amazing photos, which allowed me to be in the moment throughout the whole party instead of worrying about capturing the moment. Jodane, I truly appreciate you not only for your talent in photography but because you an amazing friend that I know I can always count on to be there. Enjoy!

This photo is of Cora with the wonderful woman we named her after, Sneh. I will be forever grateful to Pradip & Sneh for how they looked after me and encouraged me to pursue my passion to become an RN.

Of course there was the 1st Birthday Cake. Cora really didn't know what to do with it. She sort of picked at the cake.

I gave her a spoon to see if she would dig into it a little bit more. She is really into using utensils right now, so the spoon did the trick.

Hey Mom, did you know there is SUGAR in this cake??????

Nom, Nom, Nom.....I love CAKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

She was pretty pleased with herself when she was all done. She put a small dent in the cake and I didn't even have to take the hose to her to clean her up. It was a win win.

I love this photo of Breckin who is exactly 7 months older than Cora. He was the first person to visit Cora in the hospital. They are so funny together. Isn't Breckin's expression great?

Cora is happy & she knows it so she is clapping her hands

A very proud daddy and his little girl

Deb & I enjoying the sun & watching the kids play

Christian

These three guys= TROUBLE

Todd & Peter

Deb & Steph

Marissa

Mike & Kendall enjoying the playground

Miss Oliva & her mom Susie

Cora's Auntie Anna wasn't able to make it to the party, and poor Cora was sad. She was sad until the Fed Ex man showed up at the house and delivered this.........

Cora enjoying her new kitchen, thank you Auntie

I always wanted one of these cars when I was a kid. I remember going into different stores and pushing this type of car around and BEGGING my parents for one. I never got one and I always swore that if I ever had children I would buy them one of these whether they liked it or not. So guess what Cora got for her 1st birthday?

She loves it too. She climbs in and out of it for minutes on end. She loves being pushed around inside or outside and honking the horn. Poor Cassius doesn't know what to think of it though.