I wish that I had taken another once I got closer to her, because I was certain she was standing next to some marijuana plants. If you zoom in on the picture, you can kind of see one of the plants. I called Chris over to look, but having not much experience with marijuana plants, neither of us were certain.
We ate lunch at a quaint Subway while driving through Island Park, ID. Amy wasn't in much of an eating mood but the rest of us were quite hungry. This Subway even offered personal pizzas. We continued on our way and made good time until outside of Pocatello. The traffic slowed to a complete stop. Gradually there was very little traffic on the north-bound side of the freeway either. It took us a long time to finally turn around. If you know Chris, you know that making a u-turn via the grassy median is one of the seven deadly sins, almost. But we were glad to finally be moving, even if we had to back track a ways before starting to head south again. We found our way to the frontage road and there we came upon ALL of the north bound traffic. They were backed up for miles and miles and miles. It was going to be a long night. A semi hadn't negotiated a turn very well and dumped his load. The police were quick to move his rig off the road and keep what little movement going. That little mishap set us back about three hours. Turns out some propane truck overturned and the entire freeway was shut down. Boooo.
We finally arrived at my brother, Mitch's, house around 10 pm with three tired kids. While we sat in traffic, Kristen began to fever and had body aches. More CRAP! Amy was doing better, but wasn't 100%. I was so tempted to just head on home.
Chris was prepared to keep the girls at Mitch's house while I went to the family reunion. I even bought groceries anticipating a couple of days of being shut in for them. When I returned from the store, they were all up and cheery and feeling great. We decided to go. (I should have known better though. Kristen's fever came on strong again as we reached the cabin.) I'm so sorry my family.
We finally arrived after waiting for other family members to catch up and let us through the gate with the entrance code. The cabin my brother had rented was amazing, with views off the deck of Stewart Falls.
My responsibility was lunch Saturday afternoon as we arrived. I picked up rolls and sandwich meat, veggies and fruit. It was nice to have so much help in the set up and the clean up. That's one thing that I always notice about my family, or maybe that we were simply taught to chip in and help out. We enjoyed lunch on the deck listening to the rustling of aspens and watching the beautiful scenery. The cousins had fun getting reacquainted over lunch.
Mitch had planned some fun games in the style of "Minute to Win It"--hanky panky, junk in your trunk--to name a few. It was a great opener.
Our weekend together was wonderful. My oldest brother, Brad, was in charge of our weekend and planned a lot of interesting activities with family history and traditions. Thanks so much for all of your efforts.
My mom planned her traditional "Grandma's Fish Pond" with fun little gifts for everyone. We all had fun with it.
The view from the deck:
Misha was thrilled to sleep in the bunk bed room with other cousins. Amy had wanted to as well, but she just wasn't feeling up to par. Not sure what was wrong with her. Her stomach had calmed and the fever was gone, but she still wasn't herself. Kristen wasn't either. She requested a blessing from Chris and my dad and was promised a full recovery. I think the blessing really covered the rest of the family and kept them from getting sick. Kristen's stomach flu had to follow its full course before she finally regained her strength a couple days later.
I put her on the blow-up pad next to my bed Saturday night and listened to her groaning and talking throughout the night. She lay under the coolness of an open window with a wet wash cloth on her forehead. I got up to go to the bathroom around 5 am and came back to find Chris holding a bowl under Kristen's chin while she threw up. Poor little thing. She couldn't even keep water down. She threw up a number of times.
I sent Chris off to church with the older girls and stayed back at the cabin with Kristen. We tried to nap. I tried to nap. Kristen was feeling better enough that every time I was almost drifting off to sleep, she would ask, "Are they going to be back soon?" Apparently while at church, Amy had a back ache and her cousin, Jenna, took her back to her house for Amy to rest. Not sure what the back ache was all about.
I was so tired of having sick kids. Just get better already!!!!!
Okay, maybe she was starting to feel better.
Shane
