Adventures in Boise- part 2

 

Day 4- We started this day with breakfast and a walk around the green belt behind our airbnb. 

We went to the Discovery Center with family and it was a big hit, the highlight of the trip for two of my kids. That month they had an impressionist art exhibit (Degas has always been one of my favorite artists so that was fun), fossils, simple physics, space, and a big LEGO area. 

We had a smoothie bowl lunch at Boise Juice Co (100% gluten free + vegan at some locations) where our whole party either chose the peanut butter bowl or the Chocolate Cherry Cashew bowl. Delicious! 

Then we headed downtown! 

 

Maybe it's my dad's construction background coming out but another thing I love on trips is admiring beautiful old architecture. My husband loves this now, too, which is so fun! We point out neat old buildings to each other as we drive/walk and marvel at the craftsmanship differences between then (arches, turrets, balustrades🏰⛪!) and now (tall rectangular skyscrapers 🏢🏬, fast, so we can move on to the next 🤑🤑🤑) 

Our main focus downtown was a set of sister bookstores. Rediscovered Books is a store full of new books and Once and Future Books is their used branch. We did leave the used bookstore with several children's books thanks to Nana. 

We made dinner in the Airbnb and it was a learning experience. The plan was to do Boise Juice Co for lunches and to alternate rice bowl dinners with our hashbrown taco dinner but then we saw a new, clean ingredient veggie burger and everyone wanted to try that instead. It was good (our new favorite, definitely recommend) but it was a lot more work / more time intensive to make those + fries and next time we'll stick to the plan. 

Hubs and I ended our night with two episodes of A Thousand Tomorrows. 

Day 5- We slept in, ate breakfast in the Airbnb, and all went to a park with a great playground. My husband and I enjoyed a Lime scooter date- so incredibly fun! I do recommend these, but I recommend a helmet. You can get going a lot faster than you might think. 

We again had lunch at Boise Juice Co. I opted for the Popeye smoothie but I found it to be so bad it was undrinkable! I'm a green smoothie girl and I add far more spinach and kale than most people but I still found it to be bitter, bitter, bitter. Fortunately they'd accidentally made an extra smoothie bowl so I just had that. Again we all had the peanut butter or chocolate cherry cashew bowl. 

We checked out VIP Games and then got several items from our lists at Half Price Books, a store we enjoyed in Texas. 

This night's airbnb dinner was another I find to be so simple + easy for feeding a crowd- hashbrown tacos! I dumped hashbrowns, salsa, canned beans (drained + rinsed), canned sliced olives (drained + rinsed), and leftover sauteed mushrooms + onions into a casserole dish, mixed, and baked at 350 until nice and warm. In the meantime I steamed broccoli, sliced avocado, and added a thin layer of cashew cream to all the tortillas. That's it! Warm hashbrown mixture plopped into tortillas, avocado slices for those who want them, steamed broccoli on the side. You could easily add meat + cheese for those who want it. 

Uno and Sorry were played and then we said our goodbyes, packed up the Airbnb, and finished A Thousand Tomorrows (loved the show!)

Day 6- Time to head hoooooome! 

We checked out of Airbnb and grabbed smoothies + bars to-go at Boise Juice (three of us had The Original and three had the DragonFLY, both were hits) and began the trek home! 

Idaho books we have loved...

Adults: Before I Called You Mine (Christian) // Beyond (Christian... I feel like this is more of a middle grade/YA book though) // I'll be Seeing You (Christian) // A Promise Kept (Christian)

Middle Grade: Running with Wolves (secular)

Picture books: Beauty and the Beak (secular) // Goodnight Idaho (secular, board book) // The Skydiving Beavers (secular)

Adventures in Boise, Idaho- Part 1

 

We recently enjoyed a trip to Boise, Idaho to compete in an extracurricular event and then meet up with extended family + explore Boise. I always enjoy sharing our adventures here! 

Things that worked on driving days- chatting // music // 90s trivia for my husband and me // Family Feud for everyone (haven't finished every card but nothing inappropriate so far) // Innotab (old hand-me-down I can't even find on eBay to link) + my brother's old Game Boy Advance + my grandpa's old handheld Solitaire game, but during scheduled intervals and not as a free-for-all // foods we brought from home

Day 1- We got into our hotel in time for a late dinner. Settled in and ate, checked out the event venue, read and relaxed.  

Day 2- We started our day with breakfast we'd brought from home but some of the other families at this event said the breakfast was good. We got kids registered for their event and then we took a beautiful riverfront walk right outside a hotel entrance. 

We had to pass a giant chess board and checkers board in a courtyard so of course we played those, too. 

We went back over for the start of the event and socialized with others for a bit (had the coolest conversation with a parent from Venezuela who shared so much of his life journey with us + was stunned to learn that Americans don't typically get a passport unless they're about to travel to another country) and then I took the younger two back to the hotel room for a while. (The littles and I went back and forth for their sake).

We all just ate lunch we'd brought from home and then the littles and I ran to Whole Foods to grab some dinner items. We admired a lot of art on the way and I realized that's one of my favorite things when we travel, seeing the art in different cities and towns! 

We were all so mentally + socially drained by the time the event was over! We had just-add-water soup/noodle snack plate dinners in the hotel room while watching Jumanji since it was playing on one of the channels (we bought an electric kettle just for this trip and wow, highly recommend!)

My husband and I also (finally!) watched the first of six episides of A Thousand Tomorrows before bed.

Day 3- We slept in (needed it!) and lounged around in the hotel room for a bit, ate breakfast I'd brought from home and then took another beautiful riverfront walk. This time we saw people surfing! 

 After our walk we packed everything up to make our move to the Airbnb we'd gotten for the second leg of the trip. We couldn't check in or meet extended family until 4pm so we had time to kill. We started with the aquarium which wound up being so great!  

My girls and I have been doing the TGTB Wind and Waves science unit and they've all been pretty fascinated by the ocean info + loving an ocean science kit on the side. This got them so excited! Some of my kids fed fish + pet stingrays and starfish, and everyone enjoyed seeing all there was to see. 

After that we went to the mall to look for a birthday gift component for an extended family member. We of course checked out all the puzzles and games while we were there. 

The rest of the night went by fast! We met up with family at Natural Grocers to buy food for our meals together, got all set up in the Airbnb, and the kids played Uno with family while I made a super easy dinner for a crowd. 

If you're ever cooking for a big group, I highly recommend burrito bowls. It's so easy to put multiple meal components out and et people add whatever they want to their respective bowls. I cooked a big batch of rice + riced cauliflower as the base and then we put out bowls of options on the table... Steamed broccoli, sauteed mushrooms + onions, pinto beans, black beans, salsa, Pico de Gallo, romaine lettuce, cashew cream, coconut aminos! You could also add meat, cheese, whatever 

After that Hubby and I finished setting up the airbnb, tucked in the kids, and then curled up in bed to watch the next episode of A Thousand Tomorrows and then read! 

Seattle!

Seattle has been on our list for YEARS! Ryan had to go for work so the kids and I joined him at the end of the trip. Ryan worked all over the Seattle area and the kids and I got a really late start on the day we drove in, so we basically spent one day there.

We got in around 8:30pm and put the monkeys straight to bed. The next morning Ryan went to work and I excitedly spent a little alone time doing some Blessed by Birth marketing until everybody woke up, then we all ate breakfast. Since we don’t have cable at home, A always begs to “watch a couple kid shows” in the morning on days we stay at hotels… and unfortunately, on this day I obliged. I had really wanted to go “hike” around West Hylebos Wetlands Park together, both to explore all the greenery and to check out the historic cabins, but I wrongly assumed we’d have time later that day so I let them watch Curious George AND Daniel Tiger before getting them dressed and getting us all out the door. 

We ran an errand, accidentally got on a scary freeway (big cities, man), got stuck at a light for almost 20 minutes because I was turning left and everybody going straight kept gridlocking the intersection so that nobody could go when their light was green (big cities, man), had to detour a couple of times because of road construction, and then finally (over an hour after I had expected to be there!!) grabbed lunch at Marlene’s Natural Food Market & Deli in Federal Way, which is where the hotel was. There was also a branch in Tacoma, FYI. Health food stores are of course expensive as a rule, but this one really wasn’t too bad. I needed baby wipes and was pretty surprised to see that the price was fine, plus their smoothies were cheap which is NEVER the case as you probably know. 

After lunch I ran another errand, got a little lost even with the GPS because of road construction, and then somehow it was already almost 3! Big cities, man.

We pulled into the parking lot of the West Hybloes Wetlands Park, but then I got a call from Ryan saying he was off early because of a change in plans and that he’d be working elsewhere in the morning so we should actually head into Seattle NOW if we wanted to see it at all. So we hurried back to the hotel to change everybody’s gross smoothie-covered clothes, do the potty-diaper boogie, and fill up lil bellies with snacks… and then we were off, to the Seattle Aquarium!

There was lots more traffic and scary freeway driving (luckily with Ryan driving this time), and lots more road construction… and parking was a bit crazy. But we did eventually get there! And I was only accosted by one person asking for money!

The kids loved the aquarium! Favorites were the harbor seals, the sea otters, and the octopus. A touched a star fish, which he thought was awesome, and C was generally enamored with all the fish. (We went to a pet store the next day and she excitedly shouted fiiii! Fiiii! when we got to the fish area!) One word of advice… we were there in time for both the octopus feeding and the seal feeding, but both of our big kids were really disinterested in the feedings and honestly kind of just annoyed by all the grown-ups hovering around them so they couldn’t see the animals very good any ways. I’d say skip the feedings if your kids aren’t ultra-interested.

We got to Pike Place Market around 5:30, which is apparently not a great time to get there since they close at 6, but still. 

There was supposed to be a cool gluten free restaurant inside but we couldn’t find it so we ended up just walking around a little and then heading to dinner at an Italian place called Razzi’s.

Razzi’s, you guys! Oh man. This is the first time we have ever encountered gluten free calzones OR gluten free mozzarella sticks, both of which were excellent. Even re-heated. =]

We opted NOT to walk in the Space Needle with the kids but did want to see it in the evening skyline… but of course the Canon’s battery died before we could take a picture =0

I debated even sharing but I guess I just will because it’s my blog and I can say what I want here!

Seattle felt REEEEEEALLY overrated to us. We both agreed that it would probably have been very different had we not gone with kids. Pike Place Market had a lot of quirky and interesting things to see, but we just perceived it as crowded and stressful because we were trying to all stay together. The aquarium was neat, but definitely nowhere near as cool as others we’ve been to, and yet it was the most expensive we’ve ever been to. It cost us $70 to all get in but it felt a lot more like a $40 aquarium. We had to pay to park by the aquarium, then got a $43 parking ticket for getting back to the car four minutes late. Then we had to pay to park for our dinner too. Big cities, man.

Seattle was expensive, crowded, trafficky as heck, and felt generally unsafe. I don’t mean that in a naïve, small-town way. I’ve lived in Phoenix and I’ve visted big cities many times. Phoenix, Denver, Minneapolis, Portland, Austin, Salt Lake City. I walked alone with my baby in downtown Minneapolis at 1am once, and let me tell you, I felt 20 times safer there than I did in downtown Seattle with Ryan by my side and in broad daylight.

This isn’t something I say often but I’m going to say it now: I personally do not consider Seattle a great place for family travel.

Have you been? If so, did you have a (hopefully!) completely different experience?

Roadschool: We prepped for this trip with a few fun books… The United States of America by Millie Miller // What’s Great About Washington? // Goodnight, Washington State

Portland, Oregon

I had a crazy food poisoning experience on our first night in Portland and wound up bleeding by the end of it. We thought I was having a miscarriage and didn’t know what else to do so I ended up in the ER. They found a heartbeat and the bleeding stopped within a few hours so all was well, but I still spent the rest of the trip worried sick and feeling really crummy so this trip was nothing like we’d expected or planned. It was actually a really crazy, kind of amazing miracle kind of thing I will share someday... but that is definitely for another post. We hope to go back someday and experience more of it, but for now…

Portland favorites

-We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express downtown since we’d planned to walk downtown a lot. It was a really great hotel, and the breakfast bar even had GF bagels and muffins! Also Jimmy Dean cheese omelets which are GF =]
-We don’t usually go out to eat because of cross contamination for my Celiacs, but Portland had some 100% gluten free options! We ate at Ground Breakers. (Ryan had a burger and tried (and really liked) their Olallie beer, the girls had veggie mac & cheese, and A had a grilled cheese sandwich. I was still feeling really sick so I just ordered apple chips and ate a few bites of A’s grilled cheese.

-The Oregon Zoo! The kids really loved it, and therefore Ryan and I loved it. They also loved playing in the big train across the street. 

-Cultured Caveman, a paleo restaurant that was also 100% gluten free. I got the zoodles + meatballs and tomato soup, Ryan got the chicken tenders, and the kids each got a build-your-own almond butter and “jelly” wrap plate. 

-Downtown Portland… again, we would have liked to have actually walked it. Just didn’t work out! I got a souvenir (Goodnight, Oregon) in Powell’s City of Books before walking over to Whole Foods, then I felt horribly sick and fell sleep in the comfy hotel bed in the middle of the day.

Roadschool books we enjoyed before/during this trip: The United States of America: a state-by-state guide // Are We There Yet? // Are We There Yet, Daddy? // Bon Voyage, Lucy // Olivia Takes a Trip // Goodnight, Oregon

The Redwoods!

We actually didn’t get to see anywhere near as much of the Redwoods as I had hoped to see, so this was a good lesson in remembering that kids are in charge on trips ;] Between naps, mealtimes taking forever, tired little legs, etc., it just didn’t work out to do all the extra stuff I’d hoped for. But what we did see was amazing!

Redwoods Favorites
-Prairie Creek Visitor Center, where we got Tallest Tree as a souvenir and Nana spoiled them with Rangerland Jr. 

-Big Tree, a great little hike for the little ones. I did spot poison oak semi close to the trail a few times but it was otherwise a really easy hike for the little ones. A was three and ran it almost the entire way. B was two and did ask to be carried a lot (it ran into naptime for her) but in general walked quite a bit of it herself… and ten-month-old C just napped in a carrier on Daddy’s back most of the time. 

-Fern Canyon… there actually weren’t really any Redwoods here, just stumps leftover from logging. The hike was definitely a bit too much for little ones on foot, especially since at some point you have to cross over a creek to do it. Ryan had on good waterproof shoes so just walked them across it because walking on the logs would just not have worked for them. There were also a lot of stairs which is rough for our two-year-old either way… either she climbs up and down them herself, which is scary and takes forever, of we climb up and down stairs while holding a two-year-old, which is tiring and scary. We weren’t actually able to get down into the canyon itself either, but the trail was still really cool to see and I bet the canyon is amazing! This is also where a portion of Jurassic Park 2 was filmed.

-Banana slug!!!

-Seeing the awe on A’s face… this is why I love traveling with kids. Amazing. It was also really cool to hear him share the occasional factoid he’d learned from reading Redwoods a few times before the trip.

We tried to do the junior ranger activities but they were still just a little over our guy’s head and he was just enjoying the hike so maybe next time! =] 

Homeschool/Roadschool books we enjoyed before/during this trip: The United States of America: a state-by-state guide // Are We There Yet? // Are We There Yet, Daddy? // Bon Voyage, Lucy // Olivia Takes a Trip // Redwoods // The Tree in the Ancient Forest // Tallest Tree

Trinidad, California

Trinidad favorites with kids:
-View Crest Cabins… We had a nice studio-style cabin with a king-sized bed and we put the kids in toddler cots at the foot of our bed. We woke up each morning to three children between us ha ha. We brought a toaster oven and rice cooker from home because we didn’t want to risk cross contamination (some of my family has Celiac Disease) and it worked out pretty perfectly, especially when we found Eureka Natural Foods to supplement what we’d brought from home. There was a really nice deck off the back of our cabin where we ate a few meals with my in-laws, and it was the perfect place to end the night relaxing after a long day of hiking and exploring. 

-Proximity to the Redwoods!

-Humboldt State Marine Laboratory to see the “aquarium” tanks before heading down to the beach

- Trinidad State Beach. I personally am not much of a beach person, and especially with kids (sand for days!) but it was great just to go and see it, dip their toes in the water, and let A bring home a seashell as a souvenir. =]

-Eureka Natural Foods, which was actually in McKinleyville. We picked up a lot of groceries from here on one of the nights, then all ate breakfast there on our last morning together before hitting the road.

Homeschool/Roadschool books we enjoyed before/during this trip: The United States of America: a state-by-state guide // Are We There Yet? // Are We There Yet, Daddy? // Bon Voyage, Lucy // Olivia Takes a Trip