Vacation Day 4 -- Swimming in Kamiah

Our final full day in Kooskia consisted mostly of hanging around Dale and Chrissy's home, enjoying a mostly cooler day and then an evening trip to Kamiah to enjoy a Mexican dinner and swimming at the Kamiah public pool.

Kooskia Fireworks

Kooskia is part of an Indian Reservation and the small town of nearly 700 has a tradition of nearly all community members descending on the town park and lighting off thousands of fireworks -- from small to very large. Probably because of the reservation status, it was obvious a large percentage were likely not legal in most areas.

We started off by setting a few off at the Pickering home then enjoying the show at the city park. The impromptu event was load, a bit chaotic (we had to dodge a few bottle rockets), very smoky, and in the end, a bit too long for the younger boys.

A View from the Top and of the Pickering's Home

The Pickerings live 8 miles southeast of Kooskia and there home sits atop a ridge overlooking the beautiful Selway Bitter Roots mountain range and the Lewiston Valley. Cindy, Emrie and I rode a four-wheeler to the top of a ridge to see the view both east and west. We were able to have a very nice view of the Pickering home and valley.

Summer Vacation Day 2 -- Future Fire Fighters

Uncle Dale is the Fire Chief for the Ridge Runner Fire Department in North Idaho. He recently acquired a new fire engine which Isaac and Grant spent some time exploring. So, here are our two three year olds, going on four years, future firemen.

Summer Vacation Day 2 -- Backyard Fun

We very much enjoyed our first full vacation day in Kooskia, Idaho and the nearly 100 degree temperature. The first order of business, keep cool -- which we did via the backyard pool and jumping on the trampoline while being sprayed by Aunt Chrissy.

Summer Vacation Day 1

We left today for our annual summer vacation to Washington. Our first day primarily consisted of driving 7 hours to Kooskia, Idaho to visit Cindy's sister Christina and family. We also had a tag along as Taylor, Christina's son, travelled with us to be home for the fourth of July weekend. Our only real stop was at the Dragon Hollow Park and carousel in Missoula, Montana. The kids really travelled well and at one point were all asleep, and for awhile at least, the three oldest all snuggled up together. Emrie was the first to wake up and she was actually really happy until we hit the windy roads on Lolo pass and she had her first ever bout of car sickness. Fortunately, like most 19 month old kids, she bounced back as soon as we arrived and had a great time.

Backyard Trampoline Fun

After many years we finally have a new trampoline and with some summer warm weather Christopher, Isaac and Emrie decided to cool off by jumping while being sprayed by the sprinkler.