Turtle Visit (Jan 12th- 18th)
So while I was sitting on a couch growing roots trying not to go insane, Turtle came to visit. Yay respite. She was originally going to come the 3rd-10th but then genius me bought a ticket home until the 6th. Woops. So we had to shuffle a bit.
I forgot to mention in previously that before my uncle agreed to help me move out in the matter of a few hours, I'd been conversing with my favorite roommate of all time and he (bless his soul) was prepared to come and save me. Had that happened Turtle was prepared to change her ticket to Salt Lake.
The Saturday before Turtle arrived, Tobias was down in the valley, and so was Trav's friend Dave. Tobias loves caving but he was tired of Kuna Cave, so he had me use my internet finding skills to dig up some more caves. I found one called Gore's cave and we went to go find it early Saturday. Well, the cave entrance was pretty much a crack in the ground, that I could barely fit inside. We looked around the surrounding landscape to see if there was any other entrance. Nope, that was it. Tobias got down in and there was some INTENSE wind. So we put on an extra layer, then Tobias went first, me next, and Trav and Dave coming last. Once you got down and slid through the tiny opening, the cave opened up big enough we could stand. We spent the next few hours exploring and poking in every part of the cave. It didn't go many places too interesting, nor did it go very far in any direction, but it was still neat to play in. Then we went over by Swann Falls and played on the Snake River plain, looking for an old brick house that eluded us. We got pizza and went home to clean off all the mud. That was a pretty fun evening.
Turtle arrived Monday morning on the 12th. I got up early so that I could be sure and be there on time. I've been by the airport countless times and picked up twice, so I thought sure I could get there on my own; right? Not so much. L O L. I saw everything else though. Drove by the military base, the industrial park, the factory outlets. I drove in circles and loops and missed my exit and she was there before I even got to the stupid place. LOL
On my way to the airport being lost I drove past a chapel and noticed that there was a missionary meeting going on, and one of the people I baptized is kinda serving a mission in Boise right now, so when I had Turtle we went there first. The old missionary dude outside was funny because we asked him about the meeting and he mistook us for investigators and kindly explained that there were no services today and that they met on sundays. Lol Sadly he's serving in another area, so we didn't get to see him.
We went to Kels' house (who sadly got called into work) and watched HEROES Season 3. The whole thing. From beginning to end, like 11 hours. Turtle is addicted. Only she doesn't do violence or blood. Which is where I come in. I tell her when to cover and uncover her eyes. It works most of the time, but sometimes she still ends up seeing a severed head or something else she didn't need in her brain. There was one interruption to the marathon: Cayla came over to say hey with her youngest, which was neat, because I hadn't seen her in a while. After that was over, we went out to get some dinner at Applebee's. The gentlemen asked us if we were there for dinner...? Mmm, no we just came to look at your Timberline High School Picture Gallery? Honestly. After dinner we went back to Kels' and played with her kids. HEr two-year was playing a leapster game and totally said, "Oh crap!" to the surprise of all of us, including his dad! Oops! Then we got headed over to Trav's where I set Turtle up on the bed and I took the couch.
Tuesday the 13th I made eggs for breakfast, then we went out with my Aunt K to go Geocaching. OH yeah. My aunt wanted to get 25 in one day, so we needed to go quickly. It was Turtle's first time so she got to see a regular-size one, small ones, and even micro-caches.
The day was really foggy, and much of the grass was wet so by the end we were wet up to our knees. The most exciting cache of the day had to be this one:
"We started off enveloped in thick fog, barely able to see anywhere in front of us. Then, a gunshot. Turtle hit the dirt. 'What was that?' Me: 'Um, a gun shot. The description said there was a firing range somewhere nearby.' We didn't think much of it, except the part where Turtle kept ducking everytime there was a sound.
"We eventually made our way to the top, spent forever looking (agree that the hint is vague) and finally Turtle made the find. Our coords at the find were: N 43° 29.269 W 116° 43.255
"After rehiding we stopped at the memorial, then started making our way back down. The firing continued, and Turtle picked up a bottle to CITO. Then I saw the shotgun shells. Hundreds of them. Casings EVERYWHERE. About the same time Turtle discovered this bottle she'd picked had holes in it. BULLET holes.
"TALK ABOUT A FREAK OUT. THE GUNS ARE GOING OFF AND HOLY MOTHER OF PEARL WHERE'S BATMAN WE ARE STANDING IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FIRING RANGE!!!!!!!!!!!
"Let's put it mildly and say much running therein ensued. Frantic, I'm-going-to-die-why-hasn't-it-happened-yet running. Yeah.
"We made it out alive. Somehow. Don't think I'll be bringing any of my friends back to visit this cache; nothing personal."
After we found a ton of caches, we went to my Aunt's then out to dinner for a geocaching event! After the hubbub was all over and we were tired out, we went back to Trav's and logged everything we'd found that day. That night we met up with Kels and her hubby at the ghetto, empty bowling alley. We had to wait forever for them to get there, and I didn't have a very good night bowling; barely 100. Turtle got 60 or 70, which was like double her normal score. Awesome. Then sleep.
Wednesday the 14th, Turtle slept most of the morning (and the afternoon) while I just hung out (and blogged), although when she first woke up we did make a Pita Pit run, because let's be honest, I'm 100% an addict. At Turtle's request, F***book was actually opened on my computer while she chatted with her friend Cam she hadn't seen in like 6 years. I even added some to the convo (*gasp!* I chatted on F***book).
That afternoon we went to Boise and met up with Cam and it was all around fun, except Turtle actually bowled so slow, her ball DID get stuck. Three times! Then we went to a coffee shop downtown to get hot chocolate. After we said bye to Cam, I took Turtle to the movies. I wanted to see Despereaux. Sadly, we missed the last showing. Meh. I bought two tickets to see Bedtime Stories. Once we were inside though, we decided we wanted to see Valkyrie more, so we just popped into that one instead. Then we went to JB's for dinner, and went home. We stayed up late looking at fail blog on the race car bed, laughing and laughing.
Thursday the 15th, we kinda just chilled. We filled out Peace Corps applications, and I blogged. Zeta and Spence came over and we played Nertz and Dominoes. I, of course, even with my self-handi-caps, owned at Nertz. I am a God at that game. Sierra came over with her kids and totally quizzed Turtle and I about our "upcoming wedding." Heh Heh. Awwwwwkward! We went for Mexican that night, and it was so good I went back twice after Turtle left by myself.
Friday the 16th we snagged a ride with Tobias up the mountain. We got breakfast at a gas station and then counted how many times Tobias nearly killed us driving. We stopped at my uncles, then went to see Cascade, and McCall. Wanted to eat at The Mill, but it was closed, so we ate at one of the ritzy hotels right on the lake instead. The owners were soooo loaded. After that, it was finally time. SNOWBOARDING. Nice. We had so much fun trying out our boards and getting the hang of it. I can go really good, but that doesn't help because you crash at the bottom, lol. Tobias insisted it was about carving. You have to go back and forth. So then I tried learning how to turn, which was harder than it looked.
After we got cold and the sun went down, we got dinner, rented a video, ate tacos, and then after the movie went to the Hot Springs, which were so fun! There was a group of guys in the lower pool, so we used the upper. The best part about the whole thing was knowing there was snow, we were in hot water, and being able to look at the stars.
When we were done, I led Turtle back to the car without a flashlight because I have stellar night vision while Tobias finished changing. We started watching Kung Fu Panda but Turtle was wiped and we went to bed instead.
Saturday the 17th we watched the rest of Panda and I made pizza. Then we played outside in the snow for a bit while waiting for a vehicle so we could go snowboarding again. I managed to get turning down really well one way, but still struggled with the other.
I also told Turtle that she needed to lean more on the board so it would grip and then she decided that snowboarding was super amazing (I have no idea what she was doing before this) We went to the store after and got dinner, then played with Sierra's kids some more. We watched another lame movie (Mad Money) and played yahtzee. The 6-year old beat us. Then we worked on my lesson.
Sunday the 18th, we were still in Cascade, so I got to teach! However, they took away my 10yr olds and gave me the 5yr olds instead! Eee. I was excited but nervous. I taught everything I could think of from the lesson, even having them color and play games, and I still ran out of material. I tried to go back to the previous week's lesson, but they remembered they'd already learned it and it didn't work so well. Turtle stepped in and tried to get them to role-play but one of the girls just wanted to pretend she was a puppy. Eee. Also like 2 of my kids left during singing time (which was before class) because they missed their parents and they started crying. After church was over, we went back to Uncle's, loaded Turtle's stuff, and it was off to the airport for her flight home.
It was such a good visit, I was so glad she got to come. As a final treat for reading this far, here's where I was living in Idaho before I got booted out:
I forgot to mention in previously that before my uncle agreed to help me move out in the matter of a few hours, I'd been conversing with my favorite roommate of all time and he (bless his soul) was prepared to come and save me. Had that happened Turtle was prepared to change her ticket to Salt Lake.
The Saturday before Turtle arrived, Tobias was down in the valley, and so was Trav's friend Dave. Tobias loves caving but he was tired of Kuna Cave, so he had me use my internet finding skills to dig up some more caves. I found one called Gore's cave and we went to go find it early Saturday. Well, the cave entrance was pretty much a crack in the ground, that I could barely fit inside. We looked around the surrounding landscape to see if there was any other entrance. Nope, that was it. Tobias got down in and there was some INTENSE wind. So we put on an extra layer, then Tobias went first, me next, and Trav and Dave coming last. Once you got down and slid through the tiny opening, the cave opened up big enough we could stand. We spent the next few hours exploring and poking in every part of the cave. It didn't go many places too interesting, nor did it go very far in any direction, but it was still neat to play in. Then we went over by Swann Falls and played on the Snake River plain, looking for an old brick house that eluded us. We got pizza and went home to clean off all the mud. That was a pretty fun evening.
Turtle arrived Monday morning on the 12th. I got up early so that I could be sure and be there on time. I've been by the airport countless times and picked up twice, so I thought sure I could get there on my own; right? Not so much. L O L. I saw everything else though. Drove by the military base, the industrial park, the factory outlets. I drove in circles and loops and missed my exit and she was there before I even got to the stupid place. LOL
On my way to the airport being lost I drove past a chapel and noticed that there was a missionary meeting going on, and one of the people I baptized is kinda serving a mission in Boise right now, so when I had Turtle we went there first. The old missionary dude outside was funny because we asked him about the meeting and he mistook us for investigators and kindly explained that there were no services today and that they met on sundays. Lol Sadly he's serving in another area, so we didn't get to see him.
We went to Kels' house (who sadly got called into work) and watched HEROES Season 3. The whole thing. From beginning to end, like 11 hours. Turtle is addicted. Only she doesn't do violence or blood. Which is where I come in. I tell her when to cover and uncover her eyes. It works most of the time, but sometimes she still ends up seeing a severed head or something else she didn't need in her brain. There was one interruption to the marathon: Cayla came over to say hey with her youngest, which was neat, because I hadn't seen her in a while. After that was over, we went out to get some dinner at Applebee's. The gentlemen asked us if we were there for dinner...? Mmm, no we just came to look at your Timberline High School Picture Gallery? Honestly. After dinner we went back to Kels' and played with her kids. HEr two-year was playing a leapster game and totally said, "Oh crap!" to the surprise of all of us, including his dad! Oops! Then we got headed over to Trav's where I set Turtle up on the bed and I took the couch.
Tuesday the 13th I made eggs for breakfast, then we went out with my Aunt K to go Geocaching. OH yeah. My aunt wanted to get 25 in one day, so we needed to go quickly. It was Turtle's first time so she got to see a regular-size one, small ones, and even micro-caches.
The day was really foggy, and much of the grass was wet so by the end we were wet up to our knees. The most exciting cache of the day had to be this one:
"We started off enveloped in thick fog, barely able to see anywhere in front of us. Then, a gunshot. Turtle hit the dirt. 'What was that?' Me: 'Um, a gun shot. The description said there was a firing range somewhere nearby.' We didn't think much of it, except the part where Turtle kept ducking everytime there was a sound.
"We eventually made our way to the top, spent forever looking (agree that the hint is vague) and finally Turtle made the find. Our coords at the find were: N 43° 29.269 W 116° 43.255
"After rehiding we stopped at the memorial, then started making our way back down. The firing continued, and Turtle picked up a bottle to CITO. Then I saw the shotgun shells. Hundreds of them. Casings EVERYWHERE. About the same time Turtle discovered this bottle she'd picked had holes in it. BULLET holes.
"TALK ABOUT A FREAK OUT. THE GUNS ARE GOING OFF AND HOLY MOTHER OF PEARL WHERE'S BATMAN WE ARE STANDING IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FIRING RANGE!!!!!!!!!!!
"Let's put it mildly and say much running therein ensued. Frantic, I'm-going-to-die-why-hasn't-it-happened-yet running. Yeah.
"We made it out alive. Somehow. Don't think I'll be bringing any of my friends back to visit this cache; nothing personal."
After we found a ton of caches, we went to my Aunt's then out to dinner for a geocaching event! After the hubbub was all over and we were tired out, we went back to Trav's and logged everything we'd found that day. That night we met up with Kels and her hubby at the ghetto, empty bowling alley. We had to wait forever for them to get there, and I didn't have a very good night bowling; barely 100. Turtle got 60 or 70, which was like double her normal score. Awesome. Then sleep.
Wednesday the 14th, Turtle slept most of the morning (and the afternoon) while I just hung out (and blogged), although when she first woke up we did make a Pita Pit run, because let's be honest, I'm 100% an addict. At Turtle's request, F***book was actually opened on my computer while she chatted with her friend Cam she hadn't seen in like 6 years. I even added some to the convo (*gasp!* I chatted on F***book).
That afternoon we went to Boise and met up with Cam and it was all around fun, except Turtle actually bowled so slow, her ball DID get stuck. Three times! Then we went to a coffee shop downtown to get hot chocolate. After we said bye to Cam, I took Turtle to the movies. I wanted to see Despereaux. Sadly, we missed the last showing. Meh. I bought two tickets to see Bedtime Stories. Once we were inside though, we decided we wanted to see Valkyrie more, so we just popped into that one instead. Then we went to JB's for dinner, and went home. We stayed up late looking at fail blog on the race car bed, laughing and laughing.
Thursday the 15th, we kinda just chilled. We filled out Peace Corps applications, and I blogged. Zeta and Spence came over and we played Nertz and Dominoes. I, of course, even with my self-handi-caps, owned at Nertz. I am a God at that game. Sierra came over with her kids and totally quizzed Turtle and I about our "upcoming wedding." Heh Heh. Awwwwwkward! We went for Mexican that night, and it was so good I went back twice after Turtle left by myself.
Friday the 16th we snagged a ride with Tobias up the mountain. We got breakfast at a gas station and then counted how many times Tobias nearly killed us driving. We stopped at my uncles, then went to see Cascade, and McCall. Wanted to eat at The Mill, but it was closed, so we ate at one of the ritzy hotels right on the lake instead. The owners were soooo loaded. After that, it was finally time. SNOWBOARDING. Nice. We had so much fun trying out our boards and getting the hang of it. I can go really good, but that doesn't help because you crash at the bottom, lol. Tobias insisted it was about carving. You have to go back and forth. So then I tried learning how to turn, which was harder than it looked.
After we got cold and the sun went down, we got dinner, rented a video, ate tacos, and then after the movie went to the Hot Springs, which were so fun! There was a group of guys in the lower pool, so we used the upper. The best part about the whole thing was knowing there was snow, we were in hot water, and being able to look at the stars.
When we were done, I led Turtle back to the car without a flashlight because I have stellar night vision while Tobias finished changing. We started watching Kung Fu Panda but Turtle was wiped and we went to bed instead.
Saturday the 17th we watched the rest of Panda and I made pizza. Then we played outside in the snow for a bit while waiting for a vehicle so we could go snowboarding again. I managed to get turning down really well one way, but still struggled with the other.
I also told Turtle that she needed to lean more on the board so it would grip and then she decided that snowboarding was super amazing (I have no idea what she was doing before this) We went to the store after and got dinner, then played with Sierra's kids some more. We watched another lame movie (Mad Money) and played yahtzee. The 6-year old beat us. Then we worked on my lesson.
Sunday the 18th, we were still in Cascade, so I got to teach! However, they took away my 10yr olds and gave me the 5yr olds instead! Eee. I was excited but nervous. I taught everything I could think of from the lesson, even having them color and play games, and I still ran out of material. I tried to go back to the previous week's lesson, but they remembered they'd already learned it and it didn't work so well. Turtle stepped in and tried to get them to role-play but one of the girls just wanted to pretend she was a puppy. Eee. Also like 2 of my kids left during singing time (which was before class) because they missed their parents and they started crying. After church was over, we went back to Uncle's, loaded Turtle's stuff, and it was off to the airport for her flight home.
It was such a good visit, I was so glad she got to come. As a final treat for reading this far, here's where I was living in Idaho before I got booted out:
Comments
Meh, I <3 Nertz so I guess I'm okay with it...