Adventures with Mike, Cynthia and Dex

August Rafting...A drop in the bucket.

2010-10-21T14:57:00.001-07:00

I have always wanted to give this a try. I never had before. People come from around the world to raft this very river. Our backyard is so fun...I am in constant surprise and amazement at the things availble to the senses around here. Mike has spent his fair share of time guiding trips down the river in California. For me this was all new. As demonstrated by my stern face, I hated it. Just hated it. What a great day with Boxed wine, Dex and friends in boat. I cannot wait to do it again!

Canadian Turkey Eh.

2010-10-18T20:19:00.000-07:00

It was a very important day. It was Canadian Thanksgiving! I was half joking when I told the people at the meeting we had to move it along so I could get home to turkey in the oven. Well...I must of had an energy boost because I ended up making all the recipes I had been toting around in my purse...turkey with yummy stuff on and in it, stuffing with prosciutto and onion, spaghetti squash with cinnamon and a tasty mushroom sauce for it all. Desert was wonton skins baked with appples inside. All was enjoyed under our starry new pergola! Yummo! I only wished we could have shared the evening with others!

July 2010...Santa Barbara! Old news...Delayed post.

2010-09-27T19:35:00.000-07:00

Crazy L.A. fires. Not as crazy as the traffic...yikers.

Again we made the annual trek to San Diego. I for the AVID conference and Mike joined me apres for some fun in the sun. We decided to rent a car and drive through L.A. up to Santa Barbara. NEVER AGAIN. OH. MY. GERSH. How can people do it??? 3 Hours to go 30 miles. I kid you not. Santa Barabara was lovely though. Once we made it there!

Camper Adventures

2010-09-27T16:57:00.000-07:00

We've been camping a few times lately...I love it. Mike is learning to love it! I mean I think he really does love it he just pretends he doesn't! We make a fire, eat, drink wine, have a coffee, sleep, hike, have coffee again. It's a pretty good way to spend 24 hours in my opinion. Dex seems to like it too.

Sundancing in Utah. July 2010.

2010-07-20T21:37:00.001-07:00

We are so fortunate to be able to travel around and see so many awesome things. Every once and awhile you come to a place that takes your breath away...like you simply cannot be seing what you are seeing. Sundance Utah is a place like that. This is what Mr. Famous actor- Robert Redford spent his money on. He bought this mountain...but there is almost nothing there. If you look hard, you can see a giant waterfall next to the tree at the bottom middle of this picture. It gives the vastness some perspective. We hiked to these beautiful waterfalls. And this is what a great hike does to someone with a Dex! If you have one, you know how nice (and sometimes impossible) this is. Most days you would rather just throw the little fella out the window. O.K. SOME days not most.

We also went to the Ben Folds and Utah Symphony concert in Deer Valley. This video is so not good. So beware...I just wanted to be able to look at the concert over and over. It was that nice.

Oh...and I forgot to mention the reason we went...Mike earned his survey credentials in Utah!

10,000 Feet. 80,000 steps.

2010-07-12T20:14:00.000-07:00

We packed the tent. The chairs. Wine. Snacks. We spent Saturday night under the stars. Safe and sound under a thunderstorm. We hiked All. Day. Saturday. It was totally awesome. I had my little diabetes pack and Dex to keep things in line. We made it to a river. I wanted to jump in. I didn't. Too gushing-like. Too high up. 10,00 feet. Too Fun.

The Wildflowers were well, pretty wild.

**caution..these videos are extremely lame. We must have been very tired already. We will try and do better next time.

And what about a Birthday Hike. A different dessert.

2010-07-06T21:23:00.001-07:00

Instead of red, white and blue cake, we celebrated the Grand Weekend with a birthday hike. Way easier on the blood sugar. This is our desert. A place to beat the heat way up high. Cool in so many ways! This is our backyard. Right behind our house (well, a few miles up). Talk about a natural hanging Basket. The wildflowers were in full bloom! Oh yeah, and the rocks Rocked!

America's Weekend and New Age. So Sparkly.

2010-07-06T21:07:00.001-07:00

We did our American duty and headed out to The Fireworks. For the first time, we stayed in town for the holiday. It was nice to see what our great city of Boise had to offer up!

We rode our bikes to the park and watched the fireworks take off above us. We brought BBQ ribs and coleslaw for a good old fashioned picker snicker.
Some tasty ribs and a phone call home!

We hopped off the bikes on our way downtown for a couple of glasses of the hottest new sumemrbeverage..New Age on ice with a lime. Delicious! Try it! You will drink enough to spell "summer" that way too!

La France

2010-06-24T13:49:00.001-07:00

I never actually write that much because I figure nobody really wants to read anything! Mostly I just try and keep these adventures documented and in order for my own brain! So, here are some tid-bits I need to remember about this trip to France:
1. Number of bottles of wine that we drank = 70
2. Number of used metro tickets at the bottom of my purse = 47
3. Number of delicious meals = ALL
4. Number of chocolate croissants consumed = not enough
5. Number od yachts over 100 feet = so very many!!!
6. Number of fantastic, big hearted, adventurous parents along for the ride = 2!

What a view. What a magnificant trip. I will count the days until we make it happen again.

Our little bungalow in Antibes

Oh how I loved, loved this! I want to go back. For keeps. The food, the shops, the wine. Oh the wine. Those tomatoes, the prosciutto, the cheese. Oh the prosciutto. Did I mention le Cafe? Oh the coffee.

VancouBRRRRRRR, B.C.

2010-04-17T18:20:00.001-07:00

March flowers.

2010-03-07T14:46:00.001-08:00

After a long day of skiing on saturday, I came home to spend some time in the yard. I picked my first bouquet of the year! Spring has sprung!

McCall Idaho, March 6 2010

2010-03-07T14:40:00.000-08:00

Mike broke his toe and couldn't make the trip. I brought another man skiing instead. It was the most beautiful day of the ski year yet! I think Stanley enjoyed it.

He was pretty tired on the bus ride home but did great!

Random Day of February skiing at Bogus. And Mike graduates!

2010-03-07T14:26:00.001-08:00

This is my one chance per year to get Mike out skiing. Snowy plus snow. Oh well! The burgers at the bottom were delicious and warm.Mike finished his Masters in Urban Planning.

Heart Day Weeekend. Salty.

2010-03-07T14:05:00.001-08:00

A getaway to Park City/Salt Lake for some Valentine fun. Our February 14th was spent having high tea in our hotel. Heart shaped delights. We went to the tabernacle choir and Park City for shopping. A great day and a great weekend!

A view from our balcony. Salt Lake has some great scenery A little too late. Wrong city.

Birthday Times. A bottle of vino per decade.

2010-01-22T20:09:00.001-08:00

Our friends the Morgans are some of the very finest you could hope to know. What a great dinner filled with Italiano, vino and many crayons!

32 is not so bad. Especially with these two guys!

Another Day at the Office...

2010-01-08T17:37:00.001-08:00

We live at the bottom of this. The school at which I teach is also down there, 10 miles away. I love Ski Day at school! So many kids get the chance of a lifetime to get up The Mountain. So many of the kids at our school come from poverty...for one day they can touch the clouds!

African refugee kiddos...learning to ski!

Me and a student, Martin.

Snowshoe Saturday. January 2nd.

2010-01-03T10:27:00.000-08:00

While we may have stayed in for New Year's, we had an action packed day of outdoor adventure on the second day of January 2010! We headed up to Bogus and took a mountain top snowshoe. We finished off this beautiful 45 degree January day with a stroll downtown, shopping at Anthropologie, dinner and yet another round of coffee/desert at Asiago's. I hope there are many days in 2010 like this!

A New Year to you! 2010.

2010-01-03T10:17:00.000-08:00

Any new year should begin appropriately with new recipes. We stayed in this New Year and made soup a l'onion gratinee and mini turkey sliders. Delicious!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This Cookbook was a gift from Mike... fantastic recipes...off to get more ingredients.

What you doonin'? Front Street anyone?

2010-01-03T10:12:00.001-08:00

Could these kiddos be any sweeter?
It really ended well with Bob's Big Breakfast.

I love Elliot's face in this picture! Ethan looks too happy after all them pancakes.

12 Below...A trip to the B town

2010-01-01T11:04:00.000-08:00

Fashion is very important in the MN. So, you must first know how to dress.
Once ready, you may set out to complete your travels..... This is Gull Lake. Lakes are used mostly for swimming in many other places.
Be sure to pack light because your travels may be lengthy and slow going.

Back to the MinneSnapolis for snow!

2010-01-01T10:36:00.000-08:00

The Depot hotel in Minneapolis

We left Boise on christmas eve and made it into the MN just fine. Fun was had by all with a storm filled stroll through the cities to be followed by elegant and tasty game. Hot toddies by the fireplace capped off the night. If only we could have squeezed in a game of lawn bowling. A white christmas to all and to all a great night!

Thunder Bay Replay....Christmas 2009 seemed like 2008! Snow, snow and here we go...!

2009-12-31T22:44:00.001-08:00

Aunty Judy's Christmas Dinner! Yummo!

This is what we saw for 8 hours. But it was entirely worth it to spend christmas night in Thunder Bay with all of The Canadians. Everyone wins at the canadian "gift" exchange...you can choose from a case of beer, a 2 liter of wine, a botttle of whiskey or a classy cordial mix. The all come nicely packaged for the holidays.

Mike loves to make the canadian shop.
So nice to see Grandma G

Grams Rogers old house

Mike's Birthday.December is Nice. Sun Valley too.

2009-12-31T22:24:00.001-08:00

Mike's birthday night was filled with candlelight foods. We had sushi with candle wasabi and then Asiago's tiramisu (special request) with yet more birthday candles. It was nice. The next morning we woke up to head to Sun Valley!

For Mike's birthday we went to Sun Valley. We went with our friends Emily (also her bday) and Jay. It was so much fun! We swam outside in the snow at the Sun Valley Lodge, ate yummy food and drank tasty beverages. We shopped and took pictures in the snow.

We don't get a ton of snow so everything looks so nice when it does turn white.
I love our little garage so much. It reminds me of Shrek.

Winter Wonderland in Boise.

2009-12-31T22:14:00.000-08:00

Lights at the Botanical Gardens!

I love lights and finally got to see my "Winter Garden A Glow!" Even though it was a little rainy, the lights were bright and we had a romantical time. We walked for a few hours, saw a reindeer and then went for drinks at Bown Crossing.

Way back play back. San Antonio.

2009-12-31T21:52:00.000-08:00

We love San Antonio but love Austin even more. We didn't do much the entire trip but walk, talk, shop and eat. Perfect! Oh yeah, I worked all day too! I loved my conference and learned.

I'm going in reverse a little. Much to catch up on. November was fast. Faster than I could keep up. I am still not sure about everything that happened but I know we went to San Antonio, I presented a conference in Boise and my parents snuck in the week before T. Giving.

Cali Baby..we're cool like that. Well, maybe not.

2009-08-03T09:05:00.000-07:00

We really were here together.

Hey, whats down there?Wow! Elephant butts.

But I was not excited to see them at all.

What a wonderful time.

More Mom, Dad and yard!

2009-07-24T07:21:00.000-07:00

Wow! When they come, we work! They sure know how to teach us young whipper snappers. We gardened, we weeded, we planted, we (they) moved boulders and installed ceiling fans. Whatever will we do now that we are back to just two?The rocks just didn't look good there.This is what we did while they did that.By the way, this is what their magnificant place ( where I grew up!) in the MN looks like. This is why they make us work! Ha!

Ace of Hearts. Couer d'Alene Idaho.

2009-07-21T09:46:00.000-07:00

The Fourth of July was a two day drive to Couer d'Alene Idaho! An we got to relax a little!! We had a great day on the lake and a super fun weekend away! Cheers. So nice to spend a family day with the family! Finally a swim and a cocktail! Delicious in every way.

Lavender Festival

2009-07-11T16:58:00.000-07:00

Mom is here in Boise (said bye to Pa Rog today) and we went to the Lavender Festival in Nampa. We bought three plants (so we could "grow our own") and we cut some fresh stuff!

Garden of Daisies. Update.

2009-07-02T08:22:00.000-07:00

Mike is pretty sure he thinks I planted daisies instead of carrots. Doubt it. I think my lil' garden is looking better than the last post though.

Aloha. Potatoes.

2009-07-02T08:17:00.000-07:00

They even buried a pig. Oink.

The other day we went to a Hawaiian-backyard-pool party wedding. It reminded me of living in Hawaii. Well, I guess not really since the backyard was in Idaho, but still, it was nice.

Here is where I work. I like It. And Free Pizza too. I mean I work at the school but a pizza place had free teacher pizza.

2009-06-22T12:26:00.001-07:00

Free Pizza Day for Junior High teachers! Yummo.

This does not normally happen in my class!

These are some seriously great kiddos.

Last Day of School

Things Around the Yard.

2009-06-22T12:20:00.000-07:00

Stuff in Yard.

Mike.

Unknown . But Pretty.

SSuper Tall Day Lilies ( I think)

The Little Garden.

2009-06-22T12:07:00.001-07:00

I started a Little Garden. Yikes. Help Dick Help.

Focus on something gorgeous.I have never really seen Columbines. They are AWESOME! Full Effect- first week of June.
The Absolutely. Fabulous. Poppies. I adore these things. Let me know if they are not poppies. I just guessedI love our yard. It changes almost every day. Precious Poppies- Last week of May, first week of June.

More Portland...I need it. These pictures make me smile.

2009-05-23T20:10:00.000-07:00

A trip for two...me and you. We walked, we talked, we ate, we drank cafe. Oh yeah, and we rode the train around. I love the train. Portland is the best "no car" city ever. Cheers.

Sping, sprang, sprung

2009-05-22T21:50:00.000-07:00

Spring is Beaitiful in Boise. It needs the capital "B." Basket from mom, dripping with "wub."

The Cherry blossoms around the city are quite the site

Back again..May 17, 2009

2009-05-22T21:38:00.000-07:00

And so to the beginning. This is where it starts. This is all just a little out of order, but then again so are we. Just a sign. Just a restaurant. Plain and old. But somehow there we were, there we went and back again. How nice. Just two, just like the first time, and I'm sure, just like it will be again.
Thanks Bartender. It's a special photo. To us anyway.

Awake.

2009-05-04T17:44:00.000-07:00

I think I stayed awake for all 6 states. There was no way I was missing any of this. Mike slept. But he kept me safe. Choo Choo.
We played cards and ate tuna sandwhiches in the dining car. Something was bound to blossom...

Empire Builder

2009-05-04T17:37:00.000-07:00

The only two people in the station. We boarded at midnight. Mike left his truck parked outside. I left all reason a few miles back. I could probably still find my same seat on the train and the same conductor that sat us there. I snuggled in next to the window and next to my new best friend. All aboard.

S-10 to Staples.

2009-05-04T17:19:00.000-07:00

All of a sudden, I feel I need to start the story from day 1. May 17 2005. I remember watching "Friends" on T.V. Mike came to pick me up in the S-10. The same one a duck flew right into just a few weeks earlier. She sat next to Mike for awhile on the seat before she came to. O.k., so there I was, 11pm with my giant North Face bag packed and ready for an adventure. I had never been to Portland and certainly never by train. We drove, in the rain, to Staples, MN. The thing I remember most is that the wipers were broken. They weren't broken previously, only now of course, with the pounding rain. I thought it was really funny.

Ahhh... Spring Break...Mike takes Cyndi to Utah

2009-04-13T19:12:00.000-07:00

I love waterfalls. We had to stop. I had an awesome picture named "layin' pipe" but somehow I lost it. Somebody built the most incredible water system that stretched across this waterfall. anyway...yadda yadda. Mike drove alot this day. Thanks Mike. He also got alot of new clothes.

After a teacher-reprieve week of lounging and lounging, Mike packed me in the car and we went to Utah! We needed T shirts and pants...what better place to find them than Park City. We stayed in a beautiful old hotel with a great view...

I'll give ya somethin' to cheer about...

2009-03-07T00:43:00.000-08:00

and here marks the last eve of my adventure in cheerleading. ra ra. these lovely ladies may now rest their pompoms for the season. i had a great time learning about something new but mostly i made a great new friend out of the deal. Cathy you're amazing!

Nothing like being stuck in the snow with your family!

2009-01-13T19:04:00.000-08:00

Here we are stuck on the subway...so much snow a tree fell over the tracks...hmmm? As you can see, my dad isn't sure what's going on either.

Here we are stuck in a snow bank in front of the Canucks game...

Here we are stuck in the driveway in the motorhome....hmmm? (Actually it was parked for the winter!)

And here I am stuck inside with Grams!! She obviously is tired of seeing the snow too!

Plains, trains, ferries and Greyhound part II.

Vancouver here we come...plane, train, ferry, greyhound, taxi, van, SUV, skytrain with a tree. The snow's not stoppin' us!

2009-01-01T15:10:00.001-08:00

It Doesn't snow here...3 feet later! We started off the journey for the holiday flying into a storm filled Seattle. No fish market that day. A van and an SUV ride later, we crossed the border with a carload of strangers (thanks Dawn and Vince) willing to give us a ride and landed in Vancouver. We waited until 3am for the parents to arrive from the same, only now snowier, trek. They actually had to push a van up a highway at one point. Yep, they are canadian.

THE EMPRESS

Victoria, British Columbia is a place to behold. The Queen happened to be busy in England that day, but Mike and I enjoyed our stay at the Empress nonetheless. We had tea and crumpets and those mini cucumber sandwhiches. We both got new shoes, shined them with our shoe mitts and headed off in more snow. On the Greyhound, up island to Qualicom Beach (no beach just snow) we arrived a little late for christmas eve dinner.

HOUSE OF PARLIAMENT

The Victoria harbour and the Parliament building. I am happy here because I just got new shoes. I also love lights, boats, Canada, and harbours. Not harbors though. Victoria is about a two hour ferry ride from Vancouver or Seattle. The ferry ride is part of the fun. You can see whales, seals, fish and water. We only saw water.

THE MOTORHOME

And for the next adventure, the motorhome. I think you call them RV's in the U.S. Although we enjoyed it parked, we vowed to steal it for an island tour during the summer. We had a nice visit with Auntie Norma, Gordon and Grams...thanks for letting us bunk-in!

DA CANUCKS

Although the city was completely shut down and snowed in, the Canucks game went on. Jeff met his "guy" and managed 8 somewhat legal tickets. 30,000 strong with fist fulls of Molson's, hockey was played.

Greetings for the Season. Where's the snow?

2008-12-14T04:34:00.000-08:00

Getting ready for the Holidays.

Helen, the Snowflakes in the window are still beautiful!

Wreaths o' plenty of ribbon

Grams tree is as timeless as ever...even at 50 years old!

18 feet and no falls. I can breathe again.

Done decorating and off to Vancouver we went. We were very excited to see everyone out west

Chickens and Great Fall Days

2008-10-26T18:44:00.000-07:00

It's the great Pumpkin Charlie Brown.

Chicken Coop...after eyeing the one at the pumpkin patch, we came home to create our own.

The Green Belt Bike-a-thon

Fall is beautiful around here. We've been on the bikes, the Green Belt is awesome...30 miles of paved trail along the river. The pumpkins are out in full force and Mike has cleaned out the chicken coop for Spring. Love to all and miss you bunches- MC

This is for Ethan! We love the ZOO!

2008-10-18T20:46:00.000-07:00

Zoo Boise Rocks!

The Giraffes are beautiful . We spent a glorious Saturday morning at Zoo Boise with our freinds Emily and Jay and their two awesome kids Nickolay and Alexi. They have cool names. We really missed our buddy Ethan Lien and thought of him the entire time (of course we missed Emma and Eliott too.)

Have you ever
heard of a bear sloth?
They have awesome
feet.

I love these little penguins

We are really cracking up. Get it... Love to all. M and C

Thanks Lisa for the beautiful pin!

2008-10-11T12:01:00.001-07:00

Mom I'll be using my new gloves!

2008-10-11T11:08:00.000-07:00

We can dine under our new skylights, two of them!

Our Shrek tree made a mess. Poor fella.
We came home late last night and knew a branch was in the driveway. We went to bed with no power or heat and it was snowing...In the morning we found out we had a new skylight! We still have no idea what happened.

Le Weekend...

2008-10-02T19:46:00.000-07:00

Mike and his Hose

My five dollar tables. I think they look great after a little paint. I did our coffee table and a little yellow sewing table. We were sweating in the desert sun as our neighbor swam furiously in her new pool. No invitation.

We have been staying put to work on fun projects. The extent of our travels have been down the road to garage sales. I have finished "furnishing" my classroom (blog to come) and am now working on the house. It should be a small task as my classroom is slightly larger than our house! I couldn't love our cottage more. I think Mike really loves it too... he has been busy watering his driveway (long story) between working on his master's as Boise State and building schools around town. We miss everyone very much.

Beauty in Sadness

2008-09-21T07:56:00.000-07:00

The summer was busy and full of travel. We were called to Alberta Canada for my cousin John's funeral. He was only in his 30's. A sad occasion was surrounded by beauty in some of the most majestic and breathtaking canvases I have seen. Glacier lakes and the Rocky Mountains enveloped John's spirit as we gathered to say Goodbye for now.

Welcome little green things. Laboring on Labor Day! Bon weekend!

2008-08-31T21:53:00.000-07:00

I hope they will stay GREEN for awhile. Mostly I was happy to get our ficus (named Mr. Fikus) into a bigger space. He has grown two feet in one day. Really. Yes, that is a rum and diet coke. And more little green things. We apparently have a winery growing in our backyard. They are beautiful, edible and plentiful. We are planning a stomping party in the tubby.

Farewell to the Camel

2008-08-06T07:23:00.000-07:00

The sky was a rockin last night as we said Goodnight and Goodbye to our old nest. The sorrow lasted only moments as we headed to SHOPKO to buy a hose and a rake for our new YARD!!

Our loft is going to a nice gal from Seattle. We hope she tosses as many things overboard as we did.

Ah..Here it is, The Bungalow Built for Two...Our new place to sleep

2008-07-24T15:04:00.000-07:00

Out with the Camel
In with the New
Here is our Bungalow
built just for two.

But of course by two we mean six. We are very happy, when you come to visit us! Yes you, because you are who we want to spend time with. We love our place to be full...we will always find a place for you to lay your head. If you have not come to see us yet, please come. If you have been before, come again. We miss you in our lives and would love to see you. We will bake you as many potatoes as deemed necessary. I think they even make special toppings for that.

-CR

Virginian Bloggers

2008-07-18T13:09:00.000-07:00

First photo in Idaho...I think we look happy. August 2007

Yes, this is our first time. We are virgin bloggers.

I must first acknowledge chrisandrikki.blogspot.com for teaching us how to do this blogging and keeping Friday nights alive. In fact, it actually is Friday as I write. So, here it is, our official site to check on our stats, trades and general sense of well being. Nothing is more important to us than all of you people who fill our lives with love and support and also those of you that think we are crazy. If you are reading this, we are grateful. We wish everyone a life filled with adventure because that is what the journey is, and also a feeling of peace within the adventure knowing that you are doing what it is that you want to do.

Check back if you wish. Our goal is to Blog often. Go get em' and enjoy most things.

-CR and MC (also known as MCR)