Boise, ID

As mentioned in previous posts, my children are park-a-holics. As this is one of their very favorite activities, winter, when it is absolutely too cold and nasty to be outside, is hard on them. Thank goodness for Wahooz! (formerly known as Boondocks) where for a modest fee they can climb, slide, and swing like the [...]

One of my kids’ favorite things to do is play pretend and consequently they love to head to the Discovery Center of Idaho. You may wonder what pretending and science have to do with one another, but one of the permanent exhibits at DCI is a kid-sized grocery store. Knowing this, when it was my [...]

“Well,” said my husband. “Do you want to do anything special today on your birthday?” My first response was “Oh, I don’t know. We don’t need to do anything. I have plenty to do here.” Then my more adventuresome side kicked in and I said, “You know, it would be a good excuse to visit [...]

To start this post, I have to say that while it features Caldwell, it also contains important information for anyone who lives anywhere in the area, from Ontario to Mountain Home. So if you are truly completely uninterested in the rest of the post, at least scroll to the bottom and read the last few [...]

Our family is all about traditions, and when we find something we enjoy, we usually try to make it a regular thing. One of our favorite October activities is our annual fall drive and picnic. The basic instructions for this outing are: pack the car with the kids, some riding-along activities, some CD’s a picnic, [...]

A couple of weeks ago I started this little series of fall fun ideas, and then I got so busy with the “un-fun” things that make up life’s routines and to-do lists that I haven’t had a chance to work on it. Ahh, to have more time! But without further preamble, here we go with [...]

Until the last few days autumn has been amazingly gorgeous here in SW Idaho this year, providing us with no excuse not to get outside and enjoy! Over the last month or so, our family has experienced some great fall fun that could be adapted and enjoyed on a crisp autumn day or evening anywhere [...]

Although summer and thus the traditional camping season were both officially and unofficially over several weeks ago, we wanted to squeeze in an outdoors excursion before it got really cold. For a variety of reasons, our family did not get in our usual assortment of weekend camping trips during the summer, so when my husband [...]

There is always one thing that makes the coming of fall a little more bearable as the waning days of summer make me feel like a little kid dreading the return of school days: college football. I love everything about football season. I love breaking out the school colors, barbequing gluttonous food, getting together with friends, watching the upsets, and drinking a couple beers. No matter where you are in the country, game day is always filled with enthusiasm and energy, and Boise State game day does not disappoint.

We left the Gowen Field History exhibit and wandered back to the main room. I gave my son a brief description of his great grandfather’s service in WWI, then pointed him to the WWI display. As he left to view them, Don wandered back toward me with a small paperbound book in hand. (Sam the Doughboy, Copyright grandpavee-2008)

“I want to show you something.” I forgot the title, but it was of the history of the 164th FA Battalion. Don proceeded to carefully thumb through the book, showing me pictures as he went along. As it turned out, his friend had written the book, with Don’s help-or as Don put it; “I gave him most of the information and he wrote it!”