Aquarium in Idaho?!

Yeah, so I was pretty surprised to learn just this past year that there is an aquarium in Boise, the Idaho Aquarium. I saw a homeschooling mom or two post about taking her kids, even raving about it, so figured we better check it out. We did so after one of Isaac's Boise-located soccer matches. I was skeptical when we got there. I mean, how could a tiny warehouse between the mall and a car dealership be all that awesome? And it was pretty expensive! But, to support local business and see what was interesting and unique, we went ahead with our plan. I'm glad we did.

The coolest thing to me was how much was touchable. The typical tidepool stuff like starfish, but also the rays (we got to feed them, for extra $), and lizards (at an aquarium?). There was also an interesting live mangrove display.

I wouldn't go back as often as, say, the zoo but I would go back if we were studying something that could be reinforced by another visit. It's was a fun family activity.

Young Living Convention

Back around the time of Charlie's accident last fall, I had been hoping to plan a trip to Maui to attend a Wayne Dyer convention in January. Well, that idea had to be scrapped as too expensive and poor timing. However, when January rolled around I learned that Dr. Dyer would be the keynote speaker at the Young Living Essential Oils Convention in SLC in June - an organization I am a "distributor" in but more a connoisseur than a salesperson (I have only my mother and MIL "down stream" from me). So I was pretty stoked at this (much cheaper, and multi-faceted) opportunity, but still kept fence sitting about my registration, trying to decide if Mark was going to go with me (interested in the plant science and Dr. Dyer), if we would take the kids too or who would watch them... Then my dear friend Melissa (of many a past post, who has moved away from me to Twin Falls) made an open invited to join her & her sister Liza (and stay free at her other sister's home as well). Perfect! Mark could handle the kids for a couple days and I got a triple-whammy of girlfriends' getaway, education, and (hopefully) meeting a personal hero.

Liza, me & Melissa, wearing baggy shirts that make us look pregnant. We're not.

The theme of the convention was "Believe" which of course tied in most strongly to "believe you can become an amazing sales-person" but also "believe in the ability of the (various) oils to assist the health of your body/mind/spirit". Lots of research, case studies, and motivation presented by scientists, doctors, nurses, psychologists, and business leaders. I took a lot of great notes. My favorite panels were on child care (addressing blood sugar, allergies, fortifying body & brain growth, and emotion), pain relief (which incorporated a lot of yoga techniques - another love of mine) and female hormone balance. (FYI, of course individuals need actual medical professionals to test blood and advise treatments. The info was not for providing diagnoses or treatment without proper oversight.)

The panels or classes were held in "ballrooms" at the Salt Palace Convention Center, with the main speakers each day in a huge hanger-like "hall", which is also the type of room the dining area and product areas were located. I didn't pull my camera out much.

The last day it was finally time for Wayne Dyer and being an eager beaver who ardently hoped to meet the man, I hung out at the hall entrance far in advance of the doors opening. Here's a view of some of the people waiting behind me, about 30 minutes to start time:

When I got in, I blatantly cheated by sitting in the area reserved for "Silver" level sellers, which is the closest seats that are not yet the comfy chairs up front, and saved two for Liza & Melissa. Company president, Gary Young, had spoken many times already but this was the only photo I took of him... and then Wayne Dyer.

His talk lived up to my expectations in that I expected him to recirculate passages and jokes from some of his books and previous speaking engagements. He also managed to specifically address my favorites of his teachings and sparked a few dendrites with new thoughts. When he concluded, myself and several other superfans rushed the stage. The smart ones had written messages for him which he graciously gathered up. I had a book I wanted him to sign but he was being ushered off the stage... So myself along with a few other (though fewer) superfans casually strolled through the black curtains located side-stage to end up back stage to look for him. A couple more people got to shake his hand and share a personal story with him (not me) before security began escorting him away from us (via a labyrinth of back stage passages). Myself and a husband-wife team looked at each other and determined that we'd come this far, might as well go for it, so we kept a distance but continued to follow. Ended up outside on the sidewalk, where we jogged up in front of him and apologetically proclaimed whatever meaningful tidbit we just had to share with him. And got our pictures taken. And he signed my book. Success!

Namaste, Dr. Dyer!

The gals & I decided to skip Farm Day down in Mona, Utah the next morning as we all felt we'd rather get home to our husbands/kids a day early rather than driving an extra couple (round trip) hours to explore the lavender fields and possibly get some ancient wheat seeds. All in all, a great trip!

Final note: Due to lots of recent purchases for personal/family use, I now have two $30-off membership certificates for anyone interested in trying Young Living products. Some of my favorite things are the Theives toothpaste and mouthwash, Ningxia Red super juice, Omega-gize and Life-5 capsules, Ortho-Ease massage oil, and many of the essential oils such as Peppermint, Lavender, Frankincense, Purification, Valor, and RC (stands for Relieve Congestion). Let me know if you want to use one of the codes, as this is a great discount (and there is no obligation for future purchases).

Perigee Full Moon

The Supermoon had been advertised for a while but unfortunately I was out of town the first night it was full and big in the clear sky. The next night the sky was cloudy but we loaded the kids in the van anyway and we tried driving to a break in the clouds, Sam's new telescope and my 300mm-lensed-camera in tow. But the kids fell asleep before we ever really had a hope of seeing anything.

About 3 or 4 a.m., I woke up for whatever reason and the bright light coming in the window stirred me enough to remember what it was: the moon! So I grabbed my camera and stepped onto the back patio to take a couple commemorative photos. Nothing fancy like a planned shoot the night before might have yielded, but anyway, the kids were glad to see it.

Swim Lessons

For ten weeks Isaac, Sam & Charlie got to have swim lessons and free swim time with a group of local homeschoolers. Mark's dad got to take the boys swimming the week we were in Vegas and earned an earful on the pros of home education! I brought my camera one of the final days, also one of the two days that Sam decided not to participate.

Field Trips, etc.

There are a lot of homeschoolers in the Treasure Valley. We are grateful that some have organized themselves to both coordinate field trips and devise an email system to let us all know about the opportunities. My family has lately been taking more advantage of this great system, despite the long drive into Boise for most things.
The other day we got to see a puppet show and tour at the Idaho History Museum. It was way cooler than I expected!

We stayed til we pretty much had to rush home for our haircut appointments. The lovely and talented Miss Melissa came to our house this time, visiting from Twin Falls. Everyone got their hair done except Samuel (whom I will get around to cutting myself one of these days).

Swim lessons and zoo classes are continuing, as is Isaac's soccer season.
In our own community, a new children's theater has popped up. They put on Annie in March, starring a couple little friends of ours, Betsie and Addie. It was a desert theater with cheesecake at intermission and a great job with the staging and lights. We all really enjoyed it! I had to find a copy of the 80s movie version of Annie to let the boys watch that and compare. Finally they know what I'm talking about when I burst into "Tomorrow" or "It's a Hard Knock Life"!
Often my girlfriends and I go out to lunch to celebrate each other's birthdays. I got to do that a couple of times this month. Once was a more intimate group to celebrate Tamara - my massage therapist and recently a much closer friend. Jeannie and Allison (another good friend & my yoga instructor) joined us to try out a cafe in Parma.

Another field trip was to the Franz Bakery in Nampa. Better-than-expected (especially by Sam who was doubtful it would be very interesting to watch people "make bread"). It also resulted in us bringing home some yummy bagels and cinnamon bread. Isaac didn't join us for this one as he was attending a 3-day soccer camp during local Spring Break.

I didn't bring my camera into the bread factory but another family put this photo up on Facebook so I snagged it.
Lastly, for this post, we went to the Discovery Center as a family after one of Isaac's soccer games. We made it to the final day of the Bodies Revealed Exhibit there, too - something I'd been looking forward to seeing.

 

So many good things to do!

Finally Seattle Family Trip - Part One

Many events conspired to keep us away from my homeland this year: whooping cough, hospital stays, and pellet factory demands to name a few. So we decided to go the first available weekend, despite it being smack between the holidays. It always gives my city-girl heart a thrill to see Seattle again.

We took the kids to Seattle Center all day Saturday! First we played in the Pacific Science Center, including dinosaurs, the butterfly exhibit, and an Egyptian IMAX movie.

There was also a "magic show" that taught scientific reasoning - and Sam was one of the chosen volunteers!

We had lunch within the Science Center - there was too much to see to leave. But at a certain point it became hard to keep everyone in remotely the same place, so we switched venues and split up. I took the three oldest up in the Space Needle (Charlie needed to vanquish the Evil King who lived up there).

Space-age Santa was up top to help conquer evil, so that helped Charlie out a lot. Riding back down the elevator was the best view I managed of the new-to-me Chihuly museum. Gonna have to check that out some day.

Meanwhile Mark had taken David into the Armory to get a chocolate shake and check out the festivities indoors. We caught up with them there.

We were playing the whole day by ear, and ended up having some fun outside by the Experience Music Project (also went inside for the first time - to use the bathroom).

Charlie and David begged to ride the monorail, so we went downtown to see the city lights.

 Mmmm, fresh donuts to warm our fingers and our tummies.

Back to the Center and time to drive home, to my mom's place. (That's Grandpa Golden being surrounded there.)

Someone had a full, fun day! After all this, Mark & I went out to dinner with my brother and his girlfriend (Danny treated for my early birthday present) and we hung out at his apartment afterwards as well.