The best part about being in Idaho was catching up with new and old friends who have settled there or who just happened to be passing through at the same time.
Thursday while I was partying and working in the office, Mike and the boys hung out at the hotel pool and played in the park, which was conveniently located right behind our Residence Inn. That evening, we went to the house of one of my friends from PLU, Tami, and her husband Matt. Tami and I overlapped in Japan for several months--she came during the last year we were there, and she stayed on for a few years more--so Mike knows her well too. We attended Tami and Matt's wedding in Boise 11 years ago, and Mike hadn't seen them since. Last year Tami and I finally reconnected (beyond annual Christmas card greetings) and had dinner in Boise when I was there on a business trip, and also joined a group of coworkers and friends for a girl's night out. It has been wonderful to reconnect with her again!
They invited us to have dinner in their beautiful home and garden...they have built a pergola with climbing grapevines and other plants in their backyard, and they have a fabulous vegetable garden and climbing delphiniums, all of which I unfortunately neglected to photograph. We had yummy barbecued chicken and great accompaniments while sitting outside admiring the beautiful backyard. They have three dogs and two cats, and Tami and Matt (and the dogs) were patient with our three children, two of whom are afraid of dogs. Chris was bitten a few years ago and gets panicked around dogs, although he did very well that evening. Nicholas, however, has a love-hate relationship and is very intrigued with them, as long as he is being held and they do not get too close...in which case he definitely panics and cries! I can't say I blame them as these were big dogs (two of them huskies), which is the equivalent in size and intimidation to Nicholas of a grizzly bear to us!
Tami was gearing up to leave the next day for her first triathalon! These women who do such things in their 40s positively put me to shame!!! They showed us their beautiful photographs from their trip to Japan last fall, and we had a great, although all-too-short-and-distracted-by-children-and-dogs time catching up. Tami is a speech pathologist, and Matt is a conservation geneticist (I hope I got that right). It was wonderful fun to see them again!
Tami and Matt in front of their house
Old (ahem, YOUNG!) college friends
Our trip to Boise happened to overlap with a business trip for my close friend Nancie, who is my colleague in our Seattle office. Nancie was VERY busy with all-day and -evening meetings, but she arranged to stay at our hotel so we could at least have early breakfasts together. Nancie is my birthday sister--we were born on the same day, 10 years apart.
Nancie and her husband are Nicholas' godparents, and my children LOVE her and never get enough time with her. Before she left for home and we left for Middleton on Friday afternoon, we met up in a very sunny Starbucks for an hour.
Nancie and two of the boys
Nancie reading Nicholas one of his very favorite books of the moment, Fire Truck, about a little boy who loves fire trucks and turns into one!
Moving onto another favorite book, this one with several varieties of trucks! Terribly exciting, I tell you!
Kieran, who wanted to be in a photo all on his own!
Thursday while I was partying and working in the office, Mike and the boys hung out at the hotel pool and played in the park, which was conveniently located right behind our Residence Inn. That evening, we went to the house of one of my friends from PLU, Tami, and her husband Matt. Tami and I overlapped in Japan for several months--she came during the last year we were there, and she stayed on for a few years more--so Mike knows her well too. We attended Tami and Matt's wedding in Boise 11 years ago, and Mike hadn't seen them since. Last year Tami and I finally reconnected (beyond annual Christmas card greetings) and had dinner in Boise when I was there on a business trip, and also joined a group of coworkers and friends for a girl's night out. It has been wonderful to reconnect with her again!
They invited us to have dinner in their beautiful home and garden...they have built a pergola with climbing grapevines and other plants in their backyard, and they have a fabulous vegetable garden and climbing delphiniums, all of which I unfortunately neglected to photograph. We had yummy barbecued chicken and great accompaniments while sitting outside admiring the beautiful backyard. They have three dogs and two cats, and Tami and Matt (and the dogs) were patient with our three children, two of whom are afraid of dogs. Chris was bitten a few years ago and gets panicked around dogs, although he did very well that evening. Nicholas, however, has a love-hate relationship and is very intrigued with them, as long as he is being held and they do not get too close...in which case he definitely panics and cries! I can't say I blame them as these were big dogs (two of them huskies), which is the equivalent in size and intimidation to Nicholas of a grizzly bear to us!
Tami was gearing up to leave the next day for her first triathalon! These women who do such things in their 40s positively put me to shame!!! They showed us their beautiful photographs from their trip to Japan last fall, and we had a great, although all-too-short-and-distracted-by-children-and-dogs time catching up. Tami is a speech pathologist, and Matt is a conservation geneticist (I hope I got that right). It was wonderful fun to see them again!
Tami and Matt in front of their house
Old (ahem, YOUNG!) college friends
Our trip to Boise happened to overlap with a business trip for my close friend Nancie, who is my colleague in our Seattle office. Nancie was VERY busy with all-day and -evening meetings, but she arranged to stay at our hotel so we could at least have early breakfasts together. Nancie is my birthday sister--we were born on the same day, 10 years apart.
Nancie and her husband are Nicholas' godparents, and my children LOVE her and never get enough time with her. Before she left for home and we left for Middleton on Friday afternoon, we met up in a very sunny Starbucks for an hour.
Nancie and two of the boys
Nancie reading Nicholas one of his very favorite books of the moment, Fire Truck, about a little boy who loves fire trucks and turns into one!
Moving onto another favorite book, this one with several varieties of trucks! Terribly exciting, I tell you!
Kieran, who wanted to be in a photo all on his own!
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