October

Fall Came fast, and it has been cold. But, that has not stopped us from partaking in all of the fun local fall activities. We started the month with the annual Early-Schultz-Weaver camping trip in Sun Valley. We typically coordinate this trip with the Trailing of the Sheep festival in Ketchum. The sheep are moved from their summer mountain pastures, through Ketchum, and down to winter pastures near Hailey. It was also the peak foliage weekend in Sun Valley. So, the entire valley was beautiful.

The next weekend we took the boys to see their first movie in the theater.  We saw Toy Story 3, of course. We had been waiting until the movie moved to the cheap theaters in case we didn't stay the entire time. The boys were really good, and stayed in their seats most of the time. Caulder is usually more interested in watching movies than Kessler, but neither of them can typically sit through an entire movie. There were some periods of boredom, but we did watch the entire movie, which was really good.

We spent another weekend carving the plethora of pumpkins we have been collecting at various activities on our porch. Then we went to a corn maze this past weekend. In addition to navigating the maze, Caulder and Kessler also got to ride their first horse (a pony actually) all by themselves. 

As the boys near 3 we are amazed daily at their quickly developing imagination and vocabulary. They love to pretend they are navigating the world on their fort, and make up all kinds of silly songs. There is never a dull moment around the house. Now if we could just tackle potty training:)

A much needed break!

The boys got to visit their Grandparents in Portland over Labor Day weekend and through Thursday the following week while Mat and I had some time off. While the boys played at the Portland Zoo, the Oregon State Fair, and The Enchanted Forest, Mat and I did a little camping and hiking in Bend, then caught up on some movies and relaxing in Boise. Although we had to work during the week, we took advantage of our free time. Caulder and Kessler had a great time, and were surprisingly fine with their time away from us. 

Across the country by train!

Even the train ride will wear you out

All aboard

The view from the train - the Colorado River

Camp Ogontz

Denice and Caulder rowing the canoe

Caulder as ring bearer examining my flowers

The Godfrey family

The bride and the nine bridesmaids at camp Ogontz

Mat, Kessler and Grandma Katie

Grandma Katie and Great Grandma Small

Kessler having fun at Uncle Lucas' wedding

Lucas and Delana with the wedding party

Caulder firing a cannon from a fort on the Maine coastline

Walking the Freedom trail in Boston

Kessler on a Water taxi in Boston

Mat and the boys checking out a fountain in Boston

Boston's North end

Buckingham fountain in Chicago - designed by Picasso

At the Cubs game - unfortunately they lost

On the shoreline in Chicago

Caulder exploring artwork in Chicago

The huge Ferris wheel on Navy Pier

We decided to take two weeks off from work in August and travel across the country by train! My sister was getting married in Boston (the wedding was actually in NH), and Mat's brother just happened to be getting married the same day in Philadelphia. While it was convenient that we only had to make one trip out east to conquer two weddings, we unfortunately missed each other's sibling's weddings.
Our trip began with a five hour drive to Salt Lake city to catch Amtrak. We spent a short night at camp Schultz-Early and then caught the train (barely made it) at 4:00am headed east. Luckily we had a sleeper car, so we were able to go back to sleep for a few hours. We woke up in south eastern Utah amongst some of the most breathtaking scenery we have ever seen. We skirted Arches and Estes National Parks and traveled through the Rockies on a roadless route. The Colorado river was amazing - waterfalls, rapids, wildlife, and craggy rock spires. We were also mooned countless times by the many, many boaters on the river.
After Colorado, we headed across the Midwest (mostly at night), then through Chicago, Pennsylvania, New York, and Massachusetts. Riding the train was both beautiful and relaxing. Luckily, we were able to get off at times to stretch our legs, because the entire trip (one way) was 63 hours.
We spent three days in Boston with my sister and her husband. Unfortunately, we spent a good chunk of that time trying to track down Mat's lost bag (yes you can even loose bags on the train), but we did make it to the beach, and the Maine coast. On Friday Caulder and I headed up to Denice and Joe's wedding in New Hampshire along with some of our family and friends, and Mat and Kessler took the train down to Philadelphia for Lucas and Delana's wedding.
The weddings were fun, but very different. Denice and Joe were married at a 100 year old Girl Scout camp-converted retreat (Ogontz Camp), and Lucas and Delana were married in Historic Philadelphia at the Union League - built in 1862 to support the policies of Abraham Lincoln. Caulder and I spent the weekend at Ogontz camp canoeing, playing soccer, eating wonderful food, swimming and exploring the 300 acre quaint camp. Denice and Joe's wedding was an all weekend event. Mat and Kessler spent the weekend with Mat's mom exploring Historic Philadelphia, catching up with family, and eating Phili cheesesteak sandwiches, of course.
After the weddings, we spent a couple of days in Boston taking in the sights, and then hopped back on the train headed West. We stopped on the way back in Chicago for a few days. Neither of us had spent more than a few hours there, and were very impressed. We tried to pack in as much as we could, and hope to return sometime soon to see the rest. We saw the Cubs play the Padres, the Aquarium, the planetarium, the Natural History Museum (the Fields Museum), the Sears Tower (now the Willis Tower), and Navy Pier. We took a tour bus around Chicago, and a water taxi up the rivers. We had a great time, and were really impressed with the city, and beautiful shoreline.

The remainder of our trip was pretty uneventful back to Salt lake City, then Boise.