what a wonderful family

the past couple of weeks have been pretty wonderful.
I took a long weekend last week to visit Gram and Gramp in Illinois. I had a wonderful time just talking and sitting with them and miss them so dearly. I can only hope that they truly know they are always in our hearts and minds. Illinois was very cold to say the least. Cobi thinks I still haven't gotten warm from the trip, but really, it got colder here too. :)
Chatting with Gramp in the morning-

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See, lots of snow-

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Gram and Gramp-

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Grampa being a goofball like usual- :)

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The three of us-

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now back home. this past weekend we cleaned up the backyard and are ready for the chicken coop. come on irs, we've got plans. :) after finishing up all the work we had a couple of great couchsurfers who we enjoyed getting to know. then caught a showing of avatar with kirin. it is a great movie, check it out if you haven't seen it yet. then were blessed to visit some good friends for a nice family dinner sunday night. we really are amazed at how lucky we are to have such great friends.
had an impromptu couchsurfer last night and we were very happy to give this young man a resting point on his journey.
Thien Bao's birthday is coming up so am getting a package off to him this week. we made coloring books of maps of the US, Idaho and some flowers and other fun designs. we're sending those along with some colored pencils and a few little trinkets. we hope he enjoys them and has a wonderful 6th birthday.
as we settle in for the week, we wish our family and friends a wonderful early spring. much love~

Love is in the air

Our February is speeding by already so thought I better take a minute to play catch up before spring arrives. Not in a terribly "writer" minded mood but can't see that i'll have time to blog in the coming couple of weeks. If you want to know more about anything we're doing please shoot me an email.

We have already been making plans for our yard and garden and will soon be building raised beds for veggies. In preparation we are starting to clean up the yard and finally got a compost bin in place to get some good soil ready for the garden. Yes I already have the garden and yard sketched out for the season, no spring fever here, just planning already!

This past week we finally received our information regarding our sponsored child through SOS villages. His name is Thien Bao and he is 5 years old, soon to be 6 on March 10th. He lives in southern Vietnam and we are thrilled to welcome him into our family.

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On Wednesday I completed hospice training and testing. I am now going to be assigned clients within a week or so and am both anxious and excited. The application and training process were extensive and it was a great accomplishment to have finished with them and gained such valuable knowledge. I'm thankful to be able to give in such a way.

On Friday Jordan went to the Valentine's dance at her school. She looked very lovely and had a wonderful time even though she said the music wasn't very good, too much contemporary pop music is what she complained about. Hey, I can't help it if my daughter has good taste in tunes.

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This weekend we've just been mellow around the house. I'm packing in preparation for a trip to Chicago next weekend and we've been making our valentine cards so the kitchen table is a mess. We've a couple couchsurfers coming up in the next couple of weeks as well as some dinner plans but not much else.
Hope everyone is having a great late winter as we are and that you don't have spring fever too terribly bad. Much love and joy.

Time Flies by and by

So it's been forever since I've blogged. Not that we haven't had the downtime comparatively just that it hasn't been a priority.
What have we been up to? Quite a bit as usual. We've hosted many travelers this past fall including a great band from New Mexico, The Albuquerque Boys' Choir. They were gracious enough to sing to us in our dining room this most beautiful acapella song.
Other than hosting travelers we had a wonderful holiday season as we hope most everyone did. We were blessed with much love and grace during the entire holidays and into the new year.
This new year has brought us into a time of cleansing and renewal as we are eating much better and more consciously. We are being mindful of our impact in the world and placing our energy where we feel we may do the most good. The past month has brought us joy and much love and we are truly thankful for it. We all three have been practicing yoga on a regular basis and walking more often, enjoying the time and space we have here. On the 21st we also became auntie, uncle and cousin to new baby Kai Graziano born to Cobi's brother Gioi and his wife Maggie. We are happy to welcome our new nephew and anxious to meet him soon.
On a less nebulous note, Jordan is doing very well and is happy to have finished the semester. Only one semester left before she's in high school (gulp!). Not sure where the last 14 years went but there they go.
Our plans for this year already are shaping up. I will be in Chicago for a long weekend in February and our family will be heading to Southern California in March, Jordan may be headed to Seattle for a visit after that.
I hope to keep up on our blog a bit better this year but alas, time gets away from us all once in awhile.
Much love and peace to everyone reading this. We are thankful for your love and presence in our lives.

Back and Forth Across the Columbia River

Or the blog also known as: Lives ruled by rivers, mountains, guitar chords and dogs.

Tuesday: Whole family left Boise on Tuesday night to drive to Richland, WA just north of the Columbia river for a head start on our journey. The evening was fine and we loved meeting our new host, Jeff who was a great person we hope to spend more time with in the future.
I always drive first

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Southern Washington

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Wednesday: Drove from Richland to Bellingham via Seattle. Beautiful vinyards and orchards everywhere. Driving along the Columbia river, little boats out fishing. Stopped at Pike Place Market in Seattle, wandered around then went by Amber's work to get a hug from the darling momma to be. So wonderful to see her but sad that we didn't have time to hang out. On the road again headed north. Stopped to take a short hike off hwy 11 just south of our destination. Walked along the railroad tracks and ate late season blackberries on the walk to beachcomb along the Samish Bay. Arrived at Barb and Mikes in the afternoon. After a short rest and settling in we had a wonderful dinner that Barb prepared. Such gracious and wonderful people are too short in supply. We were reluctant to leave the conversation and great fun but had a show to see. The show was at WWU in a small rehearsal hall. Bo opened like usual, Greg coming on afterward. The show was a good one and we were so thrilled and energized to be traveling, meeting such great folks and seeing such good music. We stayed up after the show with Barb and Mike talking and having some wine then finally went to bed.
Jordan with the King at Pike Place

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Not enough time in Seattle, we'll have to go back

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Stopped to do some beachcombing and rest

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Samish Bay

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Cobi at Samish Bay

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Thursday: Woke early and went on a walk by the waterside with B&M. Gorgeous area Fairhaven is. I made breakfast for us all and then after some very sad goodbyes and promises to see each other soon, we were back on the road. Met up with an old high school friend and his wife for a short tea break on our way down hwy 20 toward Winthrop. It was fun to reminisce and Jordan loved knowing I was a teenager once. The drive along hwy 20 was spectacular. The northern Cascade mountains are so majestic and the turquoise water of the Skagit river is simply magical. We stopped a few times to take pictures or short walks and then realized we better get to Winthrop. Pulled in late afternoon and checked into our hotel only to find Greg and Bo out back near the river. Greg had lost a boot heel while down fishing and they were looking about for it. After a quick dinner in our room we headed down to the Winthrop barn for the show. This show was in a small venue with great sound quality. Bo opened again-with the wonderful sound his performance was truly moving and Greg had a great energy even improvising a song about his lost boot heel. After the show we had some wine and chatted with Greg and Bo for quite a bit. Back at the hotel, we all chatted some more and finally made it to bed.
Out on our morning walk with Mike and Barb along the Bellingham Bay

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Jordan, Cobi and Kyme with Dan, the founder of Fairhaven

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Majestic North Cascades

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More mountains

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There were deer everywhere in Winthrop, we must have seen almost 100 all over the west edge of town as we got in, walked around and went to the show

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View out our back patio of our room. This is the Methow river. Greg was fishing just to the left of this picture

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Local fiddle player John joined Bo and Greg onstage for a few songs

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Our Winthrop hotel, The River Run Inn. Our room at the top of the stairs, Greg's just below

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Friday: After a late night, we got up slowly but knew we had a long day of driving so showered and hit the road just after the sun came up. There are tons of deer in this area and we saw many, many deer on our way in to town as well as our way in. Still awed by the scenery, we couldn't stop but drove and drove. Took a short break in Olympia to eat and walked the trail around Tumwater falls, near the old Oly brewery. The salmon were spawning in the lower pools and it was truly something to behold.
Back on the road again we crossed the Columbia river and pulled into Portland later than expected after wading through a bunch of traffic. Dropped Jordan off at Mom's house and made it to the venue just in time to get in line. We were lucky to chat and meet up with many other Greg Brown fans at this show. Good show this night with ok sound quality but the set was very nice. We made it back to mom's tired and weary and ready to sleep.
Morning in the north Cascades

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Diablo Lake, one of the many reservoirs along the Skagit river, they are turquoise in color due to the water coming directly from glacial melt

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mmmhh

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Jordan and Kyme at Tumwater falls in Olympia

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Returning chinook salmon, we couldn't believe how many there were

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Amazing to see wild salmon in the river spawning!

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Saturday: Woke up as early as we could manage while being so road weary. Chatted a little with mom and went to breakfast and the flea market before heading out of town again. We realized that we hadn't expected the bummer of not having enough time to spend with those people we were meeting and the family we loved along the way. This is a great lesson we learned on this trip and won't make that mistake again!
Drove to the coast and stopped at Seaside where we fed seals at the aquarium and walked along the beach. Then drove the coast north to Astoria and crossed the Columbia river yet again. Turned inland and made it to Olympia with just barely enough time to stop by Jed's and drop Jordan off then run to the show. This venue was weird, strange energy, rude people and a bad sound system. We were tired and to have all this was a bummer. The show was super short due to some sound issues that really pissed Greg off. We were sad about this but super hungry and tired so we stopped for food on our way back to Jed's then slept very well.
Stopped in Seaside to feed Seals

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Kyme and Jordan on beach in Seaside

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Crossing the Columbia at Astoria

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Kyme and Bo after the Olympia show

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Sunday: Up early watched some Jimmy Newtron with the girls then out to breakfast before hitting the road for the very long drive home. Crossing the Columbia one last time as we left Washington, we said goodbye to our silent companion. Stopped at Multnomah falls for a short rest then back on the road. We drove and drove and drove and made it home late Sunday evening to happy dogs and a welcome bed.
Multnomah falls and two very tired girls

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This was our last major trip for this year and we are so thankful to everyone who hosted us, housesat for us, fed our dogs and cheered us on along the way. If you would like to see the whole picture album you can do so here. Thanks everyone!
Kyme, Cobi and Jordan.

Driggs and Yellowstone

Well, road trip number two of the month was a great success-the Greg Brown show, Driggs visit and camping with Eric & Emily then Yellowstone plan.

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We had a great drive across Idaho and pulled into Driggs late on Wednesday night. Called our host who was not at home but whose roommates Bill and Bob kindly took us in.
On Thursday, after running into Eric & Emily in town while setting our blanket out at the concert venue, we went on a drive to a trailhead our hosts gave us direction to. Along the road we came upon a deserted house that was set in a picturesque wheat field.

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The trail was quite beautiful, in the Jedediah Wilderness area at the base of the tetons, Darby Creek Trail.
Resting point:

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The trail is only 2.6 miles long each way but the elevation gain is (gulp) 1,800 feet. So we were a bit worn out by the time we reached the waterfall and wind cave at the top but it was so amazing, it was worth it. We weren't exactly prepared for this hike (not realizing the extent of it) and can never thank the gentleman with the water filter at the falls enough~ THANK YOU water filter stranger.

Wind hole at back of first part of cave. This goes through the mountain into a larger ice cave...which we did NOT go into. The air coming out of this hole was freezing (!) cold.

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Heading out of the cave:

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After hiking out and a quick shower at our hosts house we headed down into Driggs for the show. It was held at an outdoor parklike area and the weather was perfect. Met up with E&E and ate a quick dinner prior to the show then settled in. The crowd was a bit much but I stood right in front of the stage to get a good view.

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The set was long, Greg was having a good time playing to the raucous crowd but ended the whole show with a direct gaze and hat tip at....yours truly!! I about fainted and all the women around me sighed and looked at me briskly, it was awesome! Ok, so he's my version of a rock star. After the concert the three of us went up to the lookout near Grand Targhee Resort and watched the stars, they were amazing!
We had a restful night and packed up in the early am. Met up again with E&E to head to Island Springs with a couple of cool stops along the way.
Mesa Falls:

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After arriving at our camping spot along the Buffalo river, we decided to go for a swim to cool off. The river was beautiful.

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Camp was set and E&E took us to the headwaters of the Henry's Fork river, Big Springs. It was truly a magical place where this entire river just bubbles out of the ground, crystal clear water.

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We spent some time relaxing and had a late night around the fire. Then it poured rain very early in the morning with tons of very close lightening and thunder, it was truly extraordinary.
The next morning we woke early to a clear sky and herons calling and were on our way to Yellowstone. We saw many buffalo:

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elk and stopped at the geysers and hot pools.

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Pulled into Old Faithful area ten minutes before the show so we lucked out to see that and went on our way farther up. We spent time at West Thumb and drove all the way up to the waterfall and canyon area.
Artists lookout was the most extraordinary view of the day and our last big stop in the park.

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Back at camp we relaxed with E&E and all shared the adventures we had during the day. After a nice sleep we were awoken early in the morning by moose calling back and forth to each other.
We finally got up and ate a nice breakfast, broke camp and began the long drive home. Not willing to end our vacation just yet, we stopped at Craters of the Moon park.

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We enjoyed all the caves in the park, even the really cold ones with ice (ICE in the middle of August) in them.

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Finally on our way home we rolled in late to unpack, love on the dogs and hit the hay before returning to reality and the work week.
Another amazing adventure under our belt, we're thankful for our awesome truck who keeps us safe and moving forward to our next adventure.
We hope you enjoyed yet another Idaho Graziano adventure. If you'd like to see ALL our pictures, feel free to check out them out here.