Holiday Weekend

Whew! It is nearly over! Holidays are exhausting!

Labor Day is a huge weekend here in St. Maries. Our local Paul Bunyan Days celebration is always that weekend & draw thousands of people to our little town. I used to really enjoy partaking in all of the festivities, but have gotten to where I really pick & choose now. There are so many people in town, so many tourists, that the celebration, although very fun, has lost some of its small town charm...there are usually more people downtown than there are at the Coeur d'Alene fair on any given day.

Our family's weekend really kind of started on Thursday, as Kaittlin had a friend from Bonners Ferry arrive that day to spend the weekend with us. Kaittlin acutally went home with Papa on Wednesday night. He needed to make a run to Genesee, Moscow, & Lewiston on Thursday. He let Kaittlin drive the whole way...the first time she has driven that far & in a "city". He said that she did well. That evening Alicia arrived.

On Friday, after several days of Ike complaining about a sore throat, he woke up so sick that he couldn't swallow water & barely spoke (now, THAT is sick). I took him to the clinic on Friday morning. He tested positive for strep & was sent home on antibiotics. After work everyone headed to the football game (except for Ike who was asleep on the couch & didn't even care that we were leaving). Kaittlin, Cassidy, & Alicia along with Alicia's boyfriend, Nick all attended the football game then headed downtown to the PBD teen dance. Cassidy said it was great...the older kids thought it was "lame". Mike was cooking for the Lumberjack Booster Club BBQ Crew at the game...they sold a bunch of hot dogs & hamburgers...good night for their first outing. My job at the game was to stand at the back "entrance", the one that everyone sneaks into & check hand stamps. I went home to be with Ike when they stopped charging admittance at half time. We played Grangeville...our JV blew them away & we lost 21-0 (I think) for varsity.

Saturday was kind of a relaxing day for me. The girls headed to the carnival. We stayed home all day. I had to cook the last of a half box of peaches I had before they got too ripe...made peach crisp & bourbon peach cobbler...yummy! Al brought over BBQ'd ribs & I made cheesy potato casserole. ALL of the kids showed up at 5:00 to each, including Nick & Joe, Kaittlin's boyfriend. They vacuumed up the food & off they went again...Cassidy back to the carnival for a couple hours & the teenagers to a movie party at Nick's house.

On Sunday Ike was finally feeling good enough to be upright...he actually felt alot better. So we all went to church, then the kids all headed to the carnival to watch the competitions & games. Later in the afternoon we stopped & picked up Ike & went to the EnduroCross races...I have never been to motorcross...it was really fun!

Then about 8pm everyone met at the city fields for the best fireworks show in the Pacific Northwest! No really, it truly is the best fireworks show in the Pacific Northwest...$40,000 worth of fireworks...the show lasted 57 minutes. Several years ago there was a show on cable that ranked the top ten fireworks shows in the United States. The St. Maries Paul Bunyan Days show was ranked #10 in the nation! It is amazing!

The show ended just after 10pm & the girls had to part from the boys....aaawwww, sad... We were all home by 11pm, except for Cassidy who had a babysitting job immediately following the fireworks. She spent the night there & will be home today.

This morning is the parade...Ike's football team is walking in the parade. I am at work so will miss it, but they line up in the parking lot of the store, so I will step out right before 10am to see the sights. Hopefully as soon as the parade is over all of the children will be heading home. I will get off about noon & Al is bringing over steaks to BBQ. I hope to have a relaxing afternoon & evening at home before the BIG DAY tomorrow. Back to school, whoo hoo!!!