let me go home

We haven't been home to Idaho for a year and we are very homesick. It's time to go for a visit!

palm springs

Back in March we went to Palm Spring to spend a long weekend with our parents and Denise. We weren't able to go home for Christmas so this was our get together instead since we hadn't seen the family in over six months. When my mum asked where we would like to meet up we picked Palm Spring since we haven't ever really had a chance to explore it properly. We have gone to the Coachella festival for 7 years but it's different when you're there for a festival and spend your whole time in a polo field watching bands for 2 or 3 days. We flew into Long Beach (strangest airport ever, but also kinda cool) and drove to Palm Springs with Denise. Our car rental had satellite radio! Woooohoooo! Such a little thing but the difference it made was great.

We spent our time with the family driving around looking at architecture (how they humor us), eating lots of asparagus, going to an outdoor market and to lots of thrift stores (my favourite advertised a "Divine Fusions Fashion Show") and laughing a lot. We also took a tram ride up a canyon and it was wild. You go from 80 degree sunny weather to the top of the mountain where there is snow around a foot deep and it even started to snow while we were up there. People were decked out in snow gear and sleds ready to take a trail and have some fun.





We also went to a date farm and watched an educational film while we had date shakes. We'd never had a date before but our mum swore they were delicious so we tried them. They are so good! We didn't realize they were so sweet like candy. We hauled a bunch back to NY to nibble on for a few months.



We had to go check out the Ace Hotel while we were there. Great cheeky design.

idaho on my mind

We are counting down the weeks until we get to go home and see the family and our favourite mountains!







We will always be Idaho girls at heart.

joyeux anniversaire!

It's our dear sweet mum's birthday today. Thank you a million times over for your love and patience.

We love love love you!!!

redfish here we come

It's our favorite time of year. The annual family trip to Redfish Lake outside Stanley, Idaho. We love living in a big city where there is always something going on but it's always nice to go home and see the mountains and spend some time with our family (haven't seen them since Christmas). This summer we've been looking forward to this trip even more than usual it seems with us gathering "Redfish type" music for a playlist on the ipod.

Back in a few weeks!

happy birthday dad!

Happy Birthday to our daddy-o! Even though he's not feeling so hot with a cold this weekend, we sure hope our dad had a great birthday.

Great things about our dad....He makes yummy waffles and pancakes and he makes the best egg sandwiches. He used to take us, when we were little, out for a nice long drive on Sunday afternoon. He likes to prank his friends at the pool-they love it. Every Sunday night when we were younger it was a given that he would pop popcorn and we would get out the ice cream and licorice then watch the made for TV Sunday night movie. He's always willing to drive 2 1/2 hours to pick us up at the airport just to turn right around again to Idaho from Salt Lake even though we've insisted we can take the shuttle. He must really want to see us. We love our dad!

happy birthday denise!

Denise is the best sister a girl could ask for. We have always adored her and looked up to her and when we were younger we wanted to be her. One of our favorite things to do was go through her shoes and play shoe store-she had the best shoes so we could play for hours. We also loved to watch her get ready and put on her makeup, so glamorous.

She has also instilled in us a love of Tom Selleck. We watched Magnum P.I. with her every week and all his movies. Our favorite being High Road to China (speeaak!). We still have a spot for him in our hearts.

Happy Birthday Denise!

happy birthday mum!

Happy birthday to our dear sweet mum. We were called her "little bonuses" when we came along and she's been known to brag that we keep her young and hip.

We know we are biased but we really do have the best mum. She is always there to talk to...no matter what time it is. She always set a good example for us on how to treat others. She supports us in all our silly ideas and when ever we need help she is the first person we call.

One of our favorite stories (sorry mum had to tell this one) is when she took us to Dairy Queen in Pocatello for a treat. She wasn't close enough to the speaker at the drive through for the girl on the other end to hear her. Well, hilarity ensued and it ended with her roaring past the drive through window yelling "NEVER MIND". We were laughing so hard, we had tears rolling down our faces. She was not pleased at all with us but as the years have passed we'd like to think she now sees the humor in this story.

Another favorite is when we were on a family road trip in Oregon and when she came out of the restroom our dad had moved the car closer to the building but she didn't see us. She stood no less than 4 feet away from us looking for us with a puzzled look as to where we had disappeared to. We were in hysterics the whole time and when she finally noticed us she wasn't too pleased and flipped us off! This only made us laugh even harder.

Have a great birthday mum and don't get too tan out in the desert partying hard with all your friends.

*oh and thanks for putting up with all our crazy antics and for turning around to go back to get that really cool Barbie motor home we saw at a yard sale when we were little.

happy holidays

One of my favorite things about New York during the holidays is when all the tree vendors pop up on the sidewalks. It's so picturesque and fun to watch people selecting a tree and carrying it home. We were very tempted this year to get a wee tree for our flat but it just wasn't meant to be. I am going to make sure that next year we make it a priority. No more tree in a can for us! The lights in our 'hood were very small town main street. Brooklyn has such style and pzazz. As much as I love the holidays in New York it wouldn't feel like Christmas without going home to Idaho. The snow, our tree with all the ornaments that our mum has gotten us over the years, the treats that Denise makes, wrapping last minute presents on Christmas eve, going to a movie as a family on Christmas day, eating LOTS of great food, listening to Christmas music and singing along really loud, our tradition of organizing the presents under the tree just so. We are usually all so tired after everything but it's still so fun.

Have a great holiday with your family and friends!

--heidi

**picture is our family tree in Idaho-ho

thanks!

Since it is a day of giving thanks I'm going to give thanks to my parents who instilled in me a love of travel. Growing up it seems like we would always take at least two trips every summer (one always being Redfish Lake) and we'd go places at other times of the year too. By the time I was 18 I had been to every state in the West along with Canada and Mexico and Hawaii which was pretty impressive since some/most kids my age had never been anywhere. So really it shouldn't be that surprising that I still have the wanderlust and I'm always wanting to go somewhere and do go whenever I can (it kills me when I'm on the subway and I see the ads for Iceland in only 5 hours at $799 for flight and hotel packages-I want to gooooooo!)

My favorite Thanksgivings were when we would go on a quick road trip, usually to CA but once to Phoenix-which were the last four that I lived at home ie: 9th-12th grade. Whoever came up with this brilliant plan (mum or dad or both?) cheers to you! The first time we took off for the holiday we went to San Francisco and had Thanksgiving at a Denny's in Santa Cruz. We had so much fun on that trip we went to San Francisco again the next year and Heidi and I still talk about the PETA protesters at Union Square over the disgusting fur coats women were wearing. Junior year we went to San Diego and we spent a lot of time trying to get to our hotel which we could see but couldn't get to because of the crazy roads and the freeway. Who can ever forget the Thanksgiving spent at Taco Bell at the Grand Canyon-classic.

Heidi and I loved these trips for the fun and adventure we got to have with our family and we usually got to go Christmas shopping and get some swell items. Especially in San Diego and Phoenix where we hit up the music stores and returned to ID with stacks of music. We were always on the hunt for anything that we couldn't get at home.

These trips were great to tide us over until spring break when we would hit the road again. With all the traveling we did when we were young it's in our blood to always be going somewhere and Heidi and I continue to get out and see the world while we can. Now we just need to go to Hong Kong, Praque, Stockholm, Tokyo, Brussels, Helsinki, Amsterdam, Bergen, Istanbul, Sydney, Luxembourg, Madrid, Copenhagen, Berlin, Munich, Sao Paolo, Buenos Aries, Cape Town, Moscow and everywhere else!

Thanks Mum and Dad for being such great parents and showing us that there is a world beyond the back yard.

--Katie

we love it! we love it!

One of our families favorites films is Gotcha! Our parents did a good job picking that one out one weekend. It is a classic 80's film with so many great lines and killer music. Recently the show Chuck had a few references to Gotcha! Thus proving it is beloved by many.

This is the scene that makes us laugh the most. Guaranteed fit of giggles if you watch this with us.

celebration!

We are so excited for our big brother Dan and his girlfriend of over ten years Katy who got married in Vegas yesterday! The whole family had been hoping that they would get hitched while they were there since our family loves Katy and we already treat her like one of the family. We wish we could be with the rest of our family to celebrate when they get back home but we'll just have some fireworks in NY instead. They are perfect together and we wish them all the happiness in the world!

tennis anyone?

We are so excited for our sister Denise to come to town this weekend. Ever since Heidi moved to NY we've all discussed going to see the US Open. This is the year we finally get to go see all the action. We bought a day pass for Sunday so we can go to multiple matches. Hmm...wonder who we'll get to see.

We have many fun activities planned for this weekend such as: visiting the NY waterfalls, the Coney Island Circus Sideshow, a free ride on the Staten Island ferry, and a tour of the UN. We only have one restaurant so far planned for dinner and that is Sea in Williamsburg. We've heard that it has great Thai food (our favorite-yummy). The reviews are good and bad so we'll soon find out. Hopefully we don't run into any machete toting gangs while we are over there.

Have a fun holiday weekend!

we lurve redfish lake

It's that time of year...time for Redfish Lake. We have been going to Redfish every summer since we were born. It is our favorite place in the world and we never miss a summer. The fresh air, the Sawtooth mountains, the clear blue lake, driving into Stanley (pop. 100), going to the amphitheatre, Bernice our favorite forest ranger, the nature trail, going to the visitor center to watch old forest service videos including our favorite "is it a dog or a wolf?", searching for wildlife (last years most memorable sighting was the elusive beaver), our mini hikes with Denise, going to the beach to read in the shade, laughing with Denise in our tent every night, sitting around the camp fire, naps in the hammock, bike rides through all the different campgrounds around the lake, singing "You're So Vain" over and over with Denise, hiking to the the lily ponds and watching the sun set from the lodge. We look forward to it every year. Back in a week!