Family Trip to Boise

 I had a 2-day estate planning conference in Boise so the family decided to come along and explore a new place

Henry was such a gracious bell hop

The most exciting part of staying in a hotel is laying in bed and watching TV ;)

We had dinner at Chipotle our first night

Then we went for a walk and explored a nearby park

And rose gardens

There was a stage and Mason and Henry were attracted to it like moths to a flame

Nixon practiced his parkour skills on some railing

When you don't have a tripod...

We stayed at the Grove hotel in downtown Boise

There was a Trader Joe's right across the street

The next morning while I was at my conference everyone else ate a glamorous breakfast in the hotel room

Then they set off to explore. They found lots of really cool art

And they had to make a stop at the book store

More art

Then they explored the Idaho State Capitol building

 beginning with the cannon

And the huge bell (Liberty Bell)

Inside they found a vault?

The ceiling

Looking up at the ceiling

Henry thought the capitol building was a temple

Nixon getting his steps in

After that they went to the Jump building

 Henry had a blast riding the escalator

They played at the huge climbing structure outside

And they rode this giant slide (Henry was a little too short and was not allowed to slide)

View near the top

Then they did some crafts inside

After that they went to the Idaho Reptile Zoo

They watched big tortoises eat

They also got to feed them

Big snakes

They fed turtles

They saw lizards eating

There was so much to see

They came home with snake skin

They saw alligators

A macaw 

This snake is Henry's favorite color

An iguana

A chameleon

They had lots of fun at the reptile zoo

Here is some video of the experience

Here is the view we had from our hotel

When my conference ended we went to Chick-fil-a for dinner

My co-worker who was attending the conference with me also came for dinner

After that we checked out the roof top portion of the hotel

And watched a little more TV in bed ;)

The next morning Kim and the kids hit the pool

Henry enjoyed the shower in the hotel room

Kim had some yummy waffles for lunch and Nixon went and got them with her

My conference the second day was only a half day so we got to go play in the afternoon. We went to the Peregrine Fund. It is a birds of prey center.

They had people showing off some of the peregrines and other raptors

They had a bald eagle

A horned owl

The peregrines were beautiful

Eating some flesh

They also had California Condoers (vultures)

They also had a large building with various displays and learning centers

Check out that wingspan

It wasn't a magic feather but it did put a smile on his face

And a tunnel for good measure

They had another owl inside

And this Harpy Eagle was really cool to watch and listen to

A peregrine falcon inside

A couple more shots of the bald eagle

They also did an outdoor show with peregrine falcons but we couldn't get tickets to it

Here are some videos of the birds

Afterward we made a quick stop at the temple

After that we went to hike Camel's Back

Heney wanted some help

It was really steep to get up

It wasn't a very nice hike but it did give us a good view from the top

See the Capitol on the left?

There were treats at the top so the kids didn't complain too much

Then we went down

We played at the playground, which had exercise equipment too

Nixon and I explored the Capitol building for a few minutes since I didn't get to see the the day before

We also saw this cool church

Back to the Capitol

Nixon also tried to lose his hearing

After that it was time for dinner

The next morning we went to the Boise Zoo

It was really hard to get pictures of this red panda

The gibbons monkeys were lots of fun

You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours

"what did you say?"

Not sure what this is but I think it is cool you can see straight through the nostril

A hornbill

A Serval

The giraffe was so strange

The only elephants were made of metal

The lion didn't have time for us

This lion was more accommodating

We saw some pretty birds

A Chupacabra

A warthog, probably named Pumba

This guy was having a bad hair day

An otter

This crocodile had his mouth open for a long time

I can't remember what type of eagle this was but it was huge

Henry was in love with this giraffe slide

Our kids tried to convince us they belonged there and I think they are right

Big tortious

It was fun seeing the kids interact with the animals

Another bad hair day

Lyza really liked this cat

Checking out the python

Look at those cute critters

The tiger was quite active after a short rest

Ostrich

Henry is driving?

The zebra made an appearance right before we left

On the way out the kids got to hold some walking sticks

Here are some videos from the zoo

After the zoo we all got some ice cream

After that we all went to the Jump building because they had a big event with lots of carnival games and prizes for the kids

There was also a tractor theme

There were lots of games for the kids

This was the same place with the big slide

Henry won a yellow cupcake doing a cake walk

Nixon, Mason, and I rode this crazy thing

Mason didn't like going upside down

They got to ride in these things

That evening we went to another hotel and swam the next morning

After that we went to a Idaho Fish and Game nature center

Big bear

Stuffed owl

It was a really pretty place to walk around

Look at those eagles

The kids saw crawdads

We got to see fish swimming

We saw a great blue heron

The board walk over the water was really pretty

Cute owls

Boise was lots of fun. Henry asks to go back all the time.

Take care