4th of July in Wallace, Idaho

 It's been a minute since my entire family has been together! Last time was Christmas 2017 (also in Wallace, funnily enough!) and now Eric & Tanya have little Wes and Allie & Tate have baby Jude. It's about time we had a reunion! What better place than my parent's home in Wallace, Idaho for the 4th of July?!

For comparison's sake, here's the photo of us the last time we were all together:

All week leading up to our departure we were warned that airports would be packed and flights delayed and canceled. I was trying not to stress about it, nothing we can really do about it, I just hoped that since our flight was so early in the morning it wouldn't be impacted yet. DIA was definitely busy, but we sailed right on through! I appreciate everyone who worked over the holiday weekend to make traveling possible!

McDonald's for breakfast.

A quick 2.5 hours later, we landed in Spokane, WA.

Can we just be dropped off right here in Coeur d'Alene?
My parent's home sweet home.

Yay! I love spending time with my family!!

We were hungry for lunch so off we went to explore scenic Wallace and get some lunch from SLAB.

The iconic Stardust Motel sign and alien spaceship - the perfect photo ops.

My mom runs a business (Tassel Love) from home and walks to the post office at least once a day to drop off orders. I love all of the retro vibes of this entire town.

Just because it's pretty.

There was an estate sale going on in one of the historic homes and somehow I ended up walking through it thrice!

Light pink kitchen!

I found this silver Wallace bell in the estate attic. Tom & Margi Evans have been giving these to us as a Christmas present every year since we've been married so beginning in 2007. Fun to see one from 1979!

Beautiful views.Fox & Jane always ask for the Lego box the very first thing when we get to Grandma's house. How do they remember these exist?

There are 14 of use Taylors now and we wouldn't all fit in my parent's house so we rented the pink house next door.

Sorry Malm :) I love ya!

Eric & Tanya arrived with their kiddos and off we went to get a snack from the gas station!

Mmmm ice cream on a hot summer's day!

Straight out of Schitt's Creek!

I needed a vacation so badly. This fit the bill perfectly.

Taking turns riding tiny bikes around town.

Off they go!

Flowers flowers everywhere!

Sun setting.

For dinner we wanted to eat at the Blackboard Cafe so we took the scenic route to get there.

Grandma showing the way.

Main Street.

Cuties!

Me and my sis.

Right away Dald made a batch of his famous chocolate chip cookies.

We had to :)

Allie & Tanya are no joke when it comes to the gram :)

I couldn't help myself either.

The next morning we got dressed in festive outfits and had to take more pics! I am a scrapbooker afterall :)

Jumping for joy! They are so good at this.

I love this house.

This man has been setting up this ginormous flag at the end of the street for the past 12 years.

Our family in Wallace, Idaho on Saturday July 3rd 2021.

We borrowed Corki & Elmer's golf cart to cruise around town.

We needed some ingredients for dinner so we drove to the local grocery store.

We stopped again at the Blackboard Cafe for breakfast treats.

This is my parent's dog Gypsy. She's so patient and good with kids.

In the afternoon we headed slightly out of town to get official family photos taken by Amber Tyler. This is one I took behind the scenes.

And these are all screenshots from her instagram as we wait for the pics. Allie, Tate, Daisy, Jude.

Eric, Tanya, Zoe, Wes.

Paige, Chris, Fox, Jane.

My mom and dad - I love how in love they are even after all these years :)

Those smiles of pure joy!

It was soooo hot while we were there, the sprinklers were a must.

In the afternoon there was a parade through town. All the girlies!

Will run for candy!

The highlight was this huge vehicle spraying water everywhere.

The next morning was the 4th of July! The ice cream maker broke, but all was not lost. We took turns cranking the lever by hand a few minutes each for about an hour.

SUCCESS! Homemade Oreo ice cream made with our blood, sweat, and tears tasted so much better than anything store bought :)

Fox licking the coveted spoon.

Tanya made a delicious no-bake fresh raspberry cheesecake! Soooo good!

I forgot to take pics of our big lunch, but it was all delicious.Somehow Eric was able to sleep soundly through all of the chaos.

In the afternoon we drove up to a river to play in the water.

Fox and Jane caught and released minnows the entire couple hours. They're so easily entertained!

Floating.

Such a beautiful spot!

The shade is where it's at.

We had no plans for fireworks, for shame! So the Litchfields and the Evans' drove to the Walmart in Smelterville and almost bought out what was left at the fireworks stand. The kiddos had fun tossing the little poppers.

How is he so big!?!

Matching jammies for the win!

Soooo cute!

Tate impressed us all with his mad bubbles skillz. This kept everyone entertained for well over an hour. I need the magic recipe for these ginormous bubbles.

Love birds :)

Our homemade ice cream and Dald's CCCs together for dessert! I want more!

Even though it wasn't pitch black yet, most of the kiddos were already up way past their bed time so we headed to the corner to light off fireworks at twilight.

Pic or it didn't happen!

Happy Independence Day!

The next morning we walked to the gas station once again so Allie could get her daily soda and the kids could get treats. Malm offered to pay and cracked up when the total came to nearly $50. Just for treats. Lol.

I spy a little Daisy.

I've been to Wallace at least 7 or 8 times and I never knew about this walkway under the freeway!

Watching chipmunks climb the rocks.

Hello Fox & Jane!

I mean! Wow! Definitely making this a regular part of my Wallace walks from now on.

Wallace High School.

Just so pretty.

How cute is this place?!

We've never been swimming in the Wallace pool before. We always come in the wrong seasons and then it closed indefinitely. Supposedly it's going to get fixed! I'll believe it when I see it :)

Layers and layers of paint.

Stairs to nowhere!

Our flight back home was in the afternoon. There was a large fire very near the airport in Spokane. Our flight home was delayed an hour because of typical afternoon thunderstorms in Denver.

Thunderstorm clouds sure make for pretty skies though!

WOW!

Home sweet home! We had an amazing time with family! Can't wait to see everyone again, hopefully sooner than later!

Until next time Wallace!