Our Holiday, Far, Far Away Part 2

 The start of Boxing Day was easy and relaxing, we all had fun with our new gifts and played games. But that day we were also going to be flying to our second part of the trip, a stay in Kuna to see family one more time before we possibly leave for Japan. Unfortunately, our mother couldn't come, because she was already so exhausted from the traveling we did before. We didn't need to be at the airport until 5, because our flight leaves at 7:20. Despite how massive Denver Airport is, it was actually pretty uncrowded for the holiday break, we got through security smoothly and made our way to our flight, we couldn't pick up any snacks at the USO though. Our flight ended up getting delayed about 45 minutes, for some unknown airport reasons. But when we finally took off and flew away, it was so nice to feel the ambiance of an airplane again, and see the rolling mountains from high above.

We came late enough to see the bronco's eyes lit up

On the train to get to our gate

Boarding

It took us about 2 hours to land in Boise (a much smaller airport) and reclaim our luggage, actually fairly quickly, and get picked up by our Uncle Charles, whose house we would also be staying at for our time in Boise and Kuna. We had fun at Uncle Charles’ house and we were able to catch up after a long time, but we actually spent most of our time at The Compound. To be able to understand the nicknames for the households, you need some backstory. The Foutzes and Newtons both live in the same household (for now) and that house is where everyone hangs out for games and fun, so we call it The Compound. The grandparents, Nana-Dee and Papa Jon live in their own house (with help) and don't allow many visitors, because it is small and quaint, so it is called The Cottage. And finally, there is the house we slept at for our time there, it's a distance away from The Compound and Cottage, so it's an area to get away from the chaos from The Compound, so it's called The Sanctuary. Now you're all caught up on the information of households.

Why does this make me laugh?

We had a lot of fun at The Compound with cousins and other relatives. We played lots of games including video games, card games, board games, and VR games. We had a full round table at the compound. We all have the little age groups we hang out in and do stuff together. We even get to mingle with our newer younger cousins.

There were so many cats

Games!

Philosophical conversation with my cousin

We had our own adventures, including walking on a frozen pool and trekking 1 and-a-half-miles to a Little Caesars in 10-degree weather. But we also spent time with our grandparents in the cottage, so we could catch up, and listen to stories.

Nana-Dee

Papa Jon

One more time

After our fun in Idaho, we had to eventually head back. On New Year's Eve, we went to the airport early in the morning to get on our flights back. We first had an hour-and-a-half flight to Oakland, and the way there was beautiful, because it was cloudy in Idaho, and sunrise, so when we rose above the clouds, the sun was just barely rising. We waited in Oakland for about 2 hours before we actually flew away to Denver, I actually snapped a photo of The Golden Gate Bridge.

Golden Gate

Windmill Farm

Sierra Nevada

When we got back, we were pretty tired from our flights, so we all took a nap to prepare for New Years' and my Grandmother's birthday. We celebrated her birthday and new years at the same time, but when we were watching the ball drop, we actually couldn't because a commercial played through it, which was a little frustrating. But it was finally 2021, 2020 is long gone now.

2021!

But the next day we decided to make the 14-hour journey back in one day. We packed up and left early in the morning, and made few stops till we finally made it back to San Antonio.

It was nice coming back t home, but it was also combined with a feeling of unwanted, because we had school starting up again, in just a few days.