Spokane River

The first full day we were in Coeur d'Alene Matt got up early and went riding on one of the many bike paths. While on his ride he found a secluded area of beach a little bit of the main lake on the Spokane River. Later that afternoon we all headed down there to play. 

Hello Coeur D'alene, Nice to Meet You

This year we didn't think we would be able to do a vacation. In fact, we haven't gone on any vacation since we moved to Idaho a year and half ago. If you know me, that is unheard of!! I am always itching to go somewhere just to have something fun to look forward to in the future; however, with me staying home and not working combined with the cost of school it's just not doable which is okay since I realize it is just for this particular season of our life. 

My parents really wanted to get all of their kids together for a reunion this summer (minus my younger brother Bryson who is on a mission in Long Beach, California) especially since my older brother Ben and his wife Chantal will be moving from Utah to Mississippi for a year, then New Mexico for a year and then Long Island for ten years!  Not exactly places in close proximity to Idaho. My younger sister Megan and her husband Kevin live in Washington for the time being, but will most likely be in Japan next year for Kevin's degree in Japanese. Not real close to Idaho either. With all that being said, my parents said to all of us hey if we pay for a house rental in Coeur D'alene can all of you come spend a week there for a vacation? Well, when you put it that way, why yes I think we can! 

I was super excited since I had always heard how beautiful it is up in Northern Idaho and have never been. Matt was excited because of all the bike trails like the Hiawatha and the Centennial Trail. We packed up last week and drove on Wednesday taking the 95 all the way up. The scenery was breath taking! Super green fields and meadows, some with bright yellow somethings (flowers maybe?) and mountains just covered top to bottom with pine trees so thick you couldn't see between them. I'm guessing Northern Idaho must get a lot more rain because it's hues of green were ones we rarely get to see in Southern Idaho, especially not in the summer.

When we arrived at the house we chose a room on the main floor to sleep in because it had a King bed, a ceiling fan and room for Sawyer's tent to be set up (he has a Cars themed tent and sleeping bag that he will actually go to sleep in instead of his Pack n'Play where he would go on sleep strikes). The people who ended up sleeping upstairs got the raw end of deal since it turns out the house didn't have central AC, mainly because Coeur D'Alene just doesn't get hot during the summer. Unlucky for us, we were there on their hottest week of the summer! Temperatures in the 90's combined with only one little air conditioning unit in the kitchen window on the main floor made for an upstairs that can only be described as sauna-like. I commend both Ben, Chantal, their kids, Megan, Kevin and their baby for managing to survive the sweaty nights and still be chipper each morning! 

That first night Sawyer, my mom, dad and Matt went and checked out the lake. We had been talking it up to Sawyer the whole way there so we couldn't just go to bed without seeing it first. Good thing we had his swimsuit with us! He stripped down and got right in. 

It was pretty stinkin' hot that first night and super muggy. I'm surprised you can't see my sweat stache' on my face in the photo below. Actually if you look close, I'm sure you could. I was melting!

Coeur D'alene was so beautiful, but the one thing that really bummed me out when we first go there was all the trash littered across the beach and the surrounding areas. The photo below has some of it in the background, but that doesn't even do it justice. It seriously was so disheartening. The majority of the people at that time of evening who were out were teenagers and they just walked over all the trash like it wasn't there and then contributed to the mess by throwing water bottles into the lake. Wow. I know I was an obnoxious teenager, but I really hope I wasn't that disrespectful. I guess the city has people that come in at night to clean up so it looked fine in the morning, but it's sad that they have to do that rather than people being responsible and cleaning up their own mess.

After his swim, Sawyer and my dad sat on the steps near the resort and had a little chat. 

Here Sawyer is telling him some animated story I'm sure about tractors or trucks.

 Behind us in the photo below, is the resort. My mom, Chantal and I went there on our last day to their Dockside restaurant for dessert. I had the most amazing gluten-free Huckleberry Cobbler. But now I'm getting ahead of myself since that was the last day we were there and I have a lot more photos to post up until that point! For now this will have to do since it's way past my bedtime.

Summer

So far Sawyer's summer has consisted of:

Playing with oodles of trains. 

Swinging at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

Visiting with Other Grandma, Aunt Megan and Baby Alex.

Visiting with Other Grandpa.

More Swinging.

Finding mischief like combing his hair with Aunt Megan's waterproof mascara wand. 

And perfecting the "Gee, I'm super sorry, how can you possibly not forgive me" cute face. 

Followed by none other than swinging.

Making mom and dad all sorts of imaginary food, snacks and drinks, but mainly specializing in making coffee. 

And yep, you guessed it, more swinging. 

Good thing we are going on vacation to Coeur d'alene this week because as you can see we have had such an exhausting summer thus far ;)

Suds

Looks like my job of bathing him has been terminated and a new position as "Designated Towel Holder and Eye Wiper" will be opening up soon. 

*When this video was taken he had been sudsing up for over half an hour. If there were ever a kid that  audibly squeaked from being so squeaky clean it would be him. 

America the Beautiful

This fourth of July we went to the Boise Train Depot (with all the other masses of people) and sat on the hill to watch the fireworks below at Ann Morrison Park. The Train Depot was always one of my very favorite spots in Boise, but we had yet to visit it since moving back here.

 Originally the day started out with Matt going on a 20 mile bike ride with a friend at 7:30. He drove Sawyer and I later in the day to show us where he rode and it was so steep and such a long ride even the car--I was super impressed. Sawyer and I went on a much less strenuous bike ride that morning to the park in Kuna. We took muffins (the super delicious Sweet Potato Spinach ones from the Baby Bistro cookbook-but made gluten free) and ate them at the park for breakfast. Then after Sawyer tried out every last toy on the playground at least three times, we continued on down to the creek where we threw in stick and rocks and tried to catch a garter snake. If you ask him the snake was definitely the highlight of Sawyer's day. When we finally pulled up back home around 11:30, Matt had just gotten back from his bike-a-thon and with a iced double chocolate mocha for moi in hand. Awwww, little things like that are my favorite. Sawyer then went down for 3+ hour nap and I went on my merry way to Macy's for the 4th of July sale with the cash I made from doing hair the day before.  Four summer shirts later with a savings of $189 and a total expenditure of $40 made a great day even better. I got home at 3:00 and Sawyer was still sleeping so Matt had been able to work the whole time on some freelance jobs. 

We ate dinner early around 4:30, drove around Boise and checked out the Hidden Springs community in the hills, and finally made our way to the Train Deport around 8. The fireworks didn't start until 10:15 since that's when it's finally dark enough to actually see them. While we waited Sawyer played with his new dump truck toy which he had gotten that evening for being especially good throughout the day, meaning he had not thrown a single fit all day long (a rarity these days which is why he was rewarded for good behavior). In between playing with his toys he also played with my minty lipgloss either putting some on me or decorating his own mouth with it. Finally the fireworks started and he ooh'ed and aaah'ed right in sync with the kids sitting next to us. 

We got back home around 11-ish where we were greeted by our panicked dog Moxie who had been beyond freaking out with all the fireworks exploding around the neighborhood. It's no wonder since we found tons of cardboard pieces of blown up firecrackers right in our backyard so considering how close they were it must have been pretty loud. Doggie prints and a wet bum proved she had spent some of the evening hiding out in Sawyer's bathroom in the tub. Poor thing. She slept that night in our bed, right between Matt and I's heads. Cozy for her, but not necessarily my favorite way to sleep with a dog's behind next to my face. Thankfully she seems to have recovered today so the sleeping arrangements will be back to normal tonight.  

Hope everyone who still reads this infrequently updated blog had a great 4th of July as well! 

 

P.S. If you have Netflix you should really watch Sherlock. We started the first one the other night and are hooked. Too bad there are only three episodes on there so far. Looks like we might have to watch them in increments  of ten minutes just in order to spread them out.