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.