Lake Sullivan

After packing up we took a drive around Lake Sullivan. I don't think the water could have been more beautiful. Nobody was on the lake and it was just calling our name. So next time we or anyone else comes up this way...bring your boat! Seriously.

Beware of the feisty chipmunk

Apparently campsite #10 belongs to the most belligerent chipmunk in Washington. At 5:30 am Mr. Feisty decided he would hurry our exit up by dropping pine cones on our tent. Yes....5:30 am people!! Fortunately he had to take a little mid morning nap and started up again at 7:30 just in time for us to gear up for the battle to come. At first I wanted to chalk it up to the fact he was just clearing out some pine cones from his tree but whenever we moved around he would move to the tree with branches above us only to start hurling these rock hard spiky pine cones at us. The kids had to stay in the tent for a while until the bombing lightened a bit. I suppose after Greg hurled rocks at him he wasn't that much happier. So below is evidence of our battleground. You know how in 101 dalmatians how they transfer messages through the animals. Well....I think it's for real because when we drove up to Mitch and Michelle's a chipmunk immediately started yelling at us. Something to think about.

First night at Noisy Creek Camp ground in Ione

The first order of business was a dip in Lake Sullivan. Amy melted early so I had to take her back to the tent for an early bedtime even though she woke up at 9:30 ready to party for the night. Jamison and Amy both were excited to slip into their sleeping bags but were confused when we told them we were actually spending the night.

Wayne and Heidi's property

Yesterday we decided to go on a little road trip up to Ione Washington where my parents have some property on a river. The first picture is of the lot itself and the second is of the river that runs by it just through the trees a couple of miles down. It's a beautiful spot and we can't wait for them to have a summer cabin here:) It's located about 15 miles from the Canadian border.

Flying Amy

Every small child should have a picture of themselves like this:)

We're addicted to boating!

Wake Surfing

Here's some pictures of some wake surfing....I'll upload some later when I have a faster connection.

This is the life in Sandpoint

Friday was just the sort of day one needs to really kick off a vacation. After picking berries in the morning we headed down to city beach where the kids had a blast playing in the water. I was able to get my swim in too. Jamison even floated around on his floaty for about 45 minutes. I was surprised he didn't fall asleep. After the kids got their much needed nap we drove down to Dover Bay where some friends met us with their boat and we got to wave surf. And of course we watched the sunset too. A nice ending to a beautiful day. I think we may just never come home:)

Wake Surfing in the Sunset

Amy hid behind Greg for a little while at first but later warmed up:)


















Greg was able to wake surf without the rope right away....everyone of us on the boat were jealous.

















Parker kept Jamison busy in the front of the boat. I can't believe how amazing the kids did on the boat.

City Beach in Sandpoint

City Beach was so peaceful. We walked up the street to get a pizza for lunch and Jamison lounged in the water for an hour on his raft. Amy was quite content with her two floaties we picked up at the drugstore.

Thimble Berries

Welcome to Spokane!

We flew into Spokane Wednesday evening for our much needed vacation. Jamison said Express Jet was the best plane he's been on. I'm thinking it was because of the constant food and beverage service:) The airport was so nice and quiet and we got our rental car in 5 minutes as the lot was right across the street. A beautiful sunset welcomed us too. Now if only we could find employment here we'd be tempted to move. We spent the night at a friend's house nearby so we could chat and catch up. In the morning they took us to downtown Spokane where the world's fair was held in the 60's I think. Despite the fact that our kids were exhausted from a lack of sleep we still managed to get them to have a little bit of fun. A giant wagon was the start and we finished it off with the carousel and mini-donuts. Of course Greg couldn't resist the temptation of the spectacular fountain as well. Overall Spokane treated us well:)

Yes....we went to the beach again

Today I met some friends at the beach with older kids. This meant everyone was having much more fun than Jamison. Running away from waves was just not as cool cool today so Jamison gave it a shot on the boogie board. He had a blast.....I got a little too into it which resulted in me dumping him several times but for some reason I still had his trust. Hmmm. Amy of course was delighted to stay dry and eat to her hearts content from her princess lunch box while she coveted another little girls' Ariel towel. Apparently towels with strips and flowers are just not as fun to sit on. Will we ever be content with our own towels and our own activities?

An Evening with the Animals

Some of our favorite times at the Wild Animal Park have been in the evening. It's nice and cool and you don't feel like you've become a french fry from the blazing sun. So tonight was another great evening amongst the beasts. Recently the park has created some new shows. I am all about improving those kinds of things but I regret to say that the shows are rather boring. We attended one of their new ones for the kids. The title was "The Poop Show." I don't know what possessed us to attend but we did due to Jamison's persistent wishes. Needless to say, it was painful to sit through the whole thing. There was no quick and easy exit to relieve us of our misery so we had to sit through the whole 20 minutes of terrible jokes and awkward material. The highlight of course was the hot cocoa. This is our way of achieving peace between Jamison and Amy...... two light up mugs of cocoa is bound to make anyone happy.

Child Labor

Yesterday I heard the words uttered so frequently mid-summer. "I'm bored." Fortunately I had a 3 bags of apples from Greg's parents that needed peeling. I just didn't have the time to get to that project so it was then that I realized that I wasn't taking full advantage of the skills Jamison has to offer. He is now a pro at the apple peeler corer slicer. I don't know how long he will continue to volunteer for this job but in the mean time I am taking full advantage of it. The fruits of his labors included strawberry applesauce and apple pie. Yum!