Wednesday, August 21, 2024

Annual August Family Trip to Priest Lake

The kids and I just returned from our August, family reunion at Priest Lake.  Everyone was able to make it besides Ron and Sarah, so there were 24 people in total!  We were blessed with warm weather in the 80s all week long and no forest fire smoke, so we were able to enjoy spending lots of time playing outside every day.  We enjoyed all of our usual activities at the lake--swimming, paddle boarding, skiing, tubing, beach play, games and movies in the cabin, and large, group meals with everyone.  Overall, we had a wonderful time and I am grateful for this chance that we have to spend as a family every summer in such a beautiful place.


Callie brought a too-small swimsuit to the cabin to give to Lia.  When it turned out to be too small for Lia, it got passed on to Ella.  We thought it was so funny and cute to see Ella matching both of her young adult cousins.  Here are all three girls posing together in their matching swimsuits.


Ella continues to do amazing gymnastics tricks off of the dock and on the paddleboard.  Here she is doing a cartwheel into the water.


The three boys spent lots of time making creations out of the clay they find buried under the sand.  Here they are posing for me while playing on the beach.


Brynn painted Lia's and Ella's nails one day in the cabin.


The three younger kids all got a kick out of Eric and Brent throwing them into the water.  Here is Logan flying through the air.


Ella taking a turn.  I can't get over how much higher she is than my 6'3" brothers.


Emmett doing a split jump in the air.


Although Logan and Ella tried to go water skiing last month, they had no interest in trying again this month.  And, sadly, Lia never ended up going either which meant she missed water skiing in 2024.  I am learning that my children just do not have the desire to learn how to water ski like I did when I was a child.  However, Chris was able to talk Emmett into trying two different mornings.  With Chris behind the wheel and me in the water, Emmett got up really easily both times, but didn't last standing up that long.  Here is a picture Lia was able to take of him after he first got up.


Ella and I enjoyed paddle boarding several times together this week.


The younger kids all loved playing with Uncle Tip on the water mat. Chris lays on one end of the mat and rolls down to the other end while knocking them off in the water.  It is the funniest game to watch them play.


A huge group of us boated over to one of my favorite beaches at the Northern end of the lake to spend the afternoon one day.  We put four of the boys on the inner tubes to get everyone there in one trip.  


Mommy and kiddos.


I gathered all of the kids once we arrived at the public beach for another grandchild photo on the huge, fallen log that is always there year after year.


Silly pose!


Lia, Emmett, Riley, and Trenton standing inside a little pool that someone had made out of rocks.


A rare sibling photo we managed to take.


Uncle Brent found a really large frog hiding under the log and enjoyed showing it off to all of the kids.  Here is Emmett bravely petting it before it jumped back into the water.


At the end of the week, grandma put on her annual, scavenger hunt.  Here are the boys running up the hill looking for their next clue.  The kids still always get such a kick out of this.


Here are the girls up on the road above the cabin looking for one of their clues.


All of the grandkids hanging out on the deck with their loot after the hunt was over.


At the end of the week, Spencer and Hannah arrived with their sweet baby, Emileigh.  Since this was the first time meeting their baby, my kids just couldn't get enough of her.  Here is Ella holding her with Emmett at her side.


As always, Ella enjoyed doing acroyoga with Hannah and trying out multiple poses.


This is the first summer that Emmett has been big enough to take the paddle board out by himself. It was so fun to watch him paddling around the dock several times this past week.


Spencer offered to take both boys for a motorcycle ride in the neighborhood which they loved.  Here he is with Emmett riding on the front.


And Logan riding on the bike.


Since Chris' and Eric's families had to leave on Sunday morning, we still had two more days at the cabin before leaving on Tuesday, August 21st.  As a result, the kids and I spent a lot of time together on our own while Brent's family did their own thing and grandma and grandpa relaxed at the cabin.  We spent a wonderful, peaceful morning at the public beach past Canoe Point on our last day there.  Here are all four kids standing in the beautiful water in this bay.

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