Family Trip to Priest Lake

We returned home tonight from our annual, family trip to Priest Lake.  We drove out on Tuesday, July 5th, after spending the 4th of July at Lake Samammish.  Unfortunately, Ron had to go to Denver for four days for another work conference, so we met my mom north of Spokane so that he could drop us off at her car before returning back to the Spokane airport to catch his flight.  We drove the rest of the way to the cabin with my mom where we were joined by Natalee and her three youngest kids later that day (while Chris spent the week working and the twins were at EFY in Utah).  Brent also drove up the next night to spend three days at the cabin while the ladies of his family were on vacation.  As always, we had a good time just being with family, playing in the water, playing games, and eating delicious food.  Unfortunately, we did not have the best weather and so we took advantage of the sunshine when it did come, but even went swimming a couple of times in total cloudy (and sometimes rainy) weather.  It's was just so nice to be in the woods removed from reality and all of the distractions and responsibilities that come with it!

Lia swimming on our first full day at the lake.

Whenever we aren't with the entire family, Lia and Riley always play really well together.  Since it was just six kids this trip, they had a fun time swimming every day in the lake together.

The two kiddos jumping into that crystal, clear water.

Being true to his form, Logan decided that he did not want to wear his wet swimsuit while playing on the beach each day after getting it wet.  So, he would strip it off and run around naked.  Oh dear.  Needless to say, this only lasted until his father arrived at the cabin. :-)  Here is a naked Logan hiding under a towel while trying to get dry.

Callie relaxing with Logan.

A naked Logan playing in the sand.  Too funny.

Lia, Riley, and Callie really got into the "beach restaurant" that the kids have played for many years.  They take orders from the adults hanging out on the beach and then go and create that meal using all sorts of items found in nature.  These three kids really stepped it up a notch this trip and made some beautiful creations.  Here is Lia showing off one of her dishes.

And posing with it, too.

The kids started requesting that I take pictures of every meal they made.  So, here is Callie with one of her dishes.

And Riley with one of his, too!

Of course, grandpa was found working on a different project every day.  One afternoon, Ella wandered out onto the deck after hearing his electric drill.  This is what I found a few minutes later after I went in search of her.  Oh, that girl.  She has to be doing what everyone else is doing at all times!

Logan and Trenton had a grand time playing together for the four days that Natalee was up there.  They are such good, little buddies.

Riley broke out his awesome, remote control boat one morning and it totally worked!  The kids were fascinated with it and followed it everywhere it went.

Riley was nice and let a few kids drive it--including Miss Ella which should come as no surprise!

Lia was brave one morning and agreed to go tubing by herself for the first time!  

But after awhile she got scared and agreed to let me pull her back to the dock with Callie at her side.

Friday morning was a pretty cloudy and dreary day, so we decided to go for a walk in the woods through a new section of cabins being built.  Here we are walking on one of the many boardwalks built for this new development.

The entire gang minus a cranky Logan posing amongst the trees.

Another group shot with Logan this time.

Some of the kids being silly on the walk back to the cabin.

After Ron returned to the cabin from his trip to Denver, he helped the kids go fishing one of the mornings we were there.  Here is cute Logan with his pole.

And Lia and Ella with theirs.

To our HUGE surprise, Lia actually caught a large trout within five minutes of putting her line in the water!!  This has never happened before (and probably will never happen again).  Here is Ron helping her to reel in the fish!

Admiring the fish before Ron threw it back into the water.

A rare photo of all three kids.

And an even more rare photo of the family.

Ron pulling the girls around in the inner tube.

Ella was brave and jumped into the water several times this week.  Here we are coming out of the water together.

This is one of the sweetest things we have seen in a long time--Logan fishing with his toy pole with Ella happily sitting at his side.  No fighting, no screaming, nothing!  Just happy siblings enjoying one another's company.

The front side of the two kiddos.

We went to play at the tennis courts two different times when it was cloudy this week.  Here is Ella with her favorite, blue racket she dragged all over the place.

The three kids at play.

Lia got some legit lessons from Ron and actually hit several balls.  I think her softball experience this spring helped her to pick it up pretty quickly.

Logan with his favorite, red racket.  He actually hit several soft, nerf balls that I threw to him over and over again with that racket.

A big storm blew in our last afternoon we were there.  Since it was sunny when we first went down to the beach, we decided to jump in the water anyways with the dark clouds looming off in the distance.  We quickly packed up once it started raining and the wind started howling.  Here are Lia and me taking the plunge together!

And splashing in the water.

Two water lovers swimming back to the dock.

Logan and Ella watching from the dock.  Ella started jumping around in circles around Logan and this is the hilarious picture Ron took of her hair flying up like horns.

Lia and I out of the water and ready to run for the cabin as the storm was coming!

Thank you, Priest Lake, for another wonderful and crazy-weather week up at the cabin.  Can't wait to see you again in a few weeks...with 80 degree weather every day, I hope! ;-)