Spokane

 My sweet SIL and her fiance got married on the 23rd in Spokane. The wedding was on a Thursday so we decided to spend the weekend up there also. I have never been to Northern Idaho/Spokane area! It was so beautiful!!! We got there the day before to hang out with family and to attend a family dinner.

cruisin' the river

practicing for their dance for the reception (all my bil)

 

 Wedding Day

only picture I got of the happy couple

getting ready to perform

"men in black" 

see the bridesmaids over there? yeah I was one too. and we danced to a country song. it was awesome.

Addi & Emma were having a BALL!! See that boy in the white shirt in the background?? Yeah, Emmalee asked him to dance. And it was really cute. :) I decided that if I have to be at a reception the whole time, there's got to be dancing. It was SO MUCH FUN!!!! Blake's the only one who didn't want anything to do with dancing. So he sat and ate food the whole time.

Hiawatha!

the beginning

bathroom stop before we go

the end of a 1.5 mile tunnel. it was freakishly dark, so very dark, wet, and below 40 degrees. you would hear the water falling along the sides, and then BAM it's dropping on you. awesome

and then you come out to this

and this

the biking clan

LOVED the hiawatha! definitely a must to do again. it was beautiful!
we also went to Silverwood while we were north. it. ...was...okay.
Overall a fantastic fun weekend!

Birthday Boy!

 Amiss all our traveling, my boy turned 6! Since we were on our way to WA for his special day, we celebrated with cake at cousin camp and opened presents, had a special dinner, and rootbeer floats later.

To be home again

Oh it is SO NICE to do NOTHING! (seriously, my fridge is empty and we are running out of clothes) We have been gone pretty much ALL of June. I'm done with packing, driving, re-packing, nights in a tent or a hotel or on an air mattress. I'm now soaking up some rays, reading some books, and staying home. My kids are being entertained by the sprinklers, the backyard, their bikes, and the neighborhood kids.

It can't last forever. Summer is almost halfway done. My kids will start getting restless. And we will eventually go through our food storage. But for now, I'm sure enjoying it.

And now that we are home, I sure enjoying looking through these photos. We did have a good month.

Family Vacation 2011
First stop: Lake Tahoe

(didn't stay long cause it was cold.....)

Second stop: Yosemite

Mirror lake

Yosemite Falls

friendly deer

riding our bikes in the valley (in front of upper Yosemite)

getting ready to camp for the night

el capitan

Bridelveil

Yosemite falls

Yosemite valley

It is absolutely gorgeous there! The falls are so full of fresh mountain water. You get soaked just standing at the bottom! Riding our bikes through the valley and seeing all the falls and the deer and all the beautiful colors was by far my favorite part of the trip.

Third stop: San Francisco

alcatraz

fell into the water

slept away while at the beach

still not happy about falling in the water

Our kids LOVED Alcatraz! I was quite surprised, but the audio tour was fun to listen to. It held the attention of a 6 year old. Not for 3 year olds: Addi got a little bored and fell asleep.

Fourth stop: Redwoods

our private beach

only private cause it was so COLD!

riding thru the redwoods

in a tree

the elk in our campground

The END of our fun trip!