Our first family trip*

One Saturday (July 12) we were chatting and I mentioned how I'd really like to do another family vacation this summer other than just the camping trip we had planned. As we talked, we realized that we were busy nearly every weekend until mid september. This was our last free weekend of the summer and so Kyle suggested we leave the next day for winthrop.

This is so unlike me. I always plan trips at least weeks in advance, but we came home from the farmers market, I found a cabin online that was reasonably priced, reserved it and then headed off for a bachelorette party that evening. Kyle managed to get everything packed while I was gone and we headed out the next morning. He said this is his favorite way to do trips - absolutely no planning at all. I guess opposites do attract.

We had lunch in Newhalem and the kids had "Lunchables" for the first time ever. I laughed really hard because Annika would not touch the cheese in them. This girl loves feta, begs for chunks of parmeggiano, adores fresh mozzarella and has eaten every sample they give us at the specialty cheese shop. But proccessed cheese product? No thanks. (she also hates lots of melted cheeses, so it may have been the soft texture)

We stopped a lot on the way over and I realized we could easily spend a long weekend in the Newhalem/Ross Lake area alone. We sort of researched what we could do there, drove over Diablo dam, got brochures on Ross Lake Resort and enjoyed the view. After that Annika fell asleep until nearly Winthrop and the drive wasn't bad at all. (maybe 20-30 minutes of fussing at the end and Saben was wonderful as always)

We arrived in the late afternoon, settled into our adorable Mazama cabin and pulled out some water guns & balloons. Saben loved it. Spraying us with water is one of his most favorite things to do, but he cries every time we retailiate. Stinker. That evening there was an amazing lightening & thunder storm which both kids loved watching from the deck of the Duck Restuarant.

Annika was perplexed by the "disappearing" of the balloons when she threw them

Day 2 - It was a lot colder than I expected & the storm wasn't moving out as quickly as I'd hoped. We decided to go hiking up by Sun Mountain Lodge after having lunch in their cafe with beautiful views of the valley. Lucky for us we eat lunch early so it was nearly empty and Annika's handful of screams didn't bother anyone.

New game "hay on the dog"

2nd new game "chew on grass like Daddy"

Annika spent 3/4 of the hike in the backpack, but Saben walked the entire thing

I loved these cinnamon colored trees with the white birches (er...aspens? I don't remember)

Our 2 mile hike was a blast and afterwards we went on a drive to Twisp while both kids took a little nap. We decided to grill steaks at the cabin for dinner and just relax.

Day 3 - Headed out to Perrygin Lake for some swimming before driving home in the afternoon. It was gorgeous sunny, but the wind was really blowing so it wasn't as hot as we'd of liked. Saben just went in to his waste, Annika got fully wet and played in the lake with Dad for over an hour while mom & saben laid in the sun.

Drove home while Annika napped & were back in time for supper on Tuesday night. Annika did scream quite a bit in the car during the trip, especially driving back & forth from Winthrop to our cabin in Mazama. But I have found those memories (the unpleasant ones) fade away quickly while the fun ones remain and I am so glad we did it despite our fears of a screaming stubborn toddler ruining the trip. : )


*Technically we all went to Hawaii last spring, but I am counting this as our first "weekend away" staying local sort of trip.