July 3rd brought warm weather and a couple of cars full of friends and family. Flying in from Arizona, the DeVito's unpacked their bags and made themselves comfortable for the week of fun before them. Shortly before the DeVito arrival, Alex and Peter (my nephews) drove in from Seattle and threw their bags into Sam's room, where they would spend the next 3 nights.
We quickly got into a routine of getting up early and going out on the boat wake boarding and skiing. The water was like glass and surprisingly there weren't a lot of boats out on the water over the weekend. Everyone took the opportunity to try wake boarding, except Balin who is still looking for a wake board that will fit him.
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| The Boat Driver. It's a title that has to be earned and you even get a little plastic driver's license from the state of Washington after taking a arduous on-line class and test. And believe me, being the boat driver is tiring - loud music, heat, being attentive to running over people, applying sunscreen over and over and over - it's a tough job. |
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| Alex cutting loose on an early morning excursion. |
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| Peter loved it. He kept saying, "Ready to try again, ready to try again". |
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| Sam has got wake boarding down. We told him he'd love it and he does. He's zooming in and out of the wake and before you know it we'll be seeing flips in the air. |
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| Casey did it! For every kid that tried and got up out of the water, they were rewarded with $30. Yes, parenting in it's finest. We all figured they were going to get vacation spending money one way or another so we might as well use it as a big, ole carrot. Worked pretty well - they all got their money. |
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| Dana - every time he went out his jumps got bigger and bigger.... |
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| as did his wipeouts.... |
On the morning of the Fourth we headed over to Kai and Gen's place, where we picked up some extra bikes. From there we headed down to Alpine Shores, a little housing community a half mile away, where the city had the "Fourth of July Parade". It was 100% hometown USA with golf carts, kiddie bikes, the high school marching band, candy being thrown out by participants - good wholesome fun. We actually saw a lot of people we knew, which is saying something since we moved here 3 months ago - it's a very small town. From the parade we headed to the Alpine Shores private park where snow cones were had and Perrin participated in sack races. (We didn't even prompt her - she just ran over, grabbed a bag and hopped in.) After some socializing, losing and finding a couple of kids (not mine thankfully) we hopped on our bikes and headed back to the house for some food and lake activities.
The next day we ladies found ourselves dragging each other out of bed for a rousing mountain bike ride. Text flew back and forth begging for another half hour of sleep. By 8 o'clock though we were up and on our bikes with Yogi right along side us and we headed up the hill. Anna borrowed Gen's bike and didn't even stop to say goodbye before all we saw were her rear tire tracks. Meanwhile Gen and I chatted it up the hill as we only get time to catch up on our Saturday morning bike rides. It was truly a glorious ride with girlfriends and I was pinching myself all morning at the marvel of living in paradise.
After we got home the boys mounted their bikes and headed up the hill and rode a little farther and harder than we. They got home a couple of hours later with grins and giggles as I think they too had a great day. There after we fell into a beautiful rhythm of eating and playing, eating and playing followed by sleep.
Sunday the boys left for Seattle after an early wake boarding/skiing run and breakfast and the rest of us settled into a quiet afternoon. Anna and I took the opportunity to head out to Starbucks and then see a bit of Spokane. I took her to the other side of Liberty Lake where the houses are close together, cute and affordable followed by a trip up to the South Hill. We both oooed and awwed over the tree lined streets and quaint craftsmen styled homes while thinking, "It's hot - let's get back to the lake".
"Back to the Lake" seems to be the motto of this summer. We go out and then happily make it back to the lake. Such a joy to live here and I'm so thankful.
Balin had to leave for a work trip on Tuesday, got home on Wednesday and our guests left on Thursday. Friday Balin picked up Sam after work and they headed off to a friend's condo at Schweitzer where they went mountain biking and hiking for Sam's 10th birthday outing. Meanwhile Perrin and I stayed home and had a great "staycation" as we went shopping, swimming, watched movies and did our nails. We both said it was an awesome weekend and we're hoping to do another one in the near future.
Tuesday the adventures continue as we drive to Colorado for Uncle Charlie's and Lindsey's wedding. Pictures and stories coming soon....
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