4th of July trip part 2: Ceour d'Alene

The Awesome: Spending quality time with the Waddell family!!! Visiting CDA for the first time ever, it is just as beautiful as everyone says! Watching the cousins play with one another non stop. Yummy food. Staying at the "Hotel Waddell," they have a lovely new home and were fabulous hosts. Game nights. Movie nights. Desserts. Playing at Sherman park (I think that is was it is called). Swimming at the Kroc center (Bryan and I are still coveting this place, We wish Boise had one). Picnic together. Just hanging out and chatting. Driving through the town of Wallace Id, it was seriously one of the cutest towns I've ever seen (think adorable North End Boise set right up against steep, tall, and densely forested mountains. Breathtaking and fairytale-esque)!



The not-quite-as-awesome: The weather was cold and gray, and I hear it warmed up and got sunny right as we pulled out of town ;(. The you-pick fruit farm not being open for picking fruit after a 1.5 hour drive, bummer! Losing the gas cap to the Passat. The Hiawatha Trail.*



*We were so excited to ride this bike route! Bryan worked SOOO hard to make sure we had all of our biking gear with us for the trip. Unfortunately, we followed the websites CRAPPY directions and ended up going the back way over curvy, dirt, back-mountain roads. What was only supposed to be a 1 hour car ride, ended up taking nearly 3 hours. We left the kids back at the house, so we only had short window of time to get to the trail, ride it, and then turn around and come home. By the time we found the correct flippin' trail head we only had about 45 minutes or so to ride the 30 mile round trip trail . Not to mention we were FUMING with frustration, AND the weather was windy,wet and cold, AND the tunnels were freezing cold and pitch black, AND the bike lighting we brought, which followed their websites guidelines, were completely insufficient! UGH! We ended up only riding through the first two tunnels (about 3.5 miles) and then leaving out of utter frustration, and because we had NO MORE TIME. Maybe one day we can do it again, learn from our experience, and have a better time! But for now...BOOO!



The AWESOME outweighed the un-awesome. We are so glad we went and were able to spend time with family! Thanks guys! We love and miss you.

(Cathy trying to fit in the kiddie tire swing with Sloan.)

(Kimball and Brian)

(This was right before Kimball fell almost completely through the center of the tire swing.)

(Who is this homeless man following us?)

(Playing at the park with a shark.)

(Picnic at the farm.)
(Heading for a swim at the Kroc center.)