my first vacation

my priest lake vacation was so exciting, i have to give you two versions... 1) the short & sweet for the type a, on-the-go types and 2) the long, more relaxed account for dudes and dudettes like me who like to ease into their days.

priest lake arrival

family picture

the short version:
nine awesomely entertaining babysitters... eight days on vacation... seven new people to read to me... six nights in a beautiful lake cottage... five great family dinner parties... four compadres joining me on my first geocache hunt... three times watching from the dock while foolish mommy and daddy were dragged behind a boat... two awesome cousins who played tons with me... and one adventurous water excursion into the far reaches of northern idaho wilderness... makes me just scream "ah-goo, ah-goo, ah-goo".

my favoritest cousins

on search for some lake moose in the upper lake

me and dad on the boat

the long version:
mommy, daddy and i high-tailed it out of seattle at 5:30 sunday morning. after a nice baby yoga session at a rest stop in ritzville and a prolonged adventure at the newport safeway including a "delicate" diaper switcheroo on daddy's lap, our dynamic trio pulled into the priest lake cabin mid-sunday afternoon. sunday afternoon was filled with book reading, some family watersports (i looked on from the dock-thank you very much-as i'm a bit more sensible than the rest of the family), and an awesome dinner prepared by oma and poppy.

me and oma on a cool morning

poppy...how'd you get so tan?

i could continue recounting the rest of the week day by day, but fortunately for my reading audience, i'll just give you the abbreviated highlights. the weather was spectacular almost everyday. it was sunny, the lake itself was glassy in the mornings, and the selkirk mountains rising from the north, east, and west sides of the lake created a stunning picturesque environment. i even saw two of the most beautiful moon-rises my little blue infant eyes have ever seen.

the view from our cabin

here comes the moon, da da da-da

my days were filled with lots and lots of family time. elise and evan played with me and read me endless stories. it was so much more exciting than my old ballard routine. uncle john, uncle andrew, and auntie kelly held me lots and would only put me down when i forcefully told them to do so. and of course oma and poppy played with me too.

mr. evan, you're pretty awesome for coming down to my level for a read

uncle john, i love to learn about pooches

mommy and daddy enjoyed all the family help and even got to do some bike riding, tubing, wakeboarding and trail running. but they seemed to only leave me alone for at most 60 minutes, before they were back up in my face making those funny oogling sounds.

daddy's taking it all in while i'm still sleeping

mommy, i wanna ride with you!

hey daddy, come down from there

daddy, can you adjust the handlebars, my arms are shorter than yours.

the two biggest highlights for me were a boat ride to upper priest lake and a hiking adventure that closed in on 6,000 feet. on the lake tour, our whole family hopped in the motorboat and cruised at a baby- and wildlife- friendly 5 mph, taking in the views and looking out for some idaho-moose or bears. while we didn't see any land creatures, i did see a turtle and some lake birds that my brain already forgot the name of. for the hike, poppy and uncle andrew dragged mommy, daddy and i up a long bumpy dirt road, then a mile hike that brought us to a place called camel's prairie. from there i took in a beautiful view of priest lake, a quick lunch, then succesfully gps-ed my way to my first geocache.  i was so excited by my excellent navigation skills that i tried to jump into the geocahce bucket to celebrate.

i was a little camera shy here

my board shorts / sun hat combo is totally rad dudes

diaper change at 6,000 feet

i found the geo cache and it's bigger than me...  i'm going in for a closer look guys.

by far the best part of the night were the family dinners where all ten of us would gather 'round the table, have a great family meal and recount our days adventures.  besides the one or two nights where i was so tired, that i felt the need to "talk boisterously" over the rest of the table, the night time was really really fun.