Day 4 &5

We woke up to rain on Thursday morning.  By the time we made a plan B and packed up the car, it was clearing up.  It did rain on and off a bit all day, but it wasn't as bad as it could have been.  Anyway, we went to these hot springs in Bergdorf.  It was such a cute little spot tucked away in the woods.  The hot springs made the rain feel good and we all had a good time soaking.

 We filled up the pool with our family and then some of my cousins.  They were camping at McCall the same week we were there, so we got to see them a few times.

 I thought this was a cute tub and made everyone pose for pictures.  Now that I'm looking at it in these pictures, it looks pretty gross :).  Oh well, we're home now and we all survived without getting some gross disease (at least that I know of).
Anyway, we stayed at the hot springs until we were too hot to stay longer and we went back.  It was cold, but wasn't raining anymore.  So the kids just played on the beach, and swam in the pool.

 When I said that Nate drove his monster trucks on these rocks, I meant that he did it EVERY day.  Mike was good to sit out there with him and this was my view as I cooked dinner.

Friday brought more sand play.  The kids weren't water logged yet.  I skied in the morning and now that Allie and Jake are skiers, they appreciated it more.  Jake said "I didn't know you could ski too!  You are good!"  First of all, he's easy to impress because I ski on one ski and he is just getting up on 2.  Second of all, I have skied every summer of my life and of his life...except my pregnancy with Allie and last summer when I was pregnant with Jason. Does he really not remember 2 years ago?  Sad.

The real "Captain Johnson" manned the boat for a few boat rides.  Warren has always been "Captain" and even has an official "Captain W" hat.  But now that Steve is in the Army, he really is a Captain and has taken his rightful position as the real Captain Johnson.

More sand play...

Jason also learned how to pull himself up on things.  He is so stinking cute!

We did s'mores that night too.  We all ate our fill of treats.

 Nate got in the water willingly on the first day and had a scary incident where he went in too deep.  After that, he kept clear of the water.  Here's Warren tormenting him...

 There's also a hint of the beautiful sunset that we got to see.  The cabin is on the other side of the lake so we didn't get to see the sunsets while we were over there.  That's one thing I love about this side of the lake.  Such a pretty spot...did I already mention that?

Day 3

On Wednesday, we tubed off the back of the party barge.  It didn't have much power, so the kids just sat back there and gave us the thumbs up for faster.  They were sorely disappointed that it wasn't a wild ride...

Still had fun though.

Kaylee and Jake spent time together this trip.  Awesome Kaylee swam across the lake and rocked it!

Jake skied again.

And so did Allie!  She told me that she was afraid of her head going under water, so she decided to jump off the dock before she skied (and let her head go under) so the worst fear could be out of the way.  It must have worked.

Yay Allie!  I love it!

On our way to go cliff jumping, the rain started up.  The kids huddled together on the party barge and we got back and went for a swim instead of playing on the beach.

When it started to rain too much, we went in.  Luckily it was just spotty and cleared up fast.
We did homemade ice cream in bags that night.  Even Jason got in on shaking the bag.

That ice cream was so yummy.

This is a pretty random picture for the post, but Jason really got moving around well while we were in McCall.  The condo floor wasn't exactly clean, so I was really grossed out by what he would come up with in his hands sometimes (lots of hairballs...shudder).  I loved it when he'd play with these blinds though.  It kept him in one spot for a long time.  So cute.
Anyway, day three was a wonderful day...
stay tuned for day four.

Day 2

While I was sitting on the beach with Jason and Nate on Monday, Allie and Jake were out on the boat with Warren, Kim, Jenny, and the other cousins.  They came back in and excitedly told me that they had skied.
I was so proud of them!  A little part of me was bummed that I didn't get pictures though, so I made sure that I had my camera and went with them the next time they went out to ski.
Sure enough!  I have water skiing children!

Allie wouldn't do it again.  I begged and pleaded, but it was to no avail.  So we watched as the cousins skied.

Aunt Jenny was a trooper and stayed in the cold water with the crying children to help them get started.

I loved Taylor's "cry march".  She'd start to cry as soon as she knew it was her turn.  But she'd walk from the front of the boat, put on the skis, get in the water, and ski...crying all the while.  Such a cute little skier!

Nicole is getting to be a pro.

There were lots of loud cheers from the boat.  

Even Grandma skied!  She's still got it!

We camped out on Grandpa's beach for a while and let the kids play in the sand.

I was proud to see these mud pies on the rock that baked so many of my mud pies as a child.

Next time we go up there, the lot will probably have a huge cabin on it and we won't be able to sneak onto the beach to play again.  So I guess it will just have to live on in our memories.

We ended the day with ice cream to celebrate all the accomplishments of the day.  Kaylee swam across the lake and all the kids either skied or knee boarded.  We are amazing!

Happy Birthday Allie Sue!

Seven!  Seven years on this earth.  Seven years in our hearts.  What would I do without you Allie Sue?

The first day

We spent Monday playing in the sand.  Our condo was right on the lake so it was easy to get down to the beach to sit for hours.  Here's Jason's first experience with McCall.

He loved the water on his toes and the taste of the sand.  I didn't realize how much he ate until later on when it came out the other end :).

Nate had a few monster trucks and enjoyed driving them on the rocks.  He'd create sand obstacles and had great sound effects.  He didn't get in the water much, but still had a lot of fun.

 There was plenty of cousin time.

And several jumps off the dock.

 Allie and Nicole had twinner swim suits and thought that was pretty cool.  I remember coming to McCall as a kid her age and discovering that my cousin had the same swim suit.  Pretty fun.

We took several rides on the "party barge".

The only real downer of the day was when we took the boat to the other side of the lake where Grandpa's cabin was supposed to be.

So sad.  The guy who owned it let his lease go.  It got too expensive to pay.  So the State said that he had to tear the cabin down, or they would do it and charge him.  He ripped it out and it's as if nothing was ever there.  The dock is gone too.  Such a shame.  Allie had tears in her eyes as we walked around the site.  She said "why couldn't that guy just pay his bills mom?"  Why indeed.

Gone

We have been gone.  We went to McCall for our family reunion and had the best time ever.  But that means that I now have piles of laundry, an empty fridge, a messy house (that wasn't clean when we left) and a couple of boys with messed up sleep schedules.  I really want to write about our adventures though, so I will get to it when I can.  Until then, here is the view I had as I unpacked our food into the kitchen of our place in McCall...

I love that lake!  I love that boy too...but man...that lake!  I've been to a lot of places, but in my mind, there isn't anywhere that tops it.  So many happy memories...and now we added a week of more happy memories.  I'll tell you all about it...later.