Post Vacay Photo & Word Vomit

Back to life, back to reality. For me, it's tough coming home after a week away. Not only are there cars and suitcases to unpack and exorbitant amounts of laundry to do, but there's the dread of returning to work and responsibility. Gah.

So, with my mind in a post-vacation slump and my life in a tizzy I would like to provide a recap of our family vacation in a mess of word vomit (how appropriate considering the amount of vomit I had to deal with over the past week!) and my favorite pics from the trip. Here goes nothing...



...If you've read my last 2 posts, you know that our trip was quickly dubbed "the vacation from hell" when family members (including myself and the hubby) started dropping like flies with a nasty 24 hour bug. In the end, 15 out of 20 of us got sick. The crazy (& AMAZING) thing is that my kiddos are the only little ones who didn't get it! The power of prayer people!

...Along with the whole puking/fever thing, our trip had some serious memorable moments. We had a little (big) friend that paid our cabin a visit daily. A BLACK BEAR! He liked to try to get into our garbage and he would come by at night and pop the kids' beach balls and floaties. He was not shy. We would be sitting on the deck in the middle of the day and he'd just come on up and peek his head around the corner at us. It was crazy!

Leila wanted to pet him (yeah, right!)...


...S'mores on the beach! Nuff said.

Leila's (& obviously Landon's) first s'mores experience...






... Boating was a blast! On our last day there (yesterday), we rented a boat and went on an adventure to Upper Priest Lake where we found a private beach. It felt so good to speed across the water, the sun on our backs and the wind on our faces. All of the kiddos were in heaven. Ya can't go on a lake trip without a good boat ride! (I,however, completely failed to bring the camera. Kicking myself again right now.)

... One of the best parts of our vacay was the fact that we were surrounded by family the whole time. I know this would probably drive most people crazy, but I absolutely love every one of Andy's family members and it was so nice to always have a helping hand with the kiddos just right there. And watching Leila & Landon interact with their cousins was the best.







The hardcore family members who stuck it out through the virus...


... My hubby. Oh how nice it was to be able to reconnect with him during this trip. We didn't get very much alone time together, but just the fact that we were together at all was special - even the time we spent writhing in pain with the stomach bug! We usually spend so much time apart. Him working. Then me working. Really, we only get every other weekend together, so having a full week with him was special. He's at work right now and I feel like a part of me is missing again.



Recovering from the bug...


... We've totally decided to make a trip to Priest Lake a summer tradition for our family. However, we will never again rent a huge cabin with 20 of us in it together - we learned our lesson!

Love her little messy buns!


Together...