August 2012
Everyone arrived Wednesday evening, just in time for dinner.
An amazing dinner.
I should have taken pictures of all the good food we ate the entire weekend.
Chris and Tally are the perfect hosts.
Coeur d'Alene is such a fun place to visit and they have a beautiful home that comfortably sleeps our crowd. Tally does a great job organizing all of us and thought of every detail from meals to snacks and everything in between. Chris loves to use his grill and smoker and we really had the most fabulous food.
After a fun evening of visiting and catching up we went to bed too late which was only the start of our anything but relaxing vacation!
Thursday morning we packed lunches and headed off to Silverwood.
Loved the wave pool!
This is as close to a nap as poor Austin got.
Everyone had a blast! We got home late, tired and exhausted.
That's the best way to end a fun vacation day!
Friday morning we packed lunches and headed off to Hayden lake. It's not far from Chris and Tally's home, in fact their new home will be right on the lake. (Next year we'll just have to walk across the front yard!)
We took turns going out all the boat all day long. I think Chris drove the boat for 7 hours straight.
Jared with a bunch of the kids.
Studly Anthony with a bunch of the kids.
The boys were nuts.
Emma appreciated the calm ride.
There's no picture for the next ride, but Chris had the time of his life pulling Tally, Desiree and I around the lake. After doing circles and being launched off of huge waves, I realized that he wasn't going to stop until he flipped us. We hung on for dear life, but it was only a matter of time before Chris was hootin' and hollerin' with delight as that giant tube flipped and sent the three of us flying into the air. Those in the boat described that all three of us were in mid air touching no part of the tube, just flailing before hitting the water. Chris loved it!
We thought we were exhausted Thursday night, but by Friday night we were really, really exhausted.
Tired and sore.
And to top it off we played a game after the kids were in bed that had us laughing til our cheeks hurt.
It was awesome!
Somehow we pulled ourselves out of bed Saturday morning and headed off for a 14 mile bike ride.
Yup.. the Butler's play hard.
It's a scenic section of abandoned rail bed that has become a popular tourist attraction for bike riders.
You have to wear a head lamp because there are nine cavernous tunnels along the way. The first is at the very start and is 1.7 miles long. We also went over seven high trestle bridges.
We stayed up late visiting, laughing, eating snacks, watching movies, and just enjoying great company. I love that my family is so much fun to hang out with!
Mom and Dad left Saturday evening to pick up Phil so he could spend Sunday with everyone and especially be a part of family pictures that we had scheduled for that afternoon. It had been a little while since we had pictures taken with everyone in them.
Butler Family 2006
Butler Family 2012
(I have enough pictures for a post all on their own.)
It was hard to say goodbye and go our separate ways, but I left feeling so grateful for all of the wonderful people that make up the Butler Family! I am so blessed to be part of such a great family!
2 comments:
That bike ride looks awesome! I'm impressed that all the kids could all make it that far. You guys really do know how to play hard. What fun!
Your family picture turned out great, too.
Darn it! That was me, not Jon.
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