We’ve been back for 2 weeks and its about time I put a post together on our great adventures in Idaho before we begin our next vacation (to Kauai!). Yes I know we have been spoiled in the travel department this year!  This summer is busy, but full to the brim with fun. So here is a brief walk through of our Idaho trip and then a slideshow at the bottom.

Greg didn’t make it this trip, with his recent journey to the Bonnaroo music festival and our upcoming Hawaiian vacation we decided he should probably fit some work in. But next summer we really hope to find a way for him to work from Idaho so that he can join in the beauty and fun (also b/c going on vacation with 2 rambunctious girls is a lot of work for Mom!)

Two docks down is a lovely family from Arizona who have girls the same age as ours – we played with them a bit and of course the only thing better than being on vacation is a playdate on vacation! They were so welcoming and have tons of toys! I even, get this, drove a quad with P on the front and C on the back – I was a bit nervous, but it was a great way to go deer watching and I was quite proud of myself for being daring enough to do it.

Here is C jumping off their dock, first jump in the lake this trip.

A new thing we did this year was to go check out the driftwood yard where everything washes up.

We gathered some rocks and driftwood to take back to Gigi’s to paint for some craft time.

Deer watching and (shh!) feeding is another one of our daily activities in Hope.

This is one of my favorite photos of the trip a mama and her 2 babies (like me!) taken from my iPhone

Here are some of my favorites from just hanging around Gigi’s house, with 10 full days there we didn’t have to rush off to fit in all the fun each day which was so great. It is such a peaceful place and I must admit I often over schedule our day to day lives at home so one of the best parts of this trip was just having no plan and slowing down.

Above building a town out of rocks and sticks. And below “helping” in the garden.

Grandma’s raspberry bushes were about to explode with goodness, but our last few days we got some yummy ones.

Of course we love to take Gigi out for adventures while we visit, we visited some of her friends and went out to eat and even saw some music at the local hotspot Beyond Hope. She put on the greatest outfit – love the color!

Neighbor Phil took us out on his boat which was beyond fabulous! He is quite the tour guide showing us castles and beautiful homes all along the lake and then we went into Sandpoint, the bigger town near by and had a beer and walked through town. I love being up in Idaho, but a boat makes it that much better, so fun!

In addition to all the fun around the lake we went up to Schweitzer mountain where we were in winter. There was some music and crafts and the local specialty Huckleberry Lemonade.

Love this pic, you can see the Lake Pend Orielle in the distance

Of course there was playing on the dock, going to the beach in Sandpoint, visiting the library and the pantry in Clark Fork – yeah you get the idea another great trip – thank you Grandma and thank you Hope Idaho!

And here is the slideshow: