Our third annual Coulee City, Banks Lake trip! We love this summer trip! It's so low key and basic. I hope to return in a cooler season to do some family hikes. But at this phase and season, our days were swimming and napping the babies. The first day we arrived, the area was pretty smokey but by the next morning the smoke had cleared. E loved crawling through the water. The day use beach at Steamboat Rock State Park is so awesome because it's shallow for a long ways and the sand is so soft!

Our second day we played in the water in the morning, ate lunch and napped the babies, and then played again in the late afternoon before eating dinner in Electric City. A couple of important things we forgot were the baby carrier for Ira, sand toys, and E's floatie. We packed a paddle board but never took it out because the effort that required was beyond us.

Our last day was overcast, chilly with some rain. The kids still got in the water and so did I. Then we had our lunch by the playground and returned home. Vacations/trips with five (FIVE!) children are no joke, but I think they're worth it.

Here are our past vacations at Banks Lake. There's something super special about repeating a vacation with E.

Our second trip out to the Banks Lake/Grand Coulee area! Our girls were very enthusiastic about returning to the same place we stayed at last year and playing in the lake! Of course we had a lovely time. Highlights include: swimming in gorgeous Banks Lake, finding a ton of shells, renting a paddle board and eating super good Mexican food from a truck two nights in a row! This is a mini vacation that we would happily repeat!

After looking at the Dry Falls which was really educational (and kind of boring to my kids) stop, we swam in a lake and it was wonderful! I'm so grateful for this time I spent with my family!

We finished off this day with a bad meal at a hole in the wall diner and a gorgeous sunset. Overall, net positive!

One of our tourist stops was to Dry Falls. A huge glacial lake filled up in Montana many times and was stopped by an ice dam which broke repeatedly sending an insane amount of water through Washington and into the Pacific Ocean. This water carved and influenced the landscape we now live in. It was really fascinating to learn about it!

Our last summer hoorah was the the interior of Washington to the Grand Coulee area. It was a breathtaking landscape and we had so much fun! We spent 2 nights there and every day we same at Steamboat Rock State park. We loved the sandy beach and the water. There's an island that can be swam to and we all liked to do that. A couple times I had Maeve hold on to my swimsuit strap and I swam her out. One time, Conor went with Greta and Holly, but left Maeve behind. The entire time they were gone, Maeve was where she couldn't touch trying her hardest to swim to them. She was determined! That girl loves the water. Summer has ended but our discussion about swimsuits, swimming and lakes may never end.