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!

We had originally planned to be in Yahk with my family for 4th of July. This summer kind of hurts. I hate being separated. It's been really hard to accept. We had a really lovely 4th of July despite the change in plans. We decorated bikes with neighbors and then had a little parade around the local park. We played some fun games. I took a nap ;) The girls decorated a very pinterest worthy (HA) flag cake. Oh gosh, it was comical and that cake is going to be remembered for all time. They were a little choked it didn't turn out exactly how they wanted it, but I don't know that I could love it more. We ate dinner and played with friends and then I took Holly and Greta to see the fireworks while Conor took care of the littles. I'm really grateful we were able to have a good day.

We went strawberry picking together as a family. I'm still adjusting to wearing masks and social distancing. It feels so strange. But, we sure were glad to go to Greenbluff and pick some super yummy strawberries. They were so plump this year. My older two were so helpful and did a great job picking. I think Maeve ate strawberries the whole time except for when she was tossing a green one into the lot. Sounds age appropriate!

We bought some ice cream cones once we had gathered our haul. All in all, it was a really nice day.

Riding on and behind the boat was really fun. I don't have any photos of the Tube Wars we did because I was on the tubes with the kids playing (so much fun!). Everyone got up behind the boat at least once on something. Our friends have a really nifty thing called an EZ Ski. All the kids got up on that (some more fearless than others, Maeve loved it!) and Holly kneeboarded. Conor kneeboared and got up on one ski. I got up on one ski too, but not for very long. Oh well! It was fun to try something new!

On Memorial Day, we went to Post Falls with our friends and hiked in Q'emiln Park. My girls and I have been there once to swim in the river a couple years back. I had no idea there would be so many interesting trails! Starting off I was a little nervous about how my crew would do becuase the elevation change was completely different from what I had in my mind. But everyone surprised me and did great! Maeve fell asleep in the backpack for a good chunk of time. We finished our hike right before the rain really started to come down! It was really gorgeous and definitely something I would want to do again. Our total distance was around 4 miles.