A little winter vacation to make us question why we travel with babies (but seriously). We had a lot of fun even if the boys didn't love sleeping in a new place. I've looked forward to this trip since I booked it a couple months ago. We stayed at a really lovely spot, right on a trailhead. We didn't have to drive to ski which was hugely convenient. On our first full day we met up with our friends who overlapped their trip with ours. We skied from our trailhead to a suspension bridge, ate lunch in a warming hut and skied back. It was approx. 10km and our girls were awesome! I carried Ira for the first time ever and the combination of additional weight, super warm weather and sticky snow gave me wicked bad blisters on the backs of my heels. Like so bad. But so it goes. The scenery was gorgeous. We skied through clusters of trees and by a river. I loved being right there in the valley with the foothills of the cascades. I really hope we make this a yearly trip.

We learned how to play pickle ball while we were at the lake. The sound of the paddle on the wiffle ball makes a very satisfying "thwack." I really liked playing pickle ball and I hope our family plays more of it! Some final pics of our trip. Thankful for our summertime memories.

But seriously, I have a couple of really cute babies! E liked the water and even more, he liked crawling on the dock! Little dare devil.

Chess... lots of chess games on our vacation! Maeve learned all the names of the pieces and how to move them. She really puts a lot of imagination into it!

We spent 5 nights out at Loon Lake, just north of Spokane and it was really nice! It was a pretty chill vacation with lots of TV, treats, swimming, chess and sleeping in. I'm glad my big girls are strong swimmers and that Maeve is happy to wear her life jacket. That was really convenient in terms of balancing babies and older kids. Conor and I took turns playing and it all worked out really well!

The lake was so warm... almost too warm. Our hosts were delightful and friendly. We had a great time!