Adventures in Idaho.......part 5 & final!

WOW!  Finally! The last of our Idaho trip pictures.

The lake......

Payette Lake, to be exact.

It's  fabulous!

We spent a glorious day at the North Beach area.

We packed a picnic and stayed all day.

Marlee read an entire book!

The water was a little chilly, and poor Zaners, with his lack of body fat, was not loving it!

The day before we left, we went on a huckleberry-hunting hike.

This is huckleberry country, we found out.  They grow wild up in the mountains, and we were there for the very beginning of huckleberry season.  And boy did we find some!  The boys really got into it.  We took home a bunch and made huckleberry lemonade.

This ended up being one of my most favorite hikes of all time.  I wished we had more time to explore this creek.  It was  so pristine and clear!

Max was convinced that there were real gold flakes in the sand, so he was obsessively trying to collect some the whole time.

It was such a kid's paradise.  We could have set up camp & stayed forever!

But, it was time to pack up the cabin & head home.

Good times!

I can't wait to go back some day.  But next time we'll splurge on a place right on the lake!

A pea in a bucket

Look what we did to Caroline......

She was such a good little model!  Didn't even cry.

Just tried to eat the bucket.

Is that the cutest face or what?!!

My friend Shawni & I had a little photoshoot yesterday (much more on that if I ever finish my Idaho posts), and I just had to hurry and post these, because I love them so.

Adventures in Idaho........part 4

One of our hikes took us through part of the Ponderosa State Park to a lookout over Payette Lake.

It was awesome.

Two miles round-trip.  Which was just right for these little legs we had with us.

And Caroline was a little trooper.

We stuffed blankets around her to keep her from slumping over, then sprayed her legs with Off.  She snoozed most of the time.

Max was so sweet & helpful with Gus.  I love this picture above.  Totally candid.  Max holding Gus' hand, and Zane handing them a flower he picked.  Zane's my flower-picker.  He was always picking a bouquet for somebody.  Love it.

There were gobs of the hugest dandelions up there!

Taking a little break.

Little peanut was so good!

Taking in the view.

Jake said this hike was nothing compared to his scout camp hike.

We were all very impressed.

Then we piled in the car & headed for Ice Cream Alley.

One day we rented a couple of jet-skis.

I think this was Marlee's favorite part of the whole trip.

They all loved it.  I hung out on the beach with the baby & tried to read my book.

One afternoon we played a little frisbee at our favorite beach park and watched a big storm roll in.

I took these of my baby, who likes to smile and coo at us, before it started getting really windy.

Eventually we had to call it a day & run for the car.

We rented a pontoon boat one day & toodled around the lake like a bunch of old people.

It was  totally awesome.

I wished I had remembered to bring some cards or dominoes!

I loved looking at all the freaking sweet lake houses.  Hmmmm.  I'll take that one.........

.......or this one will do.

Chilling and snacking on the boat.

We came across a cliff-jumping area & Marlee, Jake & Max just couldn't resist.

Such adrenaline junkies!

And who can pass up a lake trampoline?!

Thank you nice people (with the amazing place that I wish I could have) for letting us play on your trampoline!

Aahhhhh.  Just another fabulous day in McCall, Idaho.