A Little Retreat

Our family was in dire need of a getaway after all that has transpired over the last year, especially Brian having not taken any time away from work that wasn't stressful in one form or another. So now that it's the beginning of a new year and his vacation time has renewed we spontaneously decided to get out of dodge for a few days and treat our family to a nice little getaway. Although it could've been longer (can't it always?), we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and came home feeling a little refreshed and ready to tackle "real life". We are so thankful to have had this opportunity and are completely humbled that God has provided us with the means to do so. As requested by a certain favorite 'Auntie', many pictures were taken and I have posted some here to share. 

Our retreat was taken at Silver Mountain Resort in Kellog, Idaho. It was very appealing to us because, as you can see from the sign, there was fun to offer the kids, it was only a 4 hour drive, and we would be relatively close to our dear friends in Spokane so we could see them and meet their new baby. We were not disappointed in our choice! We actually rented out a one room condo at the lodge so there were two separate rooms to allow for better napping, etc. and there was also a full kitchen. It worked out well!

One day we drove into Coeur d'Alene and had lunch at "The Dockside" which overlooks the lake:

Another day we rode the gondola up to the ski hill and went tube sledding. Well, Brian & Ben went tube sledding while the rest of us enjoyed the warmth of the lodge! We all had a good time.

This is where you load onto the gondola at the resort where we stayed.
It was quite a long ride up to the top of the mountain.

Ricky wasn't sure what to think at first & was rather freaked out getting onto the gondola, but quickly grew to like it!

"This is a little strange... can someone please tell me what's going on?"

Ben & Ricky found a big hill to play on while they waited for the sledding hill to open!

The boys walking over to the sledding hill.

Ben is ready!

Ricky is not...
he decided it was too scary & opted to come sit with me & Evie in the lodge.

He had fun playing games on my phone, though!

The resort also had a large water park open to all the lodge guests. So we went at least 3 separate times & the boys had a blast! Ben especially loves to swim & couldn't get enough. There is a large tube slide that 4 people can go down at once & he would go on that ride repeatedly with either Brian or I. During one trip we took to the park Brian & Ben counted going down it at least 11 times! I think Ben would've kept going had it not been for Brian refusing to climb the stairs again without a decent break! Ricky enjoyed the park also but mostly stuck to the section they have designated for toddlers. He's a little more leery in the water.

Evie went swimming once, too, but it's much more difficult to take her since she still needs to be on the oxygen & for any baby it's much harder to keep their body temperature in happy place. She LOVES  the water & had a lot of fun swimming but was pooped out by the time we were done. 

On Saturday afternoon (after splashing at the water park for a while of course!), we drove into Spokane to visit the Dowers family. We always enjoy our time with them & were particularly thrilled to meet the newest addition to their family, Brock Nehemiah. He is beautiful & I had brought my camera to take pictures but of course didn't. We had a lovely dinner with them & stayed quite a bit later than we'd planned!

On Sunday morning we headed home. All the kids did amazing in the car, they slept nearly the whole way!

Ready for a road trip!
(Notice how jam packed the car is. Brian's favorite part of the trip was loading & unloading everything!)

"Can I go to sleep now?"

Not a great picture, but you can see that we had fun!

  You visit the earth and water it; you greatly enrich it;

the river of God is full of water;

you provide their grain, for so you have prepared it.

You water its furrows abundantly, settling its ridges, 

softening it with showers, and blessing its growth.

You crown the year with your bounty;

your wagon tracks overflow with abundance.

The pastures of the wilderness overflow,

the hills gird themselves with joy,

the meadows clothe themselves with flocks,

the valleys deck themselves with grain,

they shout and sing together for joy.

Psalm 65:9-12

What We've Been Up To

Ben started soccer a couple weeks ago and absolutely loves it! He has one practice a week and one game a week. Unfortunately, his game this passed weekend was cancelled due to heavy smoke in the air but we're hoping to have it rescheduled. It's been a lot of fun watching him and Ricky has been enjoying it too. He gets to have snacks and play outside while we're at practice and games! 

Last week there was a day when neither of the boys took naps and as you can imagine they were pretty wiped out by the day's end. After dinner we gave them a bath and as tradition I wrapped them up in a towel and put them on the couch in front of a short movie. As usual, I took that as an opportunity to get jammies and clean out the bathtub and also feed a hungry little girl who refused to wait a second longer. By the time I came back into the living room to get the boys ready for bed this is what I saw accompanied by hearty snoring from our littlest! It was quite precious.

Yesterday we decided to make a bit of a retreat to Great Falls for a few hours. We had been cooped up in the house nearly all week because of the terrible smoke and thought a bit of fresh air and time out of the house would do us all a bit of good. So after church we drove for roughly one hour to our destination and walked around the mall for a bit (they have a huge Scheels Sports Brian was interested in) and also took them by the falls and to the fish hatchery after all of which we went to dinner before heading back home. We all had a great time and enjoyed the smoke-free air! 

And now for a bit of randomness... 

This One May Be a Little Ridiculous

As the title implies, this post may be a bit ridiculous in regards to the amount of pictures I've included to share with you. However, in my defense, we went on a week long vacation and you can imagine how many photos need to be taken in order to capture all the fun and special moments that occurred. It's also much easier showing you what happened than trying to write it all out! With that said, this last week our vacation was spent at Brian's parent's house and at some cabins at Hebgen Lake near West Yellowstone. It was a grand 'ol time as we got to see family we haven't seen in quite a while and Brian didn't have to work for a whole week (we were all quite excited about that). So without further ado... here are the pictures that tell our story (most of it anyway):

Ben learned to blow bubbles all by himself (thanks to Grandma) and he loves it!

Cedric was a happy camper all week. He told lots of stories to everyone!

Handsome Boy

"Ha, ha, ha! Grandpa, you look so silly in your face paint!"

Grandpa and His Boys

(Brian and Dad went hunting several mornings. They didn't get anything but they had a good time.)

Cedric and Great Grandma having a nice conversation.

We were able to do lots of resting on this trip!

Ben got sick the day we were supposed to leave for the cabins. He woke up with a fever, didn't have an appetite, and threw up all over Papa and the couch, but thankfully it was very short lived and he was feeling better and acting himself before the morning was over. Praise the Lord!

Here is the main lodge of the cabins we stayed at.

This place had eight cabins total and two different bath houses. We stayed in the one on the far right. They were very nice and made things as comfortable as you could ask for when you've got two little ones in tow.

Ben got the pack 'n play to sleep in so this was Cedric's make-shift bed. It worked great and he seemed to be quite comfortable. I never knew a suite case could be so versatile!

Unfortunately, the weather wasn't ideal for a stay by a lake - it rained nearly every day we were there and was quite cool. I took this photo of fresh snow on the mountains one morning near the cabin. However, even though it was cool, it was still a lot of fun!

Because the weather was so cold and rainy, we spent a lot of time playing games and eating good food in the lodge! Here is everyone playing Yahtzee.

The boys had a good time playing poker.

Aunt Terry brought a memory game for Ben which he enjoyed very much - it was a great distraction for him at times!

Ben even rested with Papa for a few minutes. This doesn't happen very often with this little ball of energy so I had to catch the moment on camera - Papa thoroughly enjoyed it while it lasted!

Telling stories to Grandma.

Dad and Jeff went fishing one afternoon and got caught in a downpour... here they are making their way back to the cabin through the rain.

Ben and I were out walking when it started raining cats and dogs so I swept him up and quickly hiked up a couple serious hills to get back to the warm dry cabin. Here we are upon arrival... drenched and laughing.

Here's Ben looking like a drowned rat after that same excursion!

Here's the little explorer on one of our other walks.

We found a big night-crawler that Ben had to stop and examine.

"This is cool, and slimy, and I'm not quite sure what to think of it."

Beautiful Boy

Ben also went on walks with Uncle Darryl, Grandma, Grandpa, Papa, Uncle Jeff, and Aunt Terry. He was a busy boy! Here he is exploring with Uncle Darryl on his first walk about the cabins.

Ben brought me these pretty flowers after coming back from a walk with Grandma... so sweet!

One day we drove into West Yellowstone and went to the Grizzly Bear and Wolf Discovery Center. Here Ben, Uncle Jeff, and Papa are all watching a BIG Grizzly.

Although the animals were neat, Ben was much more interested in stomping around in all the water puddles!

Here's Great Grandma enjoying the sights.

Uncle Jeff crawled into a make-shift wolf den and tried to get Ben to go in with him... he wanted nothing to do with it but I got a good shot of Jeff anyway!

Thanks Mom and Dad Schultz for a wonderful vacation!!!