Family Vacation Summer 2019

Our summer plans for 2019 took a bit of a detour. We have had some 'fun' times with our Expedition and it made me a little nervous to travel by myself with kids so originally we had planned to have myself, Cooper, Brody, Ivy and Tanner head to the Island to visit with G & G Bunnage and then meet up with Cory and Max in Christina Lake where the Nelsons had rented a cabin for us to spend time at with all the Nelson fam. Anyway after much consideration we opted to not go to the island but instead extend our whole family time together. We ended up on what I call our 'Greatest Hits Holiday!' This holiday ended up combining a few of the places/things we have already done but loved into 1 holiday! Which I thought was perfect considering it is the last family vacation for a while with Elder Nelson away for a while. Anyway below are a few of the highlights:

A traditional pic of the kids with the Big truck in Sparwood

Car selfie - Brody was out asleep in such an uncomfortable position :)

He woke up to eat a calzone the size of this head!

We had planned to stay at a campground by Wasa Lake (which we have fond memories of) but it was raining so hotel in Cranbrook it was! it was a very tight fit :)

a few good men at Silverwood

Panic Plunge - I sit this one out but this year everyone else rode/dropped on this one

This ride is nuts - kinda like a washing machine and topsy turvy all in one - Cooper- who has a hard time with spinning rides opted to sit this one out until Ivy made a dash to the line - he was overheard saying 'Dang if she does it I can't sit it out!"

Can you even?- what a great smile

Some creative hand coverage makes this sign perfect!

I love that he takes selfies with me

The wet spots on this tent are from Cooper breathing at night

Mokins Bay campground near Coeur d'Alene - it was beautiful - we were there for like 18 hrs and the drive in was treacherous with switch backs and in the dark - CrAzY!

No trip for the Nelson Fam in the USA is complete without a stop at our favorite - Sonic!

Then we were onto a new adventure - I had some fun googling our places to stay for this trip - it was very short notice so we were limited a bit but in my internet digging I found this gem. I was so excited about it I sold the kids on it by dangling it as a surprise the whole trip. we stayed in  a real life Treehouse - like high up in the trees, no doors or walls.

This pic is Max (obviously) in front a a small cabin also on the site

This is one of the open air tents - the boys ended up in one of these for space

Playing chess 

the trail to a tent

the Treehouse

The bridge to the treehouse

These pics were just on my phone - I asked Cooper to take a walk around and grab a few pictures because this really was such a cool place and this is only a few of what he got pics of... lucky me!

We did so many things together this trip that were really great memories of things we had done before and I can't think of any better way for us to have spent this precious time when we are still in this familiar family stage. Things are changing around here and I am glad we took the time/chance to go back and remember some of the really wonderful things we have done together and to remind ourselves that we have so much fun being together. After this we headed to Christina Lake another place we LOVE and spent time with all (most) of the Nelson's... playing in the lake, tubing behind a boat, hiking, cliff jumping and sliding down a natural rock waterfall! I will have to get pics from others for that post because I was too busy having fun and didn't even take 1 picture!