Our First Family trip to Pine

It seems like every year we have big plans of going on a summer family vacation and every year it doesn’t end up happening. This summer I had had enough. Mason is 7 this year and I want my kids to have those memories like I do from a yearly summer vacation. So no more excuses … we were going! We decided to take the kids to my grandparents cabin in Pine, Idaho. It’s about a 5 hour drive (which I was pretty worried about, but we made it!). This turned out to be the best place to go. It was like camping, but with all the luxuries of the cabin. Everyone had a blast! So much so that we even extended our trip for an extra day because we just weren’t ready to go home.

Our plan was to leave by 10:00 am on Thursday morning. We left at 11:00 and made it about 20 minutes before we realized that we had for got the key to the cabin. So by the time we got back home and left again it was close to noon. Once we got on the road for real, we drove about half way (to Burley, ID) and stopped for lunch. The kids did really pretty good in the car. Of coarse we had a few moments here and there, but all in all it wasn’t bad! Once we got to the cabin around 5:00 we unpacked and then headed over to the bridge for some fishing. Navi and Dax thought it was pretty fun to ride in the wagon … until we realized it had a flat tire and thought it would be much easier for them to walk.

Navi loved all of the flowers around the cabin. She liked to walk back and forth on the path while running her hands through them.

While the boys fished Navi and I went back to the cabin for some long pants and ended up relaxing on the porch swing. She likes to make this little scowl whenever I get the camera out … little stinker!

Once the boys got back from fishing we made a fire and roasted some hotdogs for dinner. The kids loved cooking and eating outside. Mason even spotted a couple of deer across the river!

The one thing that I was a little worried about was how good the kids were going to sleep. Especially Navi and Dax since they very rarely sleep out of their own beds. I would have to say it was a complete success. Navi never made a peep after putting her down and Dax was out in minutes!

Dax is fast asleep … with his blankie in his mouth! He sleeps like that every night.

Friday morning we got up and had breakfast and then decided that it was time to clean out the hot tub. The boys found a lizard in it and thought that was pretty cool. And they all had a blast helping Kasey clean it out and fill it up.

At some point Griff had a meltdown and wouldn’t talk to or look at anyone. Even when he’s mad he’s still pretty darn cute!

Finally the hot tub was full and we spent most of the day in and out.

Later that afternoon Kasey got Grandpa’s old Zodiac out and let the kids float in it while he help in from a rope (It leaks so we couldn’t actually float it down the river). Mason was pretty nervous about it but they still had fun.

On Saturday morning we woke up to a new friend roaming the property. This time Griff was pretty nervous but Dax loved him! After a couple hours we found his owners and the kids were sad to see him go.

We did some more swimming and then while the rest of the kids were sleeping, Kasey and Griff went out to try some more fishing. They weren’t gone more than 30 minutes before they came back with a fish. Griff had caught his first fish EVER on his first cast of the day. He was beyond excited and we couldn’t wipe the smile off his face if we had wanted too!

We did some chillin in the cabin before heading over to the river to gut the fish. This was hilarious. I remember gutting the fish all the time as a kid and liking to do it. Kasey wanted nothing to do with it and neither did the boys. In fact the boys all covered their eyes until I had it all cleaned out and then they thought it was cool to look at. They just didn’t want to see any blood. I guess I am the weird one for liking it!

Sunday we decided to go find a spot at Anderson Reservoir and let the kids play around, fish, throw rocks and anything else they could think of.

We all had such a great vacation and were asking ourselves over and over again why we had waited to long to come. I think we will be making it a yearly trip and can’t wait until next summer rolls around so we can go again!