A Long Family Retreat

Cameron's parents decided to plan a fun get away weekend for the family. They rented a cabin in Island Park, ID. It was very roomy and a lot of fun. We got to stay Friday, September 3rd - Monday, the 6th. Our drive there was not fun at all, I believe Connor screamed most of the 6 hours! We were very happy to arrive.

Friday evening after dinner the guys went fishing. Jackson was the only one that caught anything! And, it wasn't just anything, it was a big thing, about 20 inches! He was very proud of it. He let the older guys know how sad it was that he was just a little guy who caught a fish and how funny it was that they didn't catch anything.

All the older guys were very envious. This was Brandon, his daddy, and the guys cleaning out the fish. What a fun job!

My cute little guys. The boys were so good as long as it wasn't time to sleep or drive.

It's bath time!

Look at those huge eyes!

Cade loved playing w/ his cousins.

We went to Yellowstone w/ everyone which was a lot of fun! Well, actually it could have been better. Every time we were driving in the car Connor screamed and screamed and...well you get the picture. If you've ever been to Yellowstone, then you know there is lots of driving, so that part was not fun. We saw these elk on part of our drive and all decided to get out of our cars.

Cameron was trying to point out the elk to Connor so Connor decided to point too. Dang cute!

We did not know how chilly it was going to be until we got out of the car. We certainly did not dress for the weather.

It's a good thing we brought jackets. Us in front of one of the geysers.

Waiting and waiting for Ol' Faithful. Yes, it was cold.

"Well, that was fun, let's go!"

Everyone else went ahead to see Yellowstone Falls after seeing Ol' Faithful, so we just went back to the cabin. We could not deal w/ another minute of Connor's screaming. I know you're wondering what I'm talking about...this was the only time we got him to sleep on the drive. He woke up before we even left the park, and yes, screamed the rest of the drive home.

Cade did not like his screaming at all. He wasn't that great in the car either though, so he didn't have much room to complain.

Cade LOVED this bean bag.

Everyone who came. Steve and Nancy, Erin and Geoff, Stacie, Brandon and their kids, Jackson, Chloe, Claire and Lexy. (Dave, Lisa and their kids couldn't make it because of a death in Lisa's family. We were so sad they couldn't make it, but we totally understood.)

Cameron was actually still in bed when we took this picture. We had a long night the night before, or should I say every night we were there. Connor would wake up somewhere in the middle of the night, let's say 2 am or so, and decide he wanted to stay awake for another couple of hours!! Our last night, he woke up at midnight and stayed awake until 3 AM and then decided he had had enough sleep for the night and wanted to get up at 6:30 for good. What a stinker! I think he probably kept a lot of the adults up during the night, sorry! So, anyways, that is why Cameron was not in the picture, he took 2 hours of the shift that night and was still passed out in bed, very understandable. Oh, I have to tell this one story: One night Connor woke up screaming and woke up Cade too. We could not find his pacifier anywhere so we took him out of his bed and turned on the light. Connor noticed Cade and decided he wanted to go over to his bed and play with him. They thought it was so fun until we got on to them and told them it wasn't play time, kinda sternly b/c we were so tired, it was the middle of the night! Anyways, a little later Connor decided he wanted to play with Cade again. On his way over to Cade's bed, Cade starts screaming at Connor, "No Yoyo, NO!!!"(that's what he calls Connor, why? Who knows.) and holding his arms out to stop him. He was so scared he was going to get in trouble again. As tired and frustrated as I was, I couldn't help but laugh.

Overall we had a great time, I only wish Connor had slept better at night, that way Cameron and I would have had more energy throughout the weekend. We were so tired. But, we were very glad to have such fun quality family time. Thanks so much Steve and Nancy for putting together such a fun family retreat.