McCall, ID

 For Memorial Day weekend we met the Cottles at my aunt and uncle's cabin in McCall, Idaho. We took an extra day on either end of the holiday weekend so we had a good 4 1/2 days of fun (not counting the driving time). For years we have been saying that we should just meet somewhere between Portland and American Fork for a vacation. McCall is just about that. It was a 7 hour drive for us and a little longer for the Cottles. We chose McCall and then found out my dad's brother had a house there and he was happy for us to use it, free of charge. It was wonderful. 

We packed the trip full of fun stuff. 

On Saturday morning Lexie and I ran a couple miles in the beautiful scenery. That's the thing about McCall- every place is a scenic view. Tons of lakes, forest, and mountains all around. 

Then the men took the 3 older girls down to the lake while the babies napped. Elise loved picking all the dandelions. We kept a glass cup full of her "bouquets" the whole time.

When Camille and Wembley woke up we brought a picnic down to the lake. A trend you may notice in the pictures is Sadie harassing Nick. She wanted to hold his hand or sit on his lap constantly. He was very nice and let her do it most of the time. 

Later that day we went on a hike. Lexie thought she read there was a lake at the end of the hike so we set out in search of a lake. We never found that lake, but we had a great time. Daniel and Nick pushed over a few trees that were downed on the trail and Elise did plenty of whining/holding up the group.

The next day after some morning naps we went to some hot springs about 20 minutes away. They were more like a warm bath, which was slightly disconcerting, but the kids had a lot of fun playing in the sand around it. The girls continued to play in the driveway for a while when we got back. 

Monday morning Lexie and I went on a longer run. She said she wasn't feeling great and couldn't get a good breath in. She found out when she got back home she had walking pneumonia. Ha. Daniel and Nick decided if we were going to run they wanted to also, so they left for a run when we got back. 

After lunch Lexie and I took the girls to the lake again. After about 45 minutes it started pouring, which was the only rain we saw all trip. We tried to stick it out and hoped the storm would pass, but after 20 minutes of huddling under towels/trees we gave up and went back to the cabin.

That night we headed to downtown McCall for dinner. We hadn't anticipated that a lot of places would be closed for the holiday, but we found a delicious pizza place. Afterwards we had some massive ice cream cones, but the girls were all shivering because it was slightly cold outside.

 

Mills and Wems mostly fought over things when they interacted. Whenever Wembley was eating in her booster seat on the floor Camille would come over and take her food. 

Multiple times they both pooped while Wembley was in her booster and Camille stood and held onto the tray. 

 

 The cabin was perfect for our needs. The bigger girls all shared a room and then the couples each had their own bedroom/bathroom with their baby. When the kids went to bed we played cards until the early morning hours, just like old times when we all used to live in the same apartment. We ate our dinners out on the covered porch. Below you can see Millie's "feed me now" face. This comes before she flexes her whole body and yells. 

 Who doesn't like looking back on embarrassing bath pictures?

 Just a little horse shoeing

We blocked off access to the stairs so the babies just crawled around the living room. 

 Tuesday morning we got up and cleaned up. We brought Briz back to Utah with us to stay with her grandparents. On the way home Tuesday we stopped at Chick-fil-a for lunch and Camille was being adorable. This is a typical face she makes, when she purses her lips like this.

It was a great trip. We all missed Holland since Elise didn't have a playmate, but Brizzy and Sadie did a decent job including her. Now we are ready for the adults-only Nielson/Cottle trip in 2016, wherever that may be!