Cabin Fever!

Ok, so I realize it has now been a month since I last blogged and promised an entry about our trip to Spokane/Coeur d'Alene. My friend, Kara, has officially given me an "F" in blogging and says she's going to design an official award to give me for "Worst Blogger of the Year." She continued to say that I must not have much of a life if I have nothing to blog about - I told her it was because I have TOO MUCH of a life that I don't have time to blog!!!! :) So, anyway, to all of you people out there who've been just DYING for an entry from me (ok, so what if there's only 3 of you) here it is. Drumroll, please...

So, at the end of August we went to my parents house in Spokane, WA for two weeks. The first week we spent with my family going back and forth from their house to their cabin on Lake Coeur d'Alene (which is only a 45 minute drive away). The second week, Grant's family all came out and stayed at my parents cabin for their annual family reunion. (I'll write about that week tomorrow. This first post is going to be about the first week with my fam.) We had an absolute blast, as evidenced by the many pictures to follow. So, when we first got there my Grandma Connie had flown up to be with us for a couple of days because she had never seen Ava. Here is a cute picture of them:

My grandma kept remarking what a surprisingly easy and pleasant baby Ava was, as do most people who are around her. She definitely takes the cake as far as being my easiest up til now(we'll see about those teenage years). Anyway, it was fun to spend time with Grandma Connie and meant a lot to me that she always takes the time to come to see us and my little family when she can.

We also overlapped a few days with my cousin Hannah's trip to see my sister, Madeline. Despite the fact that we had to endure hours of Harry Potter skits performed by the two of them, we were so happy that we got to see her for a few days, too.

The rest of the week we spent our time down by the lake, roasting marshmallows...

(Yummy!)


playing in the water...

reading (that's Kevin, my brother, who also came up)...

giving kisses to Grandpa...

laying in the sun (under umbrellas, of course!)...

playing in the sandbox...

playing on the boat...

laying in the hammock...

skipping rocks...

riding on jet skis...

playing tetherball...

(we obviously haven't taught Cole the first rule in sports - no, not keep your eyes on the ball, but keep them open!)

and going on boat rides.

Of course, all of this playtime for us meant a lot of babytime for the grandparents!

(Zerberts!)

My dad took his usual role as baby-snuggler and almost never put Ava down (unless she had a poopy diaper!)

This was a good thing, however, since whenever Kevin held her he kept thinking he was going to drop her...

and Ava wasn't too particular to being held by Madeline...

Ava, to my surprise (and especially to Grant's surprise, who was convinced that Ava would be completely miserable) absolutely LOVED going on boat rides! She thought it was the best thing in the whole world!

(You know she's really excited when she makes her "fishy face" and repeatedly slams her hands down on something!)

We had so much fun!!!! We even managed to get a Dickson family picture, despite the loud groans and protests from the men. Sure, we all look a little water-logged, but at least we're all smiling.

(Ok, Kara, I did it! Even though it's now 1 a.m., I finally posted an entry! Are you happy?) :)