Ian's First Family Vacation

We're back from our big family vacation!

Besides the trip to Arizona in December to meet my parents, Ian hasn't really been anywhere. This was going to be his first big family adventure and summer vacation. Were we ready for this? We thought so, but who knows with our bunch. Things were bound to get a little silly. We rented a big house on Lake Coeur d'Alene in Idaho and planned to spend 5 days with Shawn's parents, his brother Mark and his wife Shannon, and their kids Alec and Ashleigh; Shannon's brother Rick; Shawn's middle brother Matt's kids Taylor and Cade visiting from Alaska; family friends Tim and Cassie with their girls Marlee and Aiden. Counting us, that's 9 adults and 7 kids. I never said this was supposed to be a relaxing vacation!

Ian made the almost 300 mile drive with a 2 hour nap and one toy....and only one 10 minute meltdown toward the end, which I consider a huge success. He was instantly intrigued with the house and the other kids, and it was instantly apparent that he wouldn't be at a loss for things to do. Every time I turned to look for him he was with a different kid doing something that looked like way too much fun.

Day One:

Arrived and settled. Ian enjoyed a canoe ride with Shawn and Grandpa Tom, saw a real live boat, played pool, danced around like a crazy man, and lounged. We were worried that he wouldn't go to sleep in a strange room, especially with us in there with him, but it only took 10 minutes to get him to sleep and he was fine all night.

Ian with dad and grandpa in the canoe. He loved it and just sat still and looked around.

Playing with the big girls. This is the closest he'll get to tubin' for a few years.

Playing with Aiden, Marlee, Ashleigh, and Cassie. He got really wrapped up in the loopy silliness.

Playing with Aiden. This was the face we saw all week. Happy boy!

Day 2:

Silverwood Amusement Park and Bouldercreek Water Park. For those who don't know, this is the Northwest's answer to Six Flags. There are 2 really huge roller coasters, one under construction, 2 not so huge, and tons of other rides. The water park was the best part though. It really can't even be explained here. Essentially, there is a toddler and little kid area which has little water slides, water jungle gyms, and then a giant wading area, which Ian could have spent the whole day in. There is also a lazy river and 3 wave pools. Then the big water slides... they really hit all age groups and everyone loved it (just ask Shawn to see his bruises from the fun they had in the wave pool). Ian didn't want to leave the water park and it made us wish we had bought 2 day passes. For me, that day was the highlight of the trip.

It was also my birthday and we had a great ice cream cake and pinata for the kids. During all that fun, uncle Mark brought a bass to shore for Ian to meet and later, after he was asleep, they found a giant toad, which I wish Ian could have seen. It was an action packed day and one of my best birthdays ever. I won't mention the birthday attack I received in the wave pool at the water park. I should have expected such a sweet birthday present from my dear husband.

This night, it only took him about 5 minutes to fall asleep and again was a log until 6am.

Riding the carousel with Grandma Trish. He was most interested in watching the horses that go up and down.

That's my boy! Chillin at the water park.

Extreme water sports.

The toddler section of the water park was great. The hard part was getting Ian to come out of the water. If our entire vacation were spent here he would have been perfectly content. Thank goodness for Trish. She's the only woman I know who will go in the water fully dressed without a second thought.

Ian takes a turn at the pinata. He got his first physics lesson though, and the fish swung back and hit him in the face. He wanted nothing to do with the bat or the pinata after that.

The birthday girl had to take a few swings, too.

Ian drives uncle Mark's boat. He was in a real live boat and made sure everyone knew it was a boa-T

Day Three:

The weather turned very windy and while it was still warm, the lake was no condition for the adventures we had planned ahead. The kids and big kids of the group planned to hit the lake for some wake-boarding and tubing, but it was too choppy and wouldn't have been much fun. We headed into town to relax at our favorite coffee shop this side of Rome, Java on Sherman. They make a drink called the Bowl of Soul which is essentially a Mexican chocolate mocha with a bunch of spices. I have the Java magnet on my fridge and think about the Bowl of Soul almost every day. I can't believe it's been 5 years since I've had one. We hung out there while Shawn checked his email and then unfortunately headed back to the house since it was too windy to enjoy the lake park.

We hung out at the house for the rest of the day until it was time for Shawn and I to take Ian up the hill to meet our friends Wally and Dawn Pfeiffer, who live in Portland part of the year and Coeur d'Alene part of the year. They have a large parcel of land that looks over the lake and a beautiful vacation home. Ian met their granddaughters, one who is his age. I'm not sure that he realized they were there. Dawn and Wally wrote a letter to our agency on our behalf when we started our adoption process. Because of their enduring generosity before, then, and since, we brought them a few things from China, but haven't seen them since Ian arrived home. They met and played with Ian for a few hours and we enjoyed the view and the company until it was time to head back down to the lake.

Ian's latest night up to date, past 10:30pm, he went down without a single peep. Simply grabbed his blanket, closed his eyes and rolled over. Nigh nigh.

I couldn't help but include a picture of our bowls of soul. I love this coffee shop...a trip to Cd'A isn't complete without a visit.

Ian does some people watching in the window of our booth at the coffee shop.

He missed out on the toad from the night before, so uncle Ricky was nice enough to buy him this frog while we were in town.

Reading a story with Aunt Dawn.

Day Four:

This was our last full day in Coeur d'Alene. It started out calm and warm, and we enjoyed breakfast on the deck as a full group, minus the guys who were out fishing. Ian continued to have a ball with his cousins and uncle Rick. We packed up lunch and headed out to Wally and Dawn's dock further down the lake where we boated over to a park and had a picnic lunch. Shawn gave shoulder ride dives to some of the teenagers and the kids finally got some time on the tube in the lake. I was the wimp and never swam once, and didn't even get to see the lake (which takes hours to navigate in it's entirety). I was working to make sure Ian didn't bore the older kids and also wanted to watch him near the water since his life vest was too small and he hated it.

By now, we were pretty fried (literally and figuratively) so we decided to pack up our things and start heading home. We decided it would be better to make the drive back when Ian could sleep the whole time and we were really missing our own bed.

After a round of hot dogs and smores by the fire, we headed out and made it home in exactly 4 hours, almost an hour faster than it should take. Ian slept the entire drive and our heads were on our very own pillows by 12:30am.

Ian missed out on the toad, so Shawn went in search of something a bit more his size. This is the closest he got to touching it, but backed away at the last second shaking his head and saying "no...no...no...".

Hanging out in uncle Wally's boat.

I felt like this was one of few moments Ian and I had together on this trip. He was such the socialite. Can you tell he hates this life vest?

Playing catch with uncle Ricky. As you can tell, Ian was not prepared for the catch part.

Goofing off with the big girls.

Having a man to man talk with dad.

And then he was back to the girls again.

Wally sets a great example for water safety.

Cooling off in the lake with dad and uncle Mark

Whee!

Hanging out with his cousin Taylor

Warming up by the campfire with cousin Ashleigh

No vacation would be complete without marshmallows. A smore kid in the making.

Make a wish: "I wish I could stay in Coeur d'Alene forever!"

All in all, it was a wonderful week. There are a few things we would have done differently, but for the most part, it was a trip for Ian, which he loved. Aside from getting to sleep, he didn't cry or fuss even once the entire week. He was nothing but smiles and excellent behavior all week. He loved his cousins and aunts & uncles. He was outgoing, smart, adorable, and interested in everything. He started picking up words and concepts like he never has before, and was essentially the perfect child this week. We kept saying on the ride home how proud we were of him.

We're already thinking about our next vacation, but this time somewhere tropical and with his other grandma and grandpa included. Maybe a house on the beach in Maui. We'll see. If this trip did one thing for us, it made us realize how nice a vacation spot would be. Who needs a bigger house here when we can invest in something like that. Another "some day" idea to think about.