Hayden Lake, Idaho

The top 10 things we loved about Hayden Lake, in no particular order:

1. Warm, no HOT, sunny days and clear blue skies.
Every day was gorgeous! OK, the one day it got to 104 was a little hot, but we had the lake to cool down in. We did have one thunder storm, but unlike home, the next morning was clear and sunny again.

2. Swimming in the lake (or floating on the lake).



Nate and Kylie did a polar dip two of the mornings. By the afternoon, the water felt great!



Even Ben loved paddling around. It was so cute to see him and Matzo swimming the same way!

Jillian swam, too...I guess I didn't get any pictures of her actually in the water.

3. No TV, internet or cell phone coverage

Need I say more?

4. Kayaking
This was my first time kayaking and I loved it! We tied the two kayaks and one innertube together and pulled the kids around. What a peaceful way to travel!




5. Relaxing on the dock.
We were surprised at how few people were at the lake. I don't know if the end of June is normally quiet, but we loved that we had so much privacy. There were several houses around the one we stayed in, but all were empty until the last day when one neighbor arrived.


6. Watching Matzo try to get his tennis ball out of the lake.
The first few times we threw the ball for him, this is what he did! After he got used to it, he loved jumping in.



7. Silverwood and Boulder Beach
It's really hard to take pictures at an amusement park, but here are a few! Kylie and Ben are our most ambitious thrill seekers. Kylie rode every roller coaster twice and would have gone more if we had the time. Ben loved the big water slides and even drove his own bumper boat. Jillian went on the roller coaster "Tremors" and decided that she hates roller coasters. I'm with her!



8. Hanging out with the Perrins.

Brad met Clayne in the MTC and they've been friends ever since. Clayne, Kelly and their four kids live on Mt. Spokane where he's a Park Ranger. They spent the day with us at the lake on Saturday, and then we met up at Silverwood on Tuesday. We had a blast and wish they lived closer so we could spend more time together.

9. The rustic cabin.

It was small inside, but had a great porch where we spent a lot of time. We ate almost every meal outside. When it was hot on the porch, it was cooler inside, and when it got too hot inside, then it had cooled down outside.

10. Fishing with Dad.

Whenever we ask Ben what he likes to do with Brad, he always says "Fishing!" They got their chance, didn't catch anything, but I don't think that's really the point.

Five things that weren't so great:

1. Dead catfish

For some reason there were lots of dead catfish floating around in the lake. The neighbor we met who lives there full time said he didn't know why there were so many this year.

2. The metal shower stall with duct taped knobs.

Like I said, the cabin was rustic. At least it didn't still have an outhouse like some of the cabins up the road!

3. The long and winding road.

The road from town up to the Lake was six miles of hair-pin turns. Kylie got carsick on one of the trips into town. She yelled at me to pull over, but not in time! Ugh. I didn't have anything to clean up with except Ben's jacket. Double UGH!

4. Watching Wall-E in soaking wet clothes.

I know some people in my family would say that watching Wall-E even in dry clothes was an unpleasant experience, but I thought the movie was kind of cute. We had gone to a family fun center before the movie and I got soaked, litterally "dripping wet to the bone" soaked on the bumper boats. It was on the 104 degree day, so it felt really good...until we went into the theater and I had my own personal air-conditioning system!

5. Funny, I couldn't think of anything for #5!

We had a marvelous vacation. It's a little hard to get back into reality, so I guess #5 would be having to leave!