Family Bonding

We finally took a family vacation to Sandpoint, Idaho in July.  With the help of the "stick of negativity" that John employed on kids that were less than happy (you know...."beatings will continue until morale improves") we had a marvelous time.  We rented a home that was advertised as 200 yards away from Bottle Bay...hmmm...not quite the truth.  The house itself was pretty plain - but had a most memorable characteristic....the smell!!  A combination of 100 year old mold, Marlboro smoke and tacos!!  Yum!   The first day we spent the day at Silverwood, which is an amusement park with rides, shows and a waterpark.  The kids had a fabulous time.  We arrived at opening and left as they were locking the gates at 10pm.  The rollercoasters were the highlight of the day.  Emma won the prize as the most daring 5 year old around and went on a few sizeable coasters.  She said "It felt like I was falling and it was really scary, but then I liked it!"  Well put...   The next day we parked our fannies on the beach in Sandpoint.  Sitting on a beach all day is pure luxury.  The kids played in the sand and ate ice cream.  Another highlight was when Derek and I got scolded by the lifeguard with her all powerful bullhorn for having a good old fashion shoving match on the swim dock...hee hee!!  The last day there was my favorite (the kids all claimed that Silverwood won their vote).  We rented a ski boat and tube and spent the day on Lake Pend Orielle.  The kids had a blast on the tube and swimming in the lake.  The pinacle of day was when I took the helm with John on the tube and drove a little too fast...oops...and sent John sailing across the lake.  No worries though...Derek drove the boat later with me on the tube and got revenge for his beloved father. Later that night we had a great meal on the resort on the lake and made it back to the smelly house just in time for a magnificent lightening storm to roll through which knocked out our power.   We all piled into the living room and pulled the blinds and watched the storm, with our only source of light being Derek's IPOD.   A nice memory...