Tamarack I

 We are back home!  Five very spoiled human beings, back to normal life after one long vacation, followed by one min-vacation followed by one day excursion.  First up was our trip to Tamarack, ID.  What a wonderful, beautiful, peaceful place!  Every time we go there I find myself dreaming up ways to stay longer.  Tamarack is a failed resort.  They went into bankruptcy in the middle of building the ski lodges and the actual resort.  But, by that time, hundreds of vacation homes, cottages and mansions had been built around the resort site.  Now they are available for much cheaper rates.  And it is not crowded.  Not by a long shot.  SO--if you are not into night life or eating out or resort staff--this is the place for you : )  If you do enjoy cooking for yourself, riding deserted bike trails, letting your kids scream and yell and not bother anyone this is definitely the place for you!

 We basked on our wide wrap around porches  in the mornings and evenings.

 The covered hot tubs were a great seating area for the kids.

 There are about 1,000 more pictures I wish I had taken.  But I'm glad that I was busy experiencing the fun and not just taking pictures of it. 

 Being with all these fine folks was sure fun.

 Caroline took a shot of her old Mom and Pop.

 Manly men.

 Best way to get a group shot of kids is when they are all gathered around an iPad watching U Tube videos : )  The only kid missing in the below shot is Nora...but wait, she's sitting on the counter in the background.

 We loved it so much we bought that house.  Just kidding.  I wish.

 LOTS of time was spent at the jump track and on the mountain biking trails.  And this year we brought my bike and Nora's bike trailer.  So I got to participate and not just observe. 

 Discussing that last "sick ride".  And then taking off to do it again.

 We did a bazillion crafts with all the kids in between bike rides.  I didn't take pictures of any of the fun.  Aunt Heather dried wild flowers and made displays of them with the kids.  There were fish races, and Paris paper dolls and peanut butter and pine cone bird feeders and painting and coloring and stuffed snakes made out of old discarded ties and so much more.  And below the kids are wearing the super cool shirts they made with Aunt Megan.  They each gathered bits of local fauna and laid them out on the shirt.  They added their names with Styrofoam letters and then Aunt Megan sprayed the shirts with a spray bottle of bleach.  After the shirts started bleaching, she plunged them into ice water to stop the process.  Boy did they turn out cute.  Boys in blue and girls in purple.

 After they posed so nicely, they were rewarded with a pinata provided by Grandma. 

 It was full of distinguished, sophisticated items. 

 And yummy treats too.

 Finding anything good up in there, Lucas?

 Some folks were too busy keeping bikes in tune to play pinata fun.

 Thanks, Grandma!

There will be more to come.  Oh, so much more.  If I can bring myself to post, that is.  I'm just falling into the slow paced summer life style, I'm afraid!