Ryder's First Lakehouse Vacation

As you may recall, we have spent the past few years celebrating the Fourth of July at Priest Lake, but this time we needed to stay in town for my dear friend Jillian's wedding, so we only made one trek over to Idaho and our personal little slice of paradise this summer. But it was so fun to take Ryder to the family lake house for the first time!

I was pretty anxious about taking him on a six hour car ride, but my little angel traveled like a champ, and can now boast that he has been to four different states during his first four months of life. Well done, my boy.

I realize all these posts about our summer vacations may be getting old, but we had a very busy August, and I promise this will be the last one. Sadly, our first magical summer with baby Ryder is coming to a close and it's back to life in the real world.

But we sure did go out with a bang!

I loved my peaceful mornings on the dock with Ryder.

Lounging on the dock looks a little different with an infant who is too young for sunscreen... blanket fort!

Patrick and Addie LOVED playing with Ryder, and he got to know them so well!

Of course our trips to the lake are never complete without some Tailgate Toss on the dock!

Ryder's second boat ride!

The weather is always perfect at Priest Lake.

Baby Ryder's dockside view.

Ryder wasn't as trilled with the cool lake water as he was with the warm ocean in Hawaii, but we made sure he experienced the water nonetheless.

Unfortunately the little bugger was going through a growth spurt and absolutely refused to nap the entire week, except for this one afternoon with Daddy. He also woke up every two hours every single night to eat, which made for a tiring trip for me...

Out to dinner at Cavanaugh's, chillin' with Uncle Mark.

I had to get a pic of all the guys... three generations of Always!

And Ryder with his buddies for the week -- Patrick and Addie.

"No Grandpa Russ, please don't make me go home!"

Our own little slice of paradise.

And that draws another summer at the lake to a close. I hope everyone had a wonderful Labor Day weekend filled with food, family and fun. I can hardly believe that it's almost fall... our amazing first summer with Ryder was filled with so many adventures and memories. 

Even though I'm feeling a little melancholy about autumn's approach, I'm so glad that we were able to take Ryder on so many rad trips this summer, and that he was such an adaptable little guy on each and every one. I feel so confident going forward, helping him to experience all of the adventures we still have in store for him. And of course there is the silver lining of the end of summer... It's football season! Our little Seahawk is going to love it.

See you soon, my friends! 

 

So this is what it feels like to be world champions

It's good to be back, Hawk fans, it's good to be back.

Clearly, after the most epic football season of all time, we have been waiting extremely anxiously for the start of football season (really the only silver lining to the tragic end of summer). And it's finally here!!

HAWK. YEAH.

I know it's only the preseason, but the Seattle Seahawks are back, baby!

Get ready...

Summer isn't complete without a camping trip

Well, this summer's annual trip to Mayfield Lake was quite a bit different than last year. But it was still a blast, and we had so much fun introducing Ryder to some of our very favorite things, like camping, boating, and hanging at the beach.

We have been camping here almost every single summer since Stew and I met, so it was so exciting to add Ryder into the mix. We also brought along my parents as well as my aunt and uncle this year, because it's always the more the merrier with Brett and Haley's family!

My parents have a motor home, which made camping with an infant just a tad bit more comfortable.

They also recently bought this new toy, so we had a ton of fun scooting around the camp ground. No, we didn't really take the baby... 

For the most part, we just spent all our time lounging around at the beach. And Ryder took his fair share of naps...

We also got to experience the game of Bottle Stick for the first time, and are now completely addicted. It doesn't take much to entertain us. Bottle Stick is played by simply balancing two empty beer bottles on two sticks opposite each other. Then, players compete to knock the bottle off the opposing team's stick using a Frisbee. Oh, and of course participants must compete with a beer in hand. Endless entertainment.

And of course we had to get in some wakesurfing while we had the chance. I've still got it! Although not while drinking two beers like Stewie...

We always have a blast with my family, and this weekend was especially fun with Auntie Nancy. She and Uncle Steve were with us last summer when our trip to Kah-Nee-Ta was ruined by wildfire, so it was nice to re-create another summer vacation with them. And we even managed to dress alike for most of the trip... 

But the most exciting part...
We took Ryder on his very first boat ride! I think, had I allowed it, Stew would have taken him right out on the surf board, but I thought a little spin around the lake would suffice for his first boating adventure. He did so great!

We typically spend almost our entire summer camping, so it felt super odd this year to only do one trip. Life's definitely different with an infant! We still had an amazing time, but the days of drunken 3 a.m. flip cup tournaments and skinny dipping in the lake are over, at least for now...