Sandpoint, ID

When we first heard about Sandpoint, ID we knew it sounded right up our alley. An up and coming ski town situated on a huge lake (Lake Pend Oreille - "pond-er-ray")surrounded by mountain range upon mountain range. Our first trip was in the summer and we did everything we could do on the lake (with two small kids in tow)...swimming, cliff jumping, boating, paddle boarding, rock throwing. Indeed, Sandpoint proved to be our kind of town. So we knew we needed to check it out in the fall and winter to see how the vibe was in the different seasons and see how the population changed during the slower months. Fall was beautiful with the changing leaves and the great hiking. The water was deathly cold, but we still went for a few very quick dips!

Our Winter trip was planned around skiing and we lucked out by hitting it on an El Nino year and having some of the best snow we've had in a long time. We rented a great house in a small town 2 miles north of Sandpoint, called Kootenai. My dad flew in to help with kid duty so we could ski and that was a lifesaver with Calder.

Here are a few pictures from our adventures...

Touring around Spokane en route to Sandpoint

Darby and her "Poppy"

FREEDOM!!! IN SO MUCH SNOW!!

The mix between unbelievable snow, an amazing mountain to explore and free time to ski with Doug was enough to have me stupid giggling all day long.

Shredding the Gnar. Or at least turning without falling. 

D playing in the pillows.

Checking out the seating availability on the lake bed

Since we were on East Coast time and our kids are always early risers anyway, we were up a good 3-4 hours before the sun made an appearance so when it finally came out we went for walks on the frozen lake bed. The lake is dropped 10 ft in the winter time so we got to explore all kinds of cool things that are usually covered up. Like lawn chairs and shoes and stuff.

Only ripples on the water and attitude on the 3 year old.  

Big stump, little girl (who thinks she's big)

Poor Darby came down with strep throat while we were there so we made friends at the local urgent care and got her taken care of. This is the 4th time in 2 months that she's had it, so we're pros at knowing the signs of it by now and usually catch it pretty early before it totally cramps our style.

Snow ghosts on Schweitzer Mtn.

Timer photo...5...4...3...2...1.

Another adventure in the books! The adventures are a little different these days with the two kiddos in tow, but we're determined to show them the world and drag them along everywhere with us.

Life

As most parents say, time is flying by. I guess it's not so apparent when you don't have kids because you're not documenting every month as a milestone. It's hard to believe that Calder is almost a year old. The first year seems to fly by...maybe because the first few months are tough and then the fun ages start and you never want them to end. Calder at 10 months is pretty much a dream baby. He is happy 95% of the time, he adores his sister, he adores his mama and he just brings so much life and happiness to our family. The other 5% of the time is the middle of the night and I make him cry in hopes that he will put himself back to sleep and he usually doesn't. He makes me want to have more babies just to prolong the having a baby in the house phase.

Goofy grin always on his face

The reason I don't plan to have other babies is because I have a 3 year old. Kidding. Kind of, but not totally. It really is such a fun age because of the curiosity, the independence, the ability to speak and have meaningful conversations, the sense of humor and the lack of self consciousness. But, all of those reasons are the same reasons that 3 year olds can be sooooo difficult. Darby is a "spirited child" so every one of those attributes is more dramatic than in a non-spirited kid. I know that her tenacity and her passion will serve her well as she gets older, but man, it can cause some fights.