A Vacation of Thrills

Our thrilling vacation contained too many thrills to capture in one post, so I give you Part One:

Before continuing to read this, please see the warning at the beginning of the post a couple down. Then, continue with enthusiasm. But please pause now and again to allow your eyes to avert and rest. Onto the fun!

We spent 7 fabulous nights and 8 gigantically fabulous days on Lake Entiat, just outside of Chelan. Fun, fun times. Beautiful home, beautiful weather, beautiful friendships. We were totally unplugged. No phone. No radio. No news. No tv. The kids did watch Gilligan's Island and some Get Smart for some wind down time out of the sun. We read through most of a Sunday paper, which just made me realize how blissful ignorance truly is. We missed some "big" news items while we were unplugged, but I wasn't any worse for it. Of all the great fun we had, having Brad be totally away from work and us all totally away from routine life was one of the best parts. Here are some of the other highlights:

On the first full day there, we went to my favorite breakfast spot EVER! These are the best waffles I have ever tasted. Danish yeast waffles. So very yummy. I have been talking and talking about this place, so we went on the first day to spare everyone the pain of listening to me any longer. The place? Blueberry Hills. And, yes, it is a thrill. I had my favorite...the coconut creme waffles with a topping of peach pie filling. They even asked me again if I was sure I wanted peach pie filling on top. Yes! And everyone else should try it, too. My, my. Just look at this...

And then this, taken just before I licked my plate...

Here are all the kids, bursting with excitement for the meal they were about to experience. Or maybe just posing for a picture because I told them to. Ask them.

The next day we spent at the Lake Chelan water park. I think it's called Slidewater. And, to my great surprise, I found another thrill here! It was H.O.T. while we were there. I eventually grew tired of playing paparazzi in that heat, and decided to get in the water. I had been challenged back at home to just try one ride. That, combined with the heat, drove me to it. And it was mostly great! I went down one tube ride with Alex that I was assured I would love, and I screamed all the way down. Didn't love. But then I found some gentler ones, and figured out how to drag my feet along the walls to slow down and control it, and it was great. I'm all about control when I am barreling down a tube of water and shooting into a deep pool of water. Okay, I'm also excruciatingly honest. I was gently slipping down a tube with enough water in it to keep it wet and then plopping onto my feet in a pool of 3 feet of water. But it was still a thrill. And the kids only stopped long enough to eat lunch. And Brad was one of those kids. (For ease of future sentences, whenever I refer to "the kids" in the rest of this post and subsequent vacation posts, I'm including Brad.)

Here is proof I rode a ride...just look at those churning rapids I'm about to throw myself into!

Here's Alex & Thomas on one of their many rides together...

Just a pic of two cuties hanging out in the hot tub...

And two other cuties after a wild ride on the tubes...





And here comes Jack & Brenda...

And, again, the combination of heat and challenge drove me to this. This trip down was Beth, me, and Brad. The day we were doing this was Beth's "other birthday." So, with that in mind, I have one word for this picture: VICTORY!!!

This is a good place to end for now. So much more to come. So many more thrills to document. Stay tuned!