Alene's Heart

We spent the last week in Couer d'Alene with Kristin's and her dad's best friend's families.

What a blast.

Conveniently, Wayne (the best friend) owns the MasterCraft boat dealerships in SLC, Spokane, and Seattle - as well as a lake house on the shores of Hayden Lake in Couer d'Alene. We definitely used and abused all his toys - here is the run down:

The trip began with an eleven and a half hour drive from SLC to Couer d'Alene. Kristin, Patten, and I squeezed into the back of a four-door sedan for the majority of the ride. To his credit, Patten acted like an angel the majority of the ride (see below).


We arrived at the lake house on Friday night. Sadly, the rain and clouds hung around for most of our trip. But that didn't stop Bubba (my brother-in-law) and I from exploring in the kayak on Saturday night. The lake actually seemed even more majestic with rain falling and steam rising.


Patten enjoyed the lake house even more than the car ride (can you imagine that)? Here he is showing off with a little patty-cake (I think he learned the focused-tongue approach from Greg Condie).


On Sunday we ventured to Spokane (half-hour from Couer d'Alene) to see waterfalls. The picture below was actually taken at Post Falls, halfway between Couer d'Alene and Spokane, but you get the idea. It looks like Patten is even more excited about the falls than the lake house OR the car.
We spent Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday relaxing at the house and waterskiing. We learned how to wake-surf (newer boats can create a four-foot wake which you then surf on with a surfboard - you can even throw the rope in and surf behind the boat with no rope). Surfing came naturally to Kristin, she excels at watersports, I had a harder time (but braved the 50 degree water and air more frequently) and in the end found my wake-surfing capabilities.

We also went on many walks on our trip. Patten and I particularly enjoyed a stroll during which Patten happily mumbled and grumbled (as he tends to do) enough to attract multiple dogs out to the street. One heavy-set beagle howled in response to Patten's noises - it startled Patten - he didn't make a peep the rest of the way home.


Finally, on Thursday, Grandpa Kent helped Patten find his inner-gymnast. The picture below shows Patten hanging from a chair - no help from Grandpa and feet not touching the ground. He hung in that position for eight to ten seconds before falling to the ground. Much crying ensued. Regardless, the picture is pretty cool.


Oh yeah, one more thing. On the drive home, just before Roy, Patten executed the blow-out of all blow-outs. Dirtiness extended to his socks, so much so that we had to pull over at Roy and change him. None of the food establishments had adequate changing facilities so we did what any good parent would do - changed him on the grass next to a six-lane highway. Surprisingly, no one honked or hooted or hollered. I think I used fifteen wipes when all was said and done.