Time in McCall

After a week in Utah, we drove 7 hours north to McCall, Idaho, where my family shares a condo with my extended family. It was my family's turn to be there, and no one else was interested in coming up, so we took advantage. We had a few days there by ourselves; then my sister Laura, who lives in Iowa, arrived with her 6 children. The kids had fun riding Grandpa's boat into town to visit the legendary Ice Cream Alley.

Hattie was pretty excited about wearing a life jacket for the first time

And she did pretty well on the boat ride

Cousins Grace and Myra walking with Hattie

Myra, Grace, James, Paul and Hattie

Our huge banana split...but they forgot the bananas!


Hattie certainly ate her share


Hattie with Grace...one of my favorite pictures


The view of the lake


Myra and Grace

Anson loved playing in the sand, but Hattie was paranoid about all the sand on her feet and preferred the swimming pool

The pictures really don't do this place justice. I grew up visiting McCall often and consider it a second home. I'm excited to share this place with Hattie.

SnowFest Report

I think this video captures the essence of SnowFest...doing dumb stuff in the snow...and this was even before we got to Preston! Here's the link if you can't see YouTube.



I can't believe Christina starts walking AWAY from the cement when she gets up! Too funny. We had a great time, apart from Hattie not sleeping very well, but that's expected when traveling I have found. We had a good time snowmobiling, but I gave up quickly since I kept getting stuck and of course needed help digging out my machine while breathing in way too much exhaust. Sledding was probably the highlight...making strange formations of flying V's and pyramids as we sled down Uncle Kurt's ultimate sledding hill. We were surprised there were no broken bones and trips to the emergency room. And of course, just spending time talking and playing games as usual. Paul and I are sad that this will probably be our last SnowFest for a few years :(

One evening we stayed up late for another SnowFest tradition of "Whatcha Got Chocolate Ice Cream". Everyone brings an 'oblation' - any sort of chocolate they have lying around the house - and we melt it all together and make homemade chocolate ice cream. Some years definitely turn out better than other years, you can imagine. Last year, I think we mixed Butterfingers and Milky Ways....NOT very good. But this year, it wasn't too bad. We had M&M's, hot fudge, cinnamon, and Hershey's. It was a little less creative - probably why it was more successful! I doubt Dreyer's will be adding it to their menu, but it was at least edible.