A Kraupp First (Day 1)

We went on vacation! For the first time we gather all 5 of our kidlings and Amber (of course) and headed to Couer d'Alene. It was five days of fun.


Our first stop was at The Pancake House in McCall.

Travis was glad to have the extra time with the kids. He took advantage of the time to get a lot of kisses.

Instead of staying in a motel where we would have needed two room and certainly would have driven one another mad, we rented a house a few blocks up from the Coeur d'Alene Resort. It was a beautiful old home, but it was missing bath tubs for Justin and Megan. They do not love showers, so I tried the sink. It went this well:

(missing are the pictures of them doing the splits so I couldn't get them in the sink)

On our first full day in town we went to experience the Hiawatha Trail. It is an old railroad route turned bike trail. It is 15 miles on a mild downhill and in those 15 miles there are 10 tunnels as well as the trestles.

We reserved all the equipment we would need. The equipment rental is five miles from the trail head. Here is the delicate balance it took to get bike equipment for eight:

The first thing on the trail is a two mile tunnel. It is soooo dark in there and about 45 degrees. Jake was on the smallest bike available for rental, but it was still way too big for him. Combine that with a dark cold tunnel, and we were off to a rough start. But, he gathered his courage after a pep talk from dad and he did great! He was so proud of himself and we were so proud of him. Well, I am proud of all of us. It is the most ambitious thing we have ever done and it was a blast. I kept saying, "This is amazing, this is beautiful, I can't believe we are doing this!"

After 12 miles down hill, a bus picks up the bikers and takes you back to the 2 mile tunnel which leads back to the trailhead. The option is to ride the bus or go back UP the trail. We gratefully paid the fee to ride the bus.

When it came time to get back in their little buggys behind the bike, this was Justin's reaction:

This was Meg's:

(Sorry, this picture is out of order) Jake was asleep almost as fast as he was sitting on the bus.

On our way home from Hiawatha we stopped at Silver Mountain to experience the world's longest gondola. Travis was, well, a little nervous to be so far above the ground. We accidentally gave him a terrible time about that.

At the top of the mountain awaited a delicious dinner. After such a long bike ride we were famished!

There is also a playland on top of the mountain. Meg and Justin were happy to be able to run and play. They were so good in their buggy rides, but were glad to be able to move around.