After church with Aunt Janelle in St. Ignatius we had lunch and then started our journey up to Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. About three years ago we put a deposit down on a rental house in the mountains by Coeur d'Alene. It is actually a recording studio/retreat house and it had 7 bedrooms/bathrooms so every family could have their own room. It was such a great find! The whole house was amazing. Tons of space outside for the kids to run around, a gourmet industrial kitchen, a video game room, pool table, hot tub...really anything we could want. We didn't end up doing a lot of excursions and leaving the house because the kids were happy and content hanging out there. It was so fun to have 25 cousins all together in one house. This was the first time that has ever happened and they are all asking when we are going to do it again.
Once everyone got there, Shad revealed the family reunion shirts that he had designed and then had Kristin make with her screen printing equipment. The back had an outline of the brothers doing "the pose" (aka pretending like they are peeing off something....such a boy thing to do) and a definition of "Anderson." The front had everyone's number on it based on when they entered the family.
We were all on the back porch and it was really fun to have each person come up and have their moment of excitement as they were spotlighted. It was really touching to see that even though we are a large family each one of us is important, loved, and are an integral part of the family. Shad even made a shirt for his mom who passed away 12 years ago.
Probably the most exciting part was when we got to the end and Shad pulled out a #41 onesie and handed it to me. Everyone was really surprised excited for Nicole and Shad's parents who already knew. However....I think the biggest surprise was when he pulled out a #42 onesie. He looked at Nicole (implying that maybe the onesie was meant for her) she laughed and then he handed it to me. Everyone started screaming and freaking out. Nicole started crying and hugging me. It was a pretty exciting night. I think it caught everyone off guard just like it did us when we found out. We had Kristin video everyone's reaction for us and this time we made sure we had plenty of battery on our phone so it didn't die in the middle of it.
Afterward, we good some great pictures out on the lawn. These are the first pictures we have ever had with everyone together, so that was exciting! We also had Shad take some better, more dressed up pictures of everyone together another night. It will be fun to get them printed and on the wall in our house.
The week was jammed packed. There was always something to do. First of all....lots of food. We spent $1,500 for a week's worth of food. Which was actually pretty good to feed 40 people. The kitchen and serving area that we had made it pretty easy, especially when it came to feeding 25 kids.
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| My van jammed packed with $1,500 worth of food |
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| The serving area made it easier to feed all those kids |
The kids loved the play area outside. They had playhouses stocked with toys, a slip n slide, a playground, and tons of sports equipment. Then there were the free video games (like pac man), and a projector screen to watch movies and play other video games. If we couldn't find one of our kids there was a good chance they were hiding out in there.
We also did a fun activity outside where the kids put rubber bands around watermelons until they exploded. It was great! The reward afterward was eating the watermelon.
While we were there we announced on social media that we were pregnant with twins. We had to keep it a secret from our family until we got to Idaho, but it was pretty difficult to hide with those that we saw often. I'm glad we kept it a secret though because the reaction was great.
We did do a few activities away from the house. By far the most exciting one was the Hiawatha bike trail. This was an incredible experience and totally worth bringing our bikes out for and paying to ride down it. We left Benny and Ruby at home with a few adults who didn't want to ride and took the other kids. Gracie rode on a tag-a-long behind Shad and the boys rode their own bikes. It is a 15 mile downhill trail that is an old abandoned train route. They have taken out the train tracks and made it into a bike trail. There are huge tunnels (the longest one being 2 miles long), and tall bridges that go across deep valleys. The scenery was incredible and it wasn't a hard bike ride at all, even being 14 weeks pregnant with twins. We stopped halfway through and ate our sack lunches. Once we got to the bottom we rode the shuttle (old school bus) back up to our cars. It really was a major highlight of our trip.
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| "The pose" of course |
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Dirty bums after riding back up through the wet muddy tunnel |
The other fun thing we did was visit two different lakes and played on the beach. The first day we did Lake Coeur d'Alene and rented sailboats. I think this was the highlight of the trip for Shad. After that day he was convinced that we needed to buy a little sailboat. They really were adorable and the kids had a lot of fun going out on the water and taking turns having rides. The sand at that lake wasn't very fun to play in as it was pretty rocky and the water was cold, but I think everyone still enjoyed it. After playing there we went into town for a bit and played at the park and did some main street shopping. Downtown Couer d'Alene is pretty cute.
We also visited another lake called Lake Pend Oreille. There was a great beach in Sandpoint that we played at all day. It was much more swimmer-friendly and the sand was softer. We also rented some paddle board for a few hours. I enjoyed that a lot and was on one for a good portion of the time since I didn't bring my swimming suit, DUH! I forgot about what a workout those things are though. The kids had a great time that day and loved playing together.
That night the adults headed back up to Sandpoint and had dinner at a restaurant right on the lake called "Trinity at the beach." It was really refreshing to be with just the adults. I felt like I missed out not being able to go ziplining with some of the other adults because I was pregnant so a date night was much needed. I appreciated that Ryan and Lindsay's teenagers were willing to watch the kids for us so that we could go. After dinner, we walked along the dock and checked out all of the boats in the boat show. Some of those boats cost more than our house. It was unbelievable!
It really was such a great trip and my kids still talk about it often and ask when we are going to do it again. It was a miracle that no one really got sick the whole week we were there (although Ruby and few other cousins ended up with hand, foot, and mouth after we got home). I think we were really blessed. It was a perfect week!
I am so grateful for the amazing family that I married into. My sister in laws are like my sisters. We talk every day. It was so fun to be with them all week and I learn so much by watching them as mothers and wives. It was also really fun to see how the cousins interacted and got along together. They were so sad to leave and I think they can really say that their cousins are some of their best friends. They really enjoyed getting dirty and having unstructured playtime. They don't get to be with these cousins very much so that was important.
We did the drive home, 30 hours, straight through. The kids did great! They really are great travelers. We did the northern route this time to make sure that we hit North Dakota and could check that off our state list. I think the drive was a little long for my pregnant body though. It took my feet about a day for the swelling to come back down. I think there is a reason the doctors say to only do 3-4 hour stretches and then you have to get out and walk around. The night time driving was a bit longer than that.
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