lake merwin 2011

ryan and i got pretty sad this year when we realized there was no way we could make it to the cabin for the annual week-long stay this august. until my aunt told me they were also going for an entire week in july. we had low expectations for weather as it had been rainy, rainy, rainy for weeks all along the west coast, but decided to go anyway. 

we packed up our little civic with our tents, blow up mattresses, sleeping bags and blankets and drove through the night to arrive early monday morning. leah, in true leah fashion, was a champion in the car. she slept the entire drive! 

 as we neared lake merwin, the sun shone bright and warm, which is unusual for 9am even on a day where good weather is expected. 

it shone and it shone and it shone five out of the six days we were there! 

not only did we have great weather, but we couldn't have asked for better company. aunt denise and uncle gary are the best of the best and we were lucky enough to cross paths with four of their five beautiful daughters {missed you brat!} and their darling families throughout the week. 

we celebrated independence day monday night at a fantastic fireworks show at fort vancouver. i almost ruined the festivities by puking my guts out four or five times right as we arrived, but luckily i found a baggie in the car to avoid catastrophe.

for the rest of the week we were entertained by anna, paige, quinn, leah, cole, dane and luke. justin bieber was the artist of choice and we watched his movie twice. i think ryan has the fever now. i'm sure of it. 

it was truly a vacation as we did nothing but relax all week. we splashed and floated and tanned and boated. we did a little hiking and a lot of eating.

it was the perfect week to settle our nerves before coming back to reality and packing up our little california apartment. thanks, lake merwin.