Cabining in Island Park

The day after Christmas we packed up and went to Island Park. My parents had rented a cabin up there so we could play in the snow and go snowmobiling. We had a rough start when we realized our van wouldn't start. Turns out the battery was bad and the cables were completely corroded, so Jon and Caleb spent the morning getting that fixed while the rest of us packed. I'm glad we got it fixed before we went so we didn't have to worry about it while we were out in the middle of nowhere!

The cabin was awesome (and for sale....too bad we don't have an extra $400,000 laying around...) and there was plenty of snow. I caught a nasty nasty cold the night before we went and spent most of our time there coughing uncontrollably and just all around feeling miserable. But we all had fun...lots of game playing, sledding, hot tubbing, and snowmobiling....or at least attempting to snowmobile. Dad's snowmobiles picked this trip to have problem after problem after problem. So the guys spent a lot of time stranded and/or fixing various issues on the machines. But it was all worth it. Jon came in from a long ride and said he was born for snowmobiling. He loved it.

Adam and Shannon and their boys came up one day we were there and then Kaci brought her boys the next day. Abby and Greg got back from their honeymoon and Christmas with his family and came up to the cabin for the last couple of days. It was fun to get to  visit with everybody. I think my favorite parts were playing games all day and late into the night, and watching the kids play with their cousins. I wish we lived closer to even some of their cousins so they could get to know them more than our once a year trip to Idaho. Maybe someday....somebody hurry up and move to California already!  :)

This is how Ellie feels about snow and cold weather in general.

The snow was a little too soft for sledding, but the kids figured out that the stairs up to the cabin made a great sledding hill. 

All ready for snowmobiling...I love the squishy helmet face.

 

There was this random tree in the main living area...made for a good time out spot for the kids.  :)