McCall

We flew home from Cleveland on the eighth of July. On the ninth (less than 12 hours of being home) we decided to road trip it up to McCall to catch the last day and a half of a family reunion on Jim's side of the family. There was no time to unpack and repack. We just shuffled some items around in our suitcases, called it good, and took off for some family time.

Of course we had to stop on the way up to let Jim fish in some of his secret fishing spots.

Once in McCall we checked into our hotel room, stopped at a grocery store to get some snacks for said hotel room, then went and played at a little beach by Jim's Uncle's cabin. Jim dared me to jump into the water off the end of the dock without checking the water temperature first. This might not seem like much to some people, but I really had to think this one through. Jim always complains that I'm not adventurous enough. He's right, I'm very cautious and don't like doing things that might cause me pain. Hi, my name is Leslie and I'm a wuss. What up?

Jim's the opposite of me. He will try ANYTHING. Climb ANYTHING. Jump off of ANYTHING. Ride on ANYTHING. And he has the scars to prove it. I have a few scars, and the stories behind those scars are the reasons I don't like doing things that could potentially hurt me. Anyway, jumping off the dock into COLD water is easy for someone like my husband. Not so easy for someone like me. But guess what? I totally did it, and it didn't take me ten minutes of counting to three before I leaped. I think I jumped on my second time counting to three. The water was cold and it took my breath away. But, it was fun and I was proud of myself, and most importantly, so was Jim. HOORAY! Jim even took a picture of me jumping, but it was so mega-unflattering that I deleted off the camera right when I saw it. I think I have a few more months of p90x before I'll be ready to reveal my swimsuited self on my blog. . .even then it'll be a big fat (maybe fat isn't the word I should use here) maybe.

So where was I? Oh yeah, after jumping off the dock and playing in the sand with our little family, we headed back to our accommodations, got dressed, and met up with the Callister clan at a campground. We just missed the big lip sync show (bummer. . . I was totally ready to bust out my rendition of Baby-Got-Back (joking)), but we were able to visit with some family. Jim played volleyball. Tralee found some cousins to run around with. Hunter meandered as well, and I visited with some family too. It was fun to meet some cousins that I only knew through reading their blogs. It was kind of like seeing someone famous. I recognized them, nervously wondered if I should go say hello and introduce myself, then once I mustered up enough courage I made my way over. I know with some celebrities you like, you're not supposed to meet them because it could taint your opinion of them. Not true with the Callister cousins. Everyone was/is super fun and nice. Yay!

After volleyball and visiting, our little family went back to our hotel where we set up Jim's pop-up tent in our room for Tralee. We filled it with pillows and blankets from home, and told her she was camping. She loved it! I also loved having a bed to sleep on.

Saturday Jim woke up early to ride dirt bikes with a cousin, then made it back to help me get the babies ready for the day. We all got to ride on Jim's Uncle's boat, Tralee loved it. Jim also went wake boarding. We ate lunch with the Callister clan, then headed on our merry way.

Our trip ended the same way it began, with Jim stopping at his favorite fishing holes to catch a few more trout before driving home. On the drive our munchkins fell asleep. LOVE that! A few hours later we pulled into our drive way, carried the munchkins up to bed, and I totally ignored the mess that was our suitcases. Instead of unpacking, I headed up to my own bed where I crawled inside, flipped through a pile of magazines that had been waiting for me all month, while a recorded Deadliest Catch (poor poor captain Phil) played on the tv in the background. It felt/feels SO GOOD to be home.

P.S. Mom, I know you're probably wondering how long I let our suitcases sit there. It took a good three or four days before I unpacked. Somethings will never change, eh? I know YOU would have unpacked and put everything in its proper place the very moment you walked through the door. I guess the apple CAN fall far from the tree in some cases.