Vacation - Redfish Lake

The Os just returned from a wonderful trip to Redfish Lake, just outside Stanley, Idaho. We were looking for a break from the heat and we got it, though we hadn't quite expected highs in the low 50s. Luckily our cabin had a fireplace and we made good use of it (see picture above).

It was an incredibly relaxing trip, with very limited cell and blackberry service, no TV and extreme quiet. We saw a dear in front of our cabin, built a fire every night, canoed on the lake...it was nice.

Ellis was amazing. Other than a couple meltdowns when she was waaaaay overdue for sleep, she was wonderful through and through. First of all, she was very brave right off the bat. It important to know that Ellis is an extremely shy and cautious child. But we arrive at Redfish and she wants to run on the dock, dangle her feet of the dock, jump in a boat, stand up in the boat -- you get the picture. She was ready to climb mountains.

Here is Ellis singing while in the canoe with me and Mike. She chatted and sang nonstop and paddled (when we let her). And she didn't want to come back to the dock no matter how cold it got or how long we were out. (I will try to replace this with a better pic when I can retrieve them from my camera.)


Ellis also was very friendly to new people, when normally she takes a long time to warm up. She demanded to stay with our friend Mary rather than go with us to town. And when she saw our friend Patty, she ran to her and gave her a hug even though Ellis hasn't seen Patty since she was 12 months old. Here is Ellis on the paddleboat with Abby -- Ellis followed Abby and her brother Sam as they stepped off the dock and right on to the boat. Ellis was quite taken with the big kids and very much wanted to be wherever they were. In fact, if Sam (pictured below, standing on the boat) would eat something then Ellis would try it. [We flirted with the idea of video taping Sam eating 40 different types of food we wanted Ellis to eat.]



Ellis loved throwing rocks in the lake. They didn't go very far but that didn't lessen the fun.


We went for hikes and learned about the terrain and the fish that gave the lake its name.


Paul and his two boys, Mason and Davis, took us out on a boat ride, in spite of the cold. Here is a picture of the happy vacationing family as well as one of Mike driving the boat and the boys protecting themselves from the cold. One of Ellis' meltdowns came when we had to get off the boat. It was 2 hours past her naptime, she really wanted to stay on that boat and she hated to see Mason and Davis go.