Just what the doctor ordered

Eric's sister, Christy, and her husband, Tom, invited us on a little weekend getaway to Tom's family's cabin in Idaho, a.k.a. The Hills. We had a blast - it was just what we needed.

Wednesday we got the green light on Elena's counts and we officially began our first and last vacation of 2010 on Thursday evening with a sleepover at Christy and Tom's house. We woke up before the sun on Friday morning and hit the road. Shortly after we arrived, the boys went off to help build cabins with Tom's family, while Christy and I unpacked, tended the kidlets, chatted, and I kicked Christy's trash at Gin.

Mama Bateman hung out with us, too and was superb with the kids. They were all calling her "Grammy" within an hour. :)

Friday evening, we loaded the kids up and went down to meet the boys for dinner. We admired their building skills, chatted around the fire, and had the best tin-foil dinners I've ever eaten.

The kids loved exploring, running around, pretending to drive the 4-wheelers, and taking "train rides".

See... I told you Elena won't smile for the camera anymore. Hopefully, just an annoying, short phase...

Elena trying her skills. :)Crazy Tom :)

You should have seen the grin on Lincoln's face when his daddy gave him a 10 second "ride" on the motorcycle. :)

And I drove a 4-wheeler for the first time and decided that they're really fun!

We dunked all five very dirty kids in the bath and then got everyone tucked into bed for a good adult game night. We rounded out the night with way too many treats :) and a round of Pandemic and then crashed into our beds.

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Saturday morning, I stayed with the babies while Tom, Christy, Eric, Sophie, Elena, and Jo went on a rather intense 4-wheeling trail, from what I hear. :) Then the boys went back to work on the cabins for a bit while the babies finished napping. We met up again Saturday afternoon (more 4-wheeling for me!) and hunkered down under the pavilion during a crazy rain/hail/thunder and lightening storm- which the boys kept working through! On the roof. In the lightening. Luckily they made it back before the hail. :) It was fun to watch the storm!

We had an adventurous drive back to the cabin after the storm broke (let's just say that fishtailing on muddy roads, brakes not responding well, and curvy mountain roads with drops offs don't mix well), but made it back alive. :) Then Tom, Eric, and I set out to do some shooting. I got to use a scoped rifle for the first time and although I need lots more practice, I really enjoyed it.

After we all got back, Tom and Eric took all the kids on a hike while Christy and I enjoyed some peace and quiet while getting dinner ready (what nice husbands we have!). After dinner, the boys went on one last 4-wheeling ride and Christy and I prayed they'd come back alive. :) We're a good match (or maybe we aren't? :)) because we are both world class worriers of the first rate.

Round two of bathtime:

... followed by bed-time stories with these CUTE little girls:

...And then we tucked all the kids into bed for the night and waited for our husbands to return alive (which they did! :)) for another wonderful kid-free adult game night. :) We won another round of Pandemic, the boys creamed us at Gin, and we had lots of laughs playing Imaginiff.

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By late Sunday morning, all the little girls were getting a little wiggly and naughty from being so long in close quarters (with no naps and no movies - gasp! - how did we do it??), so our kind husbands took them down the mountain to the grassy area to play. The report was that the boys played pretty much uninterrupted horseshoes while the kids played together. They had a blast, didn't fight, and spent pretty much the whole two hours on the riding lawn mower together. :) Haha. Meanwhile, while the babies napped, Christy schooled me at Ticket to Ride and then we got to spend some quiet time reading. When everyone got back, we met up with more of Tom's family and Idaho friends for a big late Sunday lunch and then packed up and headed home. I have to say that during this trip I developed a grudging admiration for Idaho/ans. :) I saw several pretty places among all the brown and flat, was impressed by the hard work and knowledge of farming and living off the land that I saw and heard about, and was charmed by the small town hospitality - lots of "what's mine is yours" and lots of friendliness - on our way out of town, we were waved at by several different people walking down the road. :) So there you go, Tom. ;)

This trip was a wonderful getaway! We love where we live, but have been pretty confined to a very small circle since Lily was born and this whole roller coaster of events started. It was amazing how refreshing this trip was. Yes, we still had to make sure Elena stayed clean and we had to take a few precautions. But, overall, we were able to go someplace totally new and get away from home and doctors and medicine, and our daily routine, and everything that serves as a reminder of what we're going through and recharge a little. Driving home, when we reentered Utah, I felt like I was seeing everything through fresh, new eyes. The mountains looked prettier, places seemed new, and we walked into the door of our house excited to be home and feeling energized to face the coming week and months with all that they hold.

Thanks so much to all of the Batemans for making it happen!