Leona Lane

ANNIVERSARY GETAWAY

Happy Friday! How is everyone loving the first week of September? Summer isn't over, folks. I hear that it will be 85 here in Coeur d' Alene this weekend, so I am way excited. We have been enjoying our fabulous vacation here, and I must admit that I have been VERY LAZY. I had the intention of getting 10,000 steps every single day logged on my fitbit, but instead I have only reached my goal on one day. But I went paddleboarding on Tuesday and my quads are BURNING, so at least I feel like I've exercised daily! To be honest I am loving the laziness. My bed is on the floor in the living room, and after Lucy wakes up she just crawls around on the floor around me (and on top of me) and this gives me a few extra minutes to lay down.

On Tuesday we celebrated our eighth anniversary by getting a hotel together for one night. It was our first time away from Lucy and I must admit that I was pretty wimpy about it. (She did amazing, of course.) We stayed at the Blackwell Hotel in downtown, a turn of the century mansion that has been converted to a contemporary hotel. The best parts were the free glass of wine, the king size comfy bed and the clawfoot soaker tub (my life goal is to get one of these!) The hot tub out back was pretty relaxing as well.

For dinner we walked down the street to Crafted. It's a newish restaurant that serves beer & wine and American food. We endulged in the chicken and waffle entre, which was big enough to share! (And we never, EVER share.) They have a system where you can order your drinks directly from an iPad at your table. I, for one, would rather look at a paper menu. After all, it is way faster to glance through drinks that are all on one page, rather than scroll through drink after drink on an iPad. Overall, we had an amazing time! I loved the live music and the deep fried oreos.

I'm glad we got away, and glad that our baby survived (and thrived.) I was so excited to see her the next day, that all we did was grab Chinese food for lunch and drive around the lake a bit before heading back to my mom's place. Then we spent the next hour photographing little Lucy stand up by herself. I am such a mom. I can't help it.

Thanks for listening to me ramble on and on! I hope you all have a fabulous weekend! I am SO not ready for this vacation to come to an end.

PICNIC ON ALKI

Summer in Seattle is just the best. These three months of warmth and sunshine ALMOST make up for the nine months of rain, as we locals like to joke. But seriously, I am in love with these summer weekends! Even though September is often quite nice around here, I can't help feeling that summer is coming to an end. Because of that, we have pretty much vowed to spend every last weekend outside, enjoying the sunshine!

It was Matt's idea to go to Alki beach for a picnic! I was pretty resistant at first, because I knew it would interrupt Lucy's nap schedule. He did the work. He packed the cooler, made the burgers, invited the friends and family. All I had to do was show up and relax. Pretty sweet deal, right? It was the perfect afternoon. Sunny, but not too hot. Breezy, but not windy. Lucy had a blast, whether it was crawling back and forth on the picnic blanket, wearing a clover wreath or chasing a bee. Renae came along and we even escaped across the street where we got a drink at Cactus.

I'm glad that my husband convinced me to have a bit of fun outside on a Saturday. I am slowly trying to be more flexible and get out of the house. Yes, it is hard with a twice-napping baby, but I need to remember that she is actually more resiliant than I am sometimes. Sunshine and fresh air is so therapeutic for all of us! I hope that Seattle has a few more nice weekends for us this summer, that we can enjoy with trips to the beach, barbeques and picnics. I am certainly not ready for nine months of rain to begin!

Anyone else have any end-of-summer plans they would like to share? I'd love to get some new ideas on how to spend time outside.

WEEKEND PHOTOS | CHELAN

Our family just got back from a fun weekend in Chelan. Every year we go around this time, both to participate in the Chelanman triathlon, and to spend time on the lake in our friends' boat. It's the perfect little mini vacation. The town is so cute and familiar, and the weather is always hot. We love the drive-in and we love the lakeside park. We camp in a ballfield at the high school and a shuttle takes us directly to the triathlon in the morning.

Every year I love the same exact things. I love camping with our cousins in the open field. I love sitting around in the evening and chatting. I love waking up to the bright sunshine and beautiful hills around the ballfield that seem to reflect the light of the sun. It's perfectly cool and breezy in the morning. Matt runs to get coffee very early before the rush, and brings me back a scone and a latte.

This year Matt and his cousin did the Olympic triathlon, which is a .9 mile swim, 26 mile bike and a 6.2 mile run. The kids and I were their cheering squad. It is always quite an adventure running back and forth from the swim area to the road where you can best see the bike and the run.  Next year I hope that I can do one of the triathlons, probably the Sprint distance.

Outside of the race, we had so much fun spending time in our friends' RV, going out to eat at Campbell's, and hanging out on the boat on Sunday morning. Despite a wind storm, nearby fires that blackened the sky, and an almost complete lack of sleep, it was a blast! Lucy was happy almost the whole time, even laughing and talking late into the night. She was having too much fun to go to bed. She was mostly excited by her newfound ability to crawl around, as well as our friend's dog Bentley. She may have said "doggie" a hundred times.

I must admit that I was pretty apprehensive to take Lucy on the boat. It is usually so relaxing, but I could not imagine it being quite as fun with a ten-month old. To my surprise, she actually had a lot of fun! She resisted the life jacket for a bit, but ended up relaxing as long as she had her pacifier-monkey and her mom's lap to sit on. We sped around the lake, did some wake-boarding (not me!) and found a quiet area to get out and float around. The water was cold, but so refreshing.

Overall, it was a relaxing trip! It is always good to do things that we used to before Lucy came along. Having a baby makes adventures a little more exhausting, but honestly a lot more fun.

SCAMP TRIP | Hood River

Our second stop on our Scamp Trip was in Hood River, Oregon. After we left Lake Wenatchee we had no reservations or plans, just a vague idea of where we wanted to go. We really enjoyed having the freedom to be spontaneous and just wander along as we saw fit - not worrying about getting anywhere in time or getting in a hurry. As we were driving through the Columbia gorge on the way to Hood River, we found Memaloose Campground. We drove through, it looked nice and quiet. So we unhitched, and set up camp. 

We poked around town that evening and found some fun stuff to do the next day. Joe wanted to go riding, so naturally I was thrilled when we passed an antique mall on the way to the trail head! I found a few treasures to bring home (pictures of those coming next week.) And then it was time to pick Joe up at the trail head - perfect timing. 

Sketchy toll bridge (above) that crosses the gorge, so glad we didn't have to cross it with the Scamp in tow. It's super windy all through the gorge, but the blue sky and puffy clouds made up for that! ...and it was warm enough to wear a tank top - that's a win in my book!

In the afternoon we stopped in town for tacos and coffee. Thanks to Yelp we found a small little Mexican restaurant with great food, super nice owners and quick service too. We would definitely go back there if we're ever in Hood River again. We also walked around through the cute little downtown area, where we stopped and picked up some coffee. I loved getting a little treat with my latte - reminded me of being in Europe!

And last but not least, I had to snap a picture of the Barlow Toll Road sign we saw on the way out of town. It totally cracked me up, it reminded me of all the times playing the Oregon Trail game with my siblings - we always laughed at the Barlow Toll Road guy for some reason. 

Our favorite spots in Hood River:

  Antique Store: Antiques & Oddities in Bingen, WA
  Camp Ground: Memaloose State Park 
  Coffee: Doppio Coffee & Lounge
  Food: Hood River Taqueria

SCAMP TRIP Part 1 | Lake Wenatchee

Starting on Memorial Day weekend, Joe and I took off on a week plus long camping trip with our Scamp! We had a great time and found a bunch of cool places that I'm excited to share with you guys! Then last week, I went home for four days, got to visit with friends and family, pick up some furniture and go to the Farm Chicks Show with my cousin Sarah!

I'm finally back home, unpacked, laundry done and back to the usual - which honestly feels pretty nice! (There's nothing quite like your own bed, a good shower and naps with your cat!) And now that the house is generally in order, I'm finally starting to sort through all of our Scamp Trip pictures. It's easiest to start at the beginning... so that's where I'll start. Lake Wenatchee was our first stop. We camped there over Memorial Day weekend with Jenn's family, Corlana & Jeremy and our friends Peter & Hannah! It was a blast! It was also Lucy's first camping trip - you can also see the pictures Jenn took here and here. 

We hung out at camp a bunch, had lots of fires, roasted things, foraged for souvenirs, checked out the little town of Leavenworth, ate ice cream, went for walks - and hikes - and bike rides. Made camp coffee, cooked over the fire, played mini-golf and generally had the kind of fun you have on a camping trip!

Ironically enough, we also had great cell service there, so of course everyone was Instagramming the trip. We tried and tried to come up with an interesting hashtag but totally failed. We ended up using #vankimmu14 which is a mishmash of everyone's last names.

Fun times! Can't wait for next year!