Family Vacation Idaho Style!! With The Help of Winning Moves Games!

July 1st was the start of THE BEST vacation! Our kids drove up to Sandpoint, Idaho to surprise The Husband ‘s for his 70th birthday.  What a GREAT surprise that was! More surprising is I was able to keep my big mouth shut for an ENTIRE year!! Are you as surprised as I am??

Alice in the background didn’t look excited for a 3-day car trip. Dan wasn’t too sure either from the look on his face.

HOWEVER, it was THE BEST week I’ve had in years.

From fishing, daughter Selena was the fishing champ with a total of 6 catchs. (We did catch and release fishing). BTW, don’t you think we need a singing fish as a trophy for next years fishing champ?? Yup, it has to happen. Ebay here I come.

Son Zachary was ecstatic about fishing in Idaho, he was up and gone by 5 am every morning. If you wanted to go with him, you were UP, dressed, ready to walk out the door at 5. Or you aren’t going. I did make it once. I stayed up way too late for that nonsense every day.  He was easily convinced for evening fishing, so I did those trips instead.

City beach was (as always) a huge hit with the grand girls Alice and Olivia. A GREAT way to cool off and burn off energy.  I wish I could say I have pictures of the grand girls in the water, instead it was most entertaining to watch my grown children well into their 40’s try and drown each other. After closer inspection the grands are in the background.

There was time for naps, goffy pictures, ice cream, hugs, Fourth Of July Parade, along with spotting a bald eagle in a nest during the parade.

AND!!! With the help of my daughter Selena, daughter in law Amber, and both grand girls Alice and Olivia (GIRLS ROCK!! We are amazingly strong together) we were able to FINALLY move the carved bear (a gift 7, yes, SEVEN years ago!) to the porch from inside the garage. It too some ingenuity, some MUSCLE, some very determined women to move the beast. But IT’s DONE!!  The bear now greets guest!! I am so excited!!! Damn! I am impressed by us women!

I’m telling you it was a Jam-packed week. Dinner at The Hydra. Delicious. Hoot Owl for breakfast. Son-In-Law Dan even made Eggs Benedict one morning. SO MUCH FOOD was had by all.

By the way, you have to be SO creative brining home ALL this food when there are only 2 people in the house. Ya gotta do some FAST talking.

I had purchased a FX Halloween Make Up Scar kit for the girls to use during Non-Camp. HOLY GUACAMOLE BATMAN!!! Had Olivia NOT been grinning ear to ear while holding her hand and saying she had an accident the adults would have been frantically headed to the car. It looked SO REAL!!!!!!

As real as those look in pictures, in person they are truly scary. LIKE REALLY scary. The more scars they did, the more realistic the scars were.

Side note here. Non-Camp is no longer cool. Olivia is now a high school cheerleader so she couldn’t stay, they had cheer camp and practices. Alice is now 12 and her friends are everything. Also The Non has the WORST internet in the world. I’m pretty sure cave dwellers have better internet. So, sadly no Non-Camp. I’m not crying YOU’RE crying.

There were movie nights, there was wine on the deck with hysterical family stories for the spouses.  There were game nights. We played THE BEST game!! Have you heard of Scrabble Monopoly?? OH MY GOSH!! Winning Moves Inc. y’all KNOW how much I adore this company. When I was watching Alice from birth to 6 years old, I relied HEAVILY on Winning Moves Games. You remember Nibbled?? OMG! We had so much fun with this game!! (Look at how little Alice is!!)

Scrabble to Go is another favorite. AND since 2016, it’s STILL in my car!! (At least if I get stuck in a snow bank I won’t be bored!)  Brynk still so much fun to play! NOW, I have heard (wink wink) it’s very fun after a couple of shots of tequila. It’s only a rumor. Honest!?  The list of games goes on and on. I THINK our first game was Crocodile Dentist Alice was only 2.  WE are STILL loving and enjoying every Winning Moves Game we own. (We own a LOT!) These games are meant to be enjoyed for generations.

Let me introduce MONOPOLY® SCRABBLE® An Exciting Mash-Up of Two OF The World’s Greatest Games!!

This one will put wrinkles on your brain. (I read somewhere when you use your thinking brain it puts more wrinkles on your brain, keeping dementia and Alzheimer’s at bay). This game gave us all WAY more wrinkles. This is an addicting game. A true thinking game. A FUN as all get out game.

Son-in-law Dan won with a table full of money, most of the properties and NO TILES?!?!? I think he cheated. I’m certain he has tiles in his pocket.

MONOPOLY SCRABBLE is SO VERY fun.  This would be the PERFECT summer game for kids when it’s too hot to be outside. It’s educational without them realizing it.

This innovative new game combines the best elements of the MONOPOLY® game with the crossword-building play of SCRABBLE®. In place of rolling dice to move around the board, players build words and move ahead according to their score. Build a word on a premium
space and claim a MONOPOLY® property.
Clever gameplay twists, along with custom Community Chest and Chance cards, keep things moving at a fast pace. The winner is the player with the highest total of cash and property value when the last letter tile is played.

Insert Card Here. OH MY GOSH my brain does not move as fast as Alice and Olivia’s. I lost big time on this game. This is fast paced and fun. AND I APPARENTLY do NOT know my counting. Like at all. The girls looked at me like “Non? Seriously?”

So, as with EVERY PERSON that has ever touched a Ouija Board there were of course lots of “you’re moving the planchette, NO I’m NOT!” statements and accusations. BUT, hear me out. The grand girls and I had our fingers on the planchette, and we had NOLA talking to us. We asked if she had passed away where our house was built. Her answer was yes. She told us she had died in 1830.

We talked to her until the planchette went to GOODBYE. While we were ‘talking’ to Nola daughter Selena googled all the information about Nola and it was SO WEIRD! There WAS a Nola that died in Sandpoint in 1830. NOW….. more eerie stuff? All of a sudden a beautiful black cat meows at the front door. We’ve lived here 7 years. We’ve never seen this cat. We’ve never seen ANY cats. This is the most friendly, happy cat you’ve ever seen. She craves being held, petted all of it. The grand girls decide this is Nola. (I gotta say, I am convinced as well. So, I post in the local online page in NextDoor. No answers. One week goes by, Nola still at the front door waiting to be held. I finally break down, head to town and buy cat food and treats. I get home Nola is gone. Haven’t seen her since. Another weird twist? The Google article about Nola? WE can’t FIND it ANYWHERE!??! WHATTHE?!?!?!?! Well played Nola well played. We all SAW the article. It even made son Zachary a believer in the Ouija Board. Last little bit of WHAT?!?!  The day that Nola disappeared, I had put the Ouija Board back in the box. Hummmmmmm!

So, that’s my vacation story. A most WONDERFUL week!! Thanks to our amazing children, grand girls AND (It’s gotta be said…….. ) Winning Moves Games!!

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