we're back to reality here on the farm this monday morning. it's been so so so hot here in idaho setting records at 104º. it's a dry heat. i liken it to what it might feel like in an oven. throw pregnancy into the mix and well...i'm just a real treasure to be around. literally everything i encounter i have to think, "how much is that going to make me sweat?"

answer - a lot. everything makes me sweat.

but...this past weekend we thought we would beat the heat and head to our favorite mountain town, which is always traditionally at least 10 - 15 degrees cooler than the boise area. well, we got that one wrong. it was hot hot hot...again at 95º each day.

it didn't matter! we had the very best time. swimming, golfing, golf cart driving, scenic views, lunch dates...it was all so glorious. there's something to be said when both of your children ask if we can live in mccall. when we say, "what about the farm?" kaye's response is quick with, "it's okay. let's just live in mccall."

 so...if anyone has a spare $500k just lying around and wants to support a little girl's dream to move to a resort town...well, that would be great.

but really, i can't blame her! mcall always means lots of activities and people and pool or ski time. definitely hot tub time, playgrounds, biking, four-wheeling...i mean, girlfriend knows a good time, that's for sure.

so before i start to get depressed that we're not still vacationing and / or planning our move from the farm...

we started with our three hour drive up the mountain. usually it's quick and painless, but as we drove up this time my farmer noted that the river looked suuuuuuper low. and then as we got into the canyon traffic came to a complete stop. it was quite literally 100º in the canyon and after idling for 10 minutes we had a feeling it was time to shut the car off. 10 more minutes went by and our farmer decided to go figure out what was going on. well, as it turns out a car went off one of the curves into the water and it was being recovered. i've driven that highway so so very many times...aggressively at that. you always want to make great time getting up the mountain. but it's times like that when you realize that the road is curvy and dangerous and it's just so not worth it.

so...after another hour of waiting we were finally on our way again. i'm thrilled to report that even in those temperatures the girls had great attitudes, zero complaining, and just took the whole thing in stride.

once we made it to mccall our very first stop was the pool. we couldn't get there quick enough. luckily it's a quick golf cart ride away.

last year sawyer was clinger-5000. you would have thought there was acid in the water. but since we've been doing swimming lessons she's a regular fish. money well spent. she's happy to put her float-thingy on and swim around on her back, do cannonballs, and just splash around. kaye's swimming lessons have definitely paid off. girlfriend is swimming without assistance and her confidence makes me more than a little nervous. regardless - she gets the gold medal for best in-air poses and jumping technique.


we stayed at the pool until at least 7pm. it's so hard to think about dinner or getting ready for bed when it stays hot and light until 10pm. truly.

we snuck in some golfing...and by golfing i mean we popped over to the putting green and kaye showed us some driving skills.

i've said it once...and i'll say it again - my gal has some serious hand-eye coordination. her grip may not be perfect and she may be picking up her front foot, but she can make contact with the ball and make it fly. i mean...we watched her hit it multiple times about 30 - 50 yards. each time we would cheer for her and sawyer would get more than excited. she's definitely kaye's #1 fan.

sawyer even went so far as to place the ball on the tea each time for her and bring her different clubs to try. it was the cutest.

but do you know what's not the cutest? when you can't get sawyer out of dress-up clothes and she throws epic tantrums. all girlfriend wanted to do was spin and dance and sleep and eat and bathe in this pink dress. granted...at two years old i probably would have felt the same way, but...it's definitely not golf appropriate. or maybe it is...

on saturday we decided to beat the heat (kind of) by finding higher elevation. we drove up to brundage mountain (where we usually go skiing) because you can take a chair lift to the top and hike around with phenomenal views of the lake and surrounding area. it's gorgeous with all the trees and wildflowers.


and contrary to the pictures - kaye and sawyer actually enjoyed their time. granted, our farmer had to carry one or both of them at points in time. we also had to keep them from picking all the wildflowers...kaye was insistent that they were for her wedding. we happened upon an old look-out cabin that we've never seen skiing before. it's amazing to think someone actually built and stayed there for periods of time starting in 1914.

if you're local and headed to mccall - ride the chair at brundange and then treat yourself to lunch. it was gorgeous...and yummy...and your kids will have the best time. see...look at what a good time my gals had...


i guess the chairlift ride was more their thing...what with their apparent broken legs and all.

sunday morning we got packed up and then watched our farmer compete against some retirees on the pickleball courts. and while he's never played before the gals and i were happy to cheer him on...and he wasn't half bad. it'll be nice to have this baby and then challenge him next summer...i think i can take him.

it's never fun to end a fun vacation, but fun to note that we get to head back to mccall in just a few weeks to visit family coming in from out of town, then more family the following week, and then a wedding. 

i guess it's a good idea to get all this travel out of the way before the girls start school in mid-august...and then baby sister arrives that first week in september. 

ummm...summer? slow. down.