Best. Day. Ever.

 He's home! He's here! He's finally here!

This was my excited face on my way over to the airport to pick him up.

Click here to see the video of his arrival!!

https://photos.app.goo.gl/GNmhwzSHktKG7Kp37

We had to do a masked kiss for the record books. 'Cuz 2020 . . . you know what I mean . . .

Abby and Gwen, waiting for Papi to come back for the rest of his (quite) heavy duffel bags . . . He had to make more than one trip out to the car.

Here's what we had waiting for him when we got home . . .

Scott really enjoyed seeing all the welcome home decorations that we worked so hard on!

And he LOVED his new front porch! He kept commenting on how beautiful it was.

Once inside, he went from room to room checking out all the changes that I've been making since I got home in April.

Reorganized living room, with new furniture ---

Moving on into the kitchen, checking out the newly painted cabinets, and admiring my handiwork . . .

And eventually he made his way to our bedroom and the stash of stuff that I've been piling up for him (stuff that he had ordered a while ago and had them sent directly to our house, including a new gun . . .)

He was so happy to be home! And guess who else was happy to have him home?

Gwen, ha ha

She followed him around nonstop, and preferred to be in his arms, or even standing on his legs, ha ha.

We had a light lunch with Scott's parents, and Amber and the girls, and then we were off!

Heading off to Butte, Montana . . .

With a beautiful gift basket from our wonderful friends, Pete and Barb Vance . . . Thanks friendies!

We stayed one night in Butte, which is more than enough ha ha, and then we continued our journey west, toward Northern Idaho. We are currently staying in a condo at the Silver Mountain Resort in Kellogg, Idaho. It's beautiful up here, and so quiet. Just what we needed.

Our favorite thing so far? Stepping outside and smelling that fresh foresty smell in the air. It smells like you're in the middle of the forest and camping. But you're in a beautiful and spacious condo instead, ha ha.

So far, this is what we've enjoyed:

Just a few steps from our condo, is the longest gondola in North America. We rode the gondola up to the top of the mountain, going from 2300 feet elevation at the bottom to 5700 feet up at the top. The gondola is 3.1 miles in length and it was a gorgeous view the whole way up!

Our condo is in the tall buildings in the background, on the far right end of the row. The gondola begins on the far left of the row of buildings.

A short video of the view nearing the top of the mountain:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/ChTrqUixocqzcNfPA

That little tan squiggly line in the middle of this next photo is a dirt road. It's so far away! We felt like we were on top of the world! 

Next, we meandered along one of the MANY trails up at the summit. 

Okay, funny story. Just when I was setting up to take this photo, I dropped my phone! It began tumbling down the steep incline below me, and I just stood there in shock. Like, did this really just happen?!? To ME?

Thankfully, it stopped somersaulting about 20-30 feet down, landing at the base of a tree, and Scott was able to shimmy down carefully to retrieve it for me. (My hero)

The whole reason I wanted to take the photo is because of the signage on the trail below ours. Ha ha

The ski resort is a mecca for mountain bikers in the summer, and this was one of the more difficult trails. But who in their right mind would want to do a jump with this kind of wilderness in front of them?!!

Anyway, rejoicing in my recovered phone, I continued taking photos of the beautiful views.

There was even a delightful sprinkling of red, white and blue on our path . . .

And fresh huckleberries! This is the first time I've actually found some in the wild and picked a handful to enjoy! Delicious!

I couldn't figure out if this was bear hair, or just hairy moss. Either way, . . . ewww!!

Such a handsome trailblazer . . .

As we climbed back up to the top of our trail, we saw some bikers coming down on our left. Worriedly, I captured a couple photos as they went down this jump. I'm not sure why I was taking the photos. Maybe in case something awesome happened? But hoping that nothing devastating would happen. They did just fine.

And then, back down the mountain we went on the gondola.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/J9HNjukixKbQ2CnZ7

Later in the afternoon, we drove over to Lake Coeur d'Alene to enjoy some jet skiing. I had never been on one before, but Scott had. We had a 2 hour rental lined up, and man was it FUN!!!

It was HOT!! SOOO HOT!!! 99 degrees to be exact. But we put on ALL the sunscreen and went down to the docks. 

I brought along the same waterproof cellphone holders that Charmaine and I used back in England in 2018. They're great because they go on a lanyard around your neck, they're completely waterproof, they FLOAT, and you can manipulate your phone through the see-through case. So all of the pictures coming up next were all taken while it was IN the plastic sleeve. Very nice photo quality . . .

And off we went!

We traded off from time to time who would drive. Scott was a little more cautious. I was a little bit more adventurous. Surprise surprise. :)

Short video of Scott driving:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/FgV6VzAuiQfpeUBy6

He accelerated up to 20 mph at one point early on, suggesting that I try to keep it around the same speed. I tried 20 and I liked it so much that I tried 30. That was awesome! At one point I even did 32 mph. Later I asked the rental guy how fast he had gone on the lake. His answer: around 50 mph. But even he admitted that 50 is REALLY fast!! He said 32 was pretty great for my first time. 

Scott said multiple times that I was a much better driver than he was. I don't know if it's that I was a better driver or not, but I definitely felt more at ease behind the "wheel". 

We always made it a point to communicate with each other if we wanted a picture or a video. That way, the driver would know to go slowly and carefully, so as not to launch their passenger off the back, ha ha.

Me driving carefully:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/6XS8enJr7EKvZJmU7

Fancy houses were all along the shoreline of the lake. The lake goes about 10 miles in an east/west direction, and about 40 miles to the south. We cruised around several bays of the lake during our 2 hours. 

Those pointy tips are sailboats anchored at a community dock somewhere out on the lake. So pretty!

And a most interesting house on the lake's edge . . .

This is going to be us later tonight (Tuesday). We drove right underneath them on our jet ski last night.

And then we headed back in to the docks. I was able to capture a 4 second video of a young lady jumping off one of the rocks at Tubbs Hill, adjacent to the docks. This is one of the favorite things that all the young people do here in the summer. Especially on a blazing hot day!

https://photos.app.goo.gl/D3VPfaPxi94VnPXh7

After turning the jet ski back in, we drove a few minutes west to Post Falls to have dinner with my youngest brother, Michael, and his beautiful little family. As it turned out, we got there just in time to celebrate my little nephew Jaxon's 5th birthday! (I forgot it was his birthday! But thankfully I had arrived with a new book to share. Whew!)

Here he is opening up some of his many gifts from family near and far. I just love his facial expressions!

Here are Jaxon and Michael - getting a phone call from my MOM - Grandma Linda! She sang happy birthday to Jaxon and then visited briefly with him and Michael for a few minutes.

Meanwhile, Scott was so sweet to entertain Logan for a bit. "Lolo" was a little more shy, but he is SO DARLING!!

He looks a lot like my younger brother, Ryan, did when he was around 3 years old. Logan is just over 2 years old.

And my brother is so special. One of his little secrets is this: when he barbecues steak (in this case Tri-Tip), and then cuts it up for serving, he saves the meat juice.

And then he DRINKS IT!! Wow, Michael. Just when I didn't think it could get more interesting . . .

Ha ha. We all have our little quirks, though. Right??

For the record, Michael is an AMAZING BBQ guy. We had a fantastic meal of tri-tip, grilled corn on the cob, and some tasty potato salad. We didn't leave their house until almost 11 p.m. It was super fun to get caught up on all the goings on and to see those energetic and darling boys!

And that's a wrap. 

Tonight: parasailing and a sunset hike around Tubbs Hill.

Tomorrow: (Wednesday) Paddle boarding and one more visit to Michael's wife, Stephanie, and the boys. Michael will be gone on a business trip, but we want to see those sweet and super smart boys one more time!

Thursday: Head home. To reality. Sigh . . .

It's so wonderful to talk, to snuggle, to play, to watch movies and HGTV together, and to just BE TOGETHER. Life is way better together. :)