There are a few things that I love to do. One of them is getting together with trusted friends. Dave and I have forged friendships with a handful of people whom we consider and extension of our family. In order to become one of those, you must be willing and able to vacation with us. Not really, but it helps. You learn things about people when you vacation together. These vacations don't have to be (and usually aren't) exotic, globe trotting adventures, in fact, sometimes they're downright hillbilly in nature.
Take for example...Moose Manor! This is the name of a cabin up in Island Park (just outside of Yellowstone) that I stumbled upon on the internet. We had originally booked another cabin but ONE week before we were to arrive the owner called and said that it had flooded and would NOT be available. Geeeez Louis!! Have you ever tried to rent a cabin ONE WEEK OUT, during the peak time?
After my initial panic moment, I went to work searching the internet for anything that week. Time off had already been scheduled, plans had been made, etc. Each family has 4 children and those 4 children sometimes like to bring friends along so I knew that we would need a SIZABLE cabin. We needed room for 14 people, thankfully no pets are involved Now that I think about it, that is another requirement to reach that "inner circle" of friendship. We don't mind if you have pets, just DON"T bring them on vacation with us. Big No No! We've got enough KIDS to worry about.
I called the number given of the website and spoke with a very nice lady who gave me the best news ever. That week was available and that we could rent it. It would cost each family a little bit more but the peace of mind was worth it. Oh the adventures we had! We rafted the Snake River, well in some areas, we walked the Snake River! With a Sharpie, we wrote names on the sides of the doomed rafts. The names were, The Black Pearl, The Love Boat, and the Titanic. The kids will never forget that day. The water was freezing and shallow.
To try and describe this cabin named Moose Manor would be an injustice. Let's just say it was VERY kid friendly! The carpet consisted of those carpet sample rectangles, all in different colors, glued to the floor. Brilliant idea! I may have to do this in our next home. The walls were, well, unfinished to say the least. There were plenty of bedrooms, in fact I'm not entirely sure we found all of them because this place had hallways leading to parts unknown. The kids had a blast just wandering the halls figuring out where things were. It made for a great game of hide and seek! It was HUGE and FUN and just the perfect cabin for us ruffians. One week of blissful memories!
Fast forward 4 years...this brings us to a couple of top notch time share condos that my parents snagged for us, for a whole lot LESS $$ than we paid for The Moose! This resort is RIGHT on the BEACH in Oceanside! Each one had 2 private bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a full kitchen with all of the supplies, a pool, etc. Luxury living! The only thing missing was...a cook, a laundry lady and a grocery shopper, or in other words, A MOM!
We all had a ton of fun staying up way too late, getting too much sun, and eating way too much. Here are some photos of the week:
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| View from our balcony at sunset |
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| Daytime view |
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| Kids ready to ride the waves |
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| Grace and Amanda |
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| Chris and Sarah, not quite ready to go out |
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| Jeffrey's "bedroom". He loved it out there on the balcony. |
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| Sarah got "hit" by a seagull, sitting under an umbrella! |
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| The Oceanside pier |
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| Pool time |
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| Look closely, it looks like Jeffrey has white eyeshadow on. |
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| Everything burned BUT his eyelids! |
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| Chloe and Becca |
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| Let the game begin. |
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| Football on the beach |
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| Huddle |
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| Dad induced wipe out!! |
Needless to say, we had another grand adventure with our Skillmans. I'll have to write about Dave's encounter with the hobo at Jack in the Box, rear ending a mini van and other adventures another time.
