Like last year, Johnny and Erin and the kids joined us, but this year we had an even bigger group. Barb and Kevin came, along with several members of Erin's family. I've never met some of them, so I had some concerns about how everything would work out, but it turned out to be a whole lot of fun!
We arrived on Friday night and went out early Saturday morning to see the eagles, and they didn't disappoint. The last count we heard was 125! Amazingly, after going out to see the eagles and having breakfast, we all went back to the room, and Mike and I napped the morning away while the boys just hung out and played video games. It was so peaceful. I would do that every day if I could. Seriously. Just a perfect rainy morning with my fellas.
In the afternoon, everyone else arrived, and we all spent some time seeing programs, walking around, hanging out in the lodge, etc. until dinnertime. We took a little walk with Barb down to Sunset Point, which is really pretty. We all had dinner together, and after that, all the kids went swimming and everyone wore themselves out. Hurrah!
Then Sunday morning it was up early again and back to it. There were fewer eagles (something like 68), but the sunrise was just beautiful, so I took lots of pictures.
After another breakfast at the lodge, we all packed up and checked out. Barb and Kevin had missed the sunrise eagle watch and wanted to see the covered bridge, so they headed out to do that. Meanwhile, Johnny and Erin and kids joined us, along with Erin's aunt and her grandson, for a hike. We took the same trail as last year, but how different it was! This time it was covered in a river of ice, which made things very pretty if somewhat challenging to navigate. Just like last year, the kids all loved it. Lucy seems to have gotten over calling all the eagles "balden," which makes me a little sad, but I guess time marches on. Richie decided this weekend that he and Liam were BFFs, which was pretty great. It was fun to watch them together. Jesse was his normal happy self, and he even let me hold him ... for a minute.
All in all, a very successful weekend and a much-needed break for us. But we really need to make a point of doing some hikes with the cousins when it's *not* the dead of winter!
