Actually...

...there is one more place I really do like to go at least once a year.

Winthrop.

Winthrop is what I love about Lake Cheland; the dry, scruffy hills and the sunshine and the family connections I have there. But while Lake Cheland is a sunscreen smell and the summer buuiiiiizzzzsplashsplash of skidoos on the lake, Winthrop is a quiet walk on the windy ridge on my parents' property. If I needed a place to simply relax, I would probably choose Lake Cheland. If I wanted to go somewhere to think, I might go to Winthrop instead.

Those of you who have visited the Methow Valley may remember Winthrop as the funny little town between Twisp and Mazama that decided to dress up as a cowboy one year and has yet to take it's costume off. Wooden board walks. Hitchin' posts fer the horses. It's kind of funny to me to think that just like Leavenworth, Washington, Winthrop did not always look like this. If you have been there, you know that Leavenworth wears lederhosen year round rather than cowboy clothes. Probably just the outworking of someone's good marketing idea. It beats the heck out of the City of Auburn's claim to being "More Than You Imagined". Been to Auburn recently? Yeah, I could imagine more than that, too. (I'm going to stop bashing the next town over from mine right... about... now.)

Winthrop has a neat feel to it but my family doesn't brave the 5 hour drive once a year to hang out in town.

We go for Family Weekend of course! And we are blessed the entire time to eat good food with good company at my aunt and uncle's house. They live in Winthrop! And each year, when Family Weekend is over, I'm almost ready to sign up to live there too.

Josiah was about 10 weeks when we made our pilgrimage to Winthrop this year.

To help the drive over the mountains go smoothly, we usually stop to eat lunch and stretch at a park on the way.

Josiah watches Mercy eat her raisins and apples during our lunch break. Check out the double chin on this little boy! He's finally gaining weight!!

The men spent their time enjoying the sunshine at the picnic table while Mercy and Josiah and I were thankful for the shade under a pine tree. Boy, was it hot that weekend! I was totally unprepared for a warm Family Weekend in May. Usually the wind is quite brisk and chilly during this time of year over there. Check out the sparse green patches on the hills beyond the park in the picture above. I love going to Eastern Washington in the spring for the green hillsides. Summer's heat dries those hills to a dusty brown. The spring green grasses look pleasantly out of place.

Our destination, when we do reach it after several hours of books on tape and a hopefully a quiet afternoon car nap, is this:


My aunt and uncle's hilltop; a veritable paradise for little wannabe farmboys and their parents.

Daniel on a neighbor's tractor, age 2

Michael and Daniel ride the horsies that live on the deck

Papa Jim and Grammy Carol's house comes complete with cousins who live just a horse pasture away.
The young man with the lizard coming out of his shirt is my cousin's son. He and Daniel spend the entire weekend adventuring on the property together.

Some of the activities we enjoy while at Grammy Carol's house include: pushing each other on the "go cart"...

Daniel gets a push from one of our favorite cousins while Papa Jim and Michael give him some pointers.


Michael and the break lever

taking long walks on the property with the dogs...

Daniel, Grammy, Kenzie and Lady walk in the sunflowers

and enjoying God's creation...

Michael and his flowers, age 2ish

with family!


The pictures in this post were collected from several years' worth of trips to Winthrop... It's fun to reminisce with myself... but back to this year's trip.


Like I said, it was incredibly hot! This is the one summer-y outfit I brought for Mercy. Here she is blissfully blowing bubbles while Tigger withers in the 90 degree heat on the grass behind her.


We tried out some new accomodations this year. As our family grows, we are challenged to find an affordable place to stay. We were pleasantly surprised to find that Hazel's house fit us and Grammy and Grandad just fine!

While our three older kids rambled around on the property with their cousins, Josiah spent the weekend being passed around to and admired by all the uncles and aunties.



In an attempt to end this really long post, I give you this picture of Josiah as a parting shot. I love his cheeks in this picture; he's looking so chubby and healthy!

rebecca