multi-hyphenated-me

the hyphens that define my life

Join the Club July 25, 2013

Filed under: Life — multihyphenatedme @ 10:47 pm
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There are some days when my husband’s over zealous research pays off.   That is to say that there are some days when his over zealous research makes me feel like a hamster on a wheel.  Tonight was not that night.  Tonight, thanks to his research, we Unlimited Fun at Red Lion’s Templins Resort on the Spokane River.  Unlimited Fun just saved me a ton of money (renting a boat for 5-8 trips vs buying and storing and maintaining a boat) and provides, truly, unlimited fun.

Unlimited Fun provides boats to rent (at a great price) on the Spokane River and the nearby Lake Coeur D’Alene.  Plus we get VIP privileges for unlimited use of their stand up paddleboards (SUPs) and Kayak/SUP hybrids and access to their private beach.

If that isn’t enough, on Thursday nights Red Lion Templins Resort offers an all-you-can-eat BBQ, live classic rock/county mix music, full bar and dancing.  Yee-haw!

Folks, if I haven’t sold you on this incredible deal yet, here’s a testimonial from their newest 7 year old member (my son Andre):

“This place has BBQ, live music, ice cream, and tons of stuff for us to do, we should just live here, it is paradise.”

Andre is serious.  He is willing to give up video games every day if we will take him to the river.  Andre was paddle boarding, kayaking, swimming, boating and chowing down on BBQ today. If you’ve read my posts up to this point, this is not my youngest child’s typical behavior.  He broke his mold and found himself in seventh heaven.  Or, he just aged 60 years and is ready for retirement.

When we left the house tonight after work, our plan was to just check it out and maybe take a dip in the river.  We packed bathing suits and towels and headed out the door.  I had made a pot of beans this morning for bean and cheese burritos for dinner.  We were set for a relatively quick out and back trip.  We told the kids, “Get in the car, we’re going to Idaho”.  That’s a phrase I never thought I’d ever say, even living here it feels odd.  To Idaho we went.

Then we got there.  The Idaho panhandle is ridiculously beautiful at every turn.  We have been going to Lake Coeur D’Alene and with each visit in constant awe. Today we stopped in Post Falls, a town on the Spokane River that started as a sawmill owned by a man named Post.   Lake Coeur D’Alene drains into the Spokane River before emptying into the Columbia River at Roosevelt Lake approximately 112 miles downstream.

Red Lion Templins Resort is 10 highway miles west of Lake Coeur D’Alene on the Spokane River.  The beach and river fun is unsuspecting as you park on the hill above and walk down to the marina.  The wide clear water river spreads out before you with a mountain on the other side, dotted with mega-houses with private docks.  There is a boat launch and marina and resort services, boat and jet ski rentals, SUP and kayak/SUP hybrid rentals an a snack shack and bathrooms.  A private beach with a grass volleyball court is just east of the marina.

For the few weeks we have left of summer [the locals tell me this high 90 degree heat isn’t going to last forever, only until mid September, enjoy it while it lasts], this is our summertime fun package.  Boat, check. Trying new things, check.  Easy access beach with amenities, check. All of the kids love it, check.  Mom and dad are happy, check.  The downside is that we don’t explore all of the surrounding lakes.  We’ll get there.  We will eventually buy a boat, just not yet. Renting a boat is perfect solution to get us off our butts on the beach and out exploring on the water.

Our month of August is jammed packed with activity.  Our daughter, Jessica, arrives on the 31st for 10 days and we are all super excited.  She loves to SUP and the boys can’t wait to SUP with her.  We all can’t wait to share our adventures with her.  Right after she leaves, we have our twelve year old buddy, Kyle, coming to visit for a week.  He will not want to go home with all the thrills and excitement we have planned during his visit.

One thing for sure, our dog days of summer will be spent on and in the water.

 

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My Daily Blog: T-5 H.A.G.S. June 14, 2013

Filed under: Family,Life — multihyphenatedme @ 7:43 am
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Schools Out for Summer.

HAGS!! is the new acronym to hit elementary school yearbooks.  I couldn’t decipher it on my own, I had to enlist the help of my 9-year-old to guide me through the elementary school vernacular.  My thought was that HAGS!! was similar to WHAS UP?!?!  Instead of saying HUGS!! you say HAGS!! Oh no.  HAGS is simply Have A Great Summer.  Of course.

Urbandictionary.com has some entertaining definitions and examples using HAGS in a sentence.  I won’t go into great detail here and highly recommend you check it out yourself, but I will tell you that my favorite defined HAGS as an STD (yes, you read that correctly, sexually transmitted disease).  HAGS could also stand for Herpes, AIDS, Ghonorrea and Syphilis.  Now read your elementary kid’s yearbook and interpret all 37 HAGS references with the STD message.  Fun to frightening in seconds flat.

No more pencils.  No more books.  No more teachers dirty looks.  These are all things worth celebrating, but school out for summer for me should be celebrated for not having to wake sleeping children, pack lunches and no homework!  Woo!  My life just got easier.  Except, now  I have to entertain 3 kids so they don’t fry their brains playing video games all summer, fight like mad dogs or push me further into the well of insanity.

What are your summer plans?  Here’s a newsflash in case you haven’t been paying attention – we’re moving to Spokane.  Though moving is a big project, it isn’t all-consuming right now, nor will it be once we arrive.  We’ll take it one box at a time.

We’re billing this summer as the “Summer of Adventure”.  It could equally be named “Spokane, You Got It, We’re Doing It”.  “Summer of Adventure” actually begins on Tuesday, before we leave, with our final trip to Disneyland.  As annual pass holders, we have our fill of Disney often, but Tuesday, with the help of our adult daughter, the boys will be at Disney all day long.  We’ll show up for dinner and take over for the rest of the night.  (Smart).

Nothing says summer like a good road trip!  We will be on the road and we will cover 1,237 miles but that is the beginning and end of “trip”.  We’re moving, no sightseeing or time-consuming tourist attractions on the way up.  Not much of an adventure?  Yeah.  Right.  If that’s what you think, you’ve never travelled 20 hours, in a car, with children, not to mention our menagerie.  Door to door in less than the 20 prescribed hours it takes to get there without losing our minds.  Safety first, of course.

The Adventure picks back up when we arrive in Spokane at the start of Hoopfest, “the largest  3-on-3 street basketball tournament on the planet”.  Check it out www.spokanehoopfest.com Spokane utilizes 42 city blocks for 456 courts on day one of this weekend extravaganza.  We are definitely going to check out this action.  The boys are already talking about forming teams next year.

That’s as far as we have planned.  Knowing what we’re doing next weekend hardly qualifies a dramatic action-packed title like “Summer of Adventure”.  Buying furniture doesn’t qualify either, yet it counts for me..  If you’re one of the kids, your biggest concern is when will the internet be connected?  If you’re my husband, his plans include buying a boat which certainly lends credibility to “Summer of Adventure”.  Buying a boat will be great for all of the lakes and summer fun in Spokane.  I cringe at the thought.  This will be our fourth boat since we’ve been together.  Boats are a lot of fun, but they are a lot of work.  There is no work sitting on the beach with a book where I am perfectly content.  Just the thought of the beach and a book takes me to a happy place on a lake, at the ocean, or next to a mud puddle.  With adventurous boys and a water-skiing husband that also loves to sail, we’re definitely boating this summer if not sailing too.

Bicycling, checking out the sites, entertaining friends and family, trying new restaurants and just absorbing our new surroundings will be adventure in itself.  Our summer will be full of fun.

HAGS!  Whether this is a wish for fun or catching an STD, I hope you have a great time doing whatever you have planned this summer!  Make it count.