Get ready for a ton of pictures!  I have been wanting to purchase a couple prime lenses for my camera for a long time but so far it just hasn’t been in the cards.  I had seen sites where you can rent lenses but never looked to closely at them.  I thought however for our 3rd annual trip to the McCall Winter Carnival it might be a good time to try a few lenses.  I rented a 50mm and a 35mm prime lens.

We had plans to leave Thursday after work at about 4 we looked at the weather and it was getting really rainy and snowy up where we were heading.  We decided to leave work a bit early so we could get on the road as soon as possible.  While we were home getting things ready to go I took a few pictures of the kids with the 50mm prime lens and I’ll tell you it was love at first click.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE this lens.  I can’t wait to actually buy it.

Anyway we got on the road stopping at McDonalds real quick for dinner.  Where Jaelee got a pair of glasses that will make a major appearance over the weekend.  On our way out we stopped and borrowed a game from Darin and Jess and by that time it was pouring.  I took a picture of the windshield to try to show how much it was raining but it doesn’t do it justice.

By the time we got out of town the rain turned to a snow blizzard and at this point it was dark.  We had to drive really slow the whole way up there.  I think we only went 40 miles an hour the whole way.  It was not fun.  I am so glad Greg was driving, ha!

We got to the condo about 9 and just hung out.  Jaelee quickly set up her camera to take some pictures and I had to get some pictures of her doing that.   We got the kids to bed about 11 and they laid in bed watching Netflix for a while.

On Friday the kids, Greg and I went to eat the Pancake house.  We thought Friday morning would be the least busy day and it was a good decision, it wasn’t too busy.  I saw the sign for the woman’s bathroom and it reminded me of Jaelee so I had to get a picture of it.  We had a delicious breakfast, the portions are huge.  The kids pancakes & sausage were gigantic and they had the most delicious hot chocolate.

When we got back to the condo the kids went into the backyard to sled.  We were lucky that the condo had a bunch of sleds and they had this kid snowboards.  Jayse didn’t want to try the snowboard at first so Jaelee was the first one to try it.  After he saw her he had to try it and for the rest of the weekend that’s all he wanted to do.  It was snowing big beautiful flakes the whole day, it was so beautiful.  I loved it.

After the kids sled for a bit we came in and let them warm up while we had lunch.  Then we headed to town to see the ice sculptures.

After looking at a few of the sculptures the kids were tired of walking and we were getting hungry so we headed back to the condo.  The kids decided to do some more sledding and have snowball fight.

After sledding we asked the kids if they wanted to be a part of the night light parade.  Jaelee said yes and Jayse said no.  We thought Amy’s little one was too young so she was just going to bring Ian.  We made plans with our husbands to bring the boys with them later and meet us in town so we could all watch the fireworks together.  We got to the start of the parade and every kid got a grab bag filled with glowing toys and noise making toys.  It was pretty neat.  Amy managed to nab a couple extra bags for the 2 boys that didn’t come to the parade.

To start the parade the firefighters lead us down the street with torches.  It wasn’t too far of a walk and Jaelee had a blast waving her glowing stick as she walked along.

After the parade we were waiting for the guys to show up before the fireworks.  There was a fireman and his truck right by us and the kids got to go in it.  They also got to go in an ambulance and check it out.  It was a lot of fun for those 2!

The guys never did end up finding us, they couldn’t hear very well on the phone and there was a lot of people.  So Amy and I stood there together with Jaelee and Ian and watched the fireworks.  Jayse and Greg were down by the lake watching them and Kyle, Blake & Emma were walking around looking for us trying to watch the fireworks.

After the fireworks we headed back to the condo to play games.  Jaelee was dying to learn to play “root”beer pong.   She loved it!

Jayse had a late night snack.