The Cabin...

This past week we made our annual visit to our cabin. Technically about a 3 to 3 1/2 drive from Neenah, but we never make it in less than 6 hours for some reason. With no electricity and not visiting very often, we pretty much have to pack everything from cups to baggies to towels to bedding to toys to lawn chairs..you get the idea. This year was obviously a special family vacation. There were fourteen of us all together...mom, dad, Rick, me, Lexi and Will, Heather, Jim and Taylor and our extended family Jenny, Todd, Alec and Ayden and my niece Leighten.

(view from the cabin)

This annual vacation has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember, as is going up with my friend Jenny. First as kids and now with families of our own. We were reminiscing with my mom how in the world she fit at least four kids, bedding and food all into our suburban back in the day. Jenny and I cannot fathom this as she has to haul a trailer behind her vehicle for more room and I have to borrow dad's truck with the cab on it AND pack our boat full. LOL

The four night/five day trip turned out to be very nice. The weather was good for the most part, didn't rain too much and was warm enough for the kids to swim a couple of days. Sure could have been worse with the flooding going on in the Valley and further south.

The family on our last day...keep in mind there is not electricity at the cabin, so we are looking really great after not showering, except in the lake for several days.

My sister's dog Lenny was obsessed with trying to catch every one's hooks as they were casting in the water. This was dangerous for two reasons...one..Lenny can't swim and when he jumps off the dock he sinks like a rock...two...he could obviously get an injury by trying to bite a fish hook. So Todd rigged up a fishing pole with a little pink Barbie plastic piece. He and Lenny had hours of fun...Todd casting to Lenny over and over trying to reel the Barbie piece in before Lenny could catch it. I believe Lenny was the only one to lose weight on this vacation running up the hill 50 times at a clip while the rest of us ate 50 pounds of food.

Lenny begging Todd to throw it again...

He would run so fast he would kick dirt up with his legs..was hard to capture with the camera but you can see a little flying up behind him...

Every once in awhile, Lenny would get lucky and catch the Barbie piece before Todd could reel it in....

Resting after all that exercise.

At night we kept the kids busy with campfires...

During the day the kids played in the sand down the road...

Even Len got in on the action...Lexi, Taylor, Alec, Will and Ayden....Jenny and Ayden snuggling before bed...

After campfires, we played cards until 1 in the morning most nights...

When it rained one day we played ourselves some DVD Bingo...

Fishing is also something we all look forward to doing at the cabin although the bass were not as cooperative this year as in past years. This picture makes me think of the sitcom jingle...men, men, men, men,.... men, men, men, men....

Rick taking the kiddos out fishing...

My fishing partners..Jen and Leighten...

Todd and Will with their fishing hats on and matching outfits....

The kids also spent some time swimming in the lake. I can remember doing this as kids too...and nothing has changed with mom yelling from the shore...you are getting out too far...come back in closer to shore! Except now it is to the grandkids instead of to us kids. She finally took off her glasses so she couldn't see how far out they were so she wasn't so worried.

Leighten relaxing in the floatie...

It was nice out, but mom was still cold staying in long sleeves and covering up with a blanket.

We bought this cute little boat to bring along. The kids loved tooling around in it on their own..too bad it was inflatable and only lasted one day before it got a hole in it. :(

I think that my little "batman" brought the bats to the cabin. Ugh, I hate bats and the cabin has plenty of them. They love to fly out on the lake at dusk and although I tried my hardest not to scare Will, I still can't help but scream. I told Jenny we needed an emergency plan while we were out fishing in the boat. First, we wear hooded sweatshirts at "bat time" to avoid any kind of freak accident of them flying into our hair, but a back up plan never hurts. I explained to Jenny in no uncertain terms that if there was ever a time that a bat landed in my hair, she should not be afraid to take the oar and hit me in the head until it was dead. (it..not me) I would rather take the beating than to have the bat anywhere near me. I just asked that she not hit me too hard so that I would go overboard and drown in the lake. LOL Man, we have some good times in that boat. Neither of us really likes to touch the fish so we bring along what we call the "bloody glove." We wear the glove to remove the fish and it gets its name "bloody glove" because sometimes they swallow that hook so darn far down they tend to bleed a bit..oh who am I kidding, we have taken out our fair share of the fish population. On our behalf, we do apologize to the fish and sing taps when the situation calls for it.See you next year Heartburn Haven.