Cabin on the Lake

We're back from our sojourn to Bemidji, Minnesota where my family has a cabin. One of the benefits of Art being his own boss is that he can decide when and how long he'll be on vacation. It's a long drive, nine and a half hours with food stops and potty breaks. It took a little longer this year because we brought Buddy and he needed more breaks. He was really good in the car but he would start to get antsy and that's how we knew he needed a potty break. He never peed much, but my theory is that because he can come and go as he pleases at home that he's not used to holding it and any kind of bladder pressure is too much. He slept some, hung his head out the window some and mostly just hung out.



We left Thursday morning and by the time we got up to the cabin my parents, aunt and uncle, cousin, her fiancee and their two kids were already there. Everyone brought their dogs- Ringer (my parents), Izzy (aunt and uncle's), Sadie (my cousin's) and our Buddy. I was a little nervous how he would do; Buddy's not really sociable. Everyone got along just fine and Buddy and Sadie (the brown Boxer) became 'special' friends. I'll just say there was a lot of humping going on (Buddy's fixed so it wasn't a big deal). Art and I were the late sleepers of the bunch but every morning the other three dogs would come down to the bunk house and whine until we let Buddy out. Then the entire pack would go run and explore. It's an island so we didn't worry about where he ended up.




Last year my aunt and uncle started a great tradition (partly to keep my cousin's nine year old occupied); they come up with a project that involves using things from the island. Last year we decorated log cabin birdhouses. This year the project was to make something that used rocks from the island. While they brought epoxies and glues to keep the stones, etc. together, Art and I brought cement (we don't do anything half way). I had decided to build a bird bath and Art was initially on board with me until he decided to build a monument to the island. My bird bath turned out to look more like a pile of poo and when I lifted the bath part, it broke. So it became a bird feeder instead. Art's monument, however, turned out wonderfully. It was a really fun project and it was great seeing everyone's creativity come out. Each piece was then judged, but this year we did it differently. When we made the birdhouses last year, everyone voted for the one they liked the best. No one voted for ours, not even us. This year, everyone got an award. Art won the 2010 Cabin Award for Love of the Land; I won for Awareness (I don't know either... I'm just glad I won something!).

(Art is demonstrating my pile of poo)

The rest of the days were spent by the water, getting some sun and reading or in the cabin cuddled up and reading. It's so relaxing but it makes it hard to come home. I didn't take as many pictures this year (I was too busy reading) but here are some from last year.

I've decided that when we retire, Art and I will move up North for the summers and run a small resort on the lake. I would be the front desk person- welcoming the guests, setting up fish fry's and selling Up North knick knacks while Art would be the handy man extraordinaire. He didn't seem to excited about it, but I have a few decades to convince him.

This is the cabin I will live in when I run the resort: