at the cabin - 2009

Ahh... vacation. Nothing better than a week at the cabin. This year Greg and I left Friday July 3rd and headed to his mom's for the weekend. She lives with his grandma and sister on a beautiful lake in Northern WI. I love going there. It is quiet and peaceful. I get to relax a little bit as Grandma Mellie loves to plan activities, crafts, etc with Ellie. I usually get a good amount of reading (on the porch over looking the lake) done, which I love!

We spent the 4th grilling and letting off fireworks in the driveway. Ellie hated them... she burned her foot with a sparkler and she for some reason is deathly afraid of any loud noise... so these one particular fireworks Greg got whistled and popped at the end and she freaked and I had to take her in the house. I'm hoping this loud noise fear passes!!

Sunday we got up and spent the morning packing and getting ready to make the drive even further north to the cabin. Said our goodbyes to Greg's family and then we were off!

The view from our cabin... beautiful.

We spent a lot of time sitting outside looking at the lake and reading... it was SO nice.

Monday was my birthday (31 yikes!) and we needed groceries for the week so we headed into town to shop and bum around for the day. We started at the coffee shop of course... then headed downtown to hit some of our favorite shops. We love the bakery so we made a stop there... then to our favorite store where we always spend to much money on Teva sandals, North Face sweatshirts, sunglasses, etc. For some reason though I spent nothing there this year! (Quitting my job had definitely made me think more about a purchase... like do I really "need" it or "want" it? Being that it was my birthday my parents gave me some $$ to spend and I thought oh what the hey and bought the most over priced contradictory pair of Ugg flip flops ever... but I LOVE them! You know the sheepskin in a pair of Ugg boots? Well these flip flops are covered in the same fur... so comfy and soft. Aren't they cute?! (But fur on a flip flop seems so silly) :)

Tuesday we spent the day on the lake. It was such a beautiful day. I love nothing more than lounging in the sun reading a book. Ellie enjoyed driving the boat for us. :) My concern being out there for the better part of a day was how Ellie would go potty. We just hang our butts over the back of the boat to pee... well I knew she would not do that. So at one point we stopped at a public dock and I tried to get her to crouch down on the shoreline to pee and she just didn't get it. She kept trying to pull her bathing suit bottoms to the side... even in the water... which is totally not necessary! But she still wouldn't go. So finally I just took her up to the beach and had her go behind some bushes... which just cracks me up... she's such a girly girl.

I love this picture... it looks like she's pulling the boat up to the dock all by herself!
Ellie and Papa
Ellie and Daddy

The majority of the rest of the week was spent hanging out at the cabin... reading, relaxing, eating, napping... my sister and BIL spent quite a bit of time fishing... I think Ellie ended up catching more with her barbie fishing pole than anyone.

Ellie and Katie
Greg - So proud of Ellie's catch!
I think we are going to be in trouble in about 10 years... prayers please!

The boys went golfing one day... overall it was a nice relaxing week... except when my hubby would have a bit to much wine... like a bottle all to himself... and act like a fool.

Proof: (can you see the look of annoyance on my face?!) :)

Ok... the look of annoyance is worse here... but apparently Ellie thinks all is cool!

Dad, me and Ellie
Ellie got her drink on too... (really only a kiddie cocktail... but she sure liked the martini glass!)

And finally... our annual picture outside the main lodge... it was a nice week and once again I cannot wait to go back next summer!!

Just got home from a week at the cabin. I'm exhausted. I have mounds of dirty clothes and towels. I have a kitchen to unpack. A huge bathroom bag to unpack. A kid to unpack. Did I mention I'm exhausted. Anyone wanna come over and help!? :)

I have lots of pics to post and stuff to chat about. Like baby names... because we are wandering from Brody...

But right now I'm going to sit in the recliner, eat and probably veg out the rest of the night. Totally not what I should be doing... but to bad. :)

we're home!

Usually we get home from vacation and I'm like, whew I'm glad to be home! This year it wasn't like that. I wanted to stay at the cabin for another month! Maybe that has something to do with my job? Hmmm... I'm thinking so.

We're home, back to work, back to life, laundry, daycare drop-offs, grocery shopping, dishes... wow why don't we go on vacation more often?

Hmmm... pretty boring post huh... not sure I really have anything interesting going on this week. Have been going into work at 7 each morning this week to make up some of my vacation time... that has been seriously exhausting. Waking up my little Ellie bean at 6 a.m. just breaks my heart too. It is way to early for her. This morning we got up and were walking out the door and she said, "stay home?" I had to tell her that, "no, mommy has to go to work." She about made me burst into tears when she said, "Ellie work too mommy." I told her that I couldn't bring her to work... oh I wanna cry right now just thinking about it. You SAHM's are really very lucky you are able to do what you do. Ellie doesn't even go to daycare everyday. She goes 10 days per month... but is home all the other weekdays with Greg, because of his flexible 12 hr shift work schedule. So she only sees me on the weekends and evenings. BREAKS MY HEART. I am working on finding something different with a more flexible schedule but boy am I having a dang hard time doing so. I have applied for so many jobs. I've applied for a health educator position (which I have my degree in), a school office worker, with another social service agency and have heard NOTHING from most of these people. Nothing. Don't people realize that a little courtesy goes a long way... even sending a letter that says thanks but no thanks would appease me. Just something! I just think it is so rude.

Ok, done with that. My sis and I have something else in the works... since the last store situation is not going thru, for reasons outside of our control. We have another option and are pursuing that at this point and we'll see if it takes us anywhere. I'm hopeful that by the end of the year I will be on my way to owning a store with my sister and having the flexibility in a schedule that I am dying for!!

My cat Max is laying on the floor by me sleeping. He must be dreaming because his tail keeps moving, his paw keeps flickering and his belly is quivering... kinda funny.

I really need to go to bed... 5:30 is gonna come real soon. To soon.

vacation part 7 (friday)

This had to be my favorite day here so far... again, our day in pictures and a few words...

Pancakes... we butter ours and sprinkle (or in this case dump) sugar on them and roll em up... so, so good!

We spent the day out on the lake... it was just an awesome day...
say "cheeeeeese"...
helping papa drive...
looking out the back of the boat with daddy...
driving with uncle Scott...
Ellie enjoying herself a little too much... :)
We spent the entire day out on the lake... then we had a dinner reservation at the resort restaurant for their fish fry...

We started at the bar and ordered Ellie a kiddie cocktail... this is what they gave a 2 year old! A ginormous glass glass! It was bigger than her head!


Here is my deep fried perch with potato skins. It was so yummy... but I was up sick from 1:20 a.m. to about 2:15 sick as a dog in the bathroom... NOT fun.
Within minutes of dinner being served Ellie's head started bobbing... she was out in minutes... we had a nice quiet dinner while she slept in grandma's arms...
Greg, me, dad, mom, Scott, Katie and sleepy Ellie...
we know how to do it... we spent $86 on dinner and $86 on drinks!! Seeeeeeriously!

Ellie was still sleeping when we left...
and walked back to the cabin with this view... beautiful.
I *LOVE* vacations. I love this resort. I love going there every year. I can't wait until next year. We checked out a larger cabin for next year and booked it for July. It is going to be so much fun... Greg and I will get our own room finally!! No more sharing with Ellie... woot, woot!

vacation part 6 (thursday evening-2 posts in one day, don't forget to check out post 5)

An evening of bean bags and booze... our evening in pictures, a few words and a recipe that is to die for!

Chicken and steak fajitas for dinner...

my chicken fajita with lettuce, cheese, tomato and sour cream... so yummy :)
gotta love them bean bags...

lovin my new drink... beer margaritas! in a pitcher mix 4 beers, 1 cup tequila and 1 frozen can of limeade (12 oz can)... ohhh so good and knocks you on your arse... can't ya tell? :)
oh aren't sisters sweet...
while we played bean bags and drank, Ellie played with her baby and ran around the yard in her pj's...
doesn't Greg look thrilled? or wasted? you choose

the bloody marys were seriously their own appetizer... came with a celery stalk, a beef stick, a hunk of pepper jack cheese, an olive, a pickle, a lemon slice and a lime slice... geesh
G for Greg! (or Garmisch, whatever)
on the way back to the cabin we decided to play on the playground... kt on the swing...
me on the tire swing...
a fun night was had by all!

vacation part 5 (thursday)

We woke up Thursday morning and had plans to go to Wilderness Walk with Greg's mom and sister. I was thinking this was going to be a nice little kids petting type zoo with animals behind cages. I was wrong. You walk into this place and it starts off innocently enough with some fish to feed.

Then we walked thru the gate and into the animal nursery. Ellie hated it from the get-go. She was afraid of everything. Wouldn't touch a thing. The girls working there had pulled out a really fuzzy bunny and a hedgehog for us to touch. There were big fat bunnies and baby sheep eating... just walking at our feet, that we were free to touch. The baby goats were so cute (these 2 anyways... wait until I tell you about the other 2 baby goats). There were kittens for sale (?) and a momma kitty... there were guinea pigs... they were all very cute and most were in cages (which made me kinda sad.)



As we walked out of the nursery to our left was a large fenced in area of deer. They were free to roam the park as they wished... which I didn't realize until they lept the fence and started coming towards us... scared the shit out of me! I mean, these are wild animals... no matter how used to humans they are... they could just snap at any moment and we'd be in trouble... it was kinda scary. They also associated humans with food... you could buy corn/other food and feed them out of your hands. So they assumed that everyone had food... they'd walk right up to you and nudge you in the back or sniff your hands to see if you had anything... yikes! It was quite cool to see them up close... they were very pretty and had beautiful fuzzy antlers.


After seeing the deer we checked out the 2 black bears. They were pacing. Over and over again the same path. SO sad.

Then we went to check out the tiger. We were warned that the tiger didn't like strollers. (seriously?!) The stroller, Ellie and I stayed behind the black curtain...

As we left the tigers 2 beautiful (or so I thought) white geese walked towards us. All the sudden one's beak went up in the air and he/she (?) started honking and walking (fast) towards Greg's feet. The damn thing bit his shoe!

At this point I didn't feel like this was good'ol family fun.

We turned around to head out on the trail... walked past the racoons, otter, turkeys, ostriches, peacocks, a variety of other birds, horses (which by the way had this sign posted) Caution - I Bite... (good family fun, remember!) but we kept going... when out of nowhere came these two characters... at first we went, "awww aren't they cute!" But soon enough we realized what little shits they were. They jumped and pooped all over the place. They ran the joint. Seriously. They were everywhere. Ellie was in her stroller and they scared her by jumping up on her in the stroller... they tried eating our bags, etc from the back basket of the stroller... they tore off and chased each other while grotty poop pellets just pored out of their butts. Gross I know. They ran all over the other animals areas, thru the woods and even jumped all over the "people" areas like this... and they found so much pleasure in head butting our legs. Nuts, seriously. I've never seen anything like it. I just keep laughing out loud when I think of these two little terds. For the rest of our time there Ellie played with gramma melly in the sandbox, on the swing and in the play house. Here are some more pics of our morning at Wilderness Walk.
We survived wilderness walk without any bites, scrapes and clean shoes... thank goodness (only kidding... it was an adventure)... and headed to Coop's for lunch... pizza buffet... num! Rather than eat this: My strange (!) daughter decided she wanted to eat this: yes 2 bowls of peas
We then spent a few hours at Greg's mom and grandma's house... had a yummy key lime dessert and visited... then we headed back to the cabin for dinner and a little bean bag throwing... that will be another post... this one has been way to long!!