Get Away

Some friends of ours have a cabin "up north" and said we could use it anytime we wanted to. OK- you don't have to offer that twice for us to jump on the bandwagon... We planned it for Nathan's next weekend off. Unfortunately the Friday that we left I had to have a small medical procedure done first. When I got home and happened to glance in the mirror I noticed a bruise on my face. Apparently, it hurt so bad I actually gave myself a bruise without noticing. Nice.

We pulled the kids out of school a little early and headed up north. We really didn't know what to expect but it was away from home, in the woods, and not even close to any cell service. YEA! As soon as we pulled in the driveway the kids yelled, "COOL!! AWESOME!!" and jumped out of the car to start exploring. The cabin has other cabins around it but there are tons of trees surrounding that gives you lots of privacy. When we were up there no one was at any of the other cabins except one person down the road. In the backyard there is an adorable curvy little river the kids just loved to look in and see the huge salmon swim by. As Ethan said in the thank you note he wrote, "We fished off the dock, but all we caught was seaweed."

Inside the cabin were two bedrooms, but there were beds everywhere. I LOVED that! To me it just added to the charm of the place. It was really just a place to crash and enjoy being away. It was also nice to lay on a bed in the living room and watch whatever happened to be on the 1 channel we got reception for. :) When we were putting the kids to bed we realized there were limited electrical outlets for nightlights. So rather than undo and redo everything, we lit a candle in the kids room, and they watched it flicker until they fell asleep. (Then we blew it out before going to bed ourselves!) It just was so much fun to do even small things out of the ordinary.

The next morning it was another gorgeous day. The kids were so excited to eat breakfast because I bought those little single serve boxes of cereal. That was something I remembered from my childhood vacations and I remember being just as excited. :) After breakfast the kids ran outside to ride bikes and explore the outdoors.
They soon found 3 canoes in the garage and our friends encouraged us to "use whatever we wanted to" so we got ready for a canoe ride. Nathan drove up to a bridge we passed on our way to the cabin, and parked our van there then rode his bike back to the cabin. It was beautiful. There was so much natural wildlife around. It was almost like we were canoeing through a zoo! This huge crane (I think?) that stayed just ahead of us almost the whole way. Honestly, I was worried that we were going to see a bear. I had heard stories from friends with cabins in the area, and in the cabin there is a photo that someone snapped of a bear. Ethan said, "Was that picture taken here??" I said that I didn't think so, but who knows?? Don't worry.. we didn't see any!

So we were almost to the bridge and there were 3 ladies on the bridge telling us to watch for the rocks. Then all of a sudden, we hit a sandbar and the current was so strong it flipped us right over! All of us in our sweatshirts and jeans. Nathan was right by Jaleigh so he grabbed her but he was also holding the water filled canoe. She was freaking out, screaming bloody murder. Saroya started crying and yelling, "I wanted to go under the bridge. That's not fair. Why did you do that??" Ethan was saying, "Cool! Let's do that again!" I took Jaleigh and Saroya over to the bank to get them on dry land. The ladies from the bridge came over and showed the kids a little turtle they had found to get them distracted (I was sooo thankful!).
Once the situation was under control, and I knew everyone was ok, I realized that I had my camera around my neck. It was wet and I was worried. I took a couple of pictures that turned out funky, but it seems to be ok now! Everything we were wearing was so heavy, we all stripped down to our undies and drove back to the cabin, laughing all the way!

Luckily it had turned out to be a nice sunny day, so by the time we needed the sweats again that night, they were dry. I wish I had taken a picture of everything laying out to dry, but at the time my camera was one of those things...

Later in the day, Ethan wanted to try the canoe again. Saroya & Jaleigh said "no way" at first, but then Saroya mustered up enough courage to try. I was glad because this time, they made it under the bridge!! YEA!! That had to be one of the best moments.

The rest of the night was filled with a trip to the local farmers market for a "sweet" fix, a campfire, marshmallows and a game of old maid. Everything was perfect as we nestled into our beds. It had really gotten cold, but we didn't know how to or want to, mess with the heater. To me that was another thing that was fun, not just wanting to heap on the blankets but HAVING to!! When the kids woke up the next morning (as always to Miss J screaming, "I think it's morning time! Get up, look- It's morning time!") they all ran and jumped in bed with us and we snuggled to stay warm. After Nathan realized the pilot light to the water heater had gone out sometime and there was no more even warm water, we had a magnificent pancake breakfast, packed up and headed for home. Nathan has wondered if we are depriving our kids by not taking them on big trips, like to Walt Disney World, or other places like that. After a weekend like this, I think great memories can be made in far away places, out your back door, or at a friends cabin. I hope memories like these make them just as happy.