Stormy Lake

Over the kids' fall break, we went up to Stormy Lake to stay in our cabin for the first time. We bought it back in September but hadn't been able to get up there until now. I have to say that we weren't really planning on buying a place, but it ended up being a perfect scenario--wonderful older christian couple looking for someone with ties to Stormy Lake to buy their summer home at an incredibly reduced price. When we were up in September, the offer had just been accepted and we took the kids over to look at it. We told them we had a surprise and just the five of us drove over to the house. (They had been with us when Matt's entire family had walked through the house with us and heard rumblings about the possibility of us buying it.)

When we pulled up, Matt and I just smiled at the kids and said, "This is the surprise."

Sadie was the first to respond, of course, "Is this our cabin? Does this get to be our family's cabin? Is this ours?"...endless questions without pausing to let us answer! But the excitement built in her voice and in her facial expressions. 

Once Matt said, "Yes, it's ours", Wyatt was completely overcome with emotion. He teared up, smiled and turned his head away from us all at once. Then he hopped out of the car, I think in hopes that we would stop watching his reaction!)

Of course Blake just ran out of the car and kept running around and running around and running.....and running and running!

We weren't sure if the kids would understand or appreciate how unbelievable this was, but clearly they did and were SO much more excited than we had anticipated.

My parents met us up there for the long weekend and their help was hugely appreciated!

This is is!  

The kids enjoying their breakfast in the morning with Nani at the fireplace (that's what you do when you don't have any furniture setup yet!)

The first project to tackle....removing wallpaper! Thankfully Matt got some great stuff at Home Depot and it came off easily.

Pops and Wyatt put together all the IKEA furniture

And Blake told Cali all about his PB&J!

Wyatt is such a great helper, always wanting to be a part of a project. So he helped Matt take off the cabinet doors in the kitchen so we could sand the cabinets and paint them.

Wallpaper off and cabinets sanded, ready for paint

And just like that, my wonderful husband painted the cabinets and they look amazing! I am loving the open shelving--now just to get some color in there and figure out what to do with that backsplash area.

Of course when you're up at Stormy, it can't be all work! Lots of relaxing in PJs and cartoon watching (at least in the colder months when we can't get out on the water)

Matt's parents were up at their place on Stormy Lake over the weekend as well, so they stopped by to check it out and take a few pictures....this is the view of the lake from our cabin.

And then Sadie got a hold of my camera....

in her own words, "I am taking pictures of all the things God created."

And then she convinced her brothers to shoot a few of her....

We did several projects but by Saturday morning, everything was done and we had the rest of the weekend to just enjoy the fall weather and time together as a family. The kids brought up their BB Gun and Matt set up a target for them to practice on. I put on my 250mm lens and took these pics of Wyatt showing Sadie how to shoot the gun and aim it.

Papa stopped by on Saturday afternoon to see if the kids wanted to join him for a bike ride around the lake---a hilly 5-mile trip on single-gear bikes! But they did it and were great troopers in the chilly temps!

My parents had to get back to Madison since they both volunteer at church on Sunday mornings, but Matt's parents were still around and joined us at our place for dinner on Saturday night. Matt's dad does this hilarious thing with his face that used to make his little brother cry, but for some reason my kids find it hilarious!!

He pulls them in real close and then makes a scary face and they just die of laughter!

Papa is possibly the best story teller and the kids just love listening to his endless stories!

Blake LOVES 'I SPY' books and will sit for long periods of time looking for the objects in a picture. Grammy and Blake looked at their book for quite awhile!

Many more pictures to come but if you really want to see more of our place, invite yourself up for a visit!!! We loVe guests!