Just the kids and I

After the weekend, Matt headed back to the cities to work (someone's gotta pay the bills, right?) and the kids and I stayed up at Stormy. We knew we were going to be having friends coming up on Thursday, so it just seemed best for the kids and I to stay up here. I was a bit unsure of how I would do without friends or other people around for 4 days, but it was actually great. The kids and I had so much fun together--no distractions, no schedules--it was truly a gift.

But since I was the only adult around, there weren't many pictures taken. I tried to get as many as I could and Wyatt even took some for me at times.

Face painting...

And skiing....lots of skiing. The kids were huge helpers while Matt was gone and really chipped in, helping make dinner and clean up, helping one another get skis on, etc.

This is one of my favorites---Wyatt helping Sadie get her skis on

And she got up behind the boat for the first time ever on her very first try!! We were all really bummed that Daddy missed it, but Sadie wanted to try it and she did AWESOME! 

She even went outside the wake on her first run!!

We even got a smile!

Sadie showing a few tricks too!

(photo cred:Wyatt)

She went out for a few more runs that night and the sunset was just gorgeous

I was so proud of her--she was nervous at first to be that far away from us out in the lake, but she still tried it and did great! 

One night we drove to Minocqua (about 35 min away) to see their local ski team perform. We have seen the Chain Skimmers, the local Conover team, many times and thought it'd be fun to see what other teams do. It just so happened that on the night we went, the FOX Pro wakeboard team was there--only for one night--and we got to see the best wakeboarders in the world!! My pictures certainly don't do them justice, because of course I only had my phone with me. When I started texting Matt the names of these guys, he texted me back "No way! You are seeing a real professional wakeboard show!"

Pretty cool boat trick from the ski team

Blake's favorite wakeboarder....Rusty 'the bone crusher' Malinowski

Needless to say, this kid now loves the wakeboard! Doesn't that just seem so fitting?

We also did lots of this while we were up there...

Every morning after breakfast I would go for a run around the lake and Wyatt and Sadie would bike and I'd push Blake in the jogging stroller. But Blake is NOT a fan of the stroller and would much rather bike. However, 6 miles at 3 years old would be biting off a bit more than he could chew! So we would often times bike over to Grammy and Papa's cabin to play at their beach or to eat dinner with them (they were around for an extra day after Matt left). It's just over one mile to their place and I could never keep up with the kids. They would take off and I would see terrifying glimpses of Blake flying down a huge hill, yelling in excitement, with both legs flying out to the side as if he were truly flying! Honestly, every single time I just about have a heart attack. But he always makes it (thus far!). I'd say it's time to get the training wheels off!

I love how comfortable my kids are up at Stormy, especially Wyatt. He will often kayak over to Grammy and Papas for his '2nd breakfast' or bike over to see what's going on. And Sadie will join him biking over too. But back at home he's tentative to bike down our street alone. It's very clear that being 'in the city' creates a certain level of anxiety in him that is CLEARLY absent when we are up at Stormy. And it's such a blessing....to see him go out into the woods with his BB gun to shoot a squirrel or kayak across the lake or just spend an hour or two whittling sticks with his pocket knife...it's definitely a gift to be able to let him explore out in nature without fear. It seems, especially for boys, that being in nature is healthy--even essential--to give them space to think, dream, imagine and solve problems independently. And clearly for Wyatt, it's been such a great thing! There is a side of him that seems to only come through when we are up there--and it's been good for me to let him do those things without feeling like I have to watch over every move. I've trusted Matt that it's best for him to try these new things on his own--this is how boys grow up and learn to be men--one step at a time. 

One final note from our week up there without Matt. When we bought the place, we thought we might follow in the footsteps of many people we know who have cabins and have the kids and I stay up there for much of the summer and Matt would drive back and forth. However, after one week without Matt (even in a beautiful place like Stormy Lake), we realized we are not that kind of couple. We honestly enjoy one another's company too much to be apart for that long. And we make a great team together--without him here, it's like half of my team is gone and I don't like it. We each pick up where the other person leaves off and we have our 'roles'--I make dinner and Matt cleans up. He empties the dishwasher at night so it's clear in the morning...he gets the coffee ready at night so all I have to do is hit a button. He backs me up on disciplining the kids and vice versa. So without him here, I had to do it all by myself. And none of these things are difficult to do, but I realized how much Matt does around our house to help out and how much I missed not only his help but also him. Nights were lonely for both of us--Matt especially didn't like being in our house alone--it was just to quiet for him. And our kids are at such fun ages to do stuff together as a family. So although we had fun without him, it's definitely much more fun when he's around. And I'll take a little bit less time at Stormy Lake any day over looking forward to time away from my husband!

Back to Stormy

What better to place to be after having to say goodbye to good friends?

Thankfully Matt arranged his schedule this summer so that he didn't work on Fridays, which is really nice when we have a 4-hour drive to make up to Stormy. My parents met us up there and we had such a great time with them.

Teaching my Dad how to ski...he's 59 years old and in great shape, but it's tough to learn something you've never done when you are almost 60. He was such a good sport and we thought we'd keep trying on Sunday, but his knee was pretty sore so I think we'll be waiting until next summer!

But he can shoot in the low 70s for 18-holes on the golf course, so clearly he can kick our butts at that game anyday!

My turn...Matt and I hadn't skied as much as we would have liked to earlier in the summer as we were often driving other people or teaching people how to ski (which we love doing and is half the reason we bought our place), but it was nice to get out and do some skiing this weekend.

And this is why I have to put the pictures of me first.....

(I had to put this next picture on only to prove that he pulled out the cut on the previous picture....I know his brothers would see that picture and give him grief that there's no way he stayed up on that one, but he did!!)

The height and distance of the spray is usually a good indicator or how good a cut is...and these were quite impressive if I do say so myself....clearly I have a ways to go!

But this happens quite as bit as well....as we always say, "If you don't take some good diggers, you aren't trying hard enough"

I love these pictures...so cool to see the wall of water behind him. I mean, when you think about it, it's crazy that skiing across the water in a specific way can make flat water stand straight up in air at about 8-10'!!

And of course, Sadie's favorite part......the swimming!! One day we had 'jump contests' and she made up a two-person jump where you hold hands and face forward but once you jump, you turn to face the boat and switch the hands you are holding.....Matt and she will demonstrate

Now Wyatt and her...

And of course, what would it be without a few jumps with her own added flair!

Blake LoVeS to watch Matt wakeboard. He isn't as impressed with the skiing (which is much harder than the wake boarding) but Blake seems more excited by the jumps and turns and big air. 

Watching Daddy put on the wakeboard...

I don't know why I didn't take any wakeboarding pictures....I'll have to do that this weekend when we go up!

Wyatt next challenge was learning how to slalom ski...and although he was pretty hesitant to try, he did great! (clearly playing hockey helps quite a bit with balance!)

Short roping it

This was the first time he tried dropping a ski...a few things that I loved about this:

(a) he got it immediately and still to this day, has never gone down when he's dropped a ski

(b) my parents were there to see it

(c) it gave him so much confidence

(d) he never put his foot in the back pocket the entire time...he just balanced it on the back of the ski!

looking down to try and find the pocket 

..but then just set his foot down and smiled away!!

The things we do at Stormy Lake are not like the things we do back home...for example, I would not normally allow my 3 year old to play with a running weed-wacker (it didn't have any string in it, so it wasn't dangerous)

And the bow and arrow....this kid loves shooting things with it....I took these pictures while we were sitting around the fire

S'mores with Nani and Pops

(someday we'll get a real fire pit, but this $30 Target-find works pretty great!)

Wyatt found this 'perfect seat', as he called it, by this tree. The poor kid was exhausted after biking around the lake on our run and then skiing all day--but it was so much fun and boy do we all sleep well at Stormy!

Do you think he looks up to his big brother?

Sadie teaching Blake how to ski

LOVE the quiet moments around the fire, listening to stories and spending time with family

We had a great time with my parents and can't wait for them to come back. Matt also left on Sunday to head back to the cities to work while the kids and I stayed up there. We had friends coming up later in the week and the kids and I had no plans, so we decided to just stay up there.

On a quick side note, Wyatt has been known to do a bit of sleep walking--nothing concerning, but he will occasionally walk into the hallway at home and then get confused as to how he got there or what he was doing. One night when my parents were at Stormy with us, my parents headed up to their room and found Wyatt like this.....

..quite sure he had walked into the hallway but was SO exhausted that he didn't make it far and fell asleep on the chair. Stormy Lake leaves us all exhausted at the end of the day!