fall cabin trip

we picked up nathan on saturday (yahoo!!) and headed to the cabin. i drove so my boys could sleep, they were both pretty wiped out and needing some serious naps. i couldn't wait to get away from the city and see the fall colors. and as usual they didn't disappoint. i get so excited when i see the fall colors. it just gives me such a feeling of "super happy". while i was driving i was thinking......this is like an "all natural" high with no negative effects at all. why would people need anything more than to look around and enjoy creation? maybe it's hard to be so joyful about something so "everyday" as creation if you're not a believer. but it's not hard for me.....it's like every year i wait until the fireworks display of God's creation starts in fall. the whole sky is lit up with the colors and i am just overwhelmed by the beauty. it's great.

we made it up to the cabin just in time for nathan to join the evening hunt. he headed out with my dad and mike, and we had a blast hanging out at the cabin. my mom was making a fire so we went out while nic took a shower. then nic comes out and says, "who wants to cut my hair?" let the mayhem commence! ava was taking a nap so we stayed out by the fire. i couldn't believe how long nic's hair was! my mom finished cutting it and then nic went inside to check it out and dry it......there were about two chunks that were leftover so i grabbed the scissors and chopped them off. ufortunately, my aim was off and i chopped a 'v' in nic's hair. it was pretty obvious at first and i freaked out!! i didn't know if it was "fixable", but it ended up being easier than i thought. so then nic comes out of the bathroom and says, "so?" and i was thinking it would look pretty bad from what i did, so i said, "it doesn't look bad." wrong choice of words! so we were cracking up about that and she was saying "you're just jealous!" then she goes running around the outside of the cabin yelling, "i'm gorgeous! i'm gorgeous!!" we couldn't stop laughing.

later that night we were cooking dinner and trying to listen to the tigers game on the radio. you have to imagine, we're in the middle of nowhereville and there's hardly enough radio waves to get fm stations....and we were trying to get am. yeah, there was a lot of tin foil and arm waving. we would stand in formation until there was a break in the sound then we would find another one. we were sort of giving up and nicole plopped the radio down and just set the tin foil on top of it......perfect!! no one move! the volume was way up high and we were afraid to touch it for fear that we would lose the game. when the tigers won, we were yelling and jumping up and down. it was wild. the kids were looking at us like we were crazy, then connor realized it was ok to yell and he went nuts.

the guys hunted in the morning and then we were going to get some family pics before we left. nathan and mike both shot at bucks, but missed. so dad reinstated the old rule: if you miss a buck, everyone gets to shoot at your hat from the same yardage. i didn't get a picture of that, but maybe for their egos sake that's good. nobody hit the hats either.

then we cleaned up (well, we "cleaned" my mom CLEANED like the president was coming). and we hit the road. we all went to a great spot to get some pictures. the sun was really bright so it was hard to get connor to smile great, but some turned out super cute.

nathan and i hit birch run super fast on the way home and got a couple shirts, and a new pair of tennis shoes....the kid goes through shoes like they're toilet paper. after that it was home and straight to bed....literally....we were all in bed by 9:30. we were pooped. but he's home for a long weekend b/c the show this week is in detroit.....very cool!

we love the cabin!

watching this was like going back in time.
"mom! you're pulling it!! stop! that hurts!!"
"knock it off, nicole!"

her hair was pretty long.

it doesn't look bad auntie nic.....i mean....uh...it looks good!

this is how ava walked around all weekend. thumb in the mouth....finger in the belly button! it was hilarious!!

they made a fort out of the table and played there for a super long time. they just kept crawling over the middle...it was too cute

my mom brought up a little tv and vhs for winter trips when it's too cold for outside.....they were glued to baby einstein.

so, how do we look? can you see us??

dad's home!

uncle mike, don't look now but there's a bear behind us!

this is such a rare thing....connor hardly ever cuddles up like this...he was wiped out and needed some serious daddy cuddle time.

this could get me in big trouble but it was way too funny to pass up. yes, these are my glasses. nathan's shades got ripped off from tpc and he was dying on the drive home. he was driven to this all time low. i told him he looked stunning and i got a "shutty"

i loved the colors and the river in the back

connor looking thrilled....in his defense, he had just woken up.