ace and megan: cabin extravaganza -- part one

this was definitely one of the better cabin trips. so many funny stories are running through my head right now. my family is awesome and crazy and hilarious all rolled into one. it has become a tradition to attempt to assemble in the great northern woods of oscoda. sid town never knew what hit it. sometimes everyone can make it. sometimes only some can make it. and still some stubbornly refuse to come up north---ahem! ahem! aunt claudia! now, don't go harassing her about it. only family is allowed to do that. kind of like when you pester your little sister like crazy, but if someone else does it you pound them. don't mess with family. ... i'm sure she has good reasons. like the silence her house can claim when all 4 boys are gone. a rare and golden opportunity.

the party started for us on monday. we didn't go up north then, but we gave our car to our neighbor hoping he could fix it. our blue car has been sitting in the driveway for about 7 months now... dead as a door nail. we knew there was no way we could afford getting it fixed when it first fell ill, and if we took it to a shop it would cost an arm and a leg .... and possibly a kidney.... to fix EVERYTHING wrong with it. thankfully, our neighbor is a certified mechanic, so we told him to make it safe. he was able to do it for just about 1/2 the price.... PTL!! we had been saving up and trying to fix anything we could b/c we knew it wouldn't be long before the white knight gave up the ghost. and we were right. sadly, just a few weeks ago, the white knight gave it's last little rumble. we loved our time with the 91 buick regal custom with all red interior, aka-- white knight, but it was time to say goodbye.

i normally babysit monday and tuesday. we were hoping that the car would be fixed tuesday night and we could hit the road. we gave ourselves the cut off time of 8pm. if the car was ready then, we'd be outta here! at about 7:30 we got the call that our car needed one more part that they would have to order..... nuts! papa had heard of our plight, and he gave us a plan b. his van would be available after he got home from Bible study. so, papa let us use the million mile van..... truthfully, it only has 245,000 miles, but we still called it the million mile van. i think the word mini-van made my eyes look like saucers to nathan, b/c i packed EVERYTHING! i was throwing stuff in the back of that van like we were moving up north. it was GREAT!

so, wednesday morning we packed it up and headed out. connor doesn't do well when we hit the road first thing. i was like that, too. it seems to make him more susceptible to car sickness. we've learned that if we just take short breaks about every hour or so, he's fine. takes just a smidge longer to get where we're going, but i don't have to clean up puke, so i'd say that's a win win. thankfully, our path to the cabin is peppered with good spacious gas stations and targets. :) we drove about an hour and connor told us his belly was getting sick, so we stopped to walk for a few minutes at target. we grabbed a couple snacks and a super cool flash light lantern thingy for the little man and then we were back on the road. our next stop was at birch run. nathan was going to return some shoes to nike --- long story. he ended up not doing it. he used to take back his shoes that had a popped air pocket and he'd get a store credit for a new pair. this manager gave him a hard time and said he'd give him $20 and that he was being generous. needless to say, nathan came back to the car and started making phone calls about the return policy on defective merchandise. instead we hit the mickey d's and met up with papa and tally.

once we got up north we hit the ground running. we set up our tent, blew up air mattresses, and stoked the fire. nathan went out for a bike ride and connor was in his glory. he was running all over the property picking up his first layer of dirt. yes, it comes in layers. five days, five layers. i don't kid myself by trying to make him take a shower everyday. it's really a waste of my soap, time and water. i just gave him an army shower every night. that was the only way to put my mommy mind at ease. i can't imagine him sleeping in pure filth. but if i can scrap off the major layers i'm good. that kid ran.... and i mean RAN everywhere. all day. no naps. 100 mph from 6:30a until 10pm... or later. yep. 6:30am he woke up the first day. both kids woke up. everyone was ticked. i was lovin' that big time. just as soon as gramma woke up the feast began. cinnamon rolls. lots and lots of cinnamon rolls. enough cinnamon rolls to make you not want to eat cinnamon rolls ever again. and bacon. enough bacon to clog a few arteries.

after that, we just had a blast. bike rides. hikes. fires. laughs. all kinds of goodies. but i'll tell about those later. for now, here are some of the randoms.

connor loved hanging out with "the big kids"

the man chillin' by the fire

so, we're sitting around the fire tossing the football and my dad says, "how many tosses before it goes in the fire?" well, the answer was 4. this was taken right after HE dropped it in the fire.

meg loved sitting with grampa.... or as she started saying this weekend, "gaga".

this is one of my favorite things to do up north. sit and do nothing. sitting by dillon is an added bonus. the kid is stinkin' hilarious. say goodbye to those pants you see on me. my favorite up north pants. they lost their lives to my bike chain. shredded.

papa and gramma. two of the coolest people in the world. you can also say goodbye to the bench you see between them. we had to burn it b/c it broke. nathan made that for me when we got engaged. 8 years that thing lasted. pretty cool.