May Long Weekend in Pictures

We had a fabulous long weekend at the lake.

It was full of great friends, great food and great fun; peppered with a little work.

The lake is up again.

Can I get a hallelujah.

 The weather was beautiful.

The kids were happy.

 Fiona honed her art skills.

 There was much more laughing than crying.

Our new screen door took a beating.

Cedric was thoroughly impressed that this {empty} beer bottle featured a bike.

 Food takes so much better at the lake.

 The kids pitched in.

 A rare snuggle with the dogs.

We stayed out as late as possible by the warmth and light of the campfire.

 Thanks Christy for capturing a family photo.

 The kids refused to come in during the single rainstorm.

 But even indoors felt like an oasis.

Here's to a summer full of the same simple moments.

The Long Weekend: How my iPhone Saw It

We don't get to the lake often in the winter.

It's not because we don't want to.

It's just busy from September to Christmas.

Some of you may be thinking that this is for the best.

I mean, you don't even have a furnace or running water out there right?

Guilty, but you know what?

We love it.

Jeff is in his element when it's only his fire between our comfort and hypothermia.

The kids and dogs come alive in the snow.

And is there anything better than coming in to drink hot chocolate and watch Elf after tobogganing?
I think not.

Getting There

As I've mentioned in the past, we are on a mission to be better "lake people".

We love going to the lake and have fond childhood memories of lake life.

But neither of us have ever been enlisted to do the nitty gritty hard work of owning a lake property.

We've learnt the hard way that pallets aren't the best-free-wood-ever{!}.

And that ice bends metal when the latter is left in the former over the winter.

We're are also painfully aware of the value of winterizing your boat.

With this knowledge we have now embarked on a new chapter of our cabin life.

{It only took us 8 years.}

We now have an operational boat.

We promise to love {ie cover} and cherish {ie winterize} said boat for as long as it lives.

{Fiona loves it too, I promise.}

We have even done a little swimming off the boat.

{Pre Alberta blue-green algae season that is.}

We also now have a dock.

One on which you can walk from dry land to boat.

Which I realize may not sound like a big deal to some of you but that just means you haven't waded through our bird sanctuary of a bay.

We promise to honour it {ie bring it in for winter} year, after year, after year.

Lastly, with a little calling around and a lot of hard work we have secured some good firewood within our small budget.

Jeff borrowed a truck and loaded {I mean loaded} it with un-split birch himself.

1 electric log splitter and 8 hours later we have years worth of non-toxic, appropriately sized firewood.

As an additional bonus, Jeff has a jump on brainwashing teaching Cedric to obsess over love wood as much as he does.

Water Auto

For the first time in over 3 years I'm happy to report that we made it onto the lake.

This was Cedric's first real boat ride and he was immediately at ease.

Mama was most certainly at ease.

The dogs had a major hate on for us for forcing them into donned their lifejackets {I know, I know} and came along for the ride.

Fiona was nervous at first, we expected as much since this has been her reaction in the past.

By the time we were in the middle of the lake and putting around, though, she was in love.

She even took a turn at the wheel {with Daddy's help of course}.

Jeff was in his element.

Not only does he love anything with a motor, he loves the water.

Of the two of us, he was the only one brave enough to take a dunk in the cold water.

I made up a lame excuse about not having my suit on which won't hold up again I'm sure.

I'm just taking my time reintroducing myself to the lake, ok?

The truth is I can't wait to be comfortable out there once more.

It felt like Grandad was with me as I tied the boat up to the dock.

 The knots he taught came back so naturally.

Our dreams of raising water-skiing/wake-boarding/knot tying lake kids are alive once again.

Lakeation Projects #s 2-5

We're still in catch up mode so I haven't had as much share time as I'd hoped for this week.

I feel like there's so much to talk about so naturally I can't think of anything to say.

I will however finish showing our little projects at the lake.

Do you have a place where work doesn't feel like work?

At the cabin menial tasks such as baking bread, sweeping the floor, even doing the dishes feel more relaxing than taxing.

So even though we kept ourselves fairly busy I promise it didn't feel that way.

Project #2

Clean up this catch all kitchen shelf.

We have a tiny kitchen with only enough storage for our dishes.

I bought this shelf on the cheap as a pantry of sorts years ago.

And it has been annoying me ever since.

I spent $35 on one butter box and one wine box from Rocky Mountain again.

They cleaned it up just enough to give me peace.

Project #2

Living Room wall art.

This really ended up being a non project.

I found this print of the plan for the development of our lake community rolled up on a shelf.

 I loved it immediately.

It reminded me of these arial shots that my Gram and Grandad have displayed at their cottage.

It's a little worse for wear but that almost adds to the charm.

I had great plans to construct or buy a frame but wanted to make sure it would look right in that spot.

So I nailed it to the wall.

And you know what? I love it.

It feels right this way and I feel like a frame would take something away.

Plus, it was the easiest project all week.

Project #4

Firewood.

This is Jeff's department.

For some reason {I'm sure I've said this before} the acquiring and burning of wood is an obsession of his.

We hauled some harder wood out for indoor burning but wouldn't want to use that for firepit fires.

Luckily we had 2 downed trees {mostly lucky that they fell without hitting a power line}.

Jeff spent hours with the chainsaw cutting them up and bringing them down the hill.

Project #5 {in progress}

The boat.

Oh the poor boat.

This thing is older than us and deserves much more respect than we give it.

When we finally inspected it this year we found it filled with water.

As I said, we had the boat on dry land then the water came up.

And we thought we were being so smart leaving the plug out so that any rain that got past the cover would just drain out.

Well, Jeff fired up the old '72 shortbox and drug it right up to safety.

We now have a dry boat with a motor desperately in need of maintenance.

Hence the in progress.

As far as we're concerned, in progress keeps it interesting.

Lakeation Project #1: Big Girl Bed

We scored big time when we bought our cabin in our previous life{style}.

The previous owners took such amazing care of their property and belongings and left every last one for us.

We, on the other hand, are still learning how to be good lake property owners.

I wouldn't say we're irresponsible but we do things like leave the boat out for the winter without a trailer or proper cover.

Ok, that's pretty irresponsible but I promise we're working on it and getting much better.

{I'm happy to report that we got the boat to safety and have a plan in place for it.}

That wasn't my big project though.

Fiona has finally graduated to a big girl bed at the cabin.

Up until now she's been sleeping with me since the bed we had in mind for her is pretty high.

These built in bunks were in the guest/kids room when we took ownership and I love them.

I just wasn't a big fan of how dark it felt.

The blue and flower decals were a pretty scheme but I wanted something a little more fresh.

I also hated looking at the vacuum and bassinet under the bed.

So I armed myself with a can of soft white paint and the perfect piece of fabric and went to work.

{I still haven't told you about the amazing fabric samples I scored from a friend of mine.}

A piece of beautiful pleated white linen made a bed skirt {which I staple-gunned right to the underside of the edge of the bed} and curtains.

For the curtains I just finished the edge with a zigzag stitch since I was without serger and I actually loved the raw looking edge.

I moved a rug that was previously hanging in the living room to above the dresser.

The finishing touches were a couple of Rocky Mountain Antique Mall finds.

I especially loved this "farm basket" to hold Fiona's books and such.

The floral comforter was a hand me down and the blue comforter and sheets were all ours already.

The paint was even a leftover can from the house.

The final cost for this project was $23 for the metal bucket and farm basket.

Now it feels perfect for the princess.