We had a very nice few days!  Celebrating D's birthday in Wausau was great.....the kids are at a good age for a small waterpark!  It was so relaxing to just hang out there.  I will try to figure out how to post some pictures of D's WallE cake and all.  I am now the proud parent of a child in double digits.  (age 10)  That is so crazy, I can't believe it.  He is getting so big.  On Friday after much swimming and celebrating, we headed out to the cabin.......after a couple shopping stops.

I have to stop here and rejoice that I actually managed to find 2 pairs of jeans.  I was desperate.  I had one pair for this fall, and they were quite snug.  I have no luck finding jeans though.  My attempts consist of me rushing through the department grabbing every pair in my size, dragging the kids into the fitting room, throwing pair after pair on and not finding a single one that doesn't make me feel like I'm stuffing my 35 yr old self into a 13 yr old's jeans.  But, I was getting really desperate and asked Matt if I could quickly just run into TJMax and see if they had anything that worked.  They typically have very nice brands at a discounted price there.  I grabbed everything I could see that might work and ran to the fitting room.  I can always tell the minute I stick a leg in if they are going to work or not.  Finally....I put on a pair of Nautica jeans that were perfect.  Exactly what I was looking for....exactly.  I couldn't believe it.  So I ran out to comb the racks for another pair and found one!  Yay.  Now, I have 2 pairs.

So we got to the cabin just as it was getting dark.  We saw a black bear lumber across the road on the way in, plus lots of deer.  You have to understand that this place is WAY deep in the woods.  You turn like 6 times and each road is narrower and the woods are closer.  By the time we got to the cabin, I think Matt felt like we had reached the end of the world.  And, the silence was deafening when we got out of the car.  No traffic.  No neighbors.  Just woods....it was great!  After unloading the car, Matt set about building us a nice campfire....something he did wonderfully all weekend!  We had lovely fires that burned almost nonstop!  What is it with men and fires?  I don't think there's a man alive who doesn't enjoy poking around in a pile of burning logs....and sitting there enjoying the furnace he has built.  I had to laugh out loud.....at one point just as Matt had reached the pinnacle of fire satisfaction......Anna says, "Daddy, could you build a smaller fire?" 

We sat around the fire a ton.....we still smell like campfire.  We had lots of smores.  We played 2 games of Life (much more complicated than I remembered).  We played quite a bit of UNO, games that went on and on and on!  The kids played Legos, we cooked hotdogs over the fire.  We did some fishing and some 4-wheeling.  David and I went fishing one evening.....we weren't even getting a nibble on the bait we were using.  So, on a whim I changed to a kind of worm.  One cast, and I caught a little bass.  So I changed David's bait and he pulls out an enormous largemouth bass!  Biggest one we've caught all summer.....it was so heavy, his pole was bent double and couldn't reel it in....I had to grab the line to lift it out of the water.  It was very exciting.  I did get a picture or two.  He caught one more smaller one before we packed it in.  We could hear the rest of the family making all kinds of noise through the woods (howling?  singing?  I wasn't quite sure.....turns out they were playing pirate in the tree fort and that was their pirate song).  The kids rode their bikes and I showed them the art of making a genuine Indian "stove" out of big rocks, so they could gather food and 'make soup'.  We even wrapped a small log in a blanket like a baby, Rach! 

Anyway, it was really nice to just be together with nothing to do but give the kids attention and relax.  I even got to read a little bit.  Honestly, I could have stayed a few more days.....but unfortunately real life calls.  I find myself on Ladies' Day committee this year, and that means I have to be at camp a couple days this week.  Still haven't arranged childcare for that.  Plus, we have school to accomplish.  Johnny has his first big test coming up.  So, we packed up yesterday and headed home.  We stopped at a little zoo on the way out......not terribly exciting, but the kids did get to feed an empty ice cream cone to a big African tortoise and shook hands with a crowd of curious raccoons.  We also saw pot-bellied pigs.  Matt was commenting about how he wasn't sure it was worth the money, but Johnny said "Dad, we have never seen a real pot-bellied pig before."  So then...it was totally worth it!    We also drove through a couple big downpours, and after both were treated to gorgeous, full double rainbows....so pretty that we had to stop and stare at them.  And take pictures.  And then a beautiful sunset as we were nearing home.   A fitting end to our nice, little vacation. 

[I really will try to figure out how to download our pictures into the laptop]

Soooooo glad you enjoyed our little "place." You made me homesick just reading about it! I can almost smell those woods!! Be sure to send pics! Love you guys!!!

You're making me want to take a camping trip. I've been wanting to do it, but I'm not sure now is the best time to attempt another one. I loved the Indian stuff! We always did have fun pretending with you guys when we were little.