Mini Vacation

My husband spent most of the months of April and May planning for a longish road trip with me and the girls. The plan was to drive from Chicago to Seattle and back in three weeks. Stopping enough in between for wood cabin camping, sightseeing, and hiking. The idea was if we planned for the driving time( from one place to the next) to be four hours max, we wouldn't hate ourselves/ our daughters in the process and maybe actually succeed at having a good time.
Due to unforeseen circumstances our plans were canceled ( and completely changed).

We ended up driving to the upper peninsula( By the Canadian border and Michigan state) and spending three*( edit: one night we got eaten alive by giant mosquitoes and fled the place as soon as we got packed) nights at a rustic wood cabin right by the lake. The place was enchanting if you subtract the mosquitoes. The cabin was set where guests had to walk a mile from the parking spot to reach the cabin. The walk would've been lovely if we didn't have all the extra packing for a toddler and a baby. And yes I said it before. But the mile walk, was the best chance for a full force attack by those nasty blood suckers ( what ? they are blood suckers... and nasty!)

What you've just read so far was as much explanation as I am willing to share for my short disappearance ( I didn't advertise it in advance because: I suffer a disturbing disease called paranoia- I am convinced that if I mentioned this on my blog. The one random crazy person amongst you dear readers, who by now has successfully deciphered all my information"that I haven't displayed for the same exact reason btw" including my home address. Would have the complete ingredients for a quick stop n rob, leave a creepy note and dash, while me and the family are clueless-ly vacationing somewhere in the northern woods! I make up stories like that in this twisted little brain of mine A LOT! I can even visualize them. I know- too much TV. If it's any consolation I don't currently own one. I know people like me shouldn't be allowed to write a blog and post it to the world. Are you still reading? how about I throw in a couple more lines just for fun. Annd... you're gone!)

For all of you who are still here... As a reward( Punishment?) here are some vacation photos::

This was taken during the godforsaken mile hike to and back from the cabin. As we were being heavily attacked, Mei yelled " No mosquitoes. It's not nice! Not the face!" and this summons our walk


Wood stash for the wood stove( it kept us warm and toasty during a night time temperature fall to the thirties)


This water fall (as I was told by my mountain loving/mountain climbing father in law) makes a wonderful climb when frozen in the winter.


My first time ever to try Smores. They're wonderful, but I must say I like the below treat better.Which one do you like more?



The cabin overlooked this. It looks peaceful here... but beware! here lies thousands if not more of about to hatch horrid mosquitoes.



They kept a cabin's log, and I had a kick reading some of the entries. The best one was this mom of a potty training toddler who pooped all over the floor and some more in the lake. Eww. but yet again Hillarious! This is a drawing of our family including a sad me under mosquito attack.


ICE-O-CREAM-O. Need I say more?

My man, being a man( he did some serious wood chopping)

One of my favorite ( and least favorite for my hubby) things about camping. Cooking on that tiny little burner.

Did I make it up to you?

Believe it or not. I am actually going to share more photos in the coming days.

Unrelated:

For all you awesome sewers reading my blog. ( I know at least 5): check out the side bar. I added lots of (other people's) tutorials.

For everyone: It came to my attention ( thank you *Uncle you know who you are*) I realized I spell my made up 7 months old name to sound like "GRABE-Y". I am officially adding a second "B" in the spelling. I'm pretty sure she grabs things, and doesn't Grabe them ( whatever that means).

Thank you for your patience. I think this is officially my longest post ever. Kudos on making it to the end.

Peace!