cabin: hangin'

to say we have fun up at the cabin is an understatement- there's a reason we have been doing this for so many years!  of course we did all the usual things we do up there: we went to sporty's for dinner, we came back to the cabin and took a walk, played games, had our fantastic candle light talks; but the best part of the whole thing is having the opportunity to get together again as friends and just catch up.  we had some great conversations, some really fun adventures, and we had a blast just being together.  as long as we can use this cabin, i'm sure we will keep this tradition going for many many years to come!
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cabin: inventin'

the cabin that we stay in is far enough off the beaten path that it actually is too far away from civilization to be on the power grid.  that means that if we want electricity we have to use a generator.  thought the cabin has all the modern amenities that one would expect from a 21st century dwelling, its only available when the generator is turned on.  all of this 'off the grid' stuff adds up to the fact that even though the cabin has indoor plumbing and bathroom facilities, we don't actually bother to turn them on when we go up there.  it would involve turning on the water pump and clearing out the pipes before we leave so they don't freeze.  well, that's clearly too much work.  so we have never, in all our years going up there, actually used the water or water heater.  as one could imagine, this makes the bathroom unusable.  well, when jon and jeffry lee came back from the dollar store, they declared that they had figured out a solution to our problem- jon bought a chair that he then modified to take care of the bathroom problem.  he's a regular thomas edison, that one!  we were all so impressed with his genius idea, not yet understanding how tragic things would soon turn.
i'm sure you are wondering if it worked.  well, the answer is a bit more complicated than that...
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cabin: shootin'

one of the traditions at the cabin is bringing up some guns to shoot stuff.  we don't go hunting or anything, we just like to shoot cans and any other random items we can find!  it really is a lot of fun!  in years past i have brought my dad's gun, but i didn't this year.  usually rex brings one, or keith when he would come with us, but neither of them were here this year.  that meant that it fell to jeffry lee and jon to bring the firearms (which, by the way, jon bought because he had so much fun shooting the first year he came!) well, after lunch it was decided that we should go out and use the guns.  as you can see, jon is all geared up for shootin' time.  we went out a couple times during the day to shoot some stuff.  at one point in the day jeffry lee and jon drove in to town and stopped at the dollar store so that jon could buy a few items to use as targets- and boy did we have fun destroying his stuff!
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off to the cabin!

gather the troops- its cabin time once again!  my bestest friends in the whole world and i have an annual tradition: head up to baldwin, michigan for a night together at the cabin!  we've been doing this for so long that i honestly can't remember the first time we did it.  this is either or 12th or 13th trip up there...
it was a bit later this year than usual (now that i have a different job i dont get two weeks off for the holidays, so we had to wait for a time that i could get off), but its always better late than never, huh?  most of the usual suspects were able to attend.  rex had work stuff so he couldn't go, adam was back in california so he was out.  but there were still five of us who were ready to party- cabin style.  in order to get the most of our one night away, we met up bright and early.  we gathered at aaron's around 9:00am and were on the road soon after.  jon drove his truck and dusty took his car, the rest of us split up and found seats where ever we could.  since we were so early we decided not to do our usual trip to the bk in big rapids, instead jon brought some sloppy joes for us to have for lunch when we got up there.
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puzzling

puzzles had never been ledger's thing.  he never quite understood them.  he would play with the pieces a little bit but not really figure out that they were supposed to go together to make a picture.  well, one morning i was playing downstairs in the toy room with him and he was getting a bit bored with the rest of his toys.  i figured i'd give it another shot, so i grabbed one of the puzzles he has and asked him if he wanted to put it together. he said sure, and we were off!  i pulled up a chair next to the toy box, dumped out all the pieces, and he started to put some of them together.  maybe he is finally dexterous enough, or maybe he just now understands what they are all about, but what ever it was, he was all about that puzzle!  i would hand him a piece and he would pretty quickly figure out where it went.  before we knew it the puzzle was solved and all put together.  he immediately wanted to put it away and start another one!  i think we solved all of them at least once, and a couple of them we even put together a second time!
oh, my little boy is growin' up!

birthday drink

every sunday jill, tim, and the kids come over for dinner with the family.  well, this sunday was a special one- we got together to celebrate ave's birthday!  we wanted to make it a little something special, so ledger and i headed out to the dollar store and picked up some fun decorations for the special event.  we got a fun birthday sign, some fancy plates and napkins, a table centerpiece, and a special birthday cup just for the special girl!  the night before i even whipped up some birthday brownies to have with ice cream for the festivities.
when they got here she was so pleased that we made  the extra effort to celebrate her!  her favorite part was definitely the special cup.  she got to take it home and jill says she uses it every chance she can!
happy birthday, little one!
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playin' in the snow

with all the snow that had been falling, ledger always asks to go out and play in it!  since the temperature has been in the teens or lower, we have to keep telling him 'no'.  but with a break in the cold, we finally relented and i took him outside to do some exploring in the winter wonderland!
the thing that he has been wanting to do ever since the snow fell was make a snowman.  he is absolutely obsessed with snowmen (thanks, 'frozen'!)  he kept talking about how he wants to go out and make an olaf!  well, even though the snow was not very good for packing, we were able to make ourselves a little snowman.  mema and mama found a little carrot for the nose and something to use for the eyes, so ledge was pleased as ever to have his very own 'olaf' in the back yard (no matter how small he might be...).
after we made the snowman we trekked out into the front yard and then across the street to the park to have some fun in the snow!  it was a fantastic time, and it was fantastically cold by the end of it!
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one last gift

diana's dad came to the christmas party, but he left ledger's gift at home!  oops!  well, we couldnt exactly leave town with a gift ungiven could we?  after all the fun at her mom's, we headed over to spend a little time with just ledger's grandpa!  its always a good time stopping by his place because we get to spend some time with our dear ol' dog- poco!  he is doing very well, he totally loves it there (and i know for a fact that her dad loves having him just as much!).  after spending a little time with our old stinky dog, ledger got curious about the package on the table- 'is that for me?'  yup, it sure is.  having now gotten the hang of the whole unwrapping thing, he was digging into the gift in no time!  when he got it all unwrapped he was greeted by some fantastic dinosaurs!  he was so thrilled by the gift that he played with them for days and days afterward!  he loves to try and say the names of the dinos, but usually ends up getting them adorably wrong...