Cabin Days

Cabin life is different with a baby, but it's still an awesome way to spend a summer. There's less rowdiness and afternoon boat rides are dictated by baby naps, but I don't mind one bit. I'd even venture to say it's exactly where I want to be at this stage in my life.

I also thought having a baby would deter some of our friends from hanging out with us this summer. Turns out though, the invite for a free weekend at the cabin trumps baby every time. Actually, it's funny how wonderfully sweet some of our single, childless friends are with Tory. Our friends Adam and Jane stayed with us at the cabin this weekend and we had an absolute blast - Tory Girl included.

On Friday night, Andi, Tory and I left for the cabin after Andi got home from work. Tory slept the entire drive there which was amazing. After screaming car seat bouts for the first 8 months of her life, I never stop appreciating how lucky we are to have a tear-free road trip. After we arrived at the cabin, I put Tory to sleep and Andi made dinner on the grill. We ate together, just the two of us, and the sweet sound of nature outdoors. Afterwards, we jumped in the hot tub and relaxed away all the stress of a long but "short" holiday week.

Andi took the mid-night wake-up with Tory, so I let him sleep in on Saturday morning. Once he was up and moving, we drove into town to pickup a few last minute groceries for the weekend. We've never taken the time to window shop on Cumberland's Main Street and it was a gorgeous morning to be outdoors, so we strolled along from store to store. We stopped by the hardware store, a trinkety gift shop store, popped into the dog groomer and finished our shopping at the market. There's something about small town America that makes you feel like you stepped back in time.

Adam and Jane arrived shortly after we were back at the cabin. We spend Saturday afternoon taking the pontoon out on the lake and relaxing in the sunshine on the back deck. Later, we visited the County Line Bar down the road to treat our guests to a little cabin culture. I've never taken my baby to the bar before, but I fit right in with the rest of the patrons. There's even a swing set in the grassy field outside so I'm obviously not the first one to do so. It's as if Tory is treating us to all the things she never dreamt of doing as a small infant. She slept in her car seat next to our table the entire time we were there. I could barely believe it! (Alright we were there for less than an hour, but still)! I always envied other parents who'd take their babies to restaurants like it was NO BIG DEAL. How do their babies just sleep in their car seats like that? By some miracle my baby actually did it too, and if it never happens again I'll always remember how glorious that one afternoon at The County Line was for us.

Mommy and Tory Girl

Tory's new favorite game: pull the sunglasses off Daddy's face

Saturday night after Tory was alseep, the four of us sat on the dock and fished. We may have passed a bottle of Captain Morgan Black around a few too many times ... and laughed harder than we have in a long time.

Jane was the "fish whisperer"

There was a fish on the end of Adam's line ... we swear!

We ate our dinner by the fire, hot tubbed it up and called it a night. Who says cabin life isn't just as great with a baby?

The cabin neighbors told us they had a good laugh the other weekend at our expense. "Last year, you were the party cabin," they said. "Complete with lawn games and the fastest speed boat on the lake. This year, you've traded all that in for a pontoon and a baby swing in the backyard." All that may be true, but we're still enjoying an amazing summer at the lake. I guess you could say not everything's changed.