Strawberry Picking, Rodeo and Lake Time

Good weekend at the cabin, as usual.

My friend Jodi and her littles came up for Friday night - Saturday. It was fun having a girlfriend up at the cabin; different than normal weekends up there with Andi and I or some of our couple friends. Andi  kept himself busy with man-things like replacing his chainsaw blade and chopping firewood. I didn't hate watching him do that out of the corner of my eye. *wink*

Minnesota weather has been so fickle this year. On Saturday, it was surprisingly windy and cloudy for mid-July - too cold to play in the lake or go for a boat ride - so we decided to take the kids to the strawberry patch. Andi, Tory and I went last weekend and I was glad to squeeze in another visit before the patch closes for the season this week. The kids had a great time and were covered head to toe in strawberry juice by the end. Just the way it should be!

Allie, Tory and Jake

After lunch and naps, Jodi and her kids left for home. Andi and I decided to take Tory to the Spooner Rodeo about 20 miles away from the cabin. I've heard fun things about the Spooner Rodeo from lots of cabin neighbors, so I was excited to check it out. And, the rodeo didn't disappoint; there were cowboy hats and boots as far as the eye could see, several mullet spottings, beer sold by the six-pack and fun events for kids like the Nickel Scramble you'd only find at places like this. We decided to eat dinner at the rodeo and had two Sloppy Joe's, chips, a lemonade and nachos for $11. Gotta love small towns! 

My girl sporting her pink cowboy boots

Andi bought a Sno Cone and shared bites with Tory. Girlfriend was on a gigantic sugar high afterwards and bounced all around the bleachers around us. We stayed for the first half hour of the rodeo, which was honestly the perfect amount of time for Tory and left before big-time-crash met way-past-bedtime.

We woke up Sunday morning to more clouds and cooler temperatures, so Andi decided we should all go for a Ranger ATV ride around the cabin area. I would've never believed it about myself, but the nature and wildlife is one of my favorite parts about the cabin. We saw dozens of deer on our cruise, birds, and critters. Tory loved it all and said "deer! deer!" wherever we saw one.

The sun came out as soon as we arrived back at the cabin, so we ate lunch and played in the lake for the remainder of the afternoon. As we floated around on rafts in the lake, Tory fell asleep on me so Andi and I carried her to the shade and let her sleep outdoors. She woke up a while later and crawled into my lap and snoozed some more. It was one of those days as a parent that unexpectedly becomes a favorite family memory. We had so much fun, the three of us together. I love the way our cabin brings us so close as a family.