Father's Day Weekend at the Cabin

Andi returned home late Thursday night after spending 22 straight days on the road for a business trip. To say we missed him is an understatement! He took the day off work Friday and we hopped in the car early morning to drive to the cabin. I was so excited for Tory, Aden and I to reconnect with Andi over a long weekend at our favorite place on the world.

Unfortunately, the kids and I woke up with colds on Friday morning so we all felt less than stellar. Nothing to put us to bed completely, but Aden slept pretty miserably the night before and poor Tory's eyes were so red and glassy. I dosed her with some allergy medicine to combat the itchy, watery eyes and constant sneezing, wished I could take something myself (darn breastfeeding!) and gave Aden lots of extra baby snuggles because there wasn't much I could do for him either.

Friday afternoon at the cabin was pretty low-key. It was an absolutely beautiful day outdoors, so after Andi and I put the kids down for naps (Dual sleeping! The unicorn of parenting!), we grabbed a drink and sat outside to soak up some sunshine on the pontoon boat tied to the dock. As we sat there, downloading about our past three weeks of life apart, a deer meandered out of the woods and into our backyard. The deer saw us and we saw her, but she didn't seem to mind an audience. Andi and I kept still and watched the animal munch on grass not 50 feet from us. Neat!

After the kids woke up from naps, we hopped in the pontoon and took a boat ride around the lake. Tory happily munched on snacks, Aden was fairly content playing toys and Andi and I soaked up the sunshine. We stopped by the swimming beach per Tory's request, but there wasn't much beach there because the lake's water level is so high right now.

We grilled steak kabobs with rice for dinner, al fresco on our patio picnic table for the first time this season. Too tired to parent the last few hours of the evening (me feeling under the weather; Andi exhausted from working grueling hours for the last month), we loaded the kids into the car to went for a drive. We ended up in town and picked up some groceries, bought bait, etc. -- the regular cabin errands we usually save for Saturday mornings. Despite not feeling the best, Friday was a great day for our family to align back to center.

Andi let Aden and I sleep in Saturday morning and took Tory out for a morning Ranger "truck ride" through the wooded trees by the cabin. Andi said Tory had a blast eating chocolate donuts and drinking apple juice while they saw deer, cows, donkeys and turtles on their morning adventure. Never mind they were both still in their pajamas!

Checking out a snapping turtle on the road

The weather wasn't as nice Saturday - windy and in the low 60's with a chance of rain - so after Andi and Tory returned from their truck ride, we loaded the kids into the car and drove to town in hopes of catching the tail end of the farmer's market. It wasn't taking place, but we did stumble upon the Cumberland Arts Fair near the banks of Beaver Dam Lake. We stopped to browse the vendor tables and grab a piece of pie from the elderly church ladies selling slices for $.50. These little fairs are my favorite -- there's something so nostalgic about them.

Playing at the park near Beaver Dam Lake

Andi's parents joined us at the cabin Saturday afternoon to spend the remainder of Father's Day weekend with us. We did more lounging around the cabin, playing with the kids indoors (too windy and cool to have much fun outside) and ate a tasty lunch of grilled brats, pasta salads, chips/dip and fruit. Andi took his dad fishing on the lake for a bit while Tory and I made homemade bird feeders from pine cones we collected in the backyard. (This was one of those crafty Pinterest ideas I thought Tory would love ... and in reality, she wanted nothing to do with the project and I ended up making them myself. She did have fun collecting pine cones, I guess.) For dinner, we grilled cedar plank salmon with broccoli and mushrooms and it was delicious. Love that we're in the season where nearly every meal is made on the grill.

Andi's parents offered to babysit Saturday night, so Andi and I snuck away after dinner for a fun evening at our cabin neighbors Oscar and Deanna's place on the lake. The weather was chilly and threatened rain but we didn't care because we were kid-free! Deanna and Oscar and their adult kids - including our best cabin friends Krista and Josh - sat around the bonfire, laughed and passed around moonshine cherries Andi'd brought back from a Tennessee photo shoot. Soon it began to thunder and lightening, sprinkle and then rain; yet, we all bundled up and stayed sitting around the fire. Everyone was soaking wet and having so much fun. Later, we moved the party into Oscar's garage when the lightening became a little too close for comfort.

The weather was even worse Sunday (Father's Day) when we woke up in the morning. It was pouring rain, windy and cold, so we stayed inside the cabin. Andi slept in late while Janie, Jim and I played with the kids. Janie made everyone French toast for breakfast, Andi took another mid-morning nap with Aden while the rest of us sat around and waited for the weather to clear up. We were going pretty stir-crazy by the time Noon rolled around. Around that time, Andi's sister Lindsay and her fiancé, Kyle, arrived to the cabin and the weather finally turned sunny. We enjoyed the rest of the afternoon outdoors.

Andi cooked rotisserie chicken and pineapple on the grill and we ate a late lunch outside on the backyard deck. Then, we spent the remainder of the day fishing off the dock with Tory and taking a nice, long boat ride around the lake with Lindsay and Kyle.

The weather redeemed itself and Sunday turned out to be a pretty nice day. We had a nice time celebrating two special fathers in our lives -- especially this one who Tory, Aden and I are so lucky to call ours. Happy Father's Day!

A picture I framed and gave Andi as a Father's Day present