Woman Lake 2006

Woman Lake Lodge is a resort that we've stayed at for many years. It started out as a invite from a friend of my mothers in 1983. My brother was 1 and I was 11. Needless to say the friend is more like family and this has become a cherished tradition throughout the years. During some of my later teen years and the years I lived in California I didn't go but in 1994 I traveled up with Jordan than 1 and Kayla than 3 and have made many memories there with my family, this year was no exception. I must say every year I get just a little better at getting my family packed up and ready for the trip. In fact my only big hang up is the traffic on the way up north. I seem to create a small crater in the passenger side of the vehicle from pushing on my imaginary brake!
We started off from our driveway at 9:23am and at 10:01am Sam asked for the first time "Are we there yet". Is that one of the phrases that children are born knowing how to ask? Rick and I chuckled and I grabbed a pen and thought it would be a good little project to keep track of the times this question was asked. Now this may seem pointless to you but this is my record so here goes:
10:01 Sam
10:14 Sam
10:20 Sam
10:25 Eric
(note: they are watching a DVD)
10:35 Eric
10:56 Sam
We stopped for lunch sometime after this as we had been in bumper to bumper traffic for a while.
Back on the road again around noon.
12:33 Sam
(Sam fell asleep for about an hour and Eric was watching Larry Boy)
2:30 Jordan~ yes Jordan- seriously?
Note: Kayla rode with my brother's girlfriend
3:39 Eric and Sam
3:45 Sam plus a bonus burp/giggle session , also after this inquiry Sam with frustration in his voice says "PLEASE JUST TELL ME WE ARE CLOSE, DADDY "
3:52 Sam
4:19 Sam
We arrived shortly after 4:30. We might have gotten there a bit sooner but the dead turtle the size of a small tire in the middle of the road backed traffic up.
I decided to start singing a little at the end, it's very possible Rick used excess speed just to get me to shut up!
We've had the same cabin since 2003. I walked in and did my usual rearranging. Rick unloaded, I unpacked and WA-LA the rest and relaxation begins That is exactly what we spent the week doing. The weather could not have been better. It was cool at night and warm and sunny during the day. Rick spent his time playing with the boys, finding muscles he forgot he had on the jet skis, and making sure there was enough firewood for the evening fires. He and Jordan were able to get out and fish together a couple of nights. Eric and Sam played with Daddy a lot this week. He is so good with his boys.
Eric and Sam got fishing poles this year. They were really content the first day just learning how to throw the line with the fake fish in the water. That is until they caught on that they'd never catch a fish that way! So off to get bait and they started out with 'waxies', let's just be real, they are maggots and as gross as it sounds it's better than those nasty earth worms! I lucked out in the bait department. I only had to deal with it a couple of times but I swear every time a fish was caught the stupid thing had swallowed the hook. Anyone that fishes knows this is a bad and gross deal. I would just tell Eric or Sam Daddy would help that fishy! ICK. On the last night of fishing Sam threw out his 'magic hook' as he called it and a 'big huge fish' aka 5 inch perch snapped his line and the magic hook never made it out of the lake! Poor Sam. Here are some pictures of the fishing adventures with Eric and Sam.

I think Eric liked his fake fish better!

Before we left Eric and Sam also got an UNO game from their daycare friend. She bought it mainly because it has the CARS movie characters on the deck so Eric and Sam wanted to learn how to play. I wasn't quite sure how this would go. The box says ages 7 and up and I was clueless as to how to explain this to them without seeing their cards. So I had them lay the cards out in front of them and with each card that was in the middle we'd go through a little series of questions to determine the right move.
1. Do I have a card the same color?
2. Do I have a matching number?
3. Do I have a black wild card?
If the answer was NO to all three than we had to draw. Rick and I decided to team up with them and Sam and Rick played Eric and I and things were much easier to teach in that fashion. By the second day Eric decided he no longer needed a partner and proceeded to beat Rick in a couple of games. We decided to advance things a little further and add a third player to the mix so it was Rick, Eric and the team of Sam and Mommy. What I thought would be a quick game turned into a cut throat game of UNO. There was no sympathy card here for the five year old. I was going to get that little card shark to draw four as much as possible because he was getting the game all to well! Sam passed out on the couch next to me around 10:30pm and the game went until shortly after 11. Over an hour later the little UNO champ prevailed! Love this boy!

Rick taught him how to deal. 111,222,333, etc...


He was a little upset with me after that last Draw Four!
We could find Jordan one of three ways up there....
Either with a fishing pole in his hand, ...playing in the fire (with me yelling at him)... or on a jet ski. Jordan has no problems keeping himself entertained. I have a problem getting him to eat and sleep. He just goes, goes, goes. One of the days at lunch he told us he had to go. He said they were going to take the canoe out fishing and I thought nothing of it. He and his buddies hop in a paddle boat or canoe and head out to fish often. About 10 minutes later I was looking out the window and there is my oldest son heading into a area called the channel (shallow water leading to other bays) all by himself! Needless to say I was not amused. Surely he doesn't think he can handle this canoe by himself. Surely he didn't bring his tackle box, if he tipped he'd loose everything. Thank goodness I have never even hinted at the idea of the life jacket being removed. The kids know they'd have way more than drowning to worry about if this mama saw them without a life jacket. Anyway we concluded he'd be fine and Rick and I decided to take the little guys for a ride in the boat (one with a motor) and we'd venture over to check on Mr. Jordan. We rounded the corner and this is how we found him.

Thank goodness the water here is only about 4-6 feet. Standing in a canoe~ yikes. I took the picture and then gave him a little lecture and this is how we left him.

"mom, relax why are you so worried?".... sheshhhh

Well when we came back through this channel area he was gone. We didn't see him and assumed he returned safely, which he did. As he was standing in this shallow area fishing in a canoe alone probably the most exciting thing in his fishing career happened. A 27 1/2 inch Northern came by looking for lunch. Jordan was fishing for Sunnies and Perch (Northern food) and found the end of Jordan's line. He managed to get it in to the canoe and back to the resort with out tipping the canoe! If any of you have caught a Northern you know they fight. This was definitely the catch of the day for our group!

Here is another picture of Jordan on the jet ski. The kids sure have fun on them. I think Jordan and Kayla would agree it was worth the 8 hour water safety class I made them take this spring to ride these.

There is always this sense of soaking in all the rest and relaxation that you can when your on vacation and this year I believe Rick and I really did that. He looked at me one day and said you know we can sit here and do nothing. I hope our vacations continue to be just that, a time to enjoy our family and relax. When you come home more exhausted than when you left the mark has been missed.
The week went way to fast. The tears were quick to come as we pulled out to come home on Saturday. I don't believe the drive home involved any "are we there yet"s". It was nice to be back to the Red house. Rick went back to work today, the laundry is caught up, the mail is sorted through and I think I've returned most of my phone calls. Jordan was back to summer school today and Kayla is hunting down her friends for sleepovers. The only thing I can think to say is I'm just content, there is a peace that feels refreshed and restored and I'm once again I'm in awe of the beauty in all of it.
Last picture that I wanted to share~ God Bless