Vs Were Made for Cabin Life

We woke up to snow flurries on our first full day at the cabin and were not sad about this development! While we took our time getting ready (clearly in vacation mode), once we got rolling, we did not mess around and packed in the fun. 

Mike and I were antsy to check out our surroundings, so we all got our gear on and headed outside. Before we could explore though, we had to test out the sledding hill that was literally right outside the door. The hill did not disappoint and was so much fun! It was steep enough that you could get some good speed and there were big snowbanks (from the plow) at the bottom that we would blast right through. Dec and I went down the hill together and completely destroyed the snowbank at the bottom. His face was covered in snow/water and we were laughing so hard.

We did learn quickly that there were a ... handful ... of obstacles to be aware of. Including, but not limited to, the pipe for the septic tank, a random metal pole, the dock spanning the entire bottom of the hill, the road, the garage, the snowmobile trailer, and the fire pit. The obstacles amped up the excitement factor! 

Once we were ready for a break, we walked down the road to check out the woods and lake. The snow was falling and it was so pretty - and quiet. Quinn and Dec decided to offset the quiet by off-roading a bit from the trail. They ended up doing some forest sledding - which means aiming your sled verrry carefully so you don't hit a tree. Fiona decided the smart play was to stay on the trail and not flirt with danger. 

We ate a late lunch back after our walk and then headed back up to Auntie Tracey's (it was only 5 minutes away from us!). Uncle Kyle had been hard at work on the rinks, so we had to test them out. However, the continual snowfall during the day made things a little tricky (and made for a lot of shoveling by Uncle Kyle). We skated and played in the snow for about an hour and then brought the snowmobiles back to the cabin (we had left them at Tracey's earlier in the week). It was much more enjoyable than Christmas Day because we had kids in better spirits - and nice to end our limited time together on a better note.

Back at the cabin, the kids pulled out some of their new toys while Mike got the snowmobiles unloaded and set up an ice fishing spot on the lake. Then the girls and I made dinner while the boys headed out to fish. After dinner, Mike and I wanted to go for another walk. The kids countered with the suggestion of moonlight sledding. The kids were right. We had such fun zooming down in the hill with just the moon, the stars, and a few lights from the cabin. 

Eventually, we all wandered out on the lake where we could see the stars so clearly. Mike helped the kids find the Big Dipper, the Little Dipper, and Orion's Belt. At one point, we were all lying on our backs on the lake, just staring at the stars. Even though it was late when we went inside, we turned on the fireplace to warm up and watched a bit more of the movie we had started that morning. 

It was the perfect sandwich of a day - relaxing and calm on the front and back end with lots of fun in the middle