Lifesong

Cabin Weekend

Look at me, blogging regularly! Twice in a few weeks says regularly to me.

We let the kids choose what they want to do for their birthday, and they often pick a cabin weekend. I have to admit, I would choose the cabin weekend for my birthday, too. It really is so much fun, and I have such fond memories of our cabin weekends together.

We headed out just after lunch last Friday. Part of the fun, I think, is that we stay at a different cabin every time we go, so there's fun anticipation of what the cabin will be like.

The kids voted this one the BEST CABIN EVER, but they may say that every time. We really did love this one though. The pool table was a big hit, and we played many, many games. There was also a double spiral staircase, which was a big hit.

On the bottom level (there were three levels) was an air hockey game and a ping pong table, which were also big hits. I was upstairs in the kitchen and came downstairs to this scene. This is part of the joy of the cabin weekend - family togetherness.

We heard that snow was coming, so we went to Cracker Barrel for dinner, and then came back to the cabin. The kids didn't want to leave the cabin, but we didn't bring anything for dinner, so we had to go eat. I did bring all the ingredients for cookies (and even my Kitchen Aid; I'm a cookie snob), and I like the fact that my kids want my cookies even when we aren't home. In the basement was also a media room, with theater style seating and a big screen, so the kids got settled in with a movie while I made the cookies. We also enjoyed a dip in the hot tub, after eating cookies, of course!

We woke up Saturday morning and ran to look out the windows. We had snow! Everyone was excited. It was so pretty!

This was the view Saturday morning out the front of our cabin.

We asked the kids what they wanted to do for the day, but all they wanted to do was stay at the cabin!

Here is Ansley checking out the view (yes, barefooted) from the cabin. Everything is just so pretty covered in snow!

While cinnamon rolls were baking, everyone started playing this My Little Pony game that was at the cabin. Avery really loved this game, and asked to play it 362 times over the weekend. I do love this shot though, and most often the kids played the game with her.

You can see the spiral staircase that goes up (to the pool table) and there's one right below that that goes down (to the media room and other games). There were lots of windows to enjoy the pretty view!

We needed to get lunch, so we did get out of the cabin briefly, but then, like the kids wanted, we came back to the cabin. We got a REALLY yummy recommendation for lunch and it was really delicious! It was a restaurant and pottery store, where they made their own pottery, so we looked around the store as well. They had some really beautiful things! I got a new utensil holder for my kitchen, and the kids each picked out a cute little pottery animal.

Saturday evening we enjoyed more of the same, which is apparently the kids favorite things: hot tubbing, movie watching, playing games, eating cookies and popcorn, and just being together. A very cozy, fun evening!

Sunday morning we got up and went to a new restaurant for breakfast, which we also really liked. Then we went for a hike to Laurel Falls.

It is so pretty here; we love the mountains!

This is on the bridge to get to the falls.

Then we headed back home to our fur babies!

We did have a great time celebrating Christian's 8th birthday and spending time together as a family.

Happy New Year!

What? It's 20 days into the new year? Hmmmm.

I finally figured out my problem with the ol' blog. I used to take every photo with my fancy schmancy camera, then boom! I'd upload them to my computer and I'm done. New blog post within minutes. Now, I take pretty much every single picture on my phone, and the only way I know to get those photos to my computer is to pull them up on my phone, email them to my computer, save, pull up that download and edit, then pull it into my blog. New blog post coming in: TBD. Could be days. There's an easier way, isn't there? I just don't know about it, and it's hindering me. It's the whole reason this blog is pretty much deserted.

Is anyone there?

But I'm going to try. I'm trying to summon my writing skills back and find interesting things to talk about and pull it together. So far, I know, this post isn't a good example of all that, but bear with me.

Or not. I really can't promise that it's going to get any better.

So I realized this week that I am an official HOMEBODY. Okay, I guess I didn't just realize that, I've always known it, but this week confirmed it. I don't really know what that says about me. I don't even know if I was born that way or became that way later in life, or if I should consider it a good thing or a bad thing. I also know that I am married to a non-homebody. There's probably another word for it, but obviously if I don't know how to get pictures from my camera to my computer in a more efficient manner, I don't know how to use a dictionary either.

Anyway, here's how I know this.

On Monday, we had Classical Conversations, which is an all day affair. And I know because I homeschool sometimes I can say all day and that means ten to noon, but this is for real all day, like 9 AM to 3 PM. That's a long day! So we are gone practically all day on Mondays, and by the time we get home I'm kinda mentally exhausted, which is a fancy way of saying there's no laundry or meal prep happening and I just need to stare off into the distance without anyone saying "MOM!" or really having any needs at all. (Avery is obsessed with Fancy Nancy so if that phrase sounds familiar, yes, I have been reading them approximately 53 times a day.)

And I'm not complaining. We really do love our CC community. I know I've said this approximately 53 times as well, but it is such a good fit with our learning style. I wish I would have discovered it sooner, because I would have loved to expose Ansley to it from a much younger age. But anyway, here is Christian's class playing a review game. Unfortunately there is a lot of sickness going around here, so three kids were missing from his class this day.

Then since we practically get home at dinner time, by the time we eat dinner, it's time for me and Ans to head off to her gymnastics class. So I watch her for an hour, which I do enjoy, but I'm still away from home, and that's tough on this homebody.

That brings us to this morning, Tuesday. Now this morning wasn't part of our normal routine, but we happened to have dentist appointments for all three kiddos at 10 am. So we got up, got a bit of school done, and then rushed out again. I was unsure of how Avery would do at this appointment, considering last time, at 3.5, she clamped her mouth shut and flat out refused to cooperate.

But this time she was pretty much a rock star. She even looks like one, doesn't she? And she was so proud because they went on and on about how great she did. So I needn't have worried. We had three cavity-free kids, and Ansley got an orthodontist referral for her to get braces. (She has four more teeth to lose before braces.)

We came home, had lunch and a bit more school, and then headed out again to our new art class that I signed Ansley and Christian up for. This is their second week, and they are loving it. They are both my art loving kids, but most days we just don't get to it. We do some painting and projects, and they have art time at CC, but they were both very excited to get a specific art class where they can learn more and improve on their skills.

It's fun to finally be at the stage where I can take all my kids and do stuff like this. There isn't a class for Avery, but she keeps herself busy with the iPad or little ponies, and she's fine. She is very excited about an art class for her that is once a month (Ansley and Christian are also doing that one) but we haven't had our first class yet.

Then we get home from that, and on Tuesday evenings, Christian has basketball practice. That doesn't really apply to this story, though, because John always takes him. But my point of all this is to say that this evening as I was putting my pj's on at 6 pm because I had nowhere to go and I am a girl of comfort, I thought how much I am looking forward to tomorrow when we don't have anywhere to go! I like days that aren't rushed, where we can leisurely get school done, linger over breakfast, make muffins, play games, and chat and laugh together. I miss all that when we are rushing to just get to the next thing. So maybe that doesn't make me so much a homebody (although I know about myself that I do love being at home, in my cozy pj's with a candle lit and cookies baking) as it makes me a person who doesn't like the rushing that always having something going on creates.

Like I said, the dentist appointment isn't typical, and that definitely contributed to our busy feeling day. Perhaps I should avoid any extra appointments on Tuesdays. Either way, you can bet tomorrow I'll be enjoying my second glass of tea by mid-morning, calling out memory work review questions, and watching Avery play princesses on the living room floor. And it will be the perfect kind of day for me.

What about you? Are you a homebody or a non-homebody? (Someone please tell me the word for it.) How do you find balance in your days? Do you feel like you are always rushing to the next thing?