Lions and Tiger and Bears Oh My!

Alternately titled: A Really Long Post

Twice a year the entire family gathers at the cabin for what we call "work weekend." The guys take the boat and dock out of the water, chop down trees and do other manly things while the girls dust and vacuum and dust some more. The cabin is stuck in a time warp somewhere in the 1950's. Get over it. As I was saying...there is some work involved, but then we get time to play and relax and go on hikes in the woods where we get lost and get scared by wild animals. That story will come later. Be patient. Here are a few shots of the guys doing their manly work.





I didn't get a picture of the girls working, but rest assured we were all outfitted in June Cleaver approved dresses, aprons and high heels. Yes we were. Ok, so this is what I was really doing while the guys were working:







The sun absolutely refused to come out for most of the weekend. I was hoping to get a few vibrant color shots against a clear blue sky, but alas...there was no cooperation from the weather. None.
On Saturday afternoon Za (my grandmother) took us to a real old fashioned tea house. It was so lovely and whimsical to sit sipping exotic flavored teas, munch on fancy desserts and listen to the soothing sounds of Frank wafting through the air.





On Sunday before we left, we decided to take a walk/hike through the woods on some old cross country ski trails.



To this hidden lake:



And in case you were wondering who the "we" is I was referring to, here's the crew (minus my grandparents and my little cousin Jacob)



On the way back to the cabin, my dad being the adventurous type, suggested we take a different trail. This was all well and good until my mom requested that I get a picture of these mushrooms:



It took me a few minutes to get a shot I was satisfied with and by the time Dave and I started walking again, everyone else was nowhere in sight. "No problem" I thought. "I know the general direction of the cabin. We will be just fine." Well, we were lost in no time and decided to leave the trail and go straight through the woods in the cabin's direction instead of following the winding trails. As soon as we climbed the first hill, we heard a deep chesty, throaty growl that could only have come from a large "I'm upset because you woke me up" kind of animal. We looked at each other with terrified expressions, I whispered, "what was that?" and we took off running down the hill, praying that whatever we had disturbed was not high tailing it after us. Thankfully the bear or wolf (we didn't stick around to find out what it was) decided that his nap was more important than eating our flesh and we found the much sought after road a few minutes later. Whew. After returning safely to the cabin we could finally smile like this:



If you stuck around to read this entire post, you deserve something really great. Treat yourself to a cookie. Treat me to a cookie too. Thanks.
I have some more fun pictures from the weekend that I might post later. I can't right now. I'm tired of typing and reliving that scary story wore me out. Come back later.