Went to the cabin... again

Last weekend we had a three day weekend (hello Fiesta!) -- so we took the girls plus Katie's BFF Madison to the cabin.  When we left a month ago from spring break, the green leaves were just starting to bloom on the trees.  When we woke up Friday morning, there was a forest before my eyes!!!  Right next to the cabin was a lovely ... grapevine starting to grow.   These grapevines irritate me to no ends, b/c they wrap themselves around all the trees and continue growing.  It's a pain to get rid of (but lots of fun to try to pull it down!) -- so when I spotted new grapevines coming out of the ground, I pulled them immediately.

Decisions... decisions!

Mike went up to the cabin a few weeks ago and placed a coat of stain on the cabin.  He doesn't want me to show spoiler pictures yet -- as he wants to unveil it at the right time.  But, after we arrived for the weekend, I told him I wasn't feeling the light yellow we placed at the bottom of the cabin (the stain turned out to be a LOT darker than we thought!).  He agreed -- and so we took a trip to Lowe's to find a different color.  We decided on a green -- and had samples made of two different shades.  One is a type of mossy green, and the other is a dark forest green.  The pictures do not do it justice at all... but we are going with picture #1 (the mossy green). 

We Ride ATV's
One of the things the girls absolutely love at the cabin is riding the four wheelers.  However, since the soil is mostly sand ... they get dust and dirt ALL over the place when they drive past the cabin.  So, Mike has a sprinkler going when they drive (and at other times so we can get grass growing) so the sand/dirt isn't kicked up as badly.  The girls are getting a bonus water park fun while ATV'ing!

I got behind Maddie and rode on a neighbor's property full of beautiful trails. 

I snapped this one of Katie & Madison driving around.

This weekend was Madison's first time on a four wheeler.  Imagine my laughter when they stopped for a second, and I asked Madison "uh.. can you see?"  She said "nope" and readjusted her helmet!

Trimming Trees

Another thing we do while at the property is trimming trees or bushes.  Since spring was showing its lovely beauty -- we had lots of new branches sprouting everywhere in places we had previously trimmed, so we set about cleaning up those trees.  Again!

Katie & Madison went to work trimming and cleaning up trees for us. 

We always wear long sleeves to do this job.  Always. 

We learned the hard way when we come home full of rashes ...

so even though we may sweat a lot more, our arms are protected!

I made things a lot easier for them and hooked up a cart behind the four wheeler so I could just tow the branches back to the fire pit.  Before this system, we had to walk the branches ALL the way down the property.  The work is NEVER done.  Ever. 

You will hear the whining in my girls' voice when I announce it's time to trim.  "ohhhh Mom!"

While Katie, Madison & I were working on that, Maddie was helping Mike build a picnic table! 

We didn't have a table inside, so we normally eat w/ our plates in our lap. 

It was so nice to be able to sit down to a table and eat! 

If at first you can't get the nails out....

then place the board on the ground and figure out another way...

Ta-Da!!  It is slightly a little bigger and taller than a normal picnic table --

none of our feet touches the ground when we sit at the table!  :)