Family Togetherness. So. Much. Togetherness.

We're back from 8 nights in the woods. Once again, my generous friend let us use his cabin. After going up there for 16 years, it has begun to feel almost like a second home to us. We just love it so much. I would be tempted to live "up north" permanently if not for the outrageous winters and lack of employment opportunities.

Once we arrived in the area, we quickly learned that some awful storms swept through in July, washing out many of the roads. So, that was one little snag with our trip - it was harder to get around. Most of the time, on this annual trip, we just sit around the cabin or hang out by the lake, so it wasn't the end of the world. I did make an attempt to be somewhat active during this vacation. We arrived on Friday night. I got up Saturday morning and hit the farmers' market and a yoga class. The drive "into town" used to take 25 minutes and now took closer to an hour, but we needed some supplies so I was bound to make the journey regardless.  On Sunday, I hit the nearby state park for some hiking. I went by myself since I knew we'd go as a family later in the week. According to my fitbit, that hike was the equivalent of 37 flights of stairs. To be honest, I was pretty impressed with myself because I was still fairly sick at that point. I stupidly brought along only two Kleenex for the hike. I quickly reduced them to something too horrible to describe. Anyway, it was a beautiful hike and I had a great time.

We did the same hike as a family on Friday. It took a lot longer that time because some people have to touch everything. On Tuesday, it was warm enough to go swimming, so I was able to get in a nice long swim in the lake.

So, there you have it. My faint attempts at being active. I did take Grover for a nice, long walk one day.  I earned my 10,000 steps and about 10,000 mosquito bites on that auspicious occasion.

Other than the aforementioned attempts at being active, we mostly just hung out. We played Jenga and Word on the Street. We did a lot of reading.  We ate a lot.  The mister and I gave our livers a little work-out, too.

It was fun seeing Grover exploring a new place. I kept thinking of Giddy and how I knew last summer was his last trip to the cabin.  I wondered what Grover must have thought after we settled in with all of our stuff. "Oh, I guess we live here now?" He didn't express any interest in swimming in the lake. I wasn't really surprised - most Boxers are not big swimmers. He just barked at the lily pads and called it a day.

Here are a few photos from the trip:





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