love, friday (there's no place like home edition)

We went to the family cabin on Lake Superior this weekend and I'm pleased to report that it was cold enough at night to warrant knit things. (Jackson did not agree that he needed a blanket, however, and awoke in the middle of the night to extract himself from it. In the process of doing so, he fell off the bed. Suffice to say, none of us slept well after that...)
The babe wore a hand-knit cap that I made for my niece when she was born almost two years ago. (Amelia did NOT fall off any beds, but instead slept soundly* tucked between Mom & Dad. Whew.)
We had a lot of smiles this weekend and tried to capture them on "film." This is the best that we got though...a half smile at her Mommy. Stay tuned for the full gum grin!
There was no shortage of smiles at the VFW where we attended a Saturday morning pancake breakfast. This is not something we would have normally signed up for, but a clerk at a gift shop gave us free tickets. Who is going to pass up free all-you-can-eat pancakes? (Not these boys...)
Jackson met a moose.
And we climbed up a lot of stairs to see the Split Rock Lighthouse's inner workings.
It was very windy at the top.
Then we hiked all the way down the trail to the lake to see the "picture postcard" view of the lighthouse. (Yes, we could have paid 25 cents for a postcard and hiked for free elsewhere instead of paying the admission price for the park, but we didn't put that together until later.)
Then we hiked back up these stairs to see the rest of the historic site, er, I mean to go directly back to the car quickly due to a meltdown from a boy who was overdue for a nap and had expended all of his energy on the hike...anyone else ever been there?
But there was knitting. This is my sister-in-law's Christmas stocking that I started back on Valentine's Day. The circular Stockinette was just boring enough that I was able to get down to the heel of the stocking on this trip, though that's not much knitting, really. (I'm now reminiscing in my head about the days when Dan and I would go up to the cabin and I'd complete entire projects - start to finish - during the weekend. Those days have now been replaced with changing diapers twice an hour, nursing on demand, re-building train sets, filling sippy cups, and waking up five times a night for various child-related needs. Hmm.)
Amelia's second pair of stripey pants was assembled on the trip too; another 'round and 'round Stockinette project to sneak in a few stitches here and there. The legs do not match perfectly because I had to piece together various ends due to the moth that nibbled little gaps in my yarn. I tried to match the colors with each end that I came to, but I was driving myself crazy with the various shades of purple, lavender, green, and gray that appear. In the end, I decided not to care since 1.) they're for a little baby who will be scrunched up while wearing them most of the time and 2.) they're being knit on size 1 needles in 3-6 month size for a growing baby (who's already wearing 3-6 month sizes now)...time is of the essence here.

(The diapers in the photo are clean, though they did not accompany us to the cabin. We are not that crazy - disposable is just fine for two kids while traveling, thankyouverymuch. I've already got three loads of laundry going tonight without the diapers...these were just waiting for me on the couch when we got home.)
But vacation complaining aside, rocks were still thrown into the lake, as they have been on every trip up there in my lifetime. And that is all that matters.


• Love that Jackson sang "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" when his Dad took him out to see the stars on the deck last night.

• Love telling Jackson about my Grampa.

• Love hearing rain on the new tin roof that was just put on the cabin.

• Love hiking in the north woods again and being reminded of the days of backpacking the Superior Hiking Trail with Dan before we were married. (Maybe someday we'll finish it?)

• Love the lullaby of the lake.

• Love teaching Jackson about agate hunting, just like I used to do when I was small (still do).

love, friday (there's no place like home edition)
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*"Soundly" is of course, a relative term. Remind me not to order grilled onions on my veggie burger next time...my breastfed babe didn't like them.