New Years 2010

We had a difficult and slightly delayed departure for the cabin this trip as we had to say our final goodbyes to Hallie. Our beautiful kitty at 17.5 years old finally succumbed to kidney failure. She had stopped eating on Christmas eve day and was very weak by the moring of the 27th when we were scheduled to leave so we made the tearful journey to the vet to have her put down. The vet assured us that she only had a couple of days left at the most. We will miss her terribly but she had a good long life.

It was our very great pleasure to have Amber join us on this trip up to the Cabin.

Mud facials compliments of Amber. She sure knows how to have fun!

Look Will is displaying his natural athletic abilities - at least Poppy is amused.

Are you going to give us those cookies dad or do we have to sing for them?

Cabin=reading good books.

A highlight of our week at the cabin was the amount of untracked powder we had to play in.

Amber and Poppy heading into the wild blue yonder.

Thanks Amber for this great photo. I know what is going on our Christmas card next year!

Here we are heading back to the cabin after a fun afternoon playing in the sun.

After another fun day skiing and just hanging out at the cabin reading we grabbed our chairs and fireworks and headed over to the Honey's to celebrate the evening and enjoy their fabulous bonfire.

One of the evenings activities was an 'extreme tobogganing' session where the sledders who made it to the bottom of the Honey's sled run won - Of course the girls ruled despite Michael, Ryan and Jake's best efforts to derail them.

The sparklers were a big hit with all the kids - and those who are kids at heart.

Claire decided that it was cool to take one once Amber had one.

Happy New Year everyone.

Thanksgiving 2009

Another fabulous weekend at the cabin. This Thanksgiving we had Omi and Grandpa Halleran as our guests. We actually managed to get the downstairs bathroom mostly completed for them and even put up a coat rack in the downstairs bedroom closet.

The weather was clear and cold so the canal froze over and the kids had a blast skating around in their shoes.

We also welcomed Poppy to our family this weekend. Poppy come to us from the Salmon Arm SPCA. We adopted her on Friday on our drive up to the cabin. I can say with certainty that Poppy had the best time of her 3-month old life at the cabin this weekend. She loved hanging out and playing with big brother Begbie.

Begbie was pretty tolerant of Poppy and even encouraged her to share his sticks.

He was less enthusiastic about sharing his duck!

But that didn't stop Poppy from trying... Persistence won out in the end and Poppy had a turn at showing what a great retriever she will be when she learns how to swim!

Labour day 2009

A trip to the Cabin is never complete without a trek to the giant Douglas fir vet that stands amidst the tiny pine and spruce in the forest behind the cabin. This is a truly spectacular tree!

Voila! We have a lawn. The geese have been doing a great job of trimming and fertilizing over the past 3 weeks. At this rate it should be in great shape for badmonton next summer.

Begbie is bunking in with Laurel. He spent most nights in the girl's bedroom this trip. He was a bit lonely without his buddy Tilley. It seemed very strange with only one dog this trip. Ahh Tilley you have left a very big hole.

Captain and co-pilot testing out the throttle on the Spirit. This boat goes way too fast! Another thanks to Bob and Diana for parting with their little boat for such a good deal! I think we will have lots of fun tubing next summer.

While Will and I are totally freaked out about how fast this new little ski boat goes the girls really enjoyed the wind whipping their hair and faces. They are bundled up but it was actually quite warm - it was just the wind chill that kept things cool.

The rooster tail with the throttle only about half open. That's an eighty horsepower outboard on the back. Will and I have decided that we really need to learn a bit more about speed boats this winter. There weren't that many boats on the lake this weekend but during July and August there are lots of boats speeding around with skiers and tubes on the back.

The cabin prequel part 1

Our building contractor

did a great job of documenting the various stages of construction for us so we have photos through to lock-up thanks to Keith. Our lot started as a lovely spruce, pine and aspen stand.... we hope to start re-planting soon!

August long weekend action

Evolution at high speed! We arrived for our August long-weekend holiday on Thursday July 30th and discovered thousands of frog tadpoles morphing into little frogs around our dock. This entertained the kids for a couple of hours. It was pretty cool.




The wiskey jacks were happy that we were back. Laurel is tempting them with dog kibble - which they love.

The weather was fabulous for our stay. In the mornings and evenings we could just faintly smell the smoke that was blanketing much of southwestern BC but our skies were clear and sunny and the water was beautiful for swimming.
We had the special treat of having Amber with us over the weekend. The girls were thrilled and we enjoyed the sounds of giggling girls all weekend. Thanks for coming Amber! You are welcome anytime.



Will and I (mostly Will) managed to get lots done this weekend. Will stayed up for an extra 4 days after we headed back to Nelson to keep working on stuff. Here is a picture of our newly finished kitchen. I'm really pleased with the way it tured out. I still need to finish the island so the plastic table cloth is to protect it until then.




Will also finished our fireplace surround. The wood is from our left-over pile. It started as rough-cut fir that Will ripped, planed, sanded and varathaned. The tile and pebbles still need to be grouted.






We had some landscaping done this trip- thanks to our neighbour Ron and his handy backhoe. Will has planted it with grass seed and stuck in some willow stakes along the canal. The deer in this picture are enjoying a game of pull-out-the-willow-stakes. Roger our other neighbour has offered to make sure it is well watered over the next few weeks while we are gone. Hopefully we will soon have a lawn fit for badmonton tournaments.

This may look like a simple post and railing but really it was a major brain-twisting exercise. It took both Will and I at least half an hour to figure out the post geometry. Will continued to be challenged with the geometry of the railings for a couple more days after we left him. Again the wood is from the left-over pile and started out as rough cut fir beams. I'm hoping by the time we finish the cabin and yet-to-be-built storage shed we will have used up all the wood in the left-over pile.

As a spur of the moment decision we purchased Diana and Bob's (about 5 lots along from us) 15' bowrider speed boad. It came complete with canopy and 80hp engine as well as an electric trolling engine. Although we have enjoyed our little blue putt-putt it is really only able to take a couple of people at a time. I think Bob was sad to part with the speed boat. He has suggested to Will that he woudl be happy to accompany him on fishing trips. The girls are looking forward to doing some tubing next trip up.

I finally have downloaded some action shots from this past New Year's activities. The weather was fabulous for a ski across the lake.

The kids had a blast acting out nursery rhymes and roasting marshmallows around the fire

Will spent a week at the cabin before Christmas trimming the cabin. So now there are baseboards and some door trim throughout the main floor. There was lots of snow (~50cm) when we arrived on December 30th. Begbie is checking out the just-shovelled deck.