Up North

(Picture: Sunset at Steven's Lake)
We had a full few days up north. We arrived midday on Thursday, which I did not expect Tom to do any work. He and the boys went around the property and made some trails for the ATVs. We stayed up late by the campfire and Tom blasted all the fireworks that we brought from home. The boys had fun with the sparklers. But I was surprised Friday morning when I asked Tom what he was going to do that day as far as working on the cabin. He said he was not going to do anything and consider this a real vacation. I've been accustomed to him just working his butt (pardon me) off every time we go up there that this came as a real surprise to me. Well, when I said that I was not expecting this to be a vacation but another work day, he started working! There's not much to be done anymore, just little things here and there. The main things are finished. So he started doing the baseboards and finished up the trims on the two highest windows. When he finished for the day, we went to Lost Lake where the boys had a blast swimming. Connor and Colin buried each other in the sand while Tommy waded in the shallow water. Then there was a little girl who told her mother that she caught a "swimming slug." Well, that "swimming slug" turned out to be a leech; then she caught another one--yikes! That was really cute (the name the girl gave the leech, not the leech!) Thankfully, none clung to anyone. We went back to the cabin and sat again around the campfire and roasted marshmallows. There were leftover sparklers from the night before so the boys lighted them. This time, Tommy was there to enjoy it and even hold a few!
The following day, Tom did a few more of the baseboards and then we went fishing at Steven's Lake. Tom caught a couple of little blue gills that he tossed back in the water. Connor did not catch any fish though a crayfish clung to his rubber worm bait. Colin did not catch any, either. They were both disappointed as they were looking forward to cooking and eating their catch when we got back. But it was fun to just get out there and do it. The water was really calm and it was very quiet. Tommy broke that silence a few times but in the end, he settled down. It rained on us a little bit but then it came to pass quickly. It was rather late when we got back so we did not have a campfire but went straight to bed.
During the day while Tom was working, the boys rode their ATVs to the point of wrecking the gravel driveway! They both had to repair it with shovels before we left on Sunday. Tommy and I went raspberry picking a few times. I usually ended up taking back to the cabin only a handful for he would eat them as we go. We had a really fun time. I only wish I had my bike and Connor's so we could have ridden them to Halsey Lake. We left Sunday, and as usual, it always feels good to be back home.