Skip to main content

A Northwoods New Year, Pt. III

Us kids slept in. We had promised to make breakfast the night before.

My dad had never had a crepe before and thought it was pretty neat.


We used our old Nordicware electric crepe maker. After a few microthin flap jacks it tends to gunk up the batter tray. That's why we're giving it to Blake.

The snowstorm the night before dropped a few more inches of snow.

Eventually we started using the large nonstick pan to finish the crepes. The mound in the  middle is all the batter that the crepe maker had cooked in the batter tray.

I grew up on crepes. The only time I'd get pancakes was when my dad would pick up McDonald's on Sunday mornings.

My dad plowed the drive way with his bobcat. 

While the three of us worked on finishing the puzzle. 

My dad wanted to play too. 

And we did it!

Today was windier than yesterday so we tried out the new kite.

At first it was a challange to keep the kite up in the blustery winds that swept across the frozen lake.
 
Every few seconds Brooke would have to launch the kite for Blake.



I took this same photo four months ago.

Mr. Mike had nearly given up on the kite. He said it was too windy.



Eventually Blake got the hang of it.
We all craned our necks to see the colorful kite in the bright white environ.


Blake was getting good at it, when they asked if I'd like to give it a try.
I'm kind of inept at these kinds of things. I couldn't keep the kite in the sky for more than ten seconds.

My Dad's beer tree.

My dad decided to take us into the woods to look for deer.

In the middle of the forest it seemed like we could walk for miles and miles.



The winter landscape was so pretty.

We ran into a home, so headed back to the cottage.
We came back to warm up by my mom's fire.

A family portrait sans Brooke.

I discovered a hidden hood in Blake's coat.
Back inside I made banana bread.

I snacked on beef jerky, cheese spread and Wheat Thins while they ate leftovers.
It was starting to get dark and the Packer game was over so we starting cleaning and packing up.

It was super windy on the drive home and sometimes the snow would blow up and you couldn't see where the road was. But we survived and made it home safely after passing a few cars in the ditch.

I used to hate winter and always wondered what it would be like to live somewhere where it was always warm. Over recent years I've begun to appreciate spring, seeing how excited everyone gets to be outside. In the summer I want to be outside as much as I can because I know it won't last. I think living somewhere where there isn't much transition you don't have that same feeling when you see snow melt.

Whenever we leave the cottage I remember why we can't leave the Midwest. If we weren't a days drive from Three Lakes we'd miss out on this unforgettable landscape. Whether it's lounging around on the lake in summer, taking a boat ride in fall or hiking into the woods in a foot of snow, there's no place like Dog Lake.

Comments

Amanda said…
I HAVE that Littlest Pet Shop puzzle. Or at least I did at one time. Now that I think of it, I have no idea where it went. Did I ever borrow it to you Brooke?
:)

This makes me want to go up north. Nice blog. Sounds like a great wait to ring in the New Year. Thanks for sharing! I’d like to see what you made with your crafts.

Adios!

Popular posts from this blog

Our Wedding

Brooke and I aren't traditionalists. We didn't want to sit through a half-hour ceremony, but we also didn't think eloping was the answer. One thing that we did do was spend the night before the wedding in separate houses.   Even though Scott came with me to pick out my dress I still didn't want him to see me before the wedding. I had to keep one tradition. I woke up early to meet Brooke's dad at the Theodore Wirth Picnic Pavilion, only to find out that he was meeting me a couple hours later. I ended up getting most of the decorations over to the venue with my dad, sister and Dennis.  Scott had texted me in the morning, "I'm supposed to merry your dad right now right?". I was like, merry my dad? What he meant to type, but autocorrect corrected for him was meet.  Since Brooke came over to the venue to help, I spent most of the rest of the day with Blake, Colin and Olger. We ate some Pair of Dice Pizza and...

Gift Cards are for Spending

Thanks to daylight savings I got up extra early today. For breakfast I had eggs. You thought it was going to be oatmeal didn't you?   Scott was working his early shift at work so I worked on chores. I hate when he works when I have off, but in a way I get more done with him gone. Like dishes.  Our last two pumpkins from our garden.    Before they could start going bad I roasted them in the oven.   I then soaked the seeds in salty water for roasting later.    This week I decided to clean out our buffet drawers. Each drawer was turning into a junk drawer and needed to be cleaned.    I first took everything out to go through what I needed and what could be thrown away/recycled.  I pureed the pumpkin to be used for future use. Like pumpkin woopie pies, mmm.  While cleaning out the drawers I stumbled upon some items left behind from the previous owners.  Now ...

G.G. and Grandpa Make Their 1st Visit to Interstate State Park and Taylors Falls (and Much, Much More)

Oh, hey, Brooke's parents visited us for the first time in forever. I told them if they wanted to keep Meadow, they'd have to bring her back. They arrived on Monday evening with plans to stay all week. I had to work still and we left them in charge of the kids. After a long day at the zoo we convinced them to walk with us to Bread and Pickle.  They were not excited by this, but we knew they could do it. Nothing like an old-fashioned burger and beer meal from Bread & Pickle on a nice summer day.