Here we are all nestled in at Chalk Hills Campground, just west of Daggett Michigan. I spoke more about the campground in yesterday's blog. At the bottom of this blog is an "older blog" link to click on to bring you back to that one.
Friday afternoon, the other campers all started rolling on into the campground. Every single site was reserved. Although the sites are spaced far apart, you could see other campers here and there as they each rolled into their places. It was still nicely quiet, cuz people weren't yet gearing up for their weekend adventures. A lot of them had separate vehicles towing ATVs or UTV's (side-by-sides) vehicles. We were seeing more older folks unloading their rigs, and getting their sites set up. Not too many young ones or families.
The trees were beautiful, the weather was going to be pretty good for the weekend, I can see why everybody wanted to get out for another weekend of camping. We were only planning to stay until Saturday morning, so some lucky person will drive into the campground and find our vacated campsite tomorrow. Won't they be happy?
Our grown kids own a cabin nearby, about 12 miles away. We waited until they got up there for the weekend and settled in. Then we drove over and grabbed the oldest granddaughter, Chelsea. She came to have an overnight with us in the motorhome. It was her turn. In between some fun games of Yahtzee, she baked up some cookies.
Baking in an RV oven can be a challenge. They are known for creating hot spots in the middle and baking unevenly around the edges. We laid a heavy pizza stone down in the bottom of the oven on the panel just above the flame burner. It helps to disperse the heat more evenly. Also, baking with parchment paper helps, because then the cookies don't stick or burn too easily to the pan.
Chelsea did a good job,
and she said the best time to taste test a cookie
is while it is still warm!
She let Grandma and Grandpa each taste test a cookie too. But the rest of the cookies were packaged up to take to the cabin tomorrow for the rest of her family.
In the morning, we woke up to a hazy cloudy foggy day. It felt cold and damp. I'm kind of glad we weren't paying to camp for another day or two because the weather was not cooperating. This was not forcast. Steve unhooked the power cord and got the jacks up, while Chelsea and I got the rig "roadworthy" on the inside.
The woods looked almost spooky with the foggy mist drifting among the tree trunks. But in a way, it had its own type of beauty. I felt bad for the people who were all excited to go trail riding. Their day didn't look too promising. But we weren't staying, we were heading over to the kids cabin to help them out with some projects.
Since the cabin was only 12 miles away, it was easy enough for me to just follow the motorhome while driving the Saturn. No sense in hooking it up, just to go that short distance. As I followed behind the motorhome, all the leaves were blowing off the roof. It was like a snowstorm of colorful leaves floating down twisting and twirling in the air as the motorhome drove down the road. I shot a quick video through the front windshield, but most of the leaves were already off by the time I was able to do this:
Chelsea rode up in the passenger seat and was the "co-pilot" for Grandpa. She was manning my air horn button and got to blast the horns at 3 different flocks of wild turkeys on the road! She really enjoyed doing that. Glad Steve was able to fix the button. I caught a picture of them through the windshield as they turned around to park right in front of the cabin.
Steve got right to work with son-in-law Waylen. They were putting up a wall under the stair case to make a closet. Then they planned to add insulation and drywall on parts of the actual exterior walls. The kids are converting a new garage unit into a complete cabin. The upstairs portion is already done, with lovely knotty pine and nice finishes. Now the main floor is the next task to take care of. They already added well, septic, and now the bathroom and kitchen areas are being dealt with.
Littlest puppy dog Biscuit get so filthy dirty at the cabin.
But she sure has fun!
Son-in-law Waylen had made up a big crock pot full of chili for lunch. They had it simmering all morning while the guys worked on the walls. The grand girls helped me cut up vegetables and daughter Erin set everything up for a little impromptu buffet, right in the open workspace.
The bowls of hot chili were just perfect on a cold damp day. Waylen is a good cook! Both dogs kept a careful eye on Chelsea's dish, waiting for a handout. They are pretty smart dogs.
Claire showed us grandparents how to put Fritos and cheese in our chili, and eat it quick before the chips get mushy. What a silly girl.
Back to work! Everyone got into the act too. The guys were finishing the back wall, and it was time to start installing the insulation, Daughter Erin and granddaughter Chelsea worked on doing all of the stapling. Section by section, they worked their way around the cabin adding the new insulation.
Little Claire kept herself busy with all the cut off ends of the construction two-by-fours. Out of the shapes that she found, she made a cell phone for herself, complete with crayon drawn buttons for volume and on and off. She also drew little icons on the front of it and a camera lens on the back. She also made a school bus, and some slides for playground equipment for her little teddy bear. The round piece became a merry-go-round. Soon her whole playground was complete. My oh my, what an imagination!
Chelsea worked hard stapling all of the insulation onto the two-by-fours. She also learned how to refill a staple gun, and how to help and create memories. She will always remember building on her cabin, right alongside her mom and her grandma!
Claire even got into the act and was helping to roll the insulation bales over to the area where they would be cut to size by her Daddy and Grandpa.
Grandma even got into the act and did some stapling when Chelsea's hand was getting sore. It was a pretty strong staple gun for an 11 year old. But she did quite well. I just filled in for her while she took a break.
Claire was in charge of bringing all the cut off scraps of wood out to the camp fire pit. She sure was working hard and would load up her little wagon, one piece at a time. It was her job to haul them over and unload them too. Everyone got a job, except grandson Clayton who was over at his other grandparents house to help them.
I was quite proud of Chelsea pitching in and working hard on the family cabin. She will always remember how she helped to do the insulation and how the walls looked before the sheetrock went on. Learning about things like studs and how to cut out for electrical outlets and light fixtures, she can understand what goes into building a house.
Soon enough of the walls were insulated it was time to start thinking about putting up a vapor barrier and then some drywall. It already felt different in there by getting up the insulation. It was cold damp day, and even with the big door open, the heat was retained in the main area.
Little Claire helped sweep off the plastic vapor barrier where there were some dusty footprints on it. She got rather upset at her daddy and grandfather for stapling it up before she could get all the footprints swept off completely. But once it was up on the wall, she decided that it was a backdrop curtain of a stage so she could sing us a song. Tah Dah!
Sheet by sheet, the drywall started going up. It really made a difference on the walls. Everything seems so much taller and bigger. This area will become a kitchen with the sink underneath the window. It is going to be a great family cabin for weekend getaways, and the insulation will make it very cozy in the winter months.
Once all the available drywall was hung, it was time to say so long and we would head on home. They will get more drywall sheets later in the week and work on more of the cabin later. But for now, we got as far as we could go.
We hopped back in the motorhome and headed south about mid-afternoon. The sky was still hazy and dark but it hadn't really rained. I guess the weather men were wrong. They had been talking about sunshine and blue skies. Must be nice to have a job where you can be wrong half of the time and still have a job? It either rains, or it doesn't rain. LOL
We will stay home for a few days, we have hair cut and dentist appointments to take care of, but then we might load up and get away for a few days before the weather turns colder.
We got home, unloaded the motorhome, and put things away. Then we buzzed up to Marinette and got more fencing and posts to start planting the 3 new trees tomorrow. Maybe we will get them done and planted before the Packer Game at noon. Stay tuned!
This morning was started with wee Chelsea crawling into our bed about 2:30 a.m.... she snuggled in for the night, planted a few good kicks on both Granfaddah and me, but we made it till morning. Little Clayton snoozed till 6:45 and toddled into bed for his morning snuggles too.
Soon as Steve got our coffee was going, we all went down to start the day.... Steve was working on letting dogs out, while this Grandmuddah decided Clayton should "breaka da eggie" again to make sure he got a good understanding of the process! With his big sister supervising-----
Pretty good for not even being 2 years old yet-
The result was a very good cinnamon coffee cake! I am pleased to say that little Finnegan is getting along very well with having the two wee ones in the house. He is learning to hang out UNDER their table and not steal things from ON the table. He is figuring out that sooner or later, they dump stuff under the table, or they just hand it to him if he takes it carefully! LOL ...stinkers!
Although, he did eat a green crayon yesterday, and we had some colorful poop out in the yard this morning!!!!
After breakfast was done, we got them both dressed, and put their laundry in the machine. I like to try to send them home with all clean clothes again... not only as a thoughtful gift for their parents, but also so the parents can't detect by the food stains all the stuff we fed their kids!!!! LOL
Steve and Chelsea got busy with some rousing games of Chutes and Ladders.... and when Chelsea beat him at that, it was time to haul out Candyland. Again for some reason, she is the WINNER! Little Clayton was so seriously busy writing on the clipboard with a REAL pencil.... and he did a very good job keeping score of their games.
It was turnabout to fair play for Chelsea. On Friday night she did my hair, so today I did hers. Oh what memories of braiding both of my girls' hair with french braids! She wiggled and giggled, but we got it done... kinda sorta.... and spritzed her with hair spray to make it hold for the day with her baby fine wispy hair.
Some mid-morning wrassling took place on my favorite spot in the house, the bottom landing on the stairs in the foyer. The kids tackled granfaddah and he tackled them back. A good bit of giggles, tickles and using him as their jungle gym. Of course the dogs had to get into the act too.
Erin and Mark called and said they were ready for us to come on up to the cabin! It's about a 2- 2.5 hour trip up there.... when we told the kids that it was time to go home, they HID themselves!!!! Under our island, behind the two stools.. they sat quietly and hoped we wouldn't notice them.
Where they got such an idea from, I don't know.
It was quite a task to load up their snow clothes things, their rolling suitcases, some snacks, the dog leashes, some water bottles, two car seats, two dogs and two kids into the car! Whew! Good thing I had Steve to help me!!! When my girls were little, I had to always organize and do all that myself to get out the door... and their father would stand there looking at his watch and wondering why we could never get out the door on time.... (HIS time that is) I sure appreciate Steve and all the effort and help and consideration to get us moving and out the door! Ahhhhhhh
We got everything in the car, and set little Finnegan on the back seat between the two kids. Normally we would use a dog crate to transport the dogs, but we were a bit crammed for room.
Poor Duke was curled up on the floor between my feet on the passenger side up front!
Wonder of wonders, the kiddos and doggers slept ALL THE WAY!!!
We had such a nice quiet drive....
Erin and Mark bought this place on 80 acres of prime hunting land up in the Northwoods of Wisconsin. This is the first time the grandtots got to see their new cabin!
The dogs enjoyed checking things out too, and wandered the path out back to the shed (no it's not an outhouse... the cabin has running water and a full bathroom inside) .... a few bites of snow to make them feel right at home for a bit.
After a bunch of jaw jacking about all of their exciting plans and ideas, we were ready to head on home. We transferred all of the grandtots' gear into their parents' vehicle and we had to back our car out down the two tracks of packed snow that made up the driveway. Well... the soft powder sucked the tires in on one side and off we went .... oops!
We tried and tried to get out, but the soft powder snow was just not packing enough to get a grip, especially going backwards! Mark pulled out some of the carpeting sections they had ripped out of a bedroom in the cabin. The guys put the carpeting under the tires.... while I drove backwards and they pushed. YAYYYY It worked!!! Wheeee we were FREE!
We drove off, thinking all would be fine. Hmmmmm we drove to Green Bay pulled into our other daughter Heather's parkinglot at their apartment building to drop off Jameson's valentine's present. The car seemed to not quite shift into reverse. Hmmmm? But we were on a kind of a slope, so it really rolled backwards enough to stop, shift it into drive and leave their parkinglot. We didn't think too much of it.
Next stop was our son Dan's driveway to drop of Allegra and Mason's valentine's presents. As we got back into the car and tried reverse... RUT ROH.... no reverse! Steve checked our tranny fluid, all was fine and up to level and not burnt or smelling.
So our son Dan helped Steve push the car out his driveway while I guided the wheel and we rolled into the street. Once we put it in drive, it was fine .... and we got home safe and sound. But it looks like either we knocked off a vacuum line (we hope) or blew an electronic module (second case hope) or ruined our transmission (LAST hope!) It was cold and dark by the time we got to Chilton, so there wasn't much of anything Steve could do in our own garage with no hoist. We couldn't pull into the garage anyhow, because we wouldn't be able to back out again!
We were able to pull into our yard, we made a wide arc and aimed the car nose out facing the drive towards the street for tomorrow. We will call in the morning to see where is the best place to go here in Chilton that I can drive it to and either walk home or hopefully hitch a ride if I can. The wind chills tonight will be 35 below zero. brrrrrrr hope it warms up a little tomorrow, a forecasted high of 5 above, but I am sure that won't be till in the afternoon.
Sigh... I hope this doesn't put too big of a dent in our vacation budget. We are due to head out on Friday or Saturday, depending on the weather.
It rained all night long..... and things were getting waterlogged and greasy muddy in the yard where we are camped at. It might be a bit ruff getting outta here! Fred will have to put his truck in four wheel drive to get up the slope with the fifthwheel trailer attached. Our big dually tires on the back end of the motorhome are starting to sink in a little bit too. ACK!
The rain let up a bit this morning for some coffee and cinnamon bread, spread with icing, outside by the picnic table. Then Fred had to haul out the "Big Boy Sand Box Toy" one more time to move some rocks around.
By lunchtime it started raining so we decided to have our lunch inside of the cabin! This is a family cabin that Fred helped to build many years ago. So I walked around and snapped a few pics of the inside. Quite the Quintessential Up North Cottage by Wisconsin standards, complete with patterned window curtains, burnt orange colored furniture and harvest gold kitchen applicances. How quaint! Even the obligatory stuffed deer and bird mounts to adorn the sun room off the back. LOL
After a nice meal of tacos, we packed up and got road worthy.
The rain kept on falling, and both Fred and Steve were quite wet by the time we were ready to pull out. Good thing we ladies do the "inside jobs" on getting ready to the hit the road. haha
We pulled out O.K, but dug in a little bit with the tires as we turned to get backed out of the drive... Fred geared down into four wheel drive and got out, slipping and sliding around a bit, but he made it!
Soon we were both heading southward down the highway, as I type this. Another Holiday Weekend done and over. But oh my, it was a nice quiet enjoyable one, for sure! Thank you, Fred and Sharon for inviting us up to your cottage~!
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Gypsyhas left a new comment on your post "CAMPING - Rainy Monday and time to head on home......": I love the cabin pics. The new modern cabins and furnishings can't come anywhere near the older style. But then many folks don't do camping any more either. Glad you got out of the mud okay.
Ahhhh we have escaped the crazy holiday crowds at the rv parks and campgrounds. Instead we are tucked away at a friend's cottage, wayyyy back in the woods on a dead end road. And I am not going to even TELL you where, so you don't come and find us! LOL
We took the rig up here on Thursday already, as Steve has Friday and Monday off of work. Fred and Sharon took their fifth wheel up here too, although they could just stay in the family cottage. It's nicer for them to be in their own bed, their own things, and not have to haul up coolers of food etc. and pack it all in a truck box. Easier to just take their rig with the cold food in the fridge and all their own things already packed up.
The guys played with the tractor for a while, bringing in some firewood for our bonfire. I think it's just a Big Boy Sandbox Toy and they are just having too much fun!
Then they put in a little bit of time on babysitting duty...
see how great it works to clip a towel over the top of the portable crib?
Keeps the bugs and the sunshine out, but lets her look out like a little lion cub in a circus wagon!
The dogs are having a blast running around with sticks, balls and anything else they can find to bark at, sniff at or just look at. Being off leashes is fun for them here, and they are enjoying it, to the max!
Erin and Mark still needed me to babysit Chelsea on Friday... but lo and behold Erin's first stop for they day was only 20 miles or so beyond where we are camping. She is a district manage of a big chain of retail stores, so needed to get out and about before the holiday weekend to check on displays. So she dropped Chelsea off here at 7 am on Friday... and picked her back up later in the day with Mark after they went out for a nice relaxing fish dinner.
Don't ya just LOVE these hats???
Chelsea looked so danged cute in her little portable crib, that I couldn't decide WHICH pic to put in here. But, hey, it's MY blog, so I can do what I please, right? So I will put them ALL in here!
Here parents picked her up, and then it was relaxing time for the adults...
Then we made up grilled salmon and whitefish, big baked potatoes and grilled veggies.. Yummmmmmmm
For dessert, Sharon made a cheesecake pudding pie, and I had fresh strawberries from the Mennonite's.
After a nice big bonfire, we hit the rack with open windows, pleasant breezes, and a calm quiet night.
No fireworks, no blaring radios, no doors slamming, no kids running amok...
Gosh, do you think we are missing being in a campground this weekend? NOT!
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