Oh to be...

Oh to be....an athlete:

Grace was up at 1 am because she was starving.  So she ate a banana and a piece of key lime pie and went back to bed!

Oh to be....an old lady:

I knew she was up eating at 1 am because I was kept awake by foot pain all nite and was on the couch watching Breaking Bad!

Treasure

When Jim was out crabbing this weekend, they found this "thingy".  They had no idea what it was.  So Captain Dan called the phone number and learned that it was a device that NOAA drops to the bottom of the ocean from here to Hawaii and it is used to record ocean sounds.

Dan is going to meet the guy and give him the device and learn more about it.....and collect his $100 reward!

Oh the adventures of crabbing!

Mari's Baby Shower

Mari's baby shower was this past weekend and it was a beautiful day!  It was about 70 degrees and we were able to be outside for a January shower.  The food was amazing and the company delightful!

A good time was had by all!

Dessert table

G and Missy

Uniform?

Last nite we noticed that we were all wearing different shirts in black - so we took a pic:

2014 Fantasy Football Winner

Here is the 2014 Fantasy Football Champ - Murray's Momma!

Mavericks

Today is Mavericks Surf Competition and Jim is out in the boat watching.  Beautiful day....I am happy to be at work!

Tights

I love my new tights!  A little sassy.

My old girlie

More and more --  She is looking like an old doggy.

Please vote!

Please vote for Grace's creation:

http://www.instructables.com/id/Paracord-iPhone-Case/

"Time Out"

I have always known the cabin is very important to me but I had never given it much thought about why...until I got to spend a quiet couple hours by myself sitting on the deck today.

It is my place to get away and recharge myself. 

It is a place to cleanse my soul and connect with the peace and beauty of nature.

It is a place to get away from the noise and the clutter of the real world and allow myself to reflect.

And it is a place to live at a slower pace with my friends and my family. 

When we decided to buy it when Grace was only 1 year old, I didn't realize how important it would be to the development of our family... how it would be the place where we cement our relationships with each other and where we role modeled the importance of family for our children.  Or how it would be the place where I taught the kids traditions like making pierogis at xmas time.  Or where Jim taught them how to fix boats and jet skis.  Or where they learned to be organized and prepared and self sufficient.  This little cabin in the woods is a big part of who our family is and what we have all become as individuals. 

We are truly, truly lucky to have the opportunity to have such a wonderful retreat.

An afternoon on the deck with my doggies

Men in Bow Ties

The boys have to get dressed up on game days.  The coach bought all the boys matching bow ties.

Marty got hold of the picture and made the pics below.

Good Dog Life

Daisy Mae quickly learned that the fire feels good on her old bones.  She was so hot to the touch that I was afraid she would catch on fire!

Fireplace

We got ourselves a new gas fireplace for xmas!  Our fireplace was nonfunctional due to our remodel, plus you can never burn wood in SJ.  So this is perfect.  I can't wait for a cold day.

Crabbing Video

Here is a cool video of crabbing pics.

Jim put it together with some of the pics that he has.  It is less than a minute.

Bait Emergency

Mari took this picture in Colorado and thought of us....who else would have a bait emergency?!  We love it and I love the framing that I did today.  Can't wait to hang it in the cabin.

ST Park Hike

We took Scooby for his first hike today at ST Park.  It was his first time on a leash and he loved it!  While there we did a little geocaching.  And we replaced our geocaching and registered it.  Lat time we placed it, it was too close to another one so we had to move it.

Frozen

Marty and Olaf! 

2013 TNDC Awards

 Last was the highly anticipated 2013 TNDC awards ceremony.  We had some new catergories this year that added to the excitement.  And there were new winners and repeat winners.  Plus, one woman who was so famous she had her own category!

First, we all gathered around:

The audience

The master of ceremony...wearing her old lady glasses

Then we started naming the winners!

First up:

BIGGEST CHACH OF THE YEAR

The nominees were:

Jeremy: For drifting around corners
Luke Proctor: For leaving chew spit bottles around
The Jerk: For starting the Rim Fire
Chris: For painting Daisy....and Murray
TS: For vandalizing the Pontoon Mama  And the winner was - the Jerk for starting the Rim fire with a vote total of 44%! Next up: BEST QUOTE OF THE YEAR  The nominees were: Cindy: "It's hard to get a bloody nose in a game of grab ass." Mikey: "Use oven mitts, it will make it longer and harder." Marty: "It's dangling, like jewelry...it's so big." Doug: "I'll have the triple treat because it reminds me of Deb's double Ds" Renee: "I'm not touching it, too many people have been fingering it." Mr. Screwtop: "Some of us are swinging more than others." Stache: "Was that a triple chubby?" And the winner was - Mikey "I will show you small" Ryan for "Use oven mitts, it will make it longer and harder"!  Mikey won this category fo the second straight year but it was only a narrow 4% win over a three way tie between Marty, Doug and Renee!  Way to go Mikey....your mama is so proud! Oven Mitts Mikey Next up: SPECIAL GUEST OF THE YEAR The nominees were: Grandma Bug The Tias Scooby Nick Williams Papa Chubbuck And the winner was - The Tias!  It had been a neck and neck race between Scooby and the Tias until the very last minute when the Tias pulled out the win by 2 votes!   Scooby had even purchased a new suit and got a haircut in case he had won.  Sorry Scoob....but congrats to the Tias!

 

Cindy accepting on behalf of the Tias

 Next up:

MEAL OF THE YEAR

The nominees were:

Breakfast for dinner
Kentucky Fried Chicken nite
Shake n Bake and Mac n Cheese nite
Carne Asada
Oktoberfest    And the winner was - Carne Asada nite!  With a healthy vote of 44% -- the vote was healthy....not the dinner!     Next up:   BEST T-SHIRT OF THE YEAR   The nominees were: Kyle: I don't get drunk, I get awesome Marty: I moustache you a question....do you TNDC? Jim: Golden Girl Mike: Screwtops....it's a way of life    And the winner was - Kyle with his motto t-shirt, "I don't get drink, I get awesome"!

Awesomeness every TNDC!

Next up:

EVENT OF THE YEAR

The nominees were:

Crab feed
Bug's accidental birthday after the other guests all got sick
The Tia's wedding reception
Grandma Bug's birthday
Xmas eve at the movies to see "Frozen"
White elephant TNDC
Chubbuck baby announcement    And the winner was - The Tia's wedding reception!   With all the fun events each and every week of the year at TNDC, this is a a really hard one to choose.  Congrats to the Tias on their double win this year! Next up: BEST VIDEO OF THE YEAR The nominees were: Burning a hole in Mr. C's finger video Birth videos watched by the teenagers Pimple popping videos Everyone knows your name TNDC video  And the winner was - Everyone knows your name TNDC video!  Brings a few tears each time I watch it!

Mrs Screwtop accepting her award for her video production!

Next up:

AUNTIE DEB'S QUOTE OF THE YEAR

The nominees were:

Hard times are good times!
They did it in the last second?
Mari just needs to be cleaned out.
Tell him to put sausages in his pocket.
Bang me!!    And the winner was - "Bang me!"  Auntie Deb was the only one who had her own category.  And I had to narrow down the choices....there were so many to choose from!  Congrats to Auntie Deb.  Looking forward to the next year of your unique quotes.

Notice Jeremy looking on....he had just said, "I am so proud of my mom right now"!

Next up:

COUPLE OF THE YEAR

The nominees were:

•  Drew and Amanda

Mr C and Jim
The Lukes
Kody and Lt. Dangle  And the winners were - the Lukes!   The picture says it all!

Our favorite couple of 2013!

The last question on this year's survey was "what would we put in a TNDC time capsule from 2013".  Here are the responses:



wolf coat
 
every body know your name video!

The group TNDC picture from Kyle and Mari's wedding

Kody's short shorts

T-Shirts, bottle top opener, corkscrew, mustache something, picture from Chubbuck and Tia's weddings, dog pictures, soccer ball, ( that's how it began for us)

A beer can, golden girl bouy, and a 49ers hat.

Jeremy in his top choch shirt

Picture of the tndc group

Kody's shorts from Halloween

Grandma Kathy's sweater

Branding the buoys

The plastic rose petals from the Tia's weeding because they are Still in my backyard.

White elephant gifts

Wine

Beer

The south in the 1800s (this is from little Luke - he didn't understand the question...but it gave us all a good laugh)
TNDC keychain Pictures Auntie Deb's wine glass holder All the TNDC slogan shirts Biggest winner and biggest loser glasses

Golden girl sweatshirt

Picture of Marty's Dome 

NEXT UP - 2014! START TRYING TO EARN THOSE AWARDS!

Fantasy Football 2013

Announcing the results of the TNDC Fantasy Football League 2013:

3rd Place - Pontoon Mama's Boys (Chris)
2nd Place - Coach's Choice (Cindy)
1st Place - Murray's Momma (Tina)

Yoga Dog

After a long morning hike, Murray likes to do a little yoga.

WOU

Today Drew applied for housing, sent in medical records and completed the credit forms for WOU!   Woot!  Going away to college is getting closer and closer and getting more and more real!

Left Shoe, Right Shoe, Right Shoe, Wrong Shoe

We went to Grandma Kathy and Grandpa Tom's house last nite to celebrate Grandpa Tom's 71st birthday.  We were all sitting around having dessert after dinner when Drew started giggling.  He pointed to Grandma's shoes and asked if she meant to wear two different shoes!

She had been out an about all afternoon wearing these two shoes!

Blanky

Drew and Amanda are making a new fleece blanket.  This must be our 8th fleece blanket!

Prototype

Grace made this prototype of a holder for her phone so she could film stuff while skiing.  It is mounted on an old ski pole and is made from a plastic bag, cardboard and tape.

Life is good....

The dogs had a great holiday break at the cabin.  Here they are sleeping on the deck after a swim at the lake.

New Light

BEFORE - 1970

We finally replaced the chandelier at the cabin.  I have been wanting to replace it for years but have never found anything I like.  Mostly because I barely ever look.  But when I was at the cabin over Thanksgiving, I shopped for a new one while sitting on the couch.  It was the best way to do it as I could sit and visualize it.

It is a big improvement.

AFTER - 2014

Snack Shack

Here is the site of the former snack shack at the marina.  It is going to be replaced by a bigger one.  Home of the best cheese fries ever.

Fire Wood

We normally cut our own firewood but this year with Jim fishing, we didn't have the time.  So I purchased a cord of wood and had it stacked.  We were so excited to show up and have this much wood!  The only problem is that it is about 70 degrees out.  Marty insisted on having a couple fires this week and we had to open windows to cool off!

Bear Valley January 2, 2014

Grace and Jenna

Drew, Amanda and Jenna drove up from SJ and met Grace and I at Bear Valley for a day of skiing in 10 inches of snow!  The picture below shows a shot from the parking lot - all those mountains should be COVERED with snow this time of year.

The day was so warm that I was sitting outside in a sweatshirt and was completely comfortable.

Grace got to try out all her new ski gear that she got for xmas and was so happy.  Drew reported that she is an awesome skiier and will easily be able to ski with him and Jim (this is only her 4th or 5th time skiing as she had been a snowboarder).

We are going to Mt Hood in Oregon in February and she will really improve with 4 days of skiing in a row.

From the parking lot

Drew and Amanda

New Years Eve 2013 to 2014

Grandpa with his headlamp to see his tiles

We had a quiet New Years Eve at the cabin playing rummikub and having a crab feed.

Check out pic below of Daisy Mae's new years nap on Tina's bed!  She was tired after a couple hikes during the day!

crab feed

snoozing!