Ice Fishing Long Weekend

We all headed to the cabin for the first time ever in the winter (Gabe had gone up a couple times for fishing over the years, but never stayed at our place). Gabe invited the guys who had helped us panel the ceiling & Garet, Jim, Tez, Weef & Lanny were able to come.

It was an epic journey North with 10 stops that started at 9 am and we finally made it to the cabin just as the sun was going down around 5:30 pm ((MinuteClinic, Gander Mountain, coffee, lunch, potty - yeah Blake - first time diaper-less on a road trip, Duluth to pick up Jim, Grammy's, Garet's to get the trailer with the snowmobile & sled, Dave's Pizza for rations & finally a stop for bait/gas). Before leaving the City, we made a last minute stop at the MinuteClinic since Blake was going on 3 days of a low grade fever. He didn't have any other symptoms and even seemed to be feeling ok, but just wanted to rule out an ear infection since we were headed to the semi-boonies. He checked out fine, not even a red throat, so we continued Northward.

Stop at Grammy's so that Aunt Marilyn could give Campbell a new doll and clothes that she made. She sewed an amazing amount of outfits, complete with matching bonnets & bloomers. For goodness sakes, she even made a fur coat. I can't imagine how many hours she spent sewing all of that, every outfit is decked out with lace and frills. Grammy even whipped up 8 scarves. When Marilyn asked Campbell something about the pajamas, Campbell says, 'Well, now I have 2 dolls and only 1 pair of pajamas.' She also mentioned they could use swim suits. They got a good laugh out of that while I was slightly mortified and made a mental note to have a 'grateful and gracious' lesson later.

Crossing the ice just in time before the sun went down. The cabin didn't take too long to heat up before it was nice and cozy.

Papa John helping the kids 'fish' with their hook-less lures. Blake mostly got his line tangled on his rod and himself. Nonetheless, they had a blast.

Loving the lake in the winter. The temperatures were in the 30's, which made it very mild.

Campbell's smile couldn't have been bigger when Papa John took her for a ride in his Argo.

Pretty frost on the trees.

Got a bite.....

Practically bigger than Blake!

The Northern was a bit over 36 inches and just over the slot.

Garet never disappoints the crowd by cooking up delicious food.

Other than a few perch caught by the other guys, Gabe also caught a 22 inch Northern. He was way overdue for a good weekend of fishing.

 Our cabin neighbors, Sandy & Tim, happened to be up as well & brought Campbell the perfect present. She spent a lot of time making cookies for the guys & herself (for hers, she'd lick off the frosting and re-frost).

Blake gets great pictures of Campbell.

Of course, I end up with many, many, many of ones like this. It's fun to look through them and see what he thinks is important enough for a picture.

Blake helping Daddy drive back to the car at the end of the fun weekend.

It was a very relaxing and beautiful weekend at the lake. We had been talking for years about going up in the winter & I'm really glad we finally did it.