Chickadee Manor

Two sisters

While our middle daughter has been off on a vacation with my parents, our eldest and youngest daughters have been playing together a lot.  They found all sorts of fun out in the woods last weekend and Riley even built a makeshift playground for her little siblings out of logs and scraps of lumber that we had at the cabin.  There was lots of running around, making up of games, walking in the woods, and scoping out potential Christmas trees. 

Collecting water

When we go to the hunting cabin, we bring along drinking water but all wash water has to come from the river.  This means a little walk down the trail towards the river and then Dwayne scrambling down the bank with 5-gallon pails in hand.  He fills them from the river and then lugs them back up the steep bank and down the trail to the cabin.  Most weekends only a couple of trips are required but this past weekend we had an unexpected house guest - a mouse.  That meant a lot of cleaning and a lot more trips for water.  Let's just say that I am thankful that my husband has a strong back!  The whole family likes to go along for the walk to the river, including the dog, and everyone knows to wait behind a log at the top of the bank so they don't get too close and fall down the steep bank.  It's also just a really fun trail to run up and down for the kids and the dog.  Once we are back at the cabin, Dwayne pours the water into an old beer keg which we heat up on the grill of the fire pit so that we have nice warm water for dishes, washing up, or even an outdoor shower!

 

An Afternoon at the Beach

On our way home, we stayed overnight with friends who live right at the edge of Great Slave Lake.  The beach in front of their home is beautiful.  The kids had a blast making their own pool by making a driftwood log frame at beach level which they then covered with muddy sand they bucketed from the lake.  Once the pool was dug to their satisfaction they brought water up from the lake to fill the pool!