Memorial Day in Michiana

I made no less than five batches of strawberry shortcake biscuits over the weekend. We went took them to a barbecue, we fed them to our furniture builder, we took them to our neighbors. And of course, we ate some ourselves.

At the barbecue, Max and Otto spent time at the hammock with the only other "kid" there, 14-year old Joey, who I have not seen since he was about four. At first Joey watched Max and Otto's antics from afar.

But he got sucked in.

And had a good time flipping them over.

We tried to return the favor, but it was harder in reverse. Martin and I stepped in and helped to flip him over, not only from top to bottom, but from bottom to top as well. Pretty tough to do. Joey said it was the first time he had ever flipped on a hammock, and he thought it was pretty fun.

Then, some Gameboy/DSi bonding time spent together. No flipping involved.

Bocce.

Two hot boys declare they are done with this picnic and ready to leave.

Quick stop at the Hesston Steam Train Museum.

Cabin spring clean up. The first time we have used the screen porch for anything other than storing firewood. Since we also found an unexpected guest there, I'm not sure how eager the boys are to use it further. But it looks pretty, and I can imagine lots of lovely breakfasts and dinners there.

We had some friends over for waffles on Sunday morning. I've known Jack (the boy on the right) since he and Max were toddlers, and I've known his mom Julie for more than 15 years. They've had a house out here for a long time, so it was nice to finally hook up in Michiana area.

Ana liked the stairs.

Scott and Julie. Not afraid of spiders.

Max helped Martin start the grill for lunch on Saturday afternoon.

Lilli, chillin.

Fawn, whose mother abandoned him to protect him when she saw us coming. We hope they reunited.

Sunday afternoon at the beach.

Otto declared that they had built a foot bath.

Yoga?

Monday morning: strawberry picking at Garwood Farms.

Success! 20 pounds of berries. I'd better get to making those preserves.

We met up (not coincidentally) with Julie and family again.

Afternoon project: painting the mailbox. First, they scrubbed it down.

Masking.

Painting.

Andy delivered the first piece of furniture (it will serve as the bar). Above it is the newly framed Journeyman Distillery poster. The distillery opened on the day we bought the cabin, and we were out in New Buffalo that weekend, hearing all about this new and fantastic distillery. It seemed like a fun coincidence, plus it was a cool poster.

Eeek. Found on Screened Porch

Although we had nothing in the photo to demonstrate scale, this hairy visitor was almost 4 inches in diameter. She had a large black body and long brown and black striped legs, ending in little stiletto heel points, so perhaps she is quite fashion conscious. The boys were not impressed and avoided the porch for the rest of the weekend.

But thanks to some research on Indiana spiders and specifically to this blogger, who posted a photo of a very similar spider, we are resting a bit easier and hoping that this fishing spider is going to get to work eating all the other bothersome pests. We will call her Rhea, hoping that by naming her we will a) make her less frightening and b) honor the Titan Earth Goddess, since yes, she does seem to be the titan of spiders.

Belated Birthday Surprise

We had an impromptu visit from my brother and his boys! (Delayed flight, missed connection and general hassle for them resulted in unexpected merriment for us. Another reason to love Chicago: so many flights fly through, we can eventually meet up!) 


It was less than a 24-hour visit, but we managed to play at the park, have lunch at Revolution Brewery, and to throw together some birthday cupcakes and some whipped cream shooters, since the twins will turn 8 this weekend. We also watched the beginning of Lord of the Rings and did lots of Lego building together. 


Now they are gone, and Otto is missing them dreadfully (and wondering why exactly we aren't also headed to Hawaii?). But we were all so glad they were here.