There are wild flowers all around the cabin, & they are pretty.

I woke up at 9am this morning, which means that next week will be a hard dose of the reality that is Eastern Standard Time (noon?! I cannot wake up at noon). Oh boy.

We've eaten a lot of huckleberries this past week.

Huckleberry pie

Huckleberry pie with a cream cheese base

Huckleberry lemon Bars

Huckleberry shakes

Huckleberry brownies

Ice cream with huckleberries & chocolate sauce on top

Steak with a red wine / huckleberry reduction sauce

Huckleberries with milk & sugar

Huckleberry syrup

Huckleberry crumb cake

Huckleberry pancakes

Huckleberry muffins

We ate a lot, obviously.

You can really put huckleberries on just about anything. And my dad will never, ever get tired of picking them.

We're going to stay here forever, I think. I'm going to be a waitress at Elkin's & Mike can be the dock boy that pumps the gas. We'll live in the guest bedroom in the basement & wear our swimming suits every single day, except in the winter when we'll wear snowshoes & hunt for our food. That's the plan, & it sounds wonderful - except for the hunting part. Maybe we'll become vegetarians.

My mom has turned the cabin into summer camp for the kids. There is a very complex bead system (they all have necklaces) that keeps them busy all day long. Think being awarded beads for things like jumping off the piling, kayaking to East Twin Island & back, going to Grandma's fire safety class, learning all of the words & hand movements to Little Cabin in the Woods, recognizing The Big Dipper, etc. There is also a bead for helping to make dinner, so when it's your day (we divided up the meals by day, & then by sibling) - expect to be swarmed by lots of little helpers with ulterior motives.

We had a big storm yesterday. We LOVE storms at the lake. Big black clouds, lightning, thunder. Everything had to be tied up or tied down, covered up & put away. Very exciting. Otherwise, we've had beautiful weather. Funny that people here have complained that it's been so humid (30%). It's been perfect for us, a lovely change from the stickiness of the northeast.

We had dessert with our (really great) neighbors last night, who happen to own a very successful pie company. We had a chocolate mouse pie with huckleberries on top, & a coconut creme pie with, surprise, huckleberries. We stayed until past 11pm. Just the adults (I'm an adult?). It was fun.

I'm reading a book on Asperger's Syndrome. Spencer (7) asked me the other day what I was reading, & I told him - with a brief explanation of what Asperger's is. This morning, before breakfast, he came up to me & said, Kathryn, I've been thinking about it & I'm just not understanding this Asperger's thing. So we had a nice little chat about social norms, how being different isn't a bad thing, etc. I like our talks on random topics. I love my nieces & nephews. By the end of the week I'll have gotten to see all 13 of them. And all 6 of my siblings (although not quite at the same time - maybe next year).

We have 6+ DSLR cameras laying around the cabin between all of us. There are a lot of photos being taken. I have 700+ in my iPhoto right now, & those are just mine. I bet that number will quadruple by the end of the week, once we pool all of our efforts together. It's a little overwhelming, but awesome.

We're going back to New York on Sunday. Deep down I'm excited. I am, I really am.