Wednesday marked the day when EVERYONE was finally at the cabin. All of us! Siblings, nieces, nephews, grandparents, everyone. It's amazing. It hasn't happened since... Joanna's wedding? Nope. We were missing Cameron (we PhotoShopped him into the family photo). And before then? Who knows, & our family has likely grown exponentially since then anyway. Like I said. Amazing.
Also amazing are the charts & spreadsheets & shopping lists that have been created for the week or two that everyone (or mostly everyone) is here. Tara spearheaded the menu, I created the shopping list (separated into three separate stores), a list of airport arrivals & departures was made, car configurations were determined & re-adjusted several dozen times, & sleeping arrangements were figured out all before we arrived - mostly. It was a bit of a battle at times, but it's been working out almost-perfectly-smoothly, with a few bumps here & there (like the entire extra lasagna we had last night - turns out two is plenty - or the fact that Magnolia's Banana Pudding really only feeds 15 or so adults, requiring a quick batch of chocolate chip cookies for the kids).
What's also amazing is that moment at the end of the day when we're all asleep in our own beds (some shared). I was the last to go to sleep last night, & the cabin was dark & perfectly quiet. 32 people! At the end of a sometimes-very-loud day, this little moment is beautiful. We all have our little spots at night, & somehow - everything is peaceful. The chaos level has actually been manageable. I'm not sure I've heard any yelling, there have only been a few tears here & there, & we all still love each other. Success.
Wednesday was a beautiful day. Lots of sun, lots of warm. It's raining today (Friday), but we're okay with that.
Have I mentioned that something semi-traumatic generally happens at the cabin each year? It does, & we've come to sort of expect that. One year - many years ago actually, when we were renting a cabin down at Hill's Resort at the southern end of the lake - my dad & brothers decided it would be a good idea to ride their mountain bikes (when mountain biking was very much in vogue in our family) down the boat launch & into the water to wash off the mud. It was all fun & games until my dad endo'd his head into his bike spoke & had to go to the Newport (population 1,200?) hospital where he received stitches from a "doctor" who was reading the instructions from a chart on the wall. Then of course there was the infamous year where Spencer launched his motorcycle off a small cliff, breaking his jaw & subsequently enjoying a liquid diet for the next several months. The icing on the cake was when Tara & I took Harrison to the same hospital the very next day with a needle cap stuck up his nose. It was a rough year for the Edwards, & it's a bit of a miracle that they've come back.
This year? Sister-in-law Erin (who is tough as nails) took a bit of a spill on her motorcycle up in the mountains yesterday morning & came away with a broken tibia & fibia to show for it, & is in surgery (in Spokane) as we speak. We're happy she's getting good care, but sad that she had to be the one to fulfill the injury quota for the year. I'm a little scared for my turn to come one of these years & am doing my best to avoid anything motorized in the meantime (although I did go on a Rzr ride which resulted in Baby Boy doing lots & lots of backflips - or wiggles at this point - in my tummy; I think the vibration was a bit much for him). In addition, I've decided that we need to all join hands & support a new, less dangerous family hobby - perhaps from the past, like when we all used to play tennis together. Those days were nice, & no one suffered anything worse than an occasional torn muscle. Bigger & faster unfortunately seems to be the Hudson Family motto these days.
A few snapshots from Wednesday:
1 comment:
no more accidents.
rental car procured. i'm coming, i'm coming!
Post a Comment