Hanging Out Around the Cabin

A lot of our vacation was spent just hanging out at the cabin. We brought all the kids' bikes up with us, and they spent hours riding them around the big wrap-around porch. Owen especially loved the freedom he had to come and go as he liked. He'd go out the door, ride his scooter around a bit, then come back in--so proud of himself for not having to be constantly watched like at home.

Everyone spent a lot of time in their pajamas.

We spent a whole lot of time out on the porch just enjoying the forest around us...and enjoying good food.

The little boys discovered that under the stairs made for a perfect hideout place to play.

And Mom used the top of the stairs to line the kids up for pictures.

But my very favorite "hanging out" at the cabin was done after dark out on the porch. Earlier this summer, I loaded the first "Harry Potter" book onto our Kindle (the one we won for free at Scott's summer office party). In the afternoons while Owen napped and Nate and Aaron rested watching cartoons, I would gather my three older kids in the living room and we would read a chapter of Harry Potter Book 1. And then when the book was done, we watched the first movie. Then it was on to Book 2. I had just started reading it before we left for vacation, so I took it with us to read at the cabin. After it would get dark, I would take the kids out on the patio and read to them from the lighted Kindle. We read for hours every night--the kids were really into the book. Aaron and Nate even decided they wanted to sit and listen to me read. There was just something so wonderful about having my kids gathered close around me, my little captive audience. We spend so much of our time going all different places, it was just nice to have everyone together.

I would read to them as long as they could stay awake, and then Scott would come carry them to their beds.