August Long Weekend Party

more long weekend pictures

We decided to start a tradition of having a party up at the cabin every August long weekend. We made a trip up to the launch to meet Jay with his boat, Clint with his boat and to pick-up a couple of other people on Saturday morning. Once we got back and everyone organized their sleeping arrangements, we spent the rest of the day swimming wakeboarding, and sitting in the sun.

more long weekend pictures

That night we had a good barbecue and then had a campfire. Kim made a "lemon drop" which is a big jar stuffed with lemon slices, a 26er of Vodka and a cup of sugar. You give everyone a straw and pass it around the fire... it was really yummy. The next morning I made a big breakfast and then Aaron took a load of people who couldn't stay another night back to the launch. Later on that day, Rob and Brad showed up with Brad's brother and sister and we convinced them to stay the night even though they weren't planning to. Rob did a couple of Keg stands and ended up passed out in the dirt. All-in-all it was a pretty good weekend.

McKellar Family Party

more party pictures

Since Aaron's relatives had not seen the cabin yet, we decided to invite them all up for the day. The weather was great so we spent the day swimming in the lake, munching on appetizers, and sipping cocktails. Aaron had just finished building his dad a new aluminum boat, so we got Aaron's grandma (Gord's mom) to christen the boat Mary Glen - Gord's mom's name (pictures of the Mary Glen). Later on, we had a great barbeque and some more drinks and then took everyone back to the launch.

Hardwood Floor Is In!

more flooring pictures

It started off with "I'm only going to patch this crack in the plywood", and ended up with the entire floor being finished with hardwood. Aaron fixed the crack on Friday night. After that was done I managed to convince him to put all the hardwood in on Saturday and Sunday. How did I do that? Well, Saturday was my birthday and that could be my birthday present! So Aaron called up his dad and got him to rent a flooring nailer to bring up with him Saturday morning, and away they went!

more flooring pictures

About half way through the job, it looked like there might not be quite enough wood to finish the job. That is because it seemed like every pice of wood had a crack or a hole that needed to be cut out, so there was a lot of waste. They finished late Sunday with not one piece of wood to spare - just enough!

Father's Day

more father's day pictures

We decided to have my family up to the cabin for Father's Day. We invited my grandparents, all my aunts and uncles, cousins, as well as my parents, sisters, brother and significant others. We had to do two trips to the boat launch to pick everyone up in the morning (about a 10 minute boat ride each way). The weather wasn't great, but at least it didn't rain. We had a good time sitting on the deck, playing horseshoes, and even a little bit of poker. For dinner we barbecued up some of my dad's homemade hamburgers... yum.

Bathroom Reno Is Finally Done!

After 4 months of spending every weekend working on renovating the bathroom, it's finally done! Here are a couple of before pictures:

more bathroom reno pictures

The bathroom used to have a pedestal sink and an old claw foot bathtub.

It also used to be one big room, with we thought was kinda a waste of space.

more bathroom reno pictures

Now we have a lot more storage and a better use of space. Here are a couple of after pictures:

more bathroom reno pictures

We separated the big room into 3 separate spaces, one for the pantry (on the left), one for the sink and toilet (straight ahead), and one for the shower (to the right).

This is the shower area. We replaced the tub with a shower. Now someone can have a shower, and still leave the toilet free.

more bathroom reno pictures

Just another day on the Pitt

more storm pictures

The cabin came with hardwood flooring - the catch was that all the wood was in the previous owner's garage and needed to be brought up to the cabin and installed. Since there is no road access, the flooring needed to be brought up on a skiff. Aaron decided that the middle of December was a good time to do this, so he gathered up a few buddies, loaded the skiff up with the wood and a tractor that we needed up there and set off for the cabin.

more storm pictures

The river heading up to the lake was like glass, but as soon as they hit the lake, the weather blew up and got very very rough. Huge waves were coming over the front of the skiff, which started filling up with water faster than anyone could bail. Aaron headed for the closest shore and ran the skiff up onto the rocks just before it was going to go under. The only thing he lost in the process was his tool box over the side. After unloading all the wood onto the beach, the reinforcements (Ray and Mike with the Nelly Irene) were called. While waiting for Ray, Shaun decided that it would be a good idea to try to dive for the lost tools. After a few dives and some recovered tools, he was totally numb and near hypothermic. The Nelly showed up shortly after and took the boys to the cabin where they spent the night (which they were not planning to do). The only food that they had was a soggy bucket of chicken, which they ate happily. The next morning, they took the skiff back to the beach in the calm water to pick up the wood and bring it to the cabin where they unloaded it for the second time.

more storm pictures

A few months later, Shaun decided to rent some actual dive gear to go and try to recover the rest of the tools. He recovered pretty much everything - Thanks Shaun!

The wood is now all neatly stacked up in the trailer so that it can dry out (and hopefully not warp in the process) before we install it.

Engaged!

We borrowed the "River City" (Joe's fishing boat) and drove up to the cabin on Friday afternoon (October 1, 2004 - the first day that the cabin is legally ours). We made some great steaks and wine for dinner and then sat out on the deck. While we were sitting out there, Aaron popped the question! I of course said yes. Finally, after 10 years, we are engaged!

The next day we drove the boat out to the Pitt Poulder boat launch and picked up Aaron's parents, bother Liam, some friends of theirs from Scotland, my parents, my sister Laura and her fiance Brad. They were all excited by the news. We took them all up to the cabin to spend the day. The weather was beautiful - it felt like summer in October.