You know you're getting old when...

1. You go tubing with your niece, fall off once and your arms are in so much pain for 2 days afterward that you can't even lift them above your head without feeling it ache everywhere.

2. You see the clock on the wall that says 10:30pm and you're ready to call it a night.

3. Running more than 2 miles is the equivalent of climbing Mount Everest in your mind.  Walking, no problem, but running - not quite.

The only good thing is that having a cottage forces you to relax, recuperate to do it all over again.  I kind of feel like my dogs this week except I can't spend the day sleeping.

Our Weekend Went to the dogs...

This weekend was a full-on weekend that any good dog would love, and ours were no exception.  Warm weather, lake water to drink by the gallons, walks, walks and more walks (about 8 miles in total).  Could a dog ask for anything more?

 Jade was happy enough to find a spot in the grass to lay after taking a dip (not a swim, but an old-lady dip where only the lower parts of your body get wet) in the lake.

 John ventured into the water, and I followed shortly after.  It was cold, but we're hoping that by next weekend it warms up to a great temperature for lounging in the lake.

 By day 2, Jade was ready to find a spot in the sun and do nothing. 

But Max, he was ready to play.  With his new kong placed firmly in his mouth, he was ready for jump after jump to retrieve it until he got so exhausted he'd just flop in the grass and take a nap.

On the road again...

I feel a little bit like the Beverly Hillbillies (without the oil) loading up our van and trailer for round 2 and 3 of carting stuff up to the cottage.

And this time we finally got to take the dogs up (who looked so happy when we left for work today because they could finally get the peace and quite to recover from their weekend).

Our goal was to get all the bedrooms done and we did it!  John built the beds and the side tables for our master bedroom that look amazing!

We also got the bedrooms finished upstairs.  The one facing the water has two twin beds:

And the bedroom facing the street has the queen bed.

Just a few more things to figure out and we are ready to relax.  Well, I'm ready to relax.  It's something I'm going to have to teach John to do.

Cleaning, cleaning and more cleaning

First, I'd like to apologize for not having any pictures to share.

Yesterday we went up to the cottage with John's parents and spend the day cleaning, changing locks, washing all the stuff for the kitchen & putting it away, and building the bed frames.

Since the pictures would be of closed cupboards, a nearly-empty living room and beds with no mattresses on them, we figured to hold-off on the pictures until next time we're up there and have actually stuff in the rooms.

It was nice to get in there, have it be empty, almost like a fresh start, so we can start to make it our house.  I didn't realize how much kitchen stuff we had until Martha and I got done washing everything and putting it away in the freshly-cleaned cupboards.  The good news is we still have lots of cabinet space for, what I am sure, are the countless things I forgot we needed and won't remember until I'm about ready to cook something.  Or more accurately, John is about to cook something.

So next time we're going to take another load up and see if we can't get it looking more like a house that's lived in.  Who knows, we might actually spend the night this time.  :)

Welcome to the Lake

So after years (almost 2 1/2) of looking for a place on a lake where John and I can escape to in the summer, we finally found it.  After closing today, we are the proud owners of a new house on Indian Lake in Howard City (about 50 minutes north of our house).

And after the buyers accepted the offer, we set to work filling our house with all the stuff that's going to make its way up to the cottage very soon.  IKEA was so happy to see us coming.

There's almost no work that needs to be done on the place so our plans for the summer - Lounge on a floatie-toy in the lake or relax on our deck with a good book... yep, that's about it.

We'll update more pictures once we're officially moved in.