Happy New Year!

The end of 2009 found us enjoying a wonderful New Year's Eve party at Carol's home along with the fantastic friends here on Loon Lake. This group gathers almost every Friday night through the cold season to play euchre and share fun and food. This traditional party is where we review the entire year via an awesome slide show of photos take throughout the year. Walt puts them all to music and we view on Carol's big TV with lots of laughs and remembrances. This year was even more fun for us after being part of this group year round for the entire year. We are so blessed to have such wonderful friends. The group consists of over two dozen good friends, many married couples, a set of single sisters, a few widowed men and all of our extended families. There was talk this year of a "polar bear plunge" the next day into the frozen waters of Loon Lake. We were not disappointed. A call about 11 am informed us that they had found some open water and we should come watch the brave souls. Poppy ventured out to represent our twosome and took some great photos and video of the amazing event.

Here you see the one hardy female of the group, Lori who "warmed up" with a few stretches.

Here is Lori's mom, Mar, who can always be found sporting the greatest of fashions for any occasion.

Seems the shoreline needed a little persuasion in order to free up the frozen surface. Walt did the honors while still bundled warm.

Soon the guys readied their bods for the icy plunge. Tim (x-marine) and Walt were also the last to ski the lake back on Oct. 18, donning wet suits and stocking hats in 40 degree weather. So, no real surprise here!

Who appears to be urging someone in? Go Lori! I was not there, but I think from the video below, you will see she was the first, the bravest and the one to plunged the fullest!

May 2010 be a prosperous year for all of you. We look forward to further completion of our remodel project here. Poppy has been busy working on finishing drywall in smaller areas. The upstairs bath is about ready for the final sand and priming. That will then enable us to lay the flooring we have purchased for that space and have one almost finished room! He has taped and mudded the half bath and will next move to the utility room. We also have the flooring for the utility room, so we can have two almost totally finished spaces. He is still trying to find a crew to come in and finish the drywall in the bigger rooms, hallway and stairwell. But, he is prepared do end up doing it himself if he can't hire someone willing to do this task. We will EVENTUALLY have this done. We are also working on design ideas for remodeling the kitchen and tying the old space in with the new and finishing the work needed in the existing lodge room we began to redo almost four years ago. So, our goals for 2010 are pretty lofty and we will be working hard to accomplish it all.

A Very Merry Christmas Here at Loon Lake Lodge

I sat down here on Christmas evening to write this entry, and somehow I hit a wrong button and all I had composed disappeared. I was so frustrated I just quit and enjoyed the evening. So now I thought I would share a bit of our wonderful Christmas celebration we had here. Amanda, Mike and the girls arrived Wednesday night, beating the lousy weather we were to get. The little ones were quite wound up as you can imagine. Thursday morning found us uncertain of the road conditions for traveling in to see Gary's mom at the nursing home.

Roads around the lake were icy and we had to go a ways before we decided main highways were clear enough to proceed. It was well worth it and we enjoyed a nice lunch and visit with one of the great grandmothers, who LOVED seeing the three girls.

Above you see the packages under the tree awaiting Christmas morning after we had the three little ones tucked in bed on Christmas Eve. What fun to have so many packages under the tree again, we adults could hardly wait!

With no fireplace, the stockings were hung above the wet bar with care. We just wish the other two felted stockings could have been there, we dearly missed Shell and Richard again this year! But, their stockings were hung above their wood stove in NC for their own little Christmas celebration together. Grandmommy had to go in to work on Christmas eve at midnight, so everyone was nestled in their beds by the time she left. On Christmas morning she brought GG home with her to celebrate the day with all of us.

The kiddos were all awake and eager to enter the family room where all the gifts lay waiting. Here you see the three of them in their matching PJs Amanda had made for this special morning. The room did not stay this neat very long. It was a very exciting morning!

The girls were patient only a short while before they couldn't open fast enough. Here Katers is held in amazement at all the packages. I think Libbers may have still be a bit sleepy, as she waited for Poppy to join her in his chair.

It was very special for all of us to have GG here with us for the first Christmas in many, many years. She loved the mittens and scarf I knit for her to keep warm in this cold weather. Our day was relaxing and topped off with a deliscious dinner in the evening. The next day we prepared for yet another family celebration.

We had Cathy and Pat come for dinner along with Matt and Mike. Here they crank out the fresh dough into spaghetti pasta for our feast. What fun for everyone have a part in this meal. Poppy and I prepared the sauce that morning and Amanda made delishious fresh french bread, piping hot at serving time. I had a couple huge yummy green salads and Cak brought baked goodies and peppermint ice cream to top off the big meal. A very special day with family so dear.

Cak's mom Helen came along too, so it was wonderful for the grandmothers to reconnect and spend time together. Later Saturday night the kids packed up their van and ventured back home on a snowy evening. We were very thankful to hear they made it safely and we slept tight to dream of all the wonderful memories.