2025 Lake trip - picture heavy

 I did say a few posts ago that we went to the Lake the first week of August.  

I actually started at my family's farm.  It's a long story, with unflattering tales of two of my sisters, but the sister I am closest with and lives the closest to me and I decided that most likely this will be our last visit to the farm due to family dynamics and changes of residents at the house I grew up in.  So we went before my trip to the Lake, and also broke into the bunkhouse.  A bunkhouse, for those who haven't grown up on a farm, is a small "house" where the farmhands stayed during harvest.  Harvest was always busy with several people being hired for a month or so, so farmers had to have somewhere for them to stay.  The families (my mom and before that my grandma) would cook breakfast and dinner, and provide a "sack lunch" for anyone that stayed on the farm. The bunkhouse at my parents' house was not used in my memory, they stayed at the bunkhouse by my grandma's house, which was only 2 miles away.  My parents' bunkhouse mostly was used for storage and we had not been able to get into it since my dad died.

We could not find a key to it, my sister looked everywhere and none was to be found.  Finally, with this being our last opportunity, we decided to break into one of the "boarded up windows."  I was super happy we got in, we found the old chest that my dad had in boy scouts that my parents used for camping, and I took it.  I don't know if I'll use it, but I'm very happy to have it.

Turns out that the door wasn't locked, just rusted shut.  With a ton of WD40 and a screwdriver used as a crowbar, we were able to get it open from the inside.

This is not the chest I talked about, the one I wanted
is the green one under the traveling trunk

My other two sisters and Maddox joined us 
once we got the door open.

Just an old TV we found

I am super sad the barn is falling in, it is worse 
than when we were here in March

Even the opposite side is starting to fall over.
It won't last another winter, I don't think

Chris, Damian and Asher did not join me at the farm, they met me and Maddox at the Lake on Sunday.  It was a really quiet week on the Lake, no neighbors.  Well, a few came and went on one side, but the other side didn't have anyone until Saturday night the day before we were leaving, so it was really nice.  They are mostly friendly on that side, but there is zero privacy and they share our beach and are really rude with their dog (letting him roam without a leash).  We were able to let Peanut (my dog) run free and he did really, really good with staying on our beach.  My sister came on Thursday and brought her hound dog, who also did really well off leash.  We kept a very close eye on them and leashed them when the rude dog owner neighbors arrived.  

We had two days of high wind, and one of rain, which sucked, but I wasn't at work, so I suppose it was still a win I suppose.  I did go on a couple runs early in the week.  When I was there in June I did short hill runs and definitely noticed them getting easier as the weekend went by, unfortunately, this time with the "storm" I only did 2 hill runs.  When my sister came on Thursday we went walking on the hills, but it wasn't the same as running.  I also did a couple short paddleboard rides before my sister came, but it was still a little windy, and paddleboarding in the wind is really hard, so I didn't go far.  

When my sister came, we did a couple longer paddleboard trips, and it was much less windy.  I noticed last year, and again this year, that my feet start hurting if I go to long on the boards.  I blame the lack of running any significant distance.  The first many years of having the paddleboards I was running a lot, so I could spend a really long time on the paddleboard.  My feet are just not accustomed to being on them as much as they once were. 

One of the best parts of this particular trip was that Damian joined us with Asher for the entire week.  I don't think he's joined us for the entire week since he graduated high school and started working.  I loved having Asher there, all he wanted to do was play in the sand and the water.  

Also, Maddox has gotten so big.  He is definitely NOT the little kid I once had.  He looks like a teenager now, and that makes me sad.  

2015

2025

Oh what a difference 10 years makes!

Here are the highlights from our trip in pictures.  😊