A cabin in the pines...

So, we had the opportunity last weekend to go up to Prescott with some very good friends of ours, Dan and Wendi Roberts. And yes, we took kids! Monti and I couldn't stand the thought of leaving Gracie and, believe it or not, the Roberts really like to have their kids along too. So it worked out perfect! We had so much fun!!

Our trip started out a little rocky. I had a bit of a nervous breakdown the night before. I called my mom at 1 in the morning and told her I'd changed my mind and didn't want to go anymore. But how was I going to tell Dan and Wendi? Well, being the wise and gentle mother, she calmed my nerves and told me to get some rest and I'd feel better in the morning. She was right.


We had a few errands to run and so got an early start on the day. We had to drop off our dog at my sister's house and since we were in Mesa anyway, decided to make a stop at the cemetery since we would miss our weekly Sunday visit. This is so off topic, but I know there are some of you who haven't had the chance to see Harry's head stone yet so I thought I'd post some pics. of it. We were so happy with how it turned out.









Anyway, after our errands were done we hurried home to load up and headed over to the Robert's. The drive up was easy going and fun. When we got into Prescott Valley, we were a little disappointed in how warm it still was. But we made the turn off onto Walker Rd. and the temperature started dropping significantly as we got closer to the cabin. Surprisingly it dropped almost a full 10 degrees in the few miles between town and the cabin. We met Larry, the owner of the cabin and one of the nicest guys you'll meet, and he told us to follow him on up the road. It's a bit of a ways off the main road and had a few turn offs so he wanted to make sure we could find it alright.


Well, as it turned out Wendi and Dan didn't see us make one of the turn offs. So as we were driving along we watched them go straight along the road we had just left. Monti and I weren't sure what to do. Should we stop and try to catch them? (BTW, no cell phone service up there) Or should we keep following Larry so that at least one of us knew how to get there and then go try to find the Roberts? We decided to keep following. Then, came the next little hiccup. The last, oh maybe, 100 feet of the road up is a very, VERY steep hill. And we didn't get a running start. So...our car stalled half way up...meaning we lost steering...and full use of the brakes...and we started rolling backward down a pretty steep incline. At this point I will not go into some of the things that may or may not have been said inside our little car. But one thing that was said was me yelling, "Stop Monti!! STOP! You have to stop!! We're about to go over!! STOP!" Well, we did stop. And just in time. I'm quite confident that it was more than luck that we stopped where we did. Our back tires were literally hanging over an edge. I got Gracie out and we stood there just gaping at how close to danger we'd come. All I could think was, "I knew we shouldn't have come!! I knew we shouldn't have come!!

The pictures don't do justice to how steep the drop off behind us was. It is definitely NOT level ground you see behind us. It's the hilll goinjg back up on the other side. Quite a drop!

Gratefully, Larry came back down with some chain and towed us up onto safer ground, where we could restart the car and carefully back down the hill to give it a running start. While they were hooking up the chains, Gracie and I walked back down to the place we'd last seen Wendi and Dan and were able to get just enough reception on the cell phone to tell them to come back. They found us and we headed back to the stuck Saturn. I was unable to get to my camera, as it was in the back hatch of our car and I wasn't about to go digging around in there, so Wendi grabbed her camera and snapped a few shots of our "near death experience". We were SO lucky that Dan and Wendi hadn't made that turn off. Heaven only knows what would have happened if they'd been right behind us when we stalled.

Well, thankfully, I was wrong. We should have gone and the rest of the weekend was a total BLAST!! We got on up to the cabin and got unloaded, then decided to check everything out. It was awesome! Everything was exactly how I had hoped. Monti and I stayed in the little loft bedroom and there was a porch right off of it. With a swing!! Ah, so relaxing!

Yes, that is Wendi leaning way over and trying to hide from the camera! I guess it didn't work. :) Sooner or later the bugs started coming out, and soon thereafter the bats, which quickly drove me inside. The kids watched TV for a while and the grown ups sat and talked.

Then it was bed time for the kids and game time for the adults!! WOO HOO! We played a really fun game called Things and got some pretty big laughs out of it!! Anyone who may believe Dan to be a mild mannered, quiet guy...play this game with him!!! You will quickly be relieved of that misconception. We stayed up until almost 4 in the morning, playing and laughing and talking. It was AWESOME! We thought we knew each other pretty well, but we still learned alot about each other.

The next day the kids spent almost the ENTIRE day outside playing in the dirt and having a total blast!!! They got filthy dirty and it was so good for them.

Us big people spent some time outside and some in playing the Wii. Whatever you do, do NOT listen to Dan and Monti's fish stories about how they won in golf. Just nod and allow them to boost their self esteem and then go back to the truth. Wendi and I NEVER lose. ;) Then Monti and Dan went out to grill.

Yes, that is Dan leaning way over and trying to hide from the camera!! I guess it runs in the family!! After dinner, the kids all got desperately needed baths. Gracie was one filthy girl!! She looks like Pig Pen from Peanuts. And if you'd seen her in person, you could've witnessed the actual cloud of dirt following her everywhere.

Then, after a long day of playing hard EVERYBODY crashed. We put the kids to bed and stayed up late again playing cards and talking. What fun we had mocking Dan's card playing abilities!! He's a good sport and we had a BLAST!

On Sunday the Robert's had to head for home. We were sad to see them go. We'd enjoyed spending the weekend with them, but Dan had to get back for work and the kids had school on Monday morning. So we waved goodbye to them and hello to Tracie and Rob and their family and my parents and Ali and Vicki. Mom and dad had rented a room in a hotel in Prescott, but Tracie and family got to stay with us there at the cabin!! We had another fun filled day of playing outside and just having a really good time.

Monday morning we packed up and got ready to leave. Gracie spent the morning searching for a "magic skick". She finally found one and was so proud of her discovery.

We dreaded going home and instead went into Prescott and spent an hour or so at a museum there. The Sharlot Hall museum. It was really neat! Then trekked over to a park for a picnic, where it proceeded to pour rain. Believe it or not it was kinda fun. Then we loaded up one last time and set our sights on home. It was a really amazing weekend spent with alot of the people we love the most!! Couldn't ask for much more. We can't wait to do it again!