Cabin Fever

On a recent trip to my cousins in northern MN, I suggested to Dan that maybe we could start staying in my family's cabin again on a regular basis. I spent the first 5 years of my life in the area and then my dad got a different job in the metro area and we moved. But both my mom and dad's whole family still lived up north so they built a cabin and we went every weekend year round until they separated. Since then it hasn't been used regularly and I'm pretty sure it hasn't been stayed in at all for at least the last year or two. Soooo it needs some work!!! Also, it has electricity but no running water which I absolutely love! So exciting! We got started last week on Dan's days off and we took lots of before pictures and after pics of what we got done. So here are a ton of pictures. I made them small so they wouldn't take up a ton of room but you can click to enlarge!

The steps were in pretty rough shape. The old ones pretty much came down with one hit of the hammer. They lasted pretty long considering they were made with untreated lumber that my uncle cut himself. The new one is quite an improvement!

The first picture here shows the loft, which is the back half, and is the bedroom. The second is the view from the loft. As you can see there is no railing on the stairs or the loft. This was never a problem because I was 6 or 7 years old when the cabin was built. It is however a problem now because Mackenzie is only 1.5. You can also see the boards and junk that is being stored across the beams. With this stuff here the view from the living room area was never really open.

Ta da! A railing and a clear view, well mostly. We stacked the boards and stuff on one side temporarily.

And take a look at little miss helpful. She wanted to be a part of everything! She even learned how to cover her ears when the saw was going (don't worry, we didn't cut with her that close!) And look at those two sleeping in! I was up early both days because when you wake up and have to go outside to go to the bathroom you are pretty much awake by the time you get back inside!

Did I mention there was quite a bit of cleaning to do? There were dead ladybug/asian beetles all over everything! Ewwwww! And the curtains used to be plaid like that blanket on the couch and they are now white.

Mostly cleaned up right before we left. There is still a lot to do but everything reachable and visible is pretty much clean. Much improved I think!

Goodbye cabin! See you in a few weeks!