Not being sure when the last person was in the house, we used our masks to unload the car, opened up windows and found it to be a very good excuse to vacate the house for a bit and try out the hot tub - for the first of MANY times! It was more of a warm tub that first day as it is set to 90 always and wasn't really able to get up to hot tub temps until the next morning!
It was quite apparent that the only truly relaxing time in the hot tub was going to be without our youngest two kiddos - who wanted to treat it like a swimming pool. So Jason and I got up before dawn each morning to sneak in some time just the two of us there and to catch the sun rising. Well worth the reduction of sleeping hours!
The quiet of the morning ended when little ones started rising. The one day Terah woke early and then crawled into their fort and went back to sleep for awhile. Once all were up, it was time for breakfast and deciding how to spend the day...
Our days were a mix of things. Some of the highlights included:
- playing games - Scrabble and Gang of Four and Rook
- daily stints in the hot tub - by day 3 Jason was choosing reading over the full hot tub sometimes!
- a walk around the lake
- play time in the yard including the zip line, swings and basketball
- for me, some good reflection time by the stream and lake
- early morning coffee
- watching (too many) movies
- having fun trying to make the Google Smart Speaker understand our requests
- snuggling and wrestling and dancing
- eating the good food we brought and finding some fun things in the cupboards to mix in
We "rang in the new year" the last evening, with us feeling varying degrees of readiness for the return home!
The little house was a good spot for our family to mark this transition. It was a good amount of quirky and it was small (i.e. cozy), which we like. And the hot tub made it extra special. I'm gonna remember the next time we go away to take a rubber spatula and metal scratchy (why don't all kitchens have those two items?!). And I have no interest in having a google smart speaker in our home or a TV in every room. But I will admit that we did dream a little bit about a wood fired hot tub! As we pulled out on Friday, the snow was just starting to come down. Terah was eager to be home, Kali and Jason didn't say much, Alida and I were probably at least outwardly experiencing the most mixed feelings about our departure. Kali started and ended our trip home and Jason did the highway portion!
We were glad to be safely home and grateful for my parents and a friend that helped to tend the place and care for animals during our absence. Dad had even gotten a fire going in our wood stove to welcome us home warmly. :)
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