Well usually I give Adam a hard time when he writes a really long blog. But I suppose this time I am also guilty. We survived our first season in the “North Woods” as owners of our own business. That’s what people say…just survive your first summer, and then each year it gets better. Starting your own business is hectic. At the same time it is rewarding to see all the changes and improvements. People always ask us how our summer has been. I usually answer “fun and crazy.” Adam’s usual answer is that “we learned a lot”. Both statements are very true.
Here are some examples of fun. A few mornings ago, we had some customers eating breakfast in the dining room. The kids were helping me clear a table for some people staying in the Bed & Breakfast who had eaten earlier. A table of 4 was observing us and commenting about what good “help” my 4 year old and 1 year old were, as they would carry one glass-at-a-time into the kitchen. As they were talking about Ady she walked right over to them with the glass in her hand, complete with her turtle neck, blue dress, purple coat, and princess shoes, flexed her arm muscles and said “Look how strong I am!” They of course, humored her, and she spent a good 5 minutes talking to them. She is taking after her Dad(the talking part I mean, I haven’t ever seen Adam go flex his muscles to a group eating breakfast)!
Another reason I know she is taking after dad is that she is a great story-teller and tour giver. She has a great story from this spring about the seagulls in the back of our truck. You should ask her about it if you get a chance. Also, if you know Adam, and understand that we have a very historic lodge, you wouldn’t be surprised that he will give several tours each day to people who stop in. Adam’s tours are all about Charlie Boostrom being the first white man to come up the Gunflint Trail to live with the Indians, and about how he built a cabin so his wife would marry him, and how he picked Clearwater Lake to be their settling place with the Lodge being finished in 1926…and on and on…. Anyway, starting about mid-summer, every once in a while you could over hear Ady in the lodge telling people, “Do you want me to show you a moose? And over here is a rainbow fish. Etc. Pretty fun!
We also had some examples of crazy. I think people realize beforehand that all things usually won’t go as planned or as expected. But we had some things happen this summer that we never would have thought of. Two examples: In July, the State Government of Minnesota shut down! Although we are located at the edge of a national park and didn’t get affected that way, we were affected because no one could get a fishing license for nearly 3 weeks. Over 60% of the people who come up to our area, say that fishing is either their 1st or 2nd reason for coming. That was a pain. Then, just this last month, the Pagami Creek forest fire took place. This fire has now been recorded as the worst fire in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area spreading almost 100,000 acres. In fact, at one time, the fire spread 5 miles in just ½ hour. Luckily, no one was harmed, and lucky for us, we are far enough away from the fire and it finally has been recorded as under control.
We also did learn-a lot. We learned a lot about our business- things like marketing, being employers, bookkeeping, outfitting for canoeists or kayakers, taking care of overnight guests, and all sorts of hospitality things. We learned a ton about being owners of a property—things like taking care of a water system, a septic system, a heating system, and all those things. We learned that we like working together and we actually do a pretty good job together. As we have worked together as a family for something it has definitely created a stronger bond one with another. So much time, planning, praying, patience, work along with dreaming, remaining passionate, and harnessing our ambitions has gone into this project. It wasn’t easy. It would have been easy to give up so many times and just decide to get a 8-5 job somewhere instead of getting a place and business of our own. I don’t know many people who have the same passion and drive to really know their dream, and to go after it like Adam did. We also appreciate my Aunt Laura and Uncle Carl, as our partners in this venture, for believing in us and giving us a chance to go for the dream.
While I am at it, I should also thank our parents, who rode a lot of the start-up roller coaster with us to actually get a place of our own. They also supported the ambition and the long road here(even though they probably thought we were crazy-and still might:D) They also both came out this summer to visit and help out-which they did a lot!
Well, we have been winterizing everything here and will be headed back to Utah in a couple of days and then on to California for a much needed vacation! Wish us luck on our loooong car ride back! In closing here are a couple pictures taken in the last week from right in front of the resort.
The fall colors are so pretty and we love the way things look right now.
We have been able to see the Aurora Borealis or Northern Lights a few times this summer. Last week when this set was going Adam and I took a boat and rowed out in the middle of the lake to watch. It was pretty cool and very beautiful. This is the picture that one of the staff took while we were out watching the sky dance.
Last year at Christmas, Kasey was talking to Brian and Jennifer and thought that it would be fun if Carissa and Landon(and Brian and Jennifer) came with us and we all went to Disneyland. Then she told her parents and said they should come too. Next thing I know, Melanie and Ryan are invited and then Blake is invited, or maybe told he is coming. All in all we had quite a crowd. So how many people ending up going with us?
I am a bit of a crazy vacation planner. I like to do tons of research and make sure that not only are we getting a good value on lodging and other things, but I like to research crowds and off the beaten path options. Well I really dropped the ball this time. Really in our group there was only 15 people. The rest of those people in the picture were people from Utah on UEA break. Yup, that's right, all that research and I didn't know it was UEA(Utah Education Association). Seemed like half of the families in Utah were at Disneyland. Even so, we managed to have fun.
The kids loved going over to Pirate's Lair(formerly Tom Sawyer's Island) and looking for the treasure. The whole time the 4 of them were walking around saying "Aaarr".
And Ady got to meet or see tons of characters. If you notice, she is wearing a princess dress and all day long workers at Disneyland called her princess. Every time she would smile so big. (And yes, she is wearing pajama pants under the dress).
For the most part we tried to be at the parks early and stayed till they were closed. The kids did great. They were having so much fun and were excited so they did a good job of the long hours. But, as soon as we would stop, they crashed hard.
Ady started out wanting to ride every ride at least once. But I think this is where that all changed. We took her on the Tower of Terror and as you can see from the look on her face(back row in pink) she did not like this ride. She was holding on for dear life and screaming the whole time. The rides she did not like were Tower of Terror, Space Mountain and Star Tours. Star Tours was really funny because I told her that we were going on a space ship and she thought it was real. Part way through the ride she started saying, "dad, we're gonna die." And when it was finished I asked her if she was okay and she said, "well, I didn't die, but I thought I was going to die."
Brock really liked the Buzz Lightyear ride at Disneyland and the Toy Story ride at California Adventure place. Brock's favorite thing wasn't the rides though...
Brock really loved playing with his cousins, especially Asher(who he is trying to wake up in this photo) and Carissa.
And for closing, here is Ady showing her awesomeness while wearing the 3-D glasses for the Bug's Life show. 4 days at Disneyland and one day at Knott's Berry Farm. Kasey and Ady could probably handle going back tomorrow, but I need a few years before doing that again.
