El Cabino

I just spent 3 days up in Cascade Idaho at my grandma’s cabin with my ENTIRE family. That means: Mom, Dad, their 7 kids, 5 kids-in-law, 17 grandchildren and, grandma of course. I think that adds up to 32.

There’s not much water pressure at the cabin so the rule is: if it’s yellow let it mellow, if it’s brown…flush it down. And we’re serious about that rule. There are only enough rooms for one per family (I have 5 married siblings with their own families) so no one slept very well (except mom, dad, and grandma who checked into a hotel).

We built the two best snow forts in the history of snow forts. Picture the music: da da da da da..duh duh duh (you know, the music they play for a cowboy duel?) It’s the Porter’s against the Non-Porters, and it’s a battle to see who can knock down the other team’s fort. Overnight it rained and then froze so we are dealing with practically cement forts here. First round, everyone throws an ice ball to try to cause some damage. Next round we use our bodies (some of us bruised shoulders, almost broke ribs, and had the wind knocked out of us) then the final round we hack away with shovels and axes. They both finally fell, but the

Non-Porters won (to our great shame).

It was loud and crazy and incredibly FUN…because even though we were miles and hours away from where we live, we were Home, because we were with our family.

My entire family minus 1 or 2 sleeping babies and 2 unborn babies. This is the Non-Porter fort that held up strong through the demolition.

Sitting on the couch at the cabin.

My nephew Jeston and a beautiful view of the lake and mountains in front of the cabin.

Me and Grandma! (I had a big red zit in the middle of my forehead the whole time we were up there...so it's also there in EVERY picture.)

The Porter fort, complete with crenelation and even a window (which you can't see). This is my dad and my oldest sister Sarah.