Once again I have had a chance to spend time at the cabin with grandchildren. This time it was with my two granddaughters. This time, it was a little different from when we would have one or more of the grandsons along because fishing wasn’t the most important thing on our agenda. My son, Brad, and his two girls, Emma and Ava, went north with Grandpa and Grandma for a few days, and they took to the woods like they belonged there.

Emma is a special girl because she is not afraid of any critters, loves playing in the dirt and when it comes to small crawling, creeping critters, her curiosity overrides any fear she might have. She will play with leeches in their container and she handles all of the night crawlers, looking for the fattest one. Grandpa found a box of old trucks that were actually her dad and Uncle Brian’s when they were young. All of the grandsons played with these toys at one time, and now these two girls took to them like they were Christmas presents. Emma was digging holes in the dirt to play with the trucks and she kept bringing me earthworms that she found.

Brad took the girls out in the paddle boat on our little lake on a couple of different occasions and they just loved it. We did go to a nearby lake with the big boat for a little fishing, but it was too hot for the girls so we had to cut it short. That was the extent of our fishing on this trip, but it was still a great trip. The girls stayed busy playing, whether it was toys or climbing on a pile of logs, or for Emma finding different worms and bugs to show me and ask me about. She is definitely an outdoors girl.

One evening we drove to another area lake so the girls could swim and we could fish off of the dock. On the way to the lake, we had two fawns with spots on them go across the road in front of us so we stopped to watch. The first one went just a short distance into the woods and the second one stopped in the road and just stared at us curiously before walking off the road. We could see the mother standing a little further into the woods, and after both of her fawns had entered the woods, I saw her twitch her tail in a signal for them to go and they took off in a flash. On that evening we spotted 11 deer along the way. This was a thrill for the girls, especially Emma, who gets excited whenever she sees a critter in the wild.

Overall, this was a great week for Grandpa and Grandma because we got to spend this time at the cabin with those two girls and their dad. There were many birds at the feeder this week and the two woodpeckers that have been visiting all year came back to entertain us. We have an assortment of birds here, but the woodpeckers are special.

We also had an eagle circling close to the cabin right in front of the deck.

There is nothing greater in life than spending time with family, especially grandchildren, and these two little girls are very special to us. Ava likes to have Grandpa read to her and, when he gets done with the book, she wants to read to Grandpa and even tells me where to sit. Emma loves playing with Legos, drawing and painting and she’s actually pretty good at both. Whenever she isn’t doing artsy stuff she is definitely an outdoors girl. The girls never once said they were ready to go home — I guess they kept too busy to even think about it.

Whenever I am at the cabin with family it is a special time — quality time — and there are always memories to be made. These two little girls stay so busy and they made this week another time that I will always have to cherish.

Until next time — It doesn’t matter what time of year you fish; that lunker could be lurking in the shadows just waiting for your next cast. Please take a little time to make some summer memories by sharing time in the outdoors with family.

Please take some time to honor those who have sacrificed so much for the freedoms that we enjoy today. Take a little time to remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice, those who served and those troops who are serving today.