No matter what the weather, our staff keeps on working. With spring coming late to the Northwoods we need to stay working no matter the weather. Last fall we had to replace the septic system with holding tanks for Hideaway. Which means new landscaping at the far end of the beach. The landscaping process began today with another landmark having to go.

Hauling the rocks from the beach fireplace in the rain.

Randy has the driest job.

From mini excavator, to wheelbarrow, to tractor and finally to dump truck.

The 6 inches of snow that fell Saturday/Sunday had John out shoveling again. And he thought he was safe to put all the shovels away! At least the storm that was predicted for tonight has been downgraded from 10-12 inches to 2-4 inches. That will help in getting the grounds ready for all our guests.

Snow in April has become the norm.

As the temperatures continue to rise (they say near 70 today) the snow is creating foggy conditions.

Boat house in the fog

Hard to see Charlie today.

This winter we refurbished the bedrooms and bathroom in Red Oaks and Hideaway. Red Oaks bedrooms are now larger and both vacation homes have nice larger showers.

Hideaway bedroom

Hideaway bathroom

Red Oak Bedroom

Red Oak bathroom

John and I attended our first sport show this weekend. We really enjoyed talking with people and sharing our slice of heaven with them. Thank you to all our fisherman whose fish pictures help get people excited about our great chain of lakes. We look forward to more trophy fish pictures (including bluegills) during the 2011 season.

Our exhibit booth; sharing our dream spot with others.

I’m a little late getting these posted, but as the saying goes: Better late than never. With the Packers making their way to the Super Bowl, we decided it was a perfect opportunity to use the two large screen TV’s in the lodge. We invited our church to come and enjoy the game at the resort. Even though I’m not into football, it was fun watching all the fans enjoy the game. We had all ages here from 4 to 84! Lots of fun.

John and Kelly all decked out for the game. I even had to paint Kelly's nails in green with the players numbers on them.

This was the quiet room.

This was the noisy room...all the shouts and screams came from this crew.

John and I spent a couple of hours cleaning up downed trees on the nature trail to make it easier to get through on snowshoes.  No more having to try to step over the trees.

I never thought I would look forward to winter. I used to dread it, but snowshoeing has become a passion of mine and I’m so excited that the snow is here! Sorry it’s been a while since I’ve posted anything. Between our vacation in early December and the holidays I haven’t gotten to the computer. We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and are looking forward to the New year! Don’t forget we are open for business in January and February. We have snowshoes you can use and have blazed a trail around White Birch lake.

Blazing the trail around our lake.

Taking the family snowshoeing. It was the nieces and daughter Kelly's first time.

Even the dogs tagged along!

The final trek across the lake back to the lodge.

We’d like to share one of our family’s holiday tradition with you. Every year since 1945 our family has gotten together to make Swedish Christmas cookies. This year there were 30 of us making all the cookies. At the end of the day we always have a contest to see who can guess how many were made. Our niece Sierra was the lucky one to count all the cookies this year and Aunt Sandy was the lucky winner….she guessed the exact amount…..2010! Not only was this the first time someone guessed the exact amount, but then the amount was the same as the year! WOW! The lodge large kitchen comes in handy to make all the cookies. With Christmas music playing, kids decorating cookies and learning to roll out Pepparkaker (Swedish Spice Cookies) fun was had by all!

Cousins decorating the Spritz.

Rolling out the Pepparkaker. It needs to be thin to be good!

A pile of Pepparkaker.

We fill the dining room table with cookies.