JEFFREY'S STORY

The cabin has always been one of my most favorite places to go.. I have always dreamed of the cabin, and it has taken a special place in my life. I always loved going up there with the McMasters....The trips would always be a surprise because we would get so excited over the fact the fact that we were going, that we would annoy my parents! The cabin has always been a place of fond memories, especially since two of my childhood heros were always there, Donia and Josh! I would always try to impress them by doing stupid stuff....but also, Donia, Katie, and Chase, were the ones that I spent most of my time with when i was young. They were always up there. I always remember we would get up there just as it was getting dark, and the McMasters would already be up there because they ALWAYS left before us. But, I remember when we DID drive with them we would always stop in Lockford at the Diner and eat. I also vividly remember the lady that seemed to always be at the diner when we would go. she would sit at the counter all the time, and I used to be afraid of her. but I remember the time when DJ and Katie worked up the nerve to go and talk to her, and she was really nice! I also remember how long the ride seemed to take because of the anticipation of the trip...I remember pulling over for Donia because she always got sick. . .and chase would be mad at her because they had to stop!! Then we would get up there just before dark, and i remember the smell. It smelled slightly musty in there, but just enough to make it smell like the cabin should to me. . . then we would go up the stairs and Surely would be sitting in the brown chair by the fireplace, Pat would be out on the deck shoveling snow, Chase would be helping him, Katie would be playing solitare at the counter, and Donia would be the one to greet us at the top of the stairs. Then my mom would make us go back down immediatly and unpack. . . so i would hurry as fast as I could to do that so that I could be with the "kids." Everyone would stay up and talk until 11:00 or 12:00, reminiscing of past times at the cabin. Jack and Carroll would always be asleep when we got there, so we didnt ever see them till the morning time. in the morning, carroll would always be up. I would lay there on the bed downstairs and try to sneak up there before my dad would catch me, but somehow he always caught me going up there and would make me stay down there until like 9am when he was ready to go up. Then I remember the anticipation of the day, a WHOLE day with the "kids." I remember countless hours of sledding until Pat would call us all in for lunch. All wet and dirty, we would trek back to the cabin, take our clothes off downstairs, and eat sandwiches by the fire. after lunch we would go downstairs and play air hockey for a long time and color on the white board. Katie would always end up going upstairs and falling asleep, followed by Donia, then me. we would sleep till about 4pm, when we would all wake up and try to get our last sledding in before we had to come back for dinner. We always tried to get our parents to let us stay out at dark, but we could never do that... so we played EZ Find downstairs. EZ find was a game that me, Dj, and Katie made up in my room one christmas eve nite. We played it sooo much after that. It was fun, but somebody would ALWAYS stub their toe on the big post downstairs, and the fun would be over until the person was better. We would all go upstairs and listen to one of our dad's as he would yell at the kid, "stop crying". Haha, then we would be forced to stay upstairs and play board games. . . we played Yahzee all of the time; that was the funnest game. Katie always won. Then, it would be time for bed. Here are some things I remember about the cabin experience. MIMI, the driveway, the burned shrubs down the road, the manzanitas, snow, the smell of the wood burning stove, all the people, the food, the sledding, the sled shed thing....all of these things are vividly stuck in my mind. I remember that time we got to go up to the Masquelier/Mcmaster Thanksgiving and ALL the people were up there. That was the funnest time ever. I remember the time when it was a "surprise" that we were going up there, and my parents told me not to say anything to the Mcmaster kids 'cause they didnt know. I was at church and we were meeting at Mckinley for our church service. We were in Sunday School, Donia was sitting in front, and we were having "prayer request time". I strategically said, "I pray that we have a safe trip up to the cabin." Donia SWUNG around, and very quickly and bubbly said, "WE ARE GOING TO THE CABIN!?!?!?!?!? KATIE! WE ARE GOING TO THE CABIN!" Then they told Pat and Surely, and when MY parents found out, my dad said that we weren't going now because I opened my big mouth and I cried for a long time. I remember the times when the McMasters and everybody would go, but for some reason we didnt and I sat in my room all weekend wondering what they were doing. I remember Lake Alpine, and the drive up to there. I have many vivid pictures of the cabin, and if we could just get EVERYBODY up there for a Thanksgiving event or something, everybody that used to go, Donia, Katie, Chase, Joe, Holly, Don Jenny, all the kids, Josh, Chris . . .that would be a PRICELESS event in my life. I will hold these memories forever, the memories of my heros and our trips together . . . . .to the cabin.