Fourth of July on the Beach

Fun in the sun...

Farewell to Maddie

 Maddie Dahl

April 4, 1999 - January 23, 2011

It is with broken hearts that we said good-bye to our dear and faithful friend Maddie today. There has never been a more incredible dog. She has shared and enhanced every area of our family's life for the past nearly 12 years. Through the many happy times and the difficult or sad times, she was always there offering her loving understanding and encouragement. It seems no one could read emotions like her.

There is really no way to pay tribute to such a friend that would appropriately honor her memory. Everyone who knew Maddie loved her. And everyone who knew Maddie was loved by her. The gaping hole in our hearts will surely never heal. Who knew that to love so much, could hurt so much in the end!

We take comfort though in knowing that this last year spent at the lake was truly her best; freely roaming, hunting,  and swimming, ever offering companionship, love and support, surrounded by all of her favorite people!

Over the last several months we had watched her health decline. It was heart wrenching seeing her lose her strength and appetite and pep. Yet, to the last moments of her life, she continued to give, trying to comfort us in our pain over losing her.

Thank you, Maddie, for everything. You're the best! We will miss you desperately!

We have hundreds of pictures of life with our friend, since she always wanted to be near us, but will only post "a few"...can't help ourselves.

Celebrating Doug's birthday on the beach

She helped Sandy build this boulder hillside

 

She was always so eager to go to the cabin and seemed to know when it was THE day. She'd stand by the door and then by the Jeep and insist on being loaded up right away, sometimes an hour before we were ready to leave, just in case we might leave without her...UNLIKELY!

Last winter she played on the frozen lake with Lauren and Kya

She hated pelicans too...GET 'EM!!!!

Getting to know the territory she's responsible for

She looks like a glowing angel here-how perfect!

Caving to keep cool

We teased that this picture looks like they're all checking out the menu at a concession stand. Maddie was probably waiting to order squirrel or chipmunk on a stick!

 

   She always wore this expression of pride, protection and ownership. 

She wanted to try it too...

Hunter-Warrior Princess with Chris and her catch!

After a long, hard day...

Maddie had given her approval of this beach when we first looked at the property. She loved swimming with us...especially playing Hide and Seek with Doug. He would call to her and then dive under the water and swim away. She would whine as she swam feverishly in every direction looking for him. Then he'd pop up far away and she'd swim toward him excitedly and he'd hold her and cheer! It was the best!

A belly rub was always welcome!

Her new cousin/sister/annoyingly-energetic youngen, Kya

Maddie was readily available for hugs, always lending her velvety soft body to anyone in need. On this day, Annie needed and Maddie gave.

She loved sun bathing. Where there was a sun beam, Maddie was in it.

 No matter what, she just wanted to be wherever we were...

Loved going for a ride with Doug!

Just Chillin'

We shared the same leisure-time activities, like popping bubble wrap!

Yep, Annie, she is soooo soft and cuddly!

What makes dinnertime the best ever? Having your pups keeping your feet warm under the table!

Playing with Annie under the high chair. Who knows, there might be some crumbs to clean up!

Annie, cozying up on Maddie's bed to play.

We knew Maddie's time with us was coming to an end, so 
we invited the kids to come over to say their good-byes...

Lauren brought Maddie her last Dairy Queen cone. She enjoyed them so much; we couldn't even spell it without her knowing what we were talking about and running toward the door to go! She always got her own kiddy cone and ate in about two bites.

Maddie and Chris have always had a special bond. It was a mutual admiration deal - 
note the expression on her face as she looks to him!

Loving being loved on by Chris!

We will always picture life at the cabin this way, 
Maddie-pup, with you right at the center of it all! 

We Think We Did It!

January 14-17, 2011

This weekend marks the one year anniversary of the beginning of our cabin adventure! It's hard to believe that last January 15th we had the closing for the lot and the construction loan! We went out for lunch with Carl Kvale, our realtor, and then out to the lot for day #1 of work. Wow, one year ago today...

January 15, 2010

Here's how the lot looked when we drove up, so excited that it was ours.

Before...

January 15, 2011

And here's how it looks now...After!

We had a very successful weekend of work, thanks to the wonderful help of several people. Sandy's sister and her husband, Mona and Stan, came from Duluth, and our longtime friend and mortgage banker, Jim Holm, came from Ramsey to offer their assistance. 

We couldn't have done it without them! Thanks, guys!

We also hired a wonderful young man named Leslie, who was recommended to us by Bill from Hilltop Lumber in Brandon. He has worked with his Dad for many years and was a huge asset to us. He and Doug hung the bead board on the ceiling of the porch.

Thank goodness they did the outside work, since it was hovering around 0 degrees! Surprisingly, Leslie is only wearing a sweatshirt, oh, AND Carhartt bibs!

The rest of the day we focused on hanging the remaining doors upstairs...

And installing door and window trim and baseboard throughout.

We got so much done on Saturday that we didn't need to do much else. Stan and Mona were able to join us for dinner at Doolittle's in Alex and then stayed overnight for a great, relaxing evening. On Sunday Doug called the appraiser (who needed to give his final approval before closing) to confirm our appointment with him for Monday. He said he wasn't available until late afternoon Monday, but could stop over that day and would be right over! So, we ran around cleaning (and installing the baseboard in the upstairs bedroom!!!!) before he arrived. He said that everything looked great and he would be able to check "YES" in the little box indicating that we had completed everything on the Appraisal Completion Report. Yahoo! 

As soon as he left, we plopped down and did NOTHING for the rest of the weekend! Actually, we did sit and listen to the silence and Sandy read her book and Doug pulled off a long-overdue 11-hour night's sleep! We hope to be doing a lot more of that nothingness in the days to come! 

So, here are the latest views, and how it will probably look for a very long time...(Note the awesome trim!)

Praise God, we are done! We've done all we can do for now and await word on the closing later this week.