A toddler’s first time at the cabin
Just as Ross was winding down his weeklong getaway to Hayward last week, I embarked on my own journey up north. Instead of Hayward, though, I hopped the border into Minnesota for my annual guys weekend at my parents’ cabin near Brainerd.
“Guys” weekend isn’t always just for the guys. My wife has joined a couple of times, though she quickly realized that three days out in the woods with a bunch of increasingly smelly men is not really her scene. Other significant others have tagged along over the years, with varying degrees of success.
This past weekend was unique, though. For the first time ever, a child made an appearance. And I’m not talking about the man-child that emerges from each of my friends once we get away from civilization. This was my buddy Jesse’s 20-month-old daughter, Dottie.
Dottie and Jesse’s wife, Cassie, joined us for two half-days and one night during the four-day weekend. I found myself unusually nervous about hosting a toddler at my parents’ cabin, even though both her parents were there, and my own parents weren’t too far away just in case we needed some backup support.
As it turned out, my worries were a little overblown. There were only one or two minor meltdowns, no major falls down a hill and she didn’t seem to mind walking on a dock for the first time. In fact, the weekend was a treasure trove of “firsts” for little Dottie.
On Saturday, she experienced her firstever boat ride on my parents’ old pontoon, topped up with her first time swimming in a lake. She seemed a little wary at first when her dad flung himself into the water, but just a few minutes later, she was being lowered into the water herself without so much as a whimper. With her mom and dad right there, she appeared to be having the time of her little life as she floated in the cool waters of a Central Minnesota lake.
Eventually, of course, she wanted to return to the boat, but she never seemed to tire of pushing her dad back into the water, just to see him splash. The boat ride itself gave her plenty of sights and sounds to take in, and she really enjoyed pointing out all of the other boats and jet-skis that went zooming by.
The following morning, she got another essential lake experience when our neighbors brought over some freshly caught northern. My dad coated the filets in egg wash and bread crumbs, fried them up in a pan and delivered them to outdoor breakfast table. As Cassie pointed out later on Facebook, Dottie shoveled down three helpings of the freshwater delicacy. After that, she even got to try bocce ball for the first time.
Dottie is definitely a “lake person” in the making.
OUT FOR A WALK
KEVIN O’BRIEN
EDITOR
