Two hours later, we were stocked with paint, groceries, and headed to the Floathouse.
My Mom wrote the most beautiful email to the family about our wonderful two weeks in paradise, so instead of rewriting, I'm going to use her lovely words and insert pictures to really capture our "Little Red Cabin". To quote my super-fun cousin, Greg, "without the people it's just a floating shack. It's the people and family that make the Red A-Frame special." (Pre-painting pictures)
We had a wonderful time at the floathouse. Christi and Curtis and boys arrived on Thursday at the campground, Laura and Jay and boys came in on Saturday and Sarah, Joe, Ellie and Sam and I came in on Monday.
Sarah and I went to see Grandpa in Albany for three days before we headed to the lake. It was wonderful to spend time with him.
When Sarah and I arrived at the floathouse Monday evening, Laura and Christi had been scraping the floathouse for two days. Curtis did a ton of scraping and Greg Rauch and Stacy Hart also came up over the weekend and put definitely lots of time in scraping. (Insert Christi - and a little visit to St. Marie's ER for a hatchet to the hand - note the fancy wrap on cousin Greg's hand)
It was a huge job. We had nine little kids there
Boys....boys...boys....and Ellie.
- and all got a chance to scrape and paint.
We figured out that the last time the Veal family (with Les' folks) scraped and painted it was when Sarah was 16 - so yep - 23 years ago. We definitely cannot let it go another 23 years. We finished the entire job on the seventh day - and people all over the lake stopped by to tell us how awesome it looked. Harvey came by - with tears in his eyes and thanked us for keeping it the historical color. Not many people have done that. he said and since our floathouse is one of the oldest in the bay, he was especially grateful. Curtis spent two days filling in holes - putting wood on the openings and sealing a bunch of the places where you can see daylight....from the inside.
What a huge difference that made. I purchased an 18 foot extension ladder - which wasn't quite tall enough so for the area from the windows up to the peaks so Curtis duct taped the paint brush to a broom handle and stood on the ladder while Christi dipped the paint brush in the paint and passed it up to him.
It was tricky - and standing on a ladder on a dock going up and down is never fun... He did this only three months post major hernia surgery. I am so grateful to everyone for all of the work.
Every grandchild did some paint. The doors, of course, are in terrible shape. They have so many layers of paint on them - that we just did our best to protect them.
We were so happy to celebrate our accomplishment and enjoy our beautiful Floathouse!
Monday evening after we got there, the Adams came in. They had rented a big pontoon boat - because their entire family was there. It was awesome. They were camping that week at Huckleberry Creek campground. Ben was in from NYC with his partner, Morgan who lives in LA. Emily and Josh were there with their four kids and of course Dick and Sharon. Everyone is doing well. It was wonderful to see them. Christi had planned bratwurst for the entire crew - so that was tons of fun. We spent the rest of the time at the Floathouse boating, swimming, tubing, hiking, playing cards and Pokémon, and, of course...Happy Hour because Every Hour is Happy Hour at the lake.
When we got the whole family together on the last night at the floathouse, it was time to spread Les' ashes. We did them at sunset. The children collected lilies and lily pads - I know Les would have loved that. Laura found some little LED lilies that lit up the minute they hit the water.
We held hands and Joe said a prayer and we said goodbye to Les.
It was so hard - and so sad - but I was proud to be standing there in a place that meant the world to him. We all know that of all of us - Les loved the floathouse the most. There just was never any question of that. He was so much like my folks -who always welcomed family to be there with them - no matter how many showed up. I remember the relatives coming from Minnesota, from California, from all over- always felt welcomed and Dad and Mom were always the perfect hosts. Les learned so much from them. He was always a fan of "the more the merrier" and all of you have experienced that at some time, even Christi's friends (The Schalken's) came to visit the Floathouse this trip.....all the way from Frisco, TX.
I have to tell you that this time at the lake was very very tough on our whole family - the grief was often just too much. Lots of tears - lots of memories. Some of you have lost your Dad - so you know how this feels. None of you have lost your husband -and I pray that you don't have to experience that for many many many years. However, Les had wanted that floathouse painted for about four years so we all did it in homage to him. It was very gratifying, very fulfilling and very meaningful. It looks amazing - and I know Les was smiling - watching us fulfill this in his honor. The grandkids and all of us will never forget that feeling.
Greg brought up his three adorable kids and stayed Saturday and Sunday. They are 5,3, and 1. We really enjoyed them and of course, we all always enjoy Greg. Les and Greg had a very special friendship - and it was very hard for Greg to be there without Les. We got to talk a lot about it - and that helped us both.
I am grateful for our wonderful "Little Red Cabin" which Ginny coined that title years ago. I know you all are also.Love,Becki
Love you, too, Mom!
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