Journal Starters

Okay, so I am not the most creative person; especially when it comes to writing in my journal. So, I have found a website that has some journal starters to give me some ideas as to what I should write about. We'll see how well this works!!

Describe the ideal peaceful place for you.

The ideal place for me is the cabin. My Grandma and Grandpa Bennion, along with my Uncle Brant and my Mom built a cabin out in Shuswap, B.C. This cabin is one of my most favorite places in the entire world! The love of this place begins as soon as we get into the car to drive out there. I always wake up sooo excited. . . like it is Christmas morning. I load the kiddies into the car which is packed to the brim with all of our clothes, swimming suits, water toys, other toys, presents, treats, food and games. We play games and sing songs and open presents on the 5 1/2 hour drive. I always look for the "Welcome to B.C." sign and I swear that as soon as I see this sign I can smell the pine trees. In keeping with tradition, we sing the "Pine Tree" song which my very creative grandfather made up a LONG time ago. Then we get excited as we hit Golden. This is the halfway point on the trail, and we know that we are getting ever closer to the Shuswap. Then we anxiously wait for "the tunnels". These are avalanche tunnels that are fun to go through. Once we have finished the tunnels, it's off to Revelstoke where we always stop at McDonalds. This provides a nice bathroom break/lunch break for not only the kiddies, but for Mom and Dad as well. After Revelstoke it is only an hour until we reach "The Marina" in Sicamous. This is where we keep the boat. Our cabin is only accessible by boat, so this is the beginning of the last part of our journey. After loading up the boat, we start the 15 minute boat ride to the cabin. I LOVE the feeling of the wind in my hair, and the waves on the water (unless there are too many waves, and then I just want it to be over). The kids love watching all of the other boats go by and we wave to the people suntanning on their houseboats.

Once we finally pull up to the dock, we unload the boat and bring everything up 2 flights of stairs to the cabin. This is a bit of a tedious task, but we are always so excited to be at the cabin that it seems like a small price to pay. Once settled, we all have to go for a swim no matter what time of day it is or what the weather is like! We are just so excited to be there. Being on the Shuswap we are surrounded by water and mountains. It is so beautiful to go outside and listen to the water wash up onto the rocks, or hear a boat go by, or listen to the birds, or listen to the kids playing in the water. I love it in the mornings when the sun is glistening on the water and it is reflecting into the cabin. I love going outside at night and lighting fireworks, or just going out and looking at the reflection of the moon glistening on the water. When it is a clear night, you can see the Milky Way and my sisters and I usually spend at least one night outside talking about life. It is one of my favorite things.

I love watching my children play at the cabin. My mom and I usually stay out there for a couple of weeks together, and I love it. I love how she is completely herself out there and that my children get to spend that time with her. My siblings, parents and I usually catch minnows with the kids, swim with them, take them tubing and last year Abby learned how to wakeboard. My favorite thing to do outside is to either suntan on the dock and play with the kiddies out there, or drive the boat while people are skiing, wakeboarding, tubing (including tube wars), or boogie boarding. I am not a big water sports person myself, but I LOVE to tube old school style and I LOVE to drive the boat!

Another fun thing that we do at the cabin is cliff jumping. I cannot cliff jump any more because I have alot of problems with my ears and pressure, but I love watching everyone else cliff jump. I was also so proud of Abby last year when she jumped off of the highest cliff. The beach at the cliffs is a pebble beach, so it is fun to skip rocks or sun tan or wade into the water with the kiddies.

I love playing games at night with my family. Jenna and I have become quite the rook team and we love playing together. Our family also like to play push rummie and greedy greedy. Kristin and I usually do some sort of puzzle or paint by number or craft. I also have presents for the kiddies to open almost every day. These are about $5 presents that I have found that are crafts, toys, water toys, coloring books, games etc that I have found for them to open and to make things a little bit exciting for them. This is something that I have learned from my mom and grandma. I think that it is in my blood.

So, in case you haven't guessed, the cabin is by far the most wonderful place in the world for me. I have never found any other place that has brought me more joy, love and memories then this place has. I am glad that I found that journal starter, or else I would have never written this entry!