how much fun did i have and how much did i get done this weekend!! it was awesome! of course, it's hard to screw up any weekend that is dedicated to scrapbooking LOL. terry and i left friday morning for pequot lakes to return to the
intensive crop unit for the second year in a row. we have it booked for the same weekend next year already. there's a group of us that got together and formed a "dorm" for cku (a place where manufacturers and "experts" give classes on scrapbooking techniques and using their products) in 2005. we were originally all from northern minnesota, and we still try to get together once a year. it's hard for us to all be able to come though it would be nice if we can all see each other again. we have a few people who've joined us since cku so our group is growing!
we took the blazer in case we needed the 4wd on our way back since they were calling for winter storm during the weekend. i'm glad we had it! got dumped with about a foot of snow over there, in pequot lakes and looked pretty much the same all the way back to roseau on our drive back - lots of snow, no cars in ditches though. the only casualties we noticed were several mailboxes.
i love the setup they have at that place! it is so great - she has a huge crop area that is off the scrapbook store so we can crop as early or as late (or all night) as we want. we have our own door to access the crop area/living area from the outside. the upstairs has lots of space too. it is so nice for large groups. (we were nine people this time). kitchen/dining room/living room all open, two bathrooms (each with double sinks), three bedrooms with a total of 10 beds.
as for food, we decided to get most of it catered this year. we loved the food that lakes latte had brought us last year. it was even better this time - and cheaper in the long run! (we gave $35 pp for all our food and drinks and snacks for the whole weekend-that's for 6 meals!) lakes latte's food is so yummy!! i hope we decide to do that again next year.
anyways, we also organized a few games which were a ton of fun. my favourite was the putting together a scrapbook page... blindfolded. it was so funny to watch! then it was my turn. that wasn't so funny LOL i felt so disoriented just trying to reach for the pieces of paper that were for the journaling and photo mats and titles, etc. and then trying to place them on the scrapbook page so that it looked ok. we all managed ok - guess now we can say that we can scrapbook with our eyes closed : ) one of the girls, lisa, took some pics - i hope she shares because i forgot to pack my camera!
i always get a lot done when i go there because i don't have to put anything away! i made three months worth of cards for card club (plus extras for myself) and a few little albums, a generic one, a cmas one, one for matthieu. i didn't get to finish the flower shaped chipboard album that i was doing for the girls though. maybe i'll finish that one when i go on my next scrapbook retreat in march. that ones in moose lake.
pequot lakes is such a cute place - a lot of little boutique-type shops, and the people are so friendly. all in all it was a great weekend!
well i braved the cold and brought the kids back to the
festival du voyageur saturday. actually, it wasn't too cold... the sun was out and it didn't feel as cold as what's it's been all week.
we had a blast! matthieu's been to the festival before but it was the first time for the girls and for katlyn. they had so much fun i'm not sure if they could pick any one of thing out that they enjoyed the most. when i asked danielle what her favourite was she pretty much named everything she had seen and did LOL
of course they were impressed with the immense snow sculptures. those guys that are so talented!! copying from their models - all to scale! they're part of the international snow sculpting symposium. the kids loved the snow maze - they'd come out of there giddy and laughing, with their cheeks all rosy! katlyn even poked at one of the walls as we were coming in - she was convinced they were sculpted out of foam
our first stop was at the caisse tent where they had singing and, of course, food. tourtiere and bannock were on the menu. yummy! saw a lot of people from st-claude there... then the kids went inside a little igloo. they found furs, sleeping bags, dishes and food in there!! turns out you can spend the night in one for $250!!! not quite like a night at the fairmont...
we watched as some people were starting to line up for a toboggan run competition... but the toboggans were out of cardboard!! reinforced with good old duct tape. one team actually had actually wrapped their person in duct tape to the cardboard toboggan!!
towards the end of our day there we went for a sleigh ride - the kids LOVED that too! me, on the other hand, was freezing my butt off because, of course, i didn't think i needed to wear ski pants (since it was such a nice day out for a change) i was sitting on my gloves. that helped a lot - until i had to get my hands free to save chantale when she fell forward. i think that's when matthieu and katlyn fell off the sleigh - along with a few other people : ) they were running to catch up to us but it was difficult since the snow was almost knee-deep. they eventually made it back on... katlyn says the highlight of her day was falling off the sleigh! my favourite would have been watching angie play the washboard - but i missed it.... LOL
we're all looking forward to going back already - this time i'll be wearing ski pants!
click on
official guide to pull up the festival's guide for this year if you're interested. and here's a write up about this year's festival in the
winnipeg free press.
