We headed north to celebrate my 31st birthday. Of course, we HAD to make a pitstop in Mansfield to say hello to a couple of old friends. the MARKS BROTHERS were a fine...um...upstanding...err... you know what? i have no idea what they did. the only bar in mansfield is named after them, so they must be good people.















Ellie had to listen to us talking about this bar for three hours on the ride up. She walked in and said "this is it???". yes...this is it. It's a magical place where dreams are made an little fairies walk through the tulips. or not. either way, we like it here.















Finally got settled in at the cabin (notice me sporting my new MU hat).















Sketch prepares the first round of food. These are "poppers". Little hot peppers filled with chese and ham. yup...tasty. notice the excellent product placement.















It's not a party until the dogs arrive....and then sit on your lap. Taz is a 75 pound lapdog. looks comfy.















James became the official "fire tender". he also became the official "suzy home-maker", but thats another story. Here, he's got the fuego burning nicely.















Here's my reaction to ellie saying "i'd like to play poker tonight". Yes....there will be poker.















Headed out for a hike on saturday morning. There's no bridge across the creek, so we had to find a way. We took great care to LIFT the dogs across, and then they ran right back through and got soaked. Luckily, no one else took a swim. It was a tad chilly for swimming.















Apparently, this cottage is "a nice little place".














Here we are at the far end of the lake on our hike. Minutes later, the first raindrops began to fall....and we began to move more quickly.















the Reeders buy the BEST gifts! nice sweatshirt. i will wear it proudly!















Here's the official "31st birthday toast".















Ellie, Harley, Coley, Taz, Reeder and Sketch relaxing before dinner on Saturday.















Gina made brownies (yum). We added the candles! You can see that Gram made it to the party. In case you're wondering, she turns 103 this year.




















Time to break of the chips and cards, it's Poker time! I think ellie's hooked on it now.















Not a bad take for me...i'm not ready for World Series of Poker yet, but i'm working on it!















After a long night of poker, these two were pretty exhausted!















Here's the view just before we headed out Sunday morning