The Maestri and Simmons families showed up in force for a spectacular Memorial day weekend at the cabin. Hikes, crafts, rock painting, endless board games, perilous swinging and board balancing, coupled with the best food ever, made for an awesome time. Grandma and Grandpa Lee joined them as we celebrated Grandma’s 67th birthday and supervised one of the biggest work projects in a while. We were joined by some of the Jon Lee family as well. Thanks everyone for pitching in so willingly. We love you all.

Jodi cleaning up after the giant tree branches collapsed.

Zach helps rake out the path to the Honeymoon cabin

Jason, Josh, Jack Jack, and Kade shoveling gravel on the driveway

Ellie handles the wheelbarrow duties.

Kade and Jason manned the shovels.

Grandpa Lee and Mimi take a walk

Mimi finds a nice rock to paint

Mimi shows a rock to her daddy.

Lots of howls at the cold-water hair washing frenzy.

The girls decorated for Grandma Lee’s birthday breakfast. Jack, Josh, and Mimi are all dressed up for church.

Christian and Jessica Lee on the swing

Jess and Christian are our newest married couple to pose for the “Swing” shot. Couples from the beginning of time have posed here according to ancient legend. They also got in on our big work project helping cut and stack logs from the winter kill and spreading new gravel on the driveway and walkways. We love you both.

We were grateful that Jon brought up his chain saw and two helpers, Diggie and Max to help trim and cut the rest of the winter kill. They worked long and hard and were joined later by Alyssa who worked hard hauling and stacking logs.

Master loggers: Jon, Max and Diggie Lee

Alyssa and Dallin find a fun way to spread the gravel using a Tonka dump truck and shovel

She may be pretty, but she is a hard worker. Alyssa hauled and stacked the logs.

We were shocked at the amount of damage our Ponderosa Pine Trees had over the winter. We think in addition to the heavy snows, there was a huge wind or tornado that swept through our property in a line of trees completely bent to the ground or broken off. We hired an ex-logger, Richard Esplin, to come and cut up all the downed trees as well as cut down the big dead snag by the honeymoon cabin. We’ve been working to clean up and get the cabin ready for the season. There are still a number of big branches that are broken and hung up in the ponderosas, so watch out. Other than that, spring is here and everything is greening up nicely. So come enjoy.

Some trees were bent clear to the ground

Thanks to Christian for hauling all the logs and stacking the woodpile. At least we’ll have some wood next year. Thanks to Richard Esplin and his chain saw for cutting up the fallen trees.

Really huge branches just missed the Honeymoon Cabin

The Lee Kids climb all over the big snag that is now a permanent part of the cabin landscape

Max climbs on the big snag

Rockin’ R Cabin property Lines

Our official cabin address is:

11590 W. Cedar Road, Orderville UT 84755

You can look that up on Google Maps and it will get you pretty close. At least on our street. We are Lot E-24 Little Ponderosa Subdivision on the Kane County Recorder property maps.

GPS coordinates: 37.282604, -112.896664

Cabin fever is already here. It’s only January 1, 2017 and the requests for cabin reservations are coming in. Look at your calendars and plan a special cabin weekend. And don’t forget midweek dates. They are almost always available. And out of courtesy for others, if you find you cannot use your date please let us know in advance. Roland and Nellie Lee

Thanks to Ben Rogers for installing our new french doors on the back of the cabin. It brings so much more light in and makes the deck access easier.

Thanks to Ben Rogers for installing the neat windows in the kids cabin, which dresses up the look and lets us see the view.

We snuck back up to the cabin again, hoping to get the walls and roof on the treehouse before had to go down to Escalante for our canyoneering trip with

All of you with cabin fever, take note. Nellie and I with a few of our grandkids opened up the cabin this week, filled the water bottles, and uncovered Mr. Bear. We are officially open for business. Everything looks great. The days are warm but the nights are cooold (28 degrees). The new cabin rules for this year are:

1. No electronic devices during the day. Approved activities are: hiking, Lincoln logs, games, crafts, painting rocks, reading books, nature study, building forts, and playing outside. Devices okay at night if parents approve.

2. We are asking for families to contribute $20 per visit to help with upkeep. If you can’t afford it, it’s free.

3. Have lots of fun!!

Diggy and Becca are the first grandkids in the Tree House this year. The treehouse looks good, but the ladder needs some repairs.

Plenty of Big horn sheep this year in Zion

Max demonstrates an approved activity – Frisbee!

Grandma Lee, Max, Diggy, Becca, and Birdie try out our new walking sticks

Grandma and Max play Stratego in the outdoor playroom. March 2014

We hauled one of our big flat stones down from the cabin and had Kenworthy Monuments sandblast  a big “Rockin R” in it. Nellie and I somehow managed to get it off the truck and mounted at the entrance to our cabin property. We think it looks snazzy!

New sandblasted entrance sign to the cabin