PURPLE DOOR HOME: It's a family thing...

Apparently I forgot to mention this to quite a few people. If we haven't told you yet there are some other people we know that just bought a cottage on the same lake. The other MacLeods. Rod's brother, our sister-in-law, and their two boys. Their house is at the end of the lake but we visit it every time we are there by kayak, canoe or paddle boat. Whose paddle boat? The one that came with their cottage. Uncle saw it and immediately knew our middlest was going to be happy. She who was never going to boat or swim in the lake was for some reason dying for a paddle boat. Maybe because when I first told her about them I called them bicycle boats? Mistake? Maybe. They just closed on the house last Monday. Rob came over for dinner Monday and Tuesday and we helped him empty a bit of his basement out for work he was having done. Cute place. Exactly the opposite of ours. Perfect.

It is so them. While ours is so us. Ours is two floors. Theirs is one. Ours is remodeled (albeit still crooked and tilted 1940's..nothing modern about it!) Theirs is still in the 1970's or is it 1960's? Purple tub, toilet, sink, tiles, shag turquoise and yellow and maybe pink carpet right into the kitchen (although sadly he is up there ripping it up right now. Shucks. I wanted to help!) It is awesome. Yellow linoleum island that is at table height in the center of the kitchen. Love it! We even had a Michael Jackson dance party the first day to try out their cassette playing stereo. They eventually want to change up the kitchen but Rob has done an IKEA kitchen twice before so this will be easy.

Ours has small separate rooms. Theirs has big open rooms. One of them has two double bunk beds with room to sleep 6. Ours doesn't have a screen porch. Theirs has one that almost doubles the size of their house. It's awesome. Set up with pullout couches, a hammock chair, and perfect for sleeping on hot summer nights. Our house is on a hill. Bumpy yard with boulders everywhere it could be flat. Less to mow but no one is setting a tent up in our yard anytime soon. Theirs is 2 1/2 acres with lawn right down to the lake. Big enough to host 20-30 tents. I joked the first time that I saw it that all our kids are going to get married in that yard (only I wasn't really joking!) Ours has deep water off the dock. Theirs has lots and lots of lily pads (whose days are numbered) and we even found the sweetest baby painted turtle hiding in the reeds just boating by one day. Wish I had my camera that day. I scooped it right out of the water on my canoe paddle and passed it around to each of the girls.

The houses are so completely different which is great. If they were the same we wouldn't need to visit each other. This way we will head to their yard for soccer games, big parties and bbqs and come back to ours for swimming, dinners in the glassed in porch, and waterskiing. The brothers are of course already looking into ski boats. We can kayak, canoe, paddle boat back and forth. Both houses are great for boating and fishing. We've both had great luck fishing off our own docks. Both houses are great for chilling and relaxing and slowing down in their own ways. There is already another MacLeod on the lake that was here before either of us. Her name is Karen. I hope his name isn't Ron. Could add to the confusion. Looking forward to lots of fun memories with all our kids and extended family on the lake.

Welcome to the Lake!