I can’t wait to tell you all about our trip to Waskesiu! While I was very much anticipating it, I was a tad on the nervous side having found out the day before we left that our precious little lake town was completely snowed over. But, spoiler alert, it did NOT disappoint!! I’ll tell you all about it tomorrow. Or over the course of the next two days, maybe. It depends on how many pictures I have to post. 😉 It can be a real problem.
What I do want to tell you guys about where we stayed. Or rather, who hosted us. And I’m going to go about that in an annoyingly long way, like usual.
We stay at Chateau Park Chalet when we go to Waskesiu. It is a sweet little place, close to everything, with everything we need. There are two bedrooms and a full bathroom upstairs, and a big sleeping couch on the main level. It has a full kitchen, a BBQ on the patio, and a wood burning stove. Its familiar, and its always clean. We love it there. Unfortunately, it doesn’t have the best reviews online, and they do hold some merit. The wifi does suck. Some of the fixtures are imperfect, and the kitchen isn’t always perfectly stocked. And yes, the owners are hard to get a hold of. They’re not the most organized couple. But they run a handful of local businesses, and run back and forth between them unceasingly, it seems. When we arrived on Saturday, they let us in to our suite, and proceeded to check it over and leave and come back a handful of times, adding extras to the kitchen, showing us how to work the tv, and bringing WAY too many towels for our many children. The lady couldn’t resist our kids, and just gushed at them over and over. She left, and returned for the umpteenth time with a handwritten “gift certificate” for $30 at the convenience store/restaurant they run. She said we could come get breakfast there, or snacks, or candy, or whatever we wanted. She said she really wanted to do something for the kids.
We’ve been staying at this same place for a handful of summers now, and I’ve never seen this side of her! She’s polite, but seems just way too busy for her own good. She still seemed busy this time around, but like she really wanted to give a gift. So I thanked her profusely and promised we’d stop by at some point.
We spent our Saturday and Sunday at our little chalet, loving our time all along the way. We called the owner at one point to confirm when check out time was, and she laughed and told us to “take it easy.” Clearly, things are slow in the off-season, so we took our time.
Brady called when we were about to head out, and asked if we should leave the key. She had said we could, but if we wanted to drop it off at their convenience store, that would be fine, too. We had decided to use their gift to us on travel snacks, so we said we’d drop it off.
We were greeted SO warmly upon arriving at their gas station/convenience store/restaurant/everything store. Brady gave them the key and I wandered the snack aisles with the kids. We didn’t tell them dollar limits or anything, but we figured it would be nice if they each picked a thing. We didn’t need to gut their gift for all it was worth. Our kids are so funny. Rowan chose a Caramilk (don’t ask me why, I don’t think he even knew what it was) but the other three opted for suckers. Weird, right? They each grabbed an oversized Rockets sucker. And that was it! Since I knew the owners would want it, Brady and I each chose a thing, too. I got Mike n Ikes, and Brady got a Snickers. We presented them at the till, but she quickly turned us away.
“No no no, this isn’t close to $30! Go, get more!” She waved us towards the rest of the store. I reassured her, we each had something, and were so grateful, but she would have none of it. “No no no! There’s so much! Go get drinks! Snacks! More more more! For the children!” Pretty sure she would’ve run us down if we’d tried to actually exit.
So we ventured further in. We grabbed a big bag of pink popcorn and everyone got a drink from the cooler. (I could drink those Pure Leaf Iced Teas all day every day!) We brought everything back to the counter and I asked “Did we do it?” She looked skeptical, and threw five kinder surprises into a bag with everything else. That seemed to do the trick.
We all thanked her profusely, and I told her it was all too much. And she caught me off guard with her “why.”
She told me she wanted to, and in summer, she just can’t with all the busyness. She legitimately wouldn’t have time. But she wanted to.
I’ve been learning a lot about letting people love my children – my family – and letting them “inconvenience” themselves for us. I hear a lot of people with larger families say they’re meant to feel like a nuisance, and I am SO blessed to feel so far the other way. People love on my family so often, by choice, on purpose. I should really stop trying to talk people out of it. She knew she was giving a gift to seven people. It would cost her more money than if there were, say, four of us. There would be more people blocking the aisles of her store, and we’d be louder. We might make our suite a bit dirtier than a smaller group, or make more noise through the walls. But she wanted to give us a gift. Its not like she didn’t know there were so many of us. She was happy to have us.
I’m rambling. Sorry, not sorry. I felt really touched by her gift.
For probably the first time ever, we spent our road trip home sugaring our kids up to high heaven! Judge if you must, but this never ever happens! It was SO FUN for the kids!
And Brady and I, too.
Not Laela, apparently.
😆
Don’t worry, she had her own fun.
As you’d expect, no one slept on the drive home. And as you’d expect, there have been some sugar crash moments. But we expected them, and have been able to be super gentle through them. I can confidently say it was well worth it! The kids will remember this the next time we go to Waskesiu. Not only that, but what an amazing, unexpected lesson in generosity, sharing, and loving people just because!
I LOVE knowing that, even in the summer busyness and lack of communication with the chalet owners, our family is welcome there. That they’re genuinely happy to have us. That they don’t cringe when they see us coming. That they like us.
We like them, too.