spontaneous trip

Last friday with the exchange of just one email from my mom, I decided we needed to get out of town. Her family lives in northern Wisconsin and they made their own spontaneous plans to tear down 3 of the old buildings on their farm; a project that wasn't supposed to happen for months. 

It didn't take much convincing, and at 6am Saturday, my mom and I started out on our 5 hour trip. We didn't tell anyone we were coming. I just love surprises. Her sisters even called a couple times to let us know the progress of the project. It all was happening much faster than we thought it would. So we put the peddle-to-the-medal and got to the farm by noon. M aunt called just as we made our way to the dirt roads of the country. She and asked what we were up to for the day. "You're going to be surprised," my mom said. "We'll see you in 5 minutes."

 There were tears of joy and excitement! It was great. 

When we got there, almost all of the buildings were down. I didn't even have time to get a picture. 

I must admit I had a couple motives for wanting to be up at the farm for this day. Aside from spending time with family, I just had to get my hands on as much barn board as I possibly could- and I did! They had saved me a few pieces for me, but I saved many more pieces from the fire! And, I have to say, my uncles and cousin were so helpful. They didn't question me. They even encouraged me to take more when I was afraid I had already asked for too much. 

And when I wanted to save cinderblocks to recreate this, they jumped in and loaded up. 

I have to tell you, I was impressed by my uncle Brian. He owns his own excavating business. It was so cool to watch him use this giant claw with such precision. At one point, he spotted a board that he thought I might want to keep and he so gently picked it up and moved it off to the side. I thought it was pretty neat. 

One of the buildings that got torn down was the chicken coop. 

Here's a picture of it from the summer- just so you can see all that awesome barn board! o yeah!

The poor chickens are displaced now. But they're still doing their thing. 

My cousin Jess and I went shed hunting. I had never heard of  it before. I envisioned looking for, like, little houses in the woods. But, NO! Shed hunting is looking in the woods for antlers that the deers shed. We didn't have success. But we did have a beautiful walk in the woods (We went our seperate ways, and I had a moment of panic and a daydream of Hunger Games itensity). It was just fun whipping around on the ATVs and goofing around. I do wish I had my camera in the woods, it was so beautiful. But we did get a snap of our beautifulness when we got back. I mean, come on! We're so hot. 

As for my loot:

We fit what we could in the car to bring back this trip. I have more piled up in the shed at the farm for my dad to bring back in his truck. 

I don't really have specific plans for them yet. But I'm pretty sure I'll come up with something. Of course I've been on Pinterest looking for inspiration. 

These drawers are from my grandpa's old workbench. My mom thinks they're gross. I think they're beautiful. I probably won't do anything with them for awhile- but I like 'em. 

Now, I can agree that this chicken grate is gross. But, I can also see it cleaned up, painted, and functioning as a coffee table. It fit in the car, but I couldn't see out so it, sadly, got left behind. 

There you have it. Our little spontaneous trip! It was perfect & now I have projects to focus on.