Memorial Day Dock Building

It's official. The delimited pier up at Hebgen had seen better days. Plans have been in the works to replace it - it was removed in the Fall by some strong guys with big trucks. Now it just had to be replaced.  Every capable Ryberg Man (Mike, his cousins and uncles and his second cousins etc... all of which who share the pier) got together to finish talking and start building the new pier! They had three days and a blizzard to complete the ambitious project.

I've only been going to the cabin for 7 years, but this was by far the coldest one of them all. Our wood burning stove was out of commission - thanks to the chimney falling off the roof over the Montana winter. We made due with a truck load of space heaters and the fireplace. Daniel wore at least 3 outfits at a time.

It was a really cool experience to be there when all of these family members came together to honor their Great Grandma Ryberg's legacy in working together and building a new pier.

The group divided itself between two garages to start building frames for the pier - Mike called the groups the A-Team and the B-Team. Ha. Spirits were high despite the temporary power outage in the area, the cold wet snow storm, freezing temperatures and numb fingers.  Ever wonder what a picnic table looks like at the cabin? Wonder no more...

Daniel and I spent the weekend huddled in the family room by the fire playing toys and watching (you guessed it) Curious George.

The weather finally cleared up enough to start working (or rather, for the men to start working) down at the beach. Daniel tested out the first installed piece of pier by throwing rocks off of it into the water. It seems to work well if you ask Daniel...

If you look closely, you'll see Jason Dunlop literally shave 2 inches off of his waist size by slipping through the pier frame...

The cheerleaders - this job was not as easy as it looks. It was cold sitting on that bench watching the men work! Aunt Laura, Me, Charlotte Doman and Aunt Charlotte Jacobsen. And yes, I was also wearing 3 outfits at any given time. It was cold!