New Years at Ashley Lake

The day we travelled from Alameda, CA to Ashley Lake, MT was a long one but everything went surprisingly well. Our flight was at 6am so mom was up at about 4am getting everything ready. Granddad drove us to the airport at 5 and Grandma Cari was nice enough to help mommy and me all the way to security. Mommy only has so many hands so she really appreciated it. Even though we were both tired, we stayed in good spirits for both flights (first to Salt Lake and then to Missoula). Papa Schlenker was nice enough to pick us up in Missoula and drive us back to the Lake (over a 2 hour drive). I had my standard 45 minute nap in the car (I never sleep longer than that in a car seat) and didn’t go potty in my pants at all. Mom was so proud of me.
When we got to the lake, We were able to spend a day with the Smiths and 2 days with Grandma and Grandpa Campbell before it was just members of the Schlenker Family at the cabin. I get along great with my Schlenker Cousins (Ashton, Nick and Beckham) and they always included me when they played. I even got to sit on the big bar stools with Ashton and Nick for each meal. In particular, I think Nick and I are going to be good buds as we grow.
The night we got there we opened gifts and I got spoiled once again: camo sweat suit (matching my cousins), aqua doodle pad, hockey sticks/net, 2 trucks that drive themselves, zoo zoo pet, blocks, and a special book that has grandma and papa’s voice recorded to read to me.
The only downer at the lake this year was that there was not a lot of snow. This made our tobogganing efforts limited but other than that, we found lots of fun things to do. I loved going to the neighbors park and going “up, down” on the see saw.


Mom’s favorite part, as always, was skating on the lake. Thanks to my cousin’s skate trainer, I did pretty well too.
Grandma and Grandpa Campbell

Grandma pulling my on the sled.

Uncle Derek



Daddy arrived from a long day of travel on New Years Eve and we were so excited to see him. After working all week and waking up that 4am that morning he was exhausted. He helped how he could with the rock work (see pictures below) but when my bedtime arrived, he took me to bed and never came back up. Who can blame him!

The rock workers ended up working over 16 hours on the fire place and finished just after midnight and the announcement of the New Year.

“Happy New Year!”



Auntie Laurel and mom also stayed up for supportive purposes and celebrated New Year with ice cream and hot chocolate. They were very impressed by our men’s hard work and good attitudes throughout the day.



One day, Grandma Schlenker and Uncle Derek went skiing and on their way home they picked up fire works. We set them all off on the frozen lake with our neighbors on New Years Day.


It is never a complete Ashley Lake experience without a “Royal Rumble”. They are getting so big, they had to move from the media room to the down stairs living room (luckily it isn't furnished yet). It is always the little guys vs the big guys. Here is a little sample:

The rule is we wrestle until at least 2 boys are crying.
Ashton getting slammed.

Me getting smooshed.

Nick getting thrown.

Beckham loving life.


Another favorite activity is obviously quadding at the lake. I was able to go with daddy, papa and even ride myself a bit on Ashton and Nick’s little quad.



Our last morning, the men went ice fishing so Auntie Laurel, mom and all the little boys decided to venture out to the middle of the ice to visit them.




It was a beautiful day and it ended with another wonderful skate on the ice as the sun set. The next day, Grandma and Papa took us to the airport to pick up our rental car. The drive went pretty smooth even though it was long and I was such a good boy the whole way. I even had 2 45-minute naps!