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I came to this 16 x 20 cabin to find peace and perspective during a tumultuous time of many changes in my life. I came to simplify: work on my book, focus on my dogs and get perspective.

Over the last ten days, I've found just about the opposite. In that time, I've found heartache.

My heart aches for my children. Being away from them for the last two months has been difficult. There have been other struggles, but the distance from my kiddos combined with the consistent gray days in the eastern UP have dampened my spirit and made just about everything difficult.

I have considered folding on the season and selling out of dogs completely, but I am hanging by a thread, trying hard not to make any rash decisions and "stay the course."

I leave for Ohio this weekend, and will be so happy to see my girls.

How do women strike a balance between doing what we live to do, but being mothers as well? It is a struggle that I don't pretend to know the answer to. I've been criticized by some for my decision to come here, and those criticisms have been difficult to hear.

No one can possibly know the things that brought me here or understand why I have done the things I have done. I don't know what the future holds, but I will be relieved to be home for Christmas with my family.

Home, where my thoughts escape me...

My girls.

They are the impetus to drag me to a waterpark - perhaps the only thing that could drag me to a waterpark.

As a belated birthday present to my girls (their birthdays were both the third week of May), we took them to the Great Wolf Lodge, a waterpark/resort hotel in Sandusky, Ohio.

I admit, this isn't really my idea of a good time: donning a bathing suit and sharing space with a hundred or so other people and their wide variety of body parts that can be described in a vast array of words that end in "y" (pasty, jiggly, hairy, saggy), and sharing a host of other things that come with sharing gallons of water with said people.

But, ah! the things we will do for our children!

Families who have sled dogs - or any animals - make a lot of sacrifices to have them.  We can't take off on a Disney or Virginia Beach vacation like other families. We have animals that depend on us, 365 days a year.

But one night and two days...we could do that. The girls deserve it.

Here are some photos from the Great Wolf Lodge.

Elise was most excited about this long-awaited trip to the Great Wolf Lodge. She had researched the resort online, visiting the web site and watching all of the videos of the water slides, the arcade, and the hotel which was decorated like a giant cabin. When we got there, she said, "It's just like I dreamed it would be, only better!"

A giant totem pole awaited us at GWL

The girls: Sophie (left) and Elise (right) in the lobby of the GWL

So we swam and went down water slides. We played in the arcade and jumped on the beds in the hotel. But, the fun must end, and we adults are happy to return home, and our animals are even more excited to see our return. Ultimately, no matter how many times I leave or how far I go, it is always awesome to return home!