Last week, we told you about the talent and love for Innsbrook of 11-year-old Cecilia, whose grandparents own a chalet on Grendel Lake. This week in part two of our blog post, we bring you the Innsbrook story of her grandparents, Stan and Mary Ann.

“We first learned of IBK in the 1980s when our son Tom had a high school friend whose family had a chalet on Lake Aspen. Back then, we did drive out and take a look, but chose a beach condo in Florida instead. After making the 13-hour drive for many years, it became time to get close to home.

I grew up with a family clubhouse on the Gasconade River and we wanted to recapture that experience for our children and grandkids. Innsbrook provided that for our family beyond anything we could have hoped for.

Taking the in solar eclipse in Innsbrook, in the path of totality, on August 21, 2017.

In late November 2012, Stan and I decided to ‘take a drive’ and lo and behold, we ended up back at Innsbrook! We returned a week later to look at several properties that were for sale and had our son Tom join us. With the temperature a frosty four degrees, we all fell in love with Grendel Lake and its island! On December 28, we closed on our chalet and on the 29th, we packed our sleeping bags and baby bed for the youngest grandchild, bought a coffee pot and toaster at Wal-Mart and enjoyed our first days and nights at Innsbrook.

Being in our 70s and retired, the one-hour drive from our home in Sunset Hills and our open schedule allows us to enjoy IBK often for a day or weeks at a time. The quiet times at the lake are beautiful and we enjoy it very much, but having family and friends enjoy IBK with us are memory-making moments. The shed full of life vests, water shoes, fishing poles and ice skates, along with the kayaks and paddleboards lining the shoreline, are beautiful sights in themselves. But when it’s all in motion and being used, every second is an adventure.

While I liked decorating our chalet with photos, artwork and personal items, what we treasure most are the displayed feathers, broken fishing lures and bobbers, tree bark, ‘special’ rocks, empty turtle shells and random critter bones, all found while on nature hikes, playing in the lake or taking a walk… ‘Grammy, for the wall!’ is music to our ears when a new treasure is triumphantly brought home for addition to the wall display. Even our IBK neighbor children make contributions!

The special wall of Innsbrook treasures.

Spending this time together and getting to watch our grandchildren grow up is a priceless gift that we are able to enjoy at Innsbrook and I truly don’t believe that we could do this anyplace else so often and conveniently. We are blessed that we get to actually see them learn to swim, learn to kayak, learn to build a fire, make a ‘fort’ in the woods, enjoy the concerts, enjoy the Fourth of July like no other and of course snuggle up for a back rub in front of the fireplace.

When I was a child, we would go to Grandma’s house for Sunday dinner. It was a wonderful supper of chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, fresh green beans and always a yummy apple pie. I remember the delicious food and I remember Grandma in the kitchen preparing it and cleaning up – but I don’t remember sitting with her and talking and visiting. Now I’m the grandma (who doesn’t like to cook), so we go to the Clubhouse Bar & Grille for Sunday dinner for the tasty all-you-can-eat fried chicken buffet with a dessert table to die for! I’m not in the kitchen and I’m not cleaning up but we are all sitting at the dinner table talking, laughing and enjoying every minute with our family!”

We are very grateful for Stan and Mary Ann for taking the time to tell us their story – we love hearing from our property owners about how they discovered Innsbrook, what they most enjoy about it and how it brings their family closer together in the heart of nature – that’s what Innsbrook is all about!

We’d love to hear your “IBK story”! If you’d like to share it with us, reach out to us at 636.928.3366 x9216, email news@innsbrook-resort.com or find us on Facebook.