"Cost a what?" That's what we often hear when we tell people the name of our lake place.

We are the second owners of a delightful place that we've affectionately named Costalotta Lodge. The home was built in 1970 as a second home for a lovely family full of kids, grandkids and extended relatives. They hosted countless family and friends in the 40-some years of ownership, and were happy when learning we envisioned doing the same.

After searching on and off for years to find a small fixer-upper lake cabin and not finding anything that interested us for the amount of money we were willing to spend, we changed our approach. We zeroed in on how we intended to use our lake place: as a spot for our family and friends to gather for fun and relaxation. Then we narrowed our search criteria to things important for that to occur: located one-hour or less from home on a good fishing lake, a sandy beach for swimming and games, and a big shed for storing all the fun lake toys.

Shortly afterward Greg, who is a handyman, had a client on a sandy-bottomed lake in Meeker County about a half-hour from our house. After attending a few open houses, we had our eyes on a three-bedroom year-round house, but the asking price was too high for us. After many more visits and some number-crunching and soul-searching, we decided buying a year-round house instead of a fixer-upper cabin was worth it. Our offer was accepted. We came up with the Costalotta Lodge name after a few days.

Four years later, we've made maple syrup from trees tapped on site and hosted events from pancake breakfasts and cousin camping weekends to board game competitions and the lake association picnic. There also has been a firework-swatching parties aboard our pontoon "Notta Yachtta" and numerous parties in The Treehouse, our screened porch that is a Costa neighborhood favorite.

The "Costa" name caught on with our lovely neighbors and now the neighborhood consists of Costalotta Lodge, Nocostalotta Lodge, Costalottaless Lodge and Costalottamore Lodge. And, with the recent addition to our family of daughter Anna, our visions for our lake place have expanded. Costalotta Lodge will be magical place for Anna and her friends to play. It is a dream come true well worth the cost!

Lisa Krause, Delano