Eatin' 'n' Drinkin'

When enjoying life at the cottage in 30C sunshine, some of the most important activities include staying fed and watered. I was still hobbling about using a walker and a cane, so was pretty useless in the kitchen. But my wonderful family provided great meals that satisfied everyone... hungry kids, meateaters, vegetarians.
The twins celebrated becoming FIVE, yes FIVE! while we were there. They wanted a cake each.... no sharing for these two. And there's no better decoration on a birthday cake than Smarties.

 YoungerSon made good use of the BBQ, providing juicy cheeseburgers one evening and honey garlic sausages on a bun the next.

 A visit to Kawartha Dairy in Minden is compulsory when anywhere near cottage country. This is the best ice cream anywhere, with numerous flavours to choose from. Emma and Callum both chose Birthday Cake, while Max and Isaac had Bear Claws, chocolate ice cream with big chocolatey chunks hidden in it.

 My family likes to try different imported beer as well as samples of all the local micro-breweries that are popping up everywhere. There were quite a few empties to take back.... I wonder what the refund was?

One more canoeing picture. The white building belongs to the cottage at the top of the steps. I would hate to go swimming and then realize I'd forgotten my towel. That's a long way back up!

Rio 2016 Olympics Update.
Andre de Grasse, Canadian sprinter, won Bronze yesterday in the men's 100m race, close behind American Justin Gatlin who won Silver, and the Gold medalist, fastest man in the world, Usain Bolt of Jamaica. Well done Andre!
Currently, Canada has won 13 medals (2 gold, 2 silver, 9 bronze), 12 of them won by women. Andre de Grasse is the only man to win a medal so far. Go Canada Go!

Cottage on the Lake

At the cottage, we had use of two kayaks and a canoe. YoungerSon is a keen fisherman, and went out on the water every evening to see if the fish were biting. I think he had plans to try his luck at 5:00am every morning, but plans don't always get acted upon at the cottage, specially when snoozing in a nice comfy bed.

The children loved going out fishing. Callum was excited to catch his first fish ever. Emma caught the largest fish of the week, she said it was five feet long but somehow I doubt that. But as I wasn't there to witness it, perhaps it was! She also caught the smallest fish.... about the size of a goldfish. Max is a bit nervous in the canoe so he didn't fish, but he did some fishing off the dock.

On the final fishing expedition, Isaac had a large fish on the line, but the fish got away, taking his fishing rod with it into the water. He was so upset. A new bigger and better rod is in Isaac's future before they go on the next fishing expedition.

 One by one they all got brave enough to jump from the canoe and the kayak into the deep water... PFDs compulsory!

Max really wanted to jump in too, but he's a cautious soul, and held back for a long time, but eventually jumped into the water with a little help from Mummy. I told him he was very brave, but he shook his head. "No! I'm not brave," he said. "Mummy threw me in!"
Lots of happy summer memories being made here.

Cottage Life

Ahhhh! Just what I needed,,,, a vacation!
I just came back from a restful seven days at a delightful cottage by a lake. The weather has been spectacular, hot and sunny every day, just a sprinkle of rain one afternoon. Food was excellent, beer was cold, and the company was great.... OlderSon and family, and YoungerSon and family together for a whole week.

Our cottage was a rental found on the internet. Booking anything unseen can always be a bit of a risk, but this was the perfect place for a week away from the real world. Four comfy bedrooms, big TV, BBQ, 2 kayaks, a canoe, well equipped kitchen, and even a dishwasher... the ultimate in cottage luxury! Enormous deck with comfy lounging chairs and lots of tall trees providing shade if the sun got too hot.

The view from the deck. The plastic owl was on guard against whatever birds might want to land on the railings. Little Gull Lake is small with quite a few cottages along it's shoreline. Monday to Thursday was quiet, but the weekend brought out power boats and wakeboarders having fun on the water.

The lake water was warm and the kids took advantage of being able to swim all day. The first morning they were in the water at 7:30am! I managed to dip my feet in the water but didn't swim with them. Perhaps next time.