A Week at the Cottage

To celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary, Mom and Dad M rented a cottage for the whole family on Sparrow Lake near Gravenhurst.  We had such an amazing time!  After sorting through hundreds and hundreds of pictures, I've come up with a hefty bunch to share with you.  It's a mix of pictures from a number of different cameras, so I'm not sure who to give the photo credit for in most cases.  Enjoy! 

First I'll start off with a few pictures to give you an idea of what the cottage looked like.  

 A view up to the cottage from the dock

 Looking down at the dock and boathouse from the deck

 Looking down at the lawn mid-way down the hill, where there was a hammock and a tree fort

Another view down to the water from the deck

Typical muskoka tree by the lakeshore.  Makes me think Group of Seven!

We swam pretty much every day

 The boys absolutely loved the water and gained more confidence in their swimming every day

 Poor Aaron and the "big diaper butt".  The swim diapers were waaaay up the hill in the cottage, and I didn't feel like making the trek up there to get them.  It's amazing how much water a diaper can hold!

 Loving the water!

 A sea-creature emerged from the depths to vacation with us.  She turned out to be quite friendly!

Hey, who needs a lake when you've got a bucket!!

The anniversary couple relaxing on the dock

 Niki was feeling a little "deflated" so she came up for two nights for some cottage rejuvenation.  Danielle helped to pump her up

 Lots of relaxing to be done! 

Picture perfect place to read

Dad relaxing in the hammock

 We greatly enjoyed campfires on the dock in the evenings

 The firewood that Tom and Lauren brought up seemed too nice to burn, and the boys enjoyed building towers with it. 

 Little Nate enjoyed his week as well

 Lauren, also known as the Rabid Bunny-Human

 The weather cooled off enough from the week before that we were able to enjoy the nine-person hot tub most evenings.  That is, after adding some cold water - we couldn't figure out how to set the temperature lower, and the lowest we saw it was at 104.  One night it was at 107, and the only way we could spend any time in it was to keep spraying each other off with the garden hose.

 Enjoying the week

 We spent lots of time relaxing in the water by swimming, paddleboating, and canoeing.  Here's Timothy returning from a fishing trip with the boys

The family was kind enough to let Mom and I go paddleboating one afternoon, but they made sure we didn't get too far.  Note the rope holding us to the dock.  They sure busted a gut laughing on the dock, encouraging us to pedal harder. 

 The boys fishing on the dock

 They didn't have incredible success over the week, but there were a few good catches and we enjoyed some fish for dinner a few nights. 

 Fishing with Daddy

 I'm not exactly an expert, but Peter enjoyed fishing with Mommy too

 The boys taking the canoe out for a test-drive the evening before their scheduled early am fishing trip.  About five minutes after this, they tipped the canoe and had to swim it back to shore

 Chatting on the dock with Carina, who also joined us for a night

 I caught a fish! Just a wee little one, but that's ok

 My dear hubby

 Danielle caught quite a few fish - and even gutted a few of them herself

 Tom doing some fly-fishing

 Brotherly love

 Mike and I

 What's a week with family without some games?  We played Dominion, Cribbage, and lots of Bang!. 

 This guy sure is a Happy Camper!

 While at the cottage, we became see-through and some of us developed an extra head.  I suppose another explanation for those photos might have to do with camera-setting-exploration, with which we had a lot of fun!

 A rainy day

 We went to the Muskoka Wildlife Center one day, and saw a number of interesting animals.  I wouldn't want to get this close to a bear without a fence separating us!!

 The kids got to touch a snake - and Mom and Dad joined in on the action

We went to Coopers Falls one day, after reading about the ghost town online.  There wasn't all that much to see -  apparently an old general store-converted-into-a-house + a dilapidated storage barn/old court house + one old gas pump = ghost town.  I'm sure there were more abandoned houses around, but it wasn't quite as thrilling as we had hoped.  We made our own entertainment:

 Old gas pump

 Reading on the deck

 We don't ever want to be as close as this to being out of gas again:  Distance to Empty (DTE): 0 km.

 One morning we went to see one of the locks from the Trent-Severn Waterway.  Pretty neat to see it in action.

 Whirlpool at the locks - wouldn't want to get sucked into that thing

I don't even know what to say about the next few pictures....

 Another dockside campfire evening

Family picture!  This is one out of about 150. 

Not a view that we get to enjoy every day... beautiful!

Just gorgeous

I love this shot that Danielle took and I thought I'd use it to wrap up the post.  We had a fantastic week, and really enjoyed spending the time together as a family to celebrate Dad and Mom's anniversary.  Thank you so much for this lovely week of memories, Dad and Mom!!

Cutest Spaghetti Eater Competition

Shopping with Kids

While Aaron was having a nap this afternoon, I took the two other boys to the store with me to pick up a few things so that Mike could get some school work done.  The trip involved two stops, one to the dollar store and one to get some groceries.  Easy-peasy, I thought to myself, I only have two kids, this will be a breeze.
We got ourselves unpacked from the van at the first stop and I arranged Nate in the cart while Peter walked beside me.  Down the second aisle, while I was looking at something on the other side, Nate grabbed a DVD off the shelf.  How did he even reach that??  I attempted to remove it from his grasp and put it back on the shelf, but it is amazing how strong a grip a ten-month old can have, not to mention the attitude.  The blood-curdling screams coming out of my sweet, sweet little boy quickly changed my plan of action to wait-until-he's-distracted-and-leave-it-behind-in-another-aisle.  Ok fine, you can hold onto the movie as long as you don't suck on it.  Too much.
Down the next aisle, there were a few more people.  One of these was a woman who definitely wouldn't have fit in with the tall Dutch people we spend most of our time socializing with.  She was, let's say, quite petite.  Being accustomed to people of greater stature, Peter turns to me and loudly announces, "Mom, that lady is very short!!"  Hmmm.  That couldn't have been my child that just said that, could it?  I think I'll just ignore the comment, and maybe he'll forget about it.  And hey, maybe she didn't even hear.
Yeah right.  "MOM, is that lady VERY SHORT?"  My face is getting pretty red by now.  I can't look the poor lady in the eye as I try desperately to hustle my inquisitive toddler down the aisle.  He continues, pointing emphatically, "MOM, I have a QUESTION FOR YOU.  Is that lady VERY SHORT???" Agh!  We pass by a number of smirking customers on our way to a quiet corner in the store where I explain to Peter that it isn't polite to talk about other people in the store.  As we continue our shopping, I do my best to make sure we don't end up in the same aisle as that poor lady again.
We find what we need and make our way to the checkout, after wrestling the damp DVD away from my less-than-impressed teething baby.  Only one more stop to go.
Thankfully the grocery store wasn't too eventful.  We managed to round the aisles and pick up everything that we needed in a fairly organized and time-efficient way.  By the time we were done with our shopping, however, it was high time to make it to the checkout, as Nate was approaching nap-time and was running out of patience with his spot in the cart.  Peter helped me load our items onto the belt, and I paid for them before grabbing my bags to pack the food up.  As I began packing, I discovered that I was missing a number of items from my list that I had definitely put into the cart.  Somehow, while masquerading as a cooperative and cheerful little baby-shopper, Nate had managed to grab a number of groceries and dispose of them at some point during our shopping trip without me knowing about it.  I really wonder why it is that he can hold onto an item for dear life that is not on the shopping list, while he feels the need to dispose of items that we actually do need.  I guess I'll send out my cyber-apologies now to the grocery store workers who find random items all over their store.  Loading my children into the van afterward and discovering the bag of candy that Peter had stealthily removed from the grocery bag and hidden behind his back, I was glad that I didn't have Aaron with me as well to add his own brand of mischief.  Shopping with kids is always an adventure!!

Life Lately

So, I know it's been a while since I've posted pictures, and the longer it takes before I have a chance to sit down and get photos ready for an update, the more intimidating the task becomes.  All of a sudden, I'm sitting here with a few hundred pictures to sort through and I need to decide on just a select few that will give you all an accurate description of what our lives have been like the last little while.  I've decided to start off with a few photos that I've "plinked" off the web from Mom VD's Facebook, as they are too cute not to share.  They aren't the greatest quality but that's what I get for stealing them :)  Thanks Mom!  Maybe one day I will remember to save a copy of the originals so I can repost them in good quality.  Photos from the cottage might just have to wait until I get the photos that were taken on everyone else's cameras as well.        

I'm not sure when this photo was taken, but the weather was cool enough to require long sleeve shirts.  Those have been packed away for a while now with this sweltering weather!  All three boys lined up, ready to drive.

 Flying a kite with Daddy on a windy day.  Lots of fun!!

 Cutie pie Nate

 Peter telling a story of some kind.  I wonder if this is the day that Mike and Dave built the trebuchet at Mom and Dad's.  I think perhaps it is. 

The next two pictures are more recent, from the early/middle of July.  We went to Uncle Ben and Aunt Sandy's place one afternoon/evening for dinner, and we took the boys fishing.  It was so much fun!  We'd catch a fish within 30 seconds of casting - what a great introduction to fishing for kids!

 Fishing with Daddy

Like most babies it seems, Nate LOVES his baths! 

 Aunt Karen came for an overnight visit, and we took the boys for a bike ride to the park

 Mike working on the deck - I have to take an "after" picture yet but that will have to wait for another day or I'll never get this post up!

 Robert came over from a Friday to a Tuesday the week before we left for the cottage.  Poor little nephew Matthew broke his leg and is stuck in a body cast for the rest of the summer.  We were busy with 4 boys under 4 but it was a lot of fun too.  They enjoyed splashing in the pool in the hot weather!

 We went for a walk at Port Dalhousie one morning to check out the ducks and see the beach.

 And of course, you can't visit Port Dalhousie without going for a ride on the 5 cent carousel!!

 We also went to visit Happy Rolphs, a petting zoo in town.  The boys were pretty impressed to have these goats eating from their hands.

 Checking out the animals

 Feeling HOT HOT HOT!  We've had a lot of super hot, humid weather in the last little while, with hardly any rain.  It hadn't even been cooling off in the evenings at all to give us a chance to open up the house and cool it down a bit.  Too many hot days in a row brought the temperature in the house up to a steamy 30 degrees, blah!! However, as soon as it feels way too hot in the house, we've found it helpful to step outside into the 38 degree weather for a few minutes.  That way when you come back into the house, 30 degrees is quite refreshing. 

 Ummm, yuck.  That's the temperature outside my kitchen window as I wash the dishes.  Too bad dishes don't get clean very well in icy water.

 This kid is just way too cute!

Warning - Poop Content

I came home from VBS this morning to a disaster zone.  Breakfast dishes all over the counter, a full cup of cold coffee sitting on the table, cereal and sand spread over the kitchen floor, a wet towel crumpled up on the bathroom floor and a pair of boy's pajamas laying in a puddle in the bathtub.  Not the way I would normally leave the house, as that's not a nice thing to come home to.  What happened here, you might ask?  Things certainly weren't so hectic when Mike left for his summer course this morning - the boys were calmly eating breakfast and the morning was under control.  Then Aaron had a poop. 
And did he ever.  Unfortunately, I didn't realize the extent of his job until I was pulling off his pajama shorts to change his diaper... and I discovered he had blown out the side and I had successfully spread disgustingness to the bottom of his legs and on his hands, plus I had a pair of shorts and a diaper that needed to be dealt with.  Trying to maintain some control of the situation without spreading the mess around too much, I grab one arm and the opposite leg and carry him to the tub, but in the process I manage to get my arms covered in poo.  Lovely.  Turn the hand-held shower head on and start hosing him off, with the poor kid loudly protesting that he wants OUT.  Too bad, son.  Guess what, I'm not so excited about this situation myself.  With Aaron starting to escalate into screaming, I put the shower head down quickly to grab some soap and of course it spins around and starts spraying all over me before I pick it up again.  Even more lovely.  Finally, Aaron's cleaned up, I'm cleaned up and I go to grab him some clothes, only to discover several chunks of poo on the floor, carpet, and change table that must have dropped off my hazardous-waste child as I carried him to the tub.  "Poop on carpet, Mommy.  That's gusting" declares my now-clean child.  I quickly get him dressed, and now time is running short before I have to get everyone packed in the van for VBS.  Start searching for Peter to get him dressed, only to find him in the sandbox outside with sand in his hair, stuck to his hands, and all over his feet, and he's still in his pajamas.  Ahhh!  I wipe him up as best as I can but he'll just have to be a little grimy for his VBS closing program today.  Get him into his clothes, get Nate changed and  into his clothes, and get shoes on all three before hustling them out the door.  It was one of those drives where I had to double-check that I was wearing all the clothes I should be wearing (does anyone else ever wonder if they've forgotten to put on something essential?), only to find that my hair was frizzy from being sprayed in the shower, my pants were soaked, and although I had used the nicest-smelling soap I could find I was still a little paranoid that I would smell like I just gave a poopy toddler a hose-down.  Peter was grimy, Aaron might have still been wafting some less-than-attractive odors, and poor Nate hadn't even had a drink yet.  Not exactly the way I wanted to walk into church!  It was a bit of a disastrous morning, but at least everyone was in a pretty good mood by the time we arrived, and no one else seemed to notice a problem. 
That's got to rank up there with the top poop-disasters that I've dealt with.  Of course, small babies have blow-outs more often requiring full wardrobe changes but something about baby poop makes it not quite as bad as toddler poop.  The worst toddler-poop experience still has to be with Peter when we were first toilet-training him.  He got quite constipated and the situation was getting a little grim.  We finally decided to give him just the tiniest bit of Senecot liquid to see if it could help him out.  Who knew it could work that quickly.  We were on our way out to Grassie to check something out, when the poor guy had an "accident".  Actually, it was more than just an accident, it was more of a natural disaster.  Anyways, when we stopped, it was quite the task to get everything cleaned up.  He was covered from his hair right on down to his socks, and I ended up using almost a whole roll of paper towel and a package of baby wipes to clean him up, stripped bare and in the back of the open van in 8 degree weather.  All I had for extra clothes was an outfit from Aaron, so I squeezed him into those and wrapped him in a blanket.  What a disaster!!  Pretty disgusting, but at least we can laugh about the gross adventures of parenthood in retrospect!  :P

VBS According to Peter

Day One (Adam and Eve)
There were three boys who had a goat.  Actually they were three girls.  They tied a rope to a stake and to the goat so it couldn't get away.  Then a huge frog came and tied a rope to our van and it was stuck.

Day Two (Shepherds Visit Baby Jesus)
The shepherds came to the barn to see Jesus sleeping.  Jesus was asleep on the hay, and he had two pillows, too.  There were three shepherds, and they took the sheep away from the big bear, who was lonely.  It ate Jesus, and He was broken in the bear's tummy - he was thiiiis small.  Then the shepherd fixed Jesus.

Day Three (Jesus Raises Jairus' Daughter, Jesus Calms the Storm)
There was a girl who was sick because she fell out of bed and hit her head.  She had a big owie on her head, and it didn't get better.  The disciples and Jesus were in the boat and they were all sleeping.  Then the disciples yelled and woke Jesus up, and they wanted Him to listen to God.  So Jesus said "stop" and the water stopped.  Then there was a big huge teddy bear who was mean, and the little teddy bear landed on his foot and he was mean too.

Day Four (Jesus Dies on the Cross)
It was a Saviour.  Jesus died on the cross to pay for our sins.  God put him there, and the shepherds maybe.  Then the big teddy bear kicked the little teddy bear and he landed on top of a tree.  That wasn't very nice.  A man hid the bear under a lion bush, and then it was lost.

Day Five (Jesus Taken Up Into Heaven)
There was a little man, and he was sick.  The people were afraid because he was sick.  They put him in the jack and he couldn't come out, and he was lonely because he lived in a little box.  Jesus is our Saviour.  He went up into the earth, up into the sky without using a ladder.  He watches us, and Jesus and God live in our hearts. 

I could pretty much deduce what the actual story was each day, but his explanations were understandably quite puzzling.  He had all these strange details and definitely non-biblical storylines which were somewhat familiar to me but I didn't figure out why until Wednesday.  His teacher had also been reading to the children from W.G. Vandehulst's My Favourite Story Book, a book that I grew up with.  They must have heard the story of the "Two Little Sisters" on Monday, "A Teddy Bear That Grew" on Tuesday and Wednesday and then also "Lettie", perhaps "Grandpa's Watch on Thursday and then Friday they must have read a story about a Jack-in-the-Box.  It took some prodding each day but he did remember some details about the Bible story that they learned.  Of course, he's heard all those stories here at home already, but he'll hear them many times in the years ahead, and it's interesting to see how he learns from someone other than Mom and Dad.  He wasn't too keen on being left behind the first few days, but by the last couple days he was much more comfortable with being on his own, and he even sang in the program this morning.  Aaron was definitely not impressed with not being able to stay with his brother, because he wanted to "go Bible school TOO Mommy!!", and he complained that "I will be lonely!" It was a bit of a struggle to leave with him, but once we were busy with other things he was just fine.  It was an interesting week for all of us, to be sure.   

Help! I'm Standing and I Can't Fall Down!