Ahhhhh - we're finally home! I love traveling, and visiting our various families has been wonderful, but there's something to be said for coming home to your own space. I also love coming home to this city. Toronto in the summer is amazing. Hot and smoggy, but amazing.
Owen is also happy to be home - he slept for three hours, woke up and nursed, and then went back to sleep for another 5 hours. Usually his longest sleep is at the beginning of the night, so this is a big change for him. We'll see if it becomes a pattern.
The three of us had a rough day yesterday. Owen has a hard time on long car trips, and he cried for the last hour on the way home from the cottage. I had just fed him, so I knew he wasn't hungry - we just kept driving and I sat in the back with him while he cried. It's such a hard thing to watch your baby cry when there's nothing you can do about it. He sure perked up as soon as I took him out of the car-seat, though!
I think everyone who has a cottage has their own cottage 'things' - traditions & routines. This is what going to the cottage is all about. I think it's really interesting to see what different families do at the cottage.
At my Grandma's cottage, it's definitely all about the boat and the dock. There are about 50 steep steps to get from the cottage to the dock, so calls of 'I'm going down to the dock' mean you better pack what you need for a few hours because it's a big pain-in-butt to go back and forth. We also do a lot of wake-boarding and tubing, and talk about how my brother drives the boat too fast (Hey Pete - I know, I know, you're a very good boat-driver!).
At our Family cottage in Quebec, it's all about finding the sun. It's on a point, so if you know where to sit, you can be in the sun all day long. We don't usually have a ski boat up there, so canoeing and swimming around the point are also popular. My parents and aunt and uncle are also really into going for walks - every day, it's a walk.
Here's Mr. Kickypants, his brother, Kickypants himself, and little cousin Kickypants. Note the awesome plaid cottage couch. You can't see it, but right beside the couch is a lamp made from a piece of driftwood. There is also a deer head AND moose antlers on the wall.
And then it's Happy Hour - that's the main event at Mr. Kickypants' parent's cottage. It's all about the Manhattans there. Much more fun now that I'm not pregnant and can have a drink or two with everyone. Another favourite past-time here is remarking/complaining about how low the water line is. For the past 10 years or so the water in Lake Huron has been going down to the point where it's difficult to put boats in the water in front of the cottage (it's in a bay) there's some water monster or something sucking up all the water.
