Family Camp at the Cottage

Lynn has been calling our weekend up north "family camp".  

We started out on Friday with just us girls.  John had to work on Saturday morning.  We got up to the cottage at about the same time and got everything settled in.  Water all turned on, campfire going and Lynn's Sub Shop open for business.  The kids played so good that night with their outside toys, we ate Smo'oreos (Oreo's with melted marshmallow inside) and sent them to bed.  I wasn't going to put on more firewood but decided we had another hour at least....... 3 hours later we decided we should probably get to bed.  It was so warm outside and the moon shining over the river was light enough to glow the riverbank.  It was a beautiful night and perfect mother daughter time.

The next day we made the kids favorite breakfast, pancakes.  Then we prepared campfire pizza rolls and sausage hobo meal.  We finally get to take the kids swimming and they loved it.  

This is where they spent the day....... private sand bar.  Elly is growing up too fast, you can tell by her floating in the water and the others playing in the sand.

We made the pizza's for lunch, Adam, Monica and Jr came up for the afternoon, we put the kids down for naps and Lynn and I went kayaking.  John took us two minutes up the road and we kayaked for an hour down the river.  There are a few low spots that we had to walk through and an obstacle rock course that was so much fun.  

When we got back Elly wanted to learn how to kayak so badly but with the current in the river I didn't think she would be able to stop/turn/and stay in this area..... but I let her and coached her how to do it.  She was on her own in like 10 minutes.  You could wipe the smile off her face.

The rest of the kids were content playing on the sand bar

and swimming.....

We spent most of the day in the water but had to get them out for supper.  

Here is grandpa John with Mally and Max on his dad's swing.  His dad wanted him to have this swing up there so one day John and him drove it up there so he could see the cottage.  His dad was pretty proud of the place even back then and told him where to put the swing.  It fits up there quite nicely and if I look back into old photos I'm sure I would find Lynn, Shannon and Adam sitting with Grandpa Hemmer on this swing.  

Garrett getting the bird's eye view of the campfire

The kids played really, really hard after their day of swimming on the big hills and more sand piles by the basement.

Elly and Lynn sitting together.... wow they are a lot alike.  

We had some work done to the basement this last week.  You can see the new door and windows, it was a huge improvement, we are already planning the layout for the basement hangout when it's snowing or raining.  

The next day.... we went swimming again.  Here Elly is laying in the sun because I kayaked up the river with her a long ways and then made her jump out of the kayak half way back and swim the rest of the way.  She was a tired little girl and I thought she needed a break before kayaking some more.  She seriously didn't want to quit.

After Elly and I got back with tied the kayak up to mine and I pulled the 3 little ones around......... talk about exercise but they loved it.  I think Lynn took pictures on her phone so I'll have to get one of them for my cottage coffee table book.

More floating

And hours of playing in the sand

While we enjoy the view.

After lunch the kids all left and we cleaned up everything.  We walked across to the sand bar to pick up toys and about 4 hours later walked back.....  

What a memorable weekend at the cottage with family.  Someday I hope my grandchildren have memories like I have going to my grandparents cottage.  Since we added double doors to the basement we could close up the single door but I requested that door stay in.  It has a homemade screen door on it  that bangs shut with a sound that reminds me of Grandma and Grandpas cottage.  I sometimes go in and out that door just to hear it slam shut.  

Up North Private Beach

Another weekend up north so that means more pictures.... Last year I didn't notice the turtles on this fallen down tree until much later in the year.  This weekend our turtles are back and they brought babies, lots and lots of babies.

Saturday Gayle and I went to shoot a wedding and John spent the day cutting up stumps with Bill.  They got done just before we got back..... there were lots of stumps up there. 

Gayle and I needed an Old Fashion break before we went 4 wheelin' so we sat by the fire in the sun shine.  Gayle quote for the day "This is so beautiful, I could just sit right here and watch the seasons happen".  This is the chair she was sitting it.....

this is the view she was looking at.

I think she's right and I think we will watch the seasons from this chair and each one will be more beautiful than the last.  

Sunday John got a little chainsaw happy and trimmed up some trees.  A few were a bit high for him to reach... don't call the safety guy on us.

I of course was soaking up the sun in the water.  It's not very often John picks up my camera but I guess he did today.  He's so creative :)

Lynn, Jesse and the kids came for the afternoon.  Mally and I went for a kayak ride to get closer to the turtles.  It's not very often that Lynn picks up my camera either but she did.

Mally and Max wanted to go swimming so of course Grandma will take them.  They weren't quite used to the current in the water so we headed for the sand beach.

I left them on their own little island..... don't worry I was right there I just had to grab the sand toys.

Within a few minutes everyone was on the sandy beach with us along with drinks, snacks, chairs.... and even a fire over there.  

We spent all afternoon on our own private little island and the kids played all day long.

Paul is giving Mallory her mermaid details. 

Such a beautiful weekend to spend on the water.

Up North Nature Walk

A busy weekend at the cottage in a short time.  We headed up north on Friday afterwork, we had a few jobs to do.  Friday night we needed to get the bathroom sink put back together so we could turn on the water.  John and the neighbor went up a few weeks ago to install a new faucet.... well they came home with the faucet not installed and the entire sink in the back of the truck.  Let's just say they got a bit carried away and needed more parts to put everything back together.  

Putting the sink back together was a bit interesting and a little wet but we got it in plenty of time to sit by the water for a bit before it was too dark.  I haven't taken pictures there for awhile so I decided to get out the camera and take night photos of the river. 

There was a tree that had hundreds of birds in it and they would swoop at the water, I tried to get a photo of them so I could zoom up to see what they were.  They were quite far away and it was pretty dark so this is the best I could get.  

John and I think they are Cedar Waxwings

Saturday morning we got more jobs checked off the list.  I poly'ed the livingroom and dining room floors, John cleaned the insulation off the heat pipes in the basement, I primed one of the rooms and we managed to sit by the fire for a few hours enjoying the afternoon sunshine.  I grabbed my camera again for a little nature walk.  I'm not a sitter....... I do much better up north cuz there's not quite as many distractions for me :)

It took lots of convincing each other that we had to leave Saturday afternoon since we had some things to do back home.  It was a great weekend, we got lots done at the cottage and at home.