Summer 2016

We spent 7 glorious weeks at the lake this summer. Highlights include:

·         Hours on the boat. Hugh dumped the boys off the ski trainer tube in June and it took a while to get them back behind the boat. Funny, but not funny! My parents got the kids this giant tube for Christmas and it didn’t take long for Calder to be standing, jumping, and acting crazy in general on it once July hit. Boone didn’t love tubing, but he did do it. Lawson LOVED it and often would cry when we had her in the boat and not out on the tube. The tube was also great for floating. The kids loved jumping on it and off it. No one more than Lawson. She has perfected the belly flop and would do it dozens of times in a row (Hugh gained some serious upper body strength hoisting our girl back onto the tube). We also enjoyed many a picnic lunch on the boat. Meat sticks, cheese, pickles and veggies were our go-to. And nothing like a bag of chips on the side. Every. Single. Time. It was even hot enough for me to get into the water. Once. Hugh took a picture.

   

·         Hotel Hamilton. We have two bedrooms and a loft in our cabin and as circumstances would have it, the boys wanted to sleep up in the loft with Hugh, Lawson and I. So, we pulled two twin mattresses up and Calder and Boone slept at the foot of our bed. I’m sure a few of us would have caught a few extra minutes of sleep now and then had we been more split up, but there won’t be many summers they all want to be with us. Hugh and I figure we are well trained for sleeping in hotels this winter.

      My parents. We were so lucky to be able to spend so much of our time at their cabin. It is about a 2 min walk from ours and right on the lake. The kids spent a ton of time there. My dad taught them how to properly eat a slice of orange by getting all the pulp. He inspected the first few, but Boone took quite the initiative and showed grandpa almost every piece. Calder and Grandpa spent many hours out on the boat. Calder even out-fished my dad (including the 13 pound Jack above). I will say this is quite the feat as my dad is typically the one catching the most. I fell down on Lawson’s favorite list to third. Grandma is now #1.

         Company. We had so many guests. Friends and family. Calder got such a kick out of sharing “his” lake and cabin with some of our favorite people.

·         Independence and cooperation. The kids learned how to walk Cleo (all three of them together) and head down to Grandma and Grandpa’s on their own (just Boone and Calder). Although we spent a ton of time with family and friends, of our 50 days at the cabin, almost half were spent with just the 5 of us. This gave the kids lots of opportunity to connect with each other. Both Hugh and I have a really good connection with our siblings and we want to foster our children’s relationships so hopefully they have the same. Boone got into wearing a motor bike helmet on his way to and from my parents cabin. It is crafted from his gitch.

Saskatoon berries. The start of the summer was spent hunting down berries. It was an incredible year for berries. We spent hours exploring the bush looking for spots to pick. Calder absolutely loves being in the bush and loved to see how many berries we I could pick.

·         Morning weekday coffee on our deck. Hugh and I would often grab a cup and the kids would bring the mega blocks out  and play while we sat in the sun. The nice part about this was that our deck has no stairs, so Lawson couldn’t escape. Sometimes we would put a movie on for the kids at the back of the cabin and really get down to some serious relaxing.

      I was sad when our summer ended, but home felt good too. Boone continues to ask on a weekly basis when we are going to the lake. Gotta love 3. He is saying exactly what the rest of us are dreaming about.