Island Adventures

This past weekend Ben, Christine, Dash and I headed up to spend some time with extended family at their great island cottage. In attendance were Uncle Jim and Aunt Mary Ellen, Uncle Kevin, Aunt Martha and David, Aunt Kate and Martin and Cousins Jimmy, Sara, Abby, Nicholas, Neil, Sean, Wyatt, Jonathan, Helen, Liz and Mary - whew...I'm tired just typing that list. So suffice it to say there were lots of adults and kids around to play with. Christine quickly became her second cousin Abby's biggest fan and wanted to do everything Abby was doing as she was a "big girl". So they swam together (kinda), boated together, ate together and Christine learned big life skills such as using a juice box.
Dash was a big ham most of the weekend and ran amongst the older kids getting into everything and entertaining all with his antics. Here's a shot of him soaking wet after attempting to drink out of a juice box as well - silly guy, doesn't he know that's a "big girl" skill?
There were a lot of firsts at the cottage such as...first marshmallow roast around a campfire - which was generally successful until the rain and mosquitoes drove us inside. First pedal boat ride - Ben and I valiantly paddled the kids around the island, exploring and discovering rocks, trees, birds and a beaver dam. We luckily arrived back at the dock with all kids still on board. First race around the world...since we were on an island and the kids aren't allowed in the water by themselves the race was rather short and managed to take a little less time than the 80 days allotted. We all had a great time at the cottage and hope to get back there (if we are welcome) for another visit again soon, it was great to watch the kids run and play with their cousins and to get a chance to hang with the family.

Our next cottage trip will be a week-long visit to a place we rented in Picton in August, were hoping the kids enjoy being in the water a little more at the beach - and next time we'll be bringing their BFF Molly the dog as well so it will be that much crazier as well.