What I Did on My Family Vacation 2008...

Well it was that time of year again - time to pack up the family truckster to the max and set off east - go east young man, all the way to Picton, Ontario - ancestral home to Ben's mother's family. We rented an amazing cottage that had everything we needed...a fully closed in deck (so no stray children or dogs could fall in), beds for everyone including some visitors, a secluded property - yet only 5 minutes to town (and the hospital - more on that later) and a family of ducks that we were responsible (and only too willing) to feed twice daily. Here you can see some of the members of our duck family - very cute and very friendly with us - but then again we were bribing them with corn and other goodies. So what did we do all week? We hung out and relaxed around the cottage - as our resident supermodel displays above.
We visited the local emergency room after Dash fell and hit his head on a tombstone at the cemetery (only Dash could manage that one). He was fine and only required a bandaid, but has acquired the new nickname of the "Tombstone Kid".We had some campfires - complete with smoke...Some marshmallow roasting...And the requisite family sing-along - although with a very kindergarten slant (anyone for Old MacDonald had a farm ten times?)We puttered around Prince Edward County daily and even took the Glenora Ferry twice in one day (take that Pat!). Here's Ben and Christine posing in their shades...And an equally cool Dash and I in our shades. We visited the amazing Sandbanks Beach and made sandcastles... Played in the shallow warm waters... And watched for dolphins (no luck on that one).
We had some kind of brain-stealing slug visit from outer space - here's a shot of Christine before realizing its debilitating ways.
Dash is desperately trying to inform us that the brain-stealing slug is sucking our brains out but can't...quite...make...out...the...words...
And now it's too late for Christine - all she can say from this point on is "Peace out, man".

And then before we knew it - it was all over. One last feeding of the ducks...
One last game of peek-a-boo Dash...
And one final swim for Molly the dog, despite her valiant efforts she did not manage to catch any water fowl during the week away.

And our last night there a serendipitous sign for future vacations - a beautiful rainbow across the bay.

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.

Annual Trip to Picton

Ben's mother's family is orginally from Picton, Ontario and once a year we make sure to visit to pay homage to his family and visit the cute little town.

This year we headed out Friday afternoon with the kids and arrived in time for dinner and a walk down Main Street. We stayed in a local hotel and were initially a little worried about getting the kids to go sleep at a reasonable hour with as little crying as possible. But our worries were for naught as both kids were angels - Christine went right to sleep in her playpen and Dash got an entire queen-sized bed for himself (let's just say that his Grandpa and Grandma were not impressed they had to share a double while he had a queen).

Saturday morning we were up and about visiting the town, having some breakfast, visiting the cemetery and finally got to go to the beach. Christine really loved playing in the shallow, warm water and feeding the many, many seagulls (she feed them goldfish - the cheese kind, not the fish kind although they would probably like them as well), Dash had to spend his time at the beach hanging out under a big umbrella as we can not yet put sunscreen on him, luckily he had his adoring family to entertain him.

We're hoping that next year we'll be able to spend more time in the area, especially since the kids will be old enough to really enjoy the water and other attractions.

An Eastern Ontario Adventure

Hello all, we're back from our family adventure to beautiful Eastern Ontario. It was a great mini-vacation and we all had lots of fun.

We left home Thursday night and headed to Picton where Ben's mother is from, it was a longer than necessary drive (due to traffic and construction) but we arrived safely yet tired. We stayed at a hotel that night then the next morning we got up for yummy breakfast and then Ben headed off to do some family research at the local archives while Christine and I headed back to the hotel for naptime. We then checked out of the hotel, visited the cemetery, then went to Sandbanks Provincial Park for Christine's first trip to the beach. I think she enjoyed playing in the waves and was fascinated by the many seagulls and of course she enjoyed her first mouthful of sand - delicious!

After the beach we began to head to Kingston and to get there we got to take the Glenora Ferry which was Christine's first boat ride. She enjoyed it although she kept asking where Gilliagan and the Skipper were. Once we arrived in Kingston we went to Ben's Aunt Jean's house for a quick visit with her and her son Brian, then we were off on another longish car trip to Ottawa.

We arrived in Ottawa around 10:00 ish at Ben's cousin Jimmy's house and we visited with him, cousins Emily and Sara, second cousins Dixie, Abigail, baby Nicholas, and Aunt Mary Ellen and Uncle Jim. As you can tell it was a full house but we luckily had our own room for the night.

Saturday we visited with everyone in the house some more, had a yummy BBQ lunch, played with some playdough with the girls (I made a octopus, it was really good) and Christine napped lots. We headed out to nearby Stittsville late in the afternoon for a visit with Ben's Aunt Kate and Uncle Martin, Aunt Martha and Uncle David, Uncle Kevin and cousins Elizabeth, Mary, Neil, Sean, and Wyatt. Christine got to go on their big trampoline and down the little slide and she seem to enjoy herself. We got have homemade lasagne and other delicious goodies, we definitely enjoyed ourselves. We decided to head back home about 8:00 ish and after a long drive we arrived back in Mississauga about midnight, we are all a little tired but had a wonderful time.