Cottage Time 2017 – Part 2

My parents rent a cottage for the first 3 weeks of July and Hannah and I enjoy going up to visit them each weekend.

The second weekend we drove up Friday evening after I finished work.  While we drove in beautiful sun most of the time, weather announcements on the radio often told me that there was a number of severe storms brewing around us.

About 20 minutes before we arrived at the cottage I suddenly began receiving texts from family asking where we were and if we were okay.  We were under a bit of cloud but there was sun all around us.

As we got closer to the cottage it became clear that quite a storm had just gone through.  It ended up being a localized storm but for as quickly as it came and went it left quite a bit of damage behind.  My friend TL had her car parked near the dining hall and after the storm this was what she found!

It’s hard to see here but my SIL took this picture from inside the chapel.  At this point they could not open the doors to the outside as almost a foot of water had quickly accumulated when the rain and hail fell.  You can see the benches in the back and how high the water was on their legs.

As we were within about 1 km of the cottage the roads and cottages got dark indicating the power was out.  Normally this isn’t much more than an inconvenience but it’s a challenge for me as I have sleep apnea so I must sleep with a CPAP machine.  No power = a rough night with many episodes of wakefulness and choking.  Ugh!

Thankfully my dad called to say that Dan, the cottage owner was going to bring an extension cord from his generator down the 50’ hill to our cottage so that I would have power for ‘Darth’, my CPAP machine.   I was SO thankful for this as I really didn’t know what I would have done.  (Possibly had to turn around and drive the 2 hours back home.)  History has proven that power going out at the cottage is never a short lived experience and it often lasts hours. 

Even though we were oh-so-close to the cottage it would take us another 60+ mins. to get there as the storm had washed out the road and hill that I needed to get to mom and dad.  Thankfully the staff at the camp were quickly on cleanup and they graded a little bit of the road and hill to allow traffic to get through.   (This picture was taken the following morning showing the machinery used to re-grade the hill….a second time!  They had almost graded the hill the first time when the second storm hit and washed away all of their work! )

Hannah and I finally reached the cottage around 11pm, gathered essentials from the car and made our way down to the cottage.  We chatted with mom and dad for a bit but then quickly called it a night.  There was a second thunder storm that went through that produced a lightening storm like I’ve never seen before!  2 solid hours of thunder and lightening every few seconds was surreal.  (Can you believe I didn’t even think to take video of it?  D’oh!!)  The storm finally passed around 2 am and I was able to sleep.  Thankfully Hannah slept through the entire storm!

Here’s a video of the first storm that my dad took from inside their cottage.  The white things in the air are pieces of hail.  It was about an inch deep everywhere once the storm passed.

The next morning we woke to a beautiful sunny morning but still did not have power so Hannah and I went on an adventure into town and picked up a shareable box of coffee and went to share it with family and friends around the camp.  Let’s just say we were pretty popular!  (Again, no pictures.  You can tell how everything was just a little out of sorts.)

Although the skies were sunny it was easy to see that something had happened the night before.

Dan and Marg’s hill between their house and the cottage is filled with beautiful hostas.  This picture was taken a few years ago.

This is a close-up of one of the hostas the day after the storm.  Sadly all of them looked like this!  They had all been shredded by the hail.

No power led to creativity.  Kallen created a decoration with the water bottles and played a game of ‘jump over the water bottles.’

No power also meant no water so we used buckets of lake water to flush occasionally.  LOL!

Thankfully the sun stayed out so we had a great day outside.

In the end the power was off for almost 30 hours!  It’s safe to say we were excited when it was back on at 1am Sunday morning.  Sunday also became the day that many BBQed everything in their freezers that had thawed during the storm.  Thankfully mom and dad didn’t lose anything as theirs was plugged into the generator.

Ah, cottage life.  Mainly wonderful and amazing but occasionally a little challenging too.  A weekend with a story though, that’s for sure!

Cottage Time 2017 ~ Part I

July always means cottage time with the family and it’s a great time for us all to be together! 

This picture happens to show how Hannah’s teeth are moving apart as she grows and her mouth is making room for adult teeth.  Even though she’s 8 1/2 Hannah has only lost 5 teeth and there aren’t too many loose at this time.  I’m hoping all this room will mean we can skip the orthodontist later on but only time will tell.  And….Hannah still reacts to mosquito bites and with the wet spring and summer we’ve had there a mosquitoes everywhere.  Poor pet.  Her eye swelled up quite a bit even though the bite was up in her eyebrow.

Cottage time is always made tons more fun with the addition of golf carts!

Craft time at Nana and Papa’s.  Hannah’s infamous concentration face includes her bottom lip tucked in.  This is her concentration face, comfort faces and more.

Happy Canada Day…Only 2 Months Late! ;o)

As I was reviewing pictures tonight I realized that I’d missed posting these.  So, rather than miss capturing our July 1st Canada Day celebration I’m posting it a little late. 

Canada Day was shared with Hannah, my mom, dad, aunt, uncle, brother, SIL, niece and nephew and it was a great day from start to finish! 

The weather was a little iffy in the morning so we spent time inside the cottage mom and dad were renting.  Hannah and Makenna were sharing a colouring page and their choice of colouring poses made me giggle even though they were quite comfortable.

Kallen enjoyed playing with the gadgets in spite of numerous reminders not to.  Who can say ‘no’ to this adorable little face?

In spite of the weather we went to the park and the beach.  It was too chilly for swimming but we still had fun throwing rocks in the water and building sand castles.

At one point my SIL’s phone accidentally got dropped and fell through the cottage and the deck to the ground below.  The A Team were soon on it.

Success!  Way to go Dave and Dad!

We ended our day with sparklers by the water’s edge.  Kallen wasn’t too sure about it

but the girls really enjoyed them. 

We had a great Canada Day celebrations and hope you did too!

Pan Am Games~Rhythmic Gymnastics

Toronto is privileged to host the 2015 Pan Am Games and Hannah and I are loving it!  Yesterday we travelled into Toronto to see some of the Rhythmic Gymnastics competition.  It was an early start for us during our week of vacation where we’ve quickly got into the routine of staying up late and sleeping in until 9am but we were happy to get up early for a day of new adventures!

All public transportation in the city and surrounding areas is free for those holding event tickets so it was an easy decision to take the GO Train to our venue.

Hannah asked if she could take a couple of furry friends along and chose the little clear bag above to carry them in.  It ended up being perfect as we gathered treasures throughout the day and they all went into her little bag. 

I found it quite funny on our way in how even though we cleaned off adjacent seats to us each time we stopped to pick up new passengers somehow Hannah and I ended up with 4 seats to ourselves.  I’m guessing on a busy Friday commute into the city, regular passengers on their way to work weren’t feeling the love of sitting near a cute but busy 6yo!

When we arrived at our venue we were excited to find out that we’d received a free upgrade and had been moved to a more central section and had seats in the 3rd row!  Hannah saying ‘thank you’ to the man from Ticketmaster who was giving us our new tickets.

Great seats!

The competitions we saw were hoop, and ball.

The Canadian girls are in 5th and 6th place after the first 2 events.  The remaining events are taking place today and tomorrow. 

The final event was really exciting and I only wish there had been more teams competing!  It was team ribbon and it was stunning to watch and beautiful!  The funny thing was that during the first team, each time the girls threw their ribbons into the air at the same time Hannah would call out, ‘Fireworks!!!’  She had myself and all those around us in stitches!  This is the US team who ended up in 2nd place. 

After the competition one of the Canadian athletes, Carmen Whelan came into the area we were sitting and was happy to pose for pictures.  Hannah thought it was pretty neat to meet her!

After we left the competition we found lots of other things to participate in but I’ll save that for another post.

GO CANADA GO!!!

Hi Uncle Billy!

We had a quick photo shoot just before Hannah went to bed tonight.

Thanks for understanding the lack of posting everyone!  As Hannah’s signs say, we’re doing great, just crazy busy preparing for next week’s vacation!  I’m hoping to carve out some time to update the blog before we leave but in case we don’t, here’s a little sneak peek at next week’s adventure.  We can’t wait!!!

PS – Hopefully we’ll be able to pop up for a visit to see you this spring Uncle Billy!

Spending Time with Nana and Papa

At the same place that mom and dad rent their cottage, Nana and Papa own a trailer so Hannah and I packed up and headed north to visit for a couple of days. 

We were there for only minutes when their living room looked like this.  Guess she’d made herself at home!

The following morning Hannah surprised Nana with her curly doo!

The second day Hannah was excited to go back to the clubs that she had been part of 2 weeks earlier.  The children’s ministry at the camp is excellent as is displayed by the fact that she can’t wait to go morning and night each day that we’re there! 

After lunch on the deck with our table set by our sweet helper, we headed down to Grandma and Grandpa’s cottage to finally go out on the boat.  The weather hadn’t cooperated when we were there 2 weeks earlier so we were excited to finally go out on the boat, especially when there is an ice cream shop at the opposite end of the lake!

Catching a ride from Bec Bec and Kenzie on the way for ice cream.

Rabbit ears courtesy of Papa!

‘Here Papa, I can help you.’

Morning chat with Little Horsey.

She found herself a new seat.

We stopped down at the cottage to say goodbye to Grandma and Grandpa before we started home and an impromptu photo shoot broke out!

Grandma and Grandpa

The mandatory game of ‘pretend to toss Hannah into the fountain’

A final playtime in the sand pile at the cottage before heading back up to the trailer.  (No…Hannah’s sandcastle building skills did not grow exponentially in 2 weeks) 

Playing follow-the-leader with Papa.

Learning to blow bubbles is serious business!

Just hanging around.

Playtime with Papa.  She loves this stuff!!

Thank you so much for a wonderful visit Nana and Papa!  We love you!!