Cottaging Pics - Part 2 of 2

We always seemed to be able to keep ourselves occupied at the cottage this summer...in the most relaxing kinds of ways.  We ate well (and mostly healthily), puttered around at odd jobs, had lots of family and one-on-one times, and enjoyed nature at its finest.  Last weekend at the cottage, I even managed to take each of the kids out for a meal, one at a time, to the only restaurant in the area...I always love spending time with the kids individually and these times together were awesome.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the last of the summer photos!

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Soft-poached eggs, grilled tomatoes with basil and parmesan, and a baked chick pea and spinach patty.  Yummers!  I am salivating right now.

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Matthew likes to make even a snack aesthetically pleasing and he carefully arranges them in patterns that meets his approval!

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In the middle of the Saturday evening movie night...

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...the kids love it when I put out what they call a 'junky' snack.  Here I served up lots of fresh fruit, tortilla chips and 7-layer dip, cucumbers, and homemade granola bars.  Yum.

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Can you tell what Matthew is eating here?  Any guesses?

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Yes, it's a sucker...with a real (obviously dead) grasshopper inside of it!  He's been watching too many Man vs. Wild episodes, I think!  He bought this with his own money and licked it enough to expose the head and back of the grasshopper (and kept licking then, too...shudder).  He ate the antenna and part of the head, as well as part of the winged back, before finally throwing it out...to the relief of his nauseated mother!

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On our one rainy day, one of the things we did was some painting with acrylics.  Matthew, ever my fine-motor champion, drew small, detailed flowers on his canvas.

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Even though we spend more time together than most families, it was still neat to be at the cottage where relationships could sometimes take on a different tone.  For example, even though Matthew and Lizzie are at a bit of a rough spot in their relationship these days, they found their way together to laugh and be silly.  I love these pictures of the two of them...they clearly show their love for each other despite relational challenges.

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Even the boys found some time and space together.  Seth, who is normally quite reserved physically, other than with Geoff and me, had no problem scooching in to the deck chair with Matthew, and they shared a plate of strawberries and plums. They were here for about an hour, while I kept Lizzie in side and kept her busy so that she wouldn't interrupt the boys' 'moment.'  :)

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The kids happily took on a few miscellaneous jobs that Geoff found for them to do.  One such job that they got involved with was cleaning the eaves troughs, which were filled with pine needles and mud.  The boys were excited to be able to use a ladder to accomplish this task, and we had no problems getting the job done!  Lizzie swept up the debris that they dropped onto the deck!

 

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We were surrounded by nature of so many varieties at the cottage.  On one morning, a bunch of green algae drifted into the bay and surrounded the dock for a couple of hours.  Although we didn't want the kids to swim in it, they had a great time on their bellies on the dock, watching all of the water bugs and other water-walking insects skimming over the surface of the algae, leaving little trails behind them; some of the bugs ran straight across and left straight or wavy patterns on the water's surface (as in this photo); others twirled and whirled their way across the surface and left intricate little patterns behind.  It was fascinating to watch.

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A mama and her half-grown fawn.

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A surprising number and variety of plants grow right into the cracks between the rocky Canadian Shield ground.  So pretty and wild and fragile.

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Can you find the large mama dock spider towards the bottom middle of the picture?  Even more amazing were the hundreds of babies that she had given life to...see them all? There were even more on the other side of this wood.  Amazing.

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We saw lots of small frogs and toads...but this brightly coloured one was our favourite!

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The kids loved finding water bugs and teeny fish, pouring them into buckets so that they could watch them for a while.  The kids kayaked around the bay with little pails, looking for more bugs and creatures for their collections.  

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We even found a one-clawed crayfish, which was so interesting to look at...such intricate detail on even the smallest of creatures.

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And finishing off with a few random photos of the five of us.

Here's the Hubs, and me beside him (another unflattering picture of me, but whatever!)

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Matthew.

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Seth.

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And little Lizzie.

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All three...what a great crew!

And that brings us to the end of our summer cottaging experience...with a little sadness that it's over for this year, but with hope that it can be replicated next year.  I hope you've enjoyed the pictures as much as I enjoyed taking them!

Happy Fall!