Weekend photo story

This weekend by the lake playing with my new Sony Cybershot TX7.  Any mom would love this fun camera.  I took a number of  panoramic photo's and I was surprised to learn I can even post them on blogger.

Our little cottage at the lake

the boys couldn't wait to dive in ... 

once in the water they were happy for hours..

We eat dinner here looking out at the lake

 on all sides as we are on a point. 

 Then the boys beg us to play monoploy. 

Ashley hang out here with Taylor while I was cleaning all around.

How do you like the authentic wall to wall flooring?
Do you want to see the panoramic picture of the inside too?  It's not as pretty as the lake.

Lunch at Balsam Lake

Taylor liked it all

Daddy closing up till next weekend in the sun. 

First voyage - James kayaking

Snakes and Wood

This weekend up at Balsam Lake my hubby worked hard rebuilding a fence between our cottage and the neighbours. It looked really good at the end he works hard and had the post in and painted by noon the first day. He was off to the lumber store and completed the job minus the paint which is a project for another weekend. The boys enjoyed assisting in holding up the fence boards for Daddy and off course enjoyed nailing them in.


What the boys enjoyed even more then the wood work was the water snake that we observed while swimming at the lake. This snake appears to have made a home in our boat house and James was thrilled. Daddy on the other hand was a nervous wreck that they even wanted to check it out.
James has a thing for reptiles and couldn't get close enough but did refrain from picking it up seeing as Daddy was very nervous about snake bites.

Lazy Days of Summer

The kids have really been enjoying themselves the last few days despite the fact that I was getting over some sort of summer flu or cold bug which was pretty nasty but we still managed to make it up to the lake and to Canada's Wonderland today.

We were very lucky to have some really nice swimming weather too when we were up north. The boys spent much of the time in the lake as possible. The lake water was a little chilly but the boys never seemed to notice. They raced from our boat house to the neighbours dock more time then I can count. Damon usually won those races which was upsetting to his bigger brother. The boys also enjoyed a few game of cards, a jigsaw puzzle of Hawaii (we can only wish to go I guess a puzzle will have to do) as well as a walk down the cottage road and ghost stories before bed. They were very content the whole time and didn't really want to return to the city. Ashley seem to enjoy it just as much as her brothers except she came home with two bug bites from our nightly walk which i feel very guilty about even though they don't seem to be bothering her too much.

Here's a few photos from the weekend activities at Balsam lake.

Long weekends at our cottage

Long weekends at our cottage start with a trip to Tims for coffee and bagels a quick trip to the grocery store to pick up the goodies for the weekend. Even before the all important food and beer are purchased my dear hubby starts his to do list. Which is usually pretty long but he is a very hard and dedicated worker so he always manages to check the majority of it off the list before the weekend comes to a close.

Here's the list ... oh this was day #2 list. Day one he was busy blowing many leaves, picking up branches, and mowing the lawn.
The place was looking very good when he was done i have to admit.
This is a very natural garden it grows year after year with very little care required by us. We spotted a young boy catch a bass just off our dock .. he was pretty happy about his catch but it wasn't going to be dinner they let it swim back home.
This totem pole was a gift to my husband grandfather from his students the year he retired. It's probably 40 years old and still looks great. It brings us good luck and keeps evil spirits away so we always put it up and store it away in the boat house for the winter so it can last another 40 years.

Every hard worker deserves a big feast... we ended our days with yummy shrimp and steak it was great. Ashley loved the meal too especially the carrots which are quickly becoming her favorite.


Dinner was followed by a spectacular fire works show put on by cottagers across the lake. We all had fun and are really looking forward to heading back up with the boys in two weeks.

Canada Day at Balsam Lake

Ian, Ashley and I ventured off to Balsam Lake today to tend to the cottage. We have been busy with the kids and Ian has been enjoying the golf course the last few weeks so the lawn was more like little forest before he had at it. After all of Ian's hard work today the place is ready for a summer of enjoyment mixed in with a few painting projects and well more lawn maintenance. The joys of cottage country.