Rainy Days

So as fun as our week of holidays at the cottage were, it was super disappointing to have 3 straight days of rain!!! We made the best of it though, and luckily didn't drive each other too crazy. Here are some of the pictures of how we filled our time.

With a break in the clouds we headed out for a boat ride only to be pelted by rain as we sailed accross the lake! We all took cover best we could under towels.

Mom and Cristina hiding out

Scott purchased Rock Band 2 this summer and we brought it along to the lake and had a great time with it! Everyone tried, even my parents! My dad played drums several times, and ended up scoring not too bad after a while.

Olly loving his turn!!

Story time with Auntie Crissi is always special

On the second day of rain when we just couldn't take it anymore, we braved the damp cold weather and headed out to Falcon lake for supper and mini golfing. Kalia mostly just ran around to burn energy but Oliver joined right in!!

Snuggles with Dad

Kalia just loves hanging out on the top bunk in Cristina's room, and now Oliver gets all excited about it already too! Better mom than me climbing up and down from there all day, lol!!

Play doh was a big hit for Kalia. Here, Kalia just kept telling my dad to turn everything he was making into a necklace for her to wear.

Kalia doing her 'art'! I help Cristina mix colors while she paints sometimes and, Kalia seeing this wanted to try it out for herself. Mom bought her a set of real watercolors which made Kalia so pleased.

Escaping cabin fever by visiting Amber and Erik at their lake where they were also vacationing for the week. The dads were off fishing in the rain. I think we had the more fun activity!

What goes together better than a story and a snuggle?

Cheesy little guy! So much fun to sit on Auntie Cristina's tray.

Summer at the Cottage

We have had so many great times at the lake already this summer, and I've taken HUNDREDS of pictures! I can't even begin to post them all. I always enjoy the getaway of going to the cottage even just for the weekend. This summer, Scott was able to take a whole week off of work for us to have holidays - it was just so great! It's such a nice time to relax and leave my every day worries behind. I love it that I don't even think about facebook, blogging, or any of the other things that take up so much of my time in a regular week. I also get to enjoy the kids so much more when we are there. I have Scott around to help full time, plus my parents and sisters. Plus there is so much fun stuff to do that the kids don't seem to get grouchy much at all! I don't think there's ever been a summer I've enjoyed the cottage more! Here are a ton of pictures of some of our 'Hot Day Fun!' (Rainy days post to follow . . . )

Kalia even loves her favorite game - chase!! - in the water!

Just inspecting Auntie Crissi's bling!

Always something to say, that girl :)

"How far can I bend over without falling in??"

Building sand castles with Daddy, or in Oliver's case, just eating the sand.

The kids were fascinated by the group of Canadian geese that paid us a visit! We have a rule about not feeding the geese because then they always come onto the dock and leave their mark! My dad let the kids throw pieces of wild mushroom for them this time though and when they left Kalia shouted out "Look Nana, they didn't even poop!"

Collecting seashells on the shore (they were put there by my mom for her to find!)

Oliver NOT loving his life jacket.

Dad got a kick out of bending the brim of Oliver's hat up and calling him Gilligan

Man, does that kid love to splash

He also loved picking up globs of sand and chucking it into the water. In fact, his favorite thing to do down on the dock was grab everything and anything in sight and throw it in!

Proudly showing off her water lilies from Papa Joe

I just love the field of dasies in front of our cottage and can't resist a little photo shoot every year with my pretty girl

little fisherman

Sleepy head

I was so proud of Kalia here! We always drive the boat out to the middle of the lake and jump in to swim, and this year she joined us too! She is just such a little fishy in the water!

He had to make sure we all saw the approaching boat!

Kalia saw a little boy and girl at the beach using body boards like this so we got ours out from under the cottage and she just LOVED it! She swam all over the place kicking her little feet.