cottage and camping

So Chris was on paternity leave for the last four weeks and just went back to work yesterday. Boo.
While he was off we did so many fun things.
We were delighted to be invited to our friend Megan's cottage for a bit, so we went up there on my birthday and stayed for a few days. There we did some classic cottage activities such as playing games, fishing, sitting on the dock, swimming and reading. It was fabulous.

Breakfast at the cottage.

Swimming.

Megan reading at the dock.

Chris fishing for bass. He didn't catch any off the dock but was successful in the canoe.

TIm and Meg canoeing to the island

Fishing in the canoe. He's practicing so he can show William the ropes when he's old enough.

Look I caught a fish! Just so you don't think we're terrible parents, Megan was looking after William while we went out fishing for an hour.

After the cottage, we headed to Algonquin Park (with the check engine light on, more on that later) to go camping with Tom and Anne Marie. We have never been to Algonquin, which is incredible seeing as how we've been in Ottawa for four years now. We just did some car camping but it was so awesome. All summer I've been longing for some camping and we finally got some in. We stayed at Canisbay Lake Campground which had excellent swimming and really great campsites which surprised me. I guess I was expecting the sites to be all crammed together but they were big and spaced apart and had excellent shade. A necessity when you have a baby napping at all times of the day. William had a great time and took to camping like a pro.

First campfire. Like all humans, he was entranced by the light of the fire.

Chris got this crazy shot of Tom catching the frisbee.

William hanging out in the shade of his stroller at the beach.

The whole gang in front of the Eureka. Thanks to Brendan for lending us his tent. Turns out a two man tent is not big enough for two plus a baby.

Playing Dominion, our newest game that I got from Chris for my birthday.

Chris and William at the beach on day two. Check out the Periodic Table of the Elements towel that I won when I worked for VWR.

Chris' awesome shot of the monarch butterflies. They were all around when we were camping.

This is where Chris bought a wolf t-shirt. He has been threatening to buy a wolf t-shirt for as long as we've been married, maybe longer. We passed this place on the way home from camping and he whipped around after I pointed it out (what was I thinking?) He finally has one and torments me with it often.

When we got back from camping Chris borrowed a friend's diagnostic tool to investigate the check engine light and the insane rough idle our car was doing. He figured out it was the EGR valve and then proceeded to fix it himself. I'm so proud. It took a few tries, a trip to Princess Auto for some different tools and the brains of Dan, Doug (Chris' Dad) and his, but they did it and now our car is running smoothly.

Next in the series of events was Jen and Brendan's wedding. They got married on the Labour Day weekend in Wakefield Quebec. A short jaunt from Ottawa. Here are some noteworthy photos from the event. The wedding was spectacular. Chris and I were the MCs and had tons of fun doing that. I realized that this was my fourth wedding I've mc-ed. Impressive non? This was the best one yet.


William and Donovan before the wedding. William's Auntie Kirstie gave him the hat which was a huge hit and I found the little bowtie at Workshop, here in Ottawa. Finding dressy clothes for baby boys is so hard!


The wedding in the covered bridge. Perfect!

Post wedding bliss!
A family shot. William was ready to go to bed at this point but I insisted on getting a family photo.


Finally, Grandpa Doug came for a visit to meet William and we decided to embark on a project. It started out that we thought we'd build a shed for a backyard. Then we figured, maybe we could use the wood from the part of the deck that we wanted to rip out anyways. Then we started talking about building some raised beds for a garden. Then, well, then the project just started. We planned it out on Wednesday, complete with a scale diagram of our backyard. We shopped for a wrecking bar and a circular saw on Thursday and ripped down the railings. On Friday the deck came down and the dirt was delivered. On Saturday we built the raised beds and started hauling the dirt. ON Sunday the wheelbarrowing was complete ( Chris moved six yards of dirt in a wheelbarrow up the substantial hill to our backyard) along with a flower bed in the front as well. Holy Moly, what a work crew! Oh, and in the middle of all that, our dishwasher broke and we got a new one on Kijiji and Doug installed it. I am so excited for my garden next year.

William and Grandpa Doug.


The official before picture, except we had already removed most of the railings.

Removing the remainder of the railing.

We pulled off about half of the boards on the top of the deck and then we got to the last eight where the previous owner used railroad spikes to secure them. We just cut off the remainder of the deck and will use this as part of the foundation of our shed.

Removing trees and installing the new window well. The basement window receives light now!

Fun with power tools!
Completed boxes. Now for the cleanup and grass seed.

Family photo the night before Grandpa Doug left.