Kristy's Cottage!

Well, we finally made it to my friend Kristy's parents' cottage after years of invites, a last minute date change and a broken down van. No one could believe we were going just past Ottawa for only one night, but it's amazing how a short time can feel like a long time when you fit a lot in and you're far from home.

We were only there for 2 days (one night) which will explain why we didn't stop in and visit anyone (Jen Buter) but as you can see in the photos, we certainly fit a lot in!

There was swimming and boating, lots of great food, a bon fire, a scavenger hunt, very friendly ducks at the dock, a special toad friend, and a regatta.

Now I always thought a regatta meant a boat race, but this particular regatta is an annual event at this lake and Kristy and her sister took part in it when they were kids. It's a day of swimming races, potato sack races, tug-of-war, bubble gum blowing contests (which the kids entered despite being unable to blow a bubble), three-legged races, balloon tosses and of course, what contest would be complete without some sort of controversy.

Unfortunately, it was Henry who caused the controversy, fortunately, it was only Jack who seemed to care. One of the races was to balance a potato on the back of your hand and run...the age category was 4,5 & 6 year olds. This was the youngest age category for all the races so Henry would always play at this level (even though he is only 3). However, for this race, his little hand just couldn't seem to balance a potato so he chose to hold it in his grubby paw. Well, wouldn't you know, he won first place. They were so quick to register the names of the winners that I didn't have a chance to correct this, but Jack was quite upset. I wasn't sure what to do. I have taught him that cheaters don't win. Luckily, by the time the ribbons and medals were awarded at the end, Jack had pretty much forgotten about it and was easily distracted by his own medal for first prize in the three-legged race. What kind of a message does this send?

Anyway, thank you for a wonderful time, Kristy! These are what summer memories should be!