Waiting for Bob: Muskoka Retreat

I love Ontario's obsession with "going to the cottage." Some of my best childhood and teenage memories are from going to the cottage for the summer, staying on the dock all day, jumping into the cool, clean lake waters over and over again until someone told me it was dinnertime. I hope my children have summers like that.

Our neighbour Michelle invited me and the twins up to their cottage in Muskoka this week and we ended up staying from Monday until Thursday. It was the perfect getaway from the humidity and smog of the city, as well as the unfinished kitchen. Michelle has two kids - Calley is nearly 5 and Cooper is 2 1/2. He's one of Will and Owen's good buddies and the three of them will be in preschool together starting in the fall. Michelle also invited up Megan and her two children Tommy and Sarah. Sarah is Calley's age and Tommy is another one of the buds from our 'hood. We mums joke that its going to be our four ragamuffins that end up terrorizing the neighbourhood when they're teens. The four of them get along really well and its fun to see them playing together. On top of that, my boys absolutely adore the two older girls and often pretend to be them:

"Okay, you Caddey, I Sawah."
"Okay. And mummy, you 'chelle." Apparently they wish I was Michelle. Probably because Michelle always gives them the best snacks in the world.

Anyway, it was a nice break from the city and the boys had lots of new experiences, as you'll see from the photos below. We had quite a few late nights, but my guys surprised me by napping like champs and, although they certainly never slept in past 6:30am, they always cuddled or played quietly(ish) in our room until a more reasonable hour.

Owen and Will's thoughts on cottage life: You know you're going to have a good time when ice cream is offered as dessert on the very first night.

Just a sh0t so you can see some of the property as well as the happy children running around like wild animals, having the time of their lives.

Oh. My. Goodness. Cooper has a "gator" - a John Deer truck for kids. You should have seen Owen and William's jaws drop when he drove it out of the garage. They couldn't get in it fast enough. I spent the remainder of our stay at the cottage either following the boys around, making sure Owen didn't run over anybody (he will have to wait until he's 30 to get his licence if his driving skills in the gator are anything to go by), or calming Will down because he had just fallen out of the back again because Owen is such a terrible driver. The second time it happened, I was trying very hard not to laugh as Will sobbed 'I NO WANT OWEN TO DRIVE!!!" But he was fine, he drove semi-decently himself and at the end of the day, they were quite happy to have Coop drive them around since he's such a pro. Although he does love to ram into things, like his sister's lawn chair.

Just look at Owen's face in the back. He honestly couldn't have been happier.

Owen attempting to help Will steer. They were actually pretty good about giving each other turns. I think they realised this was a limited time offer and they should cherish every moment on this awesome toy. Unfortunately, every time we needed to put the gator in the garage - for lunch, or dinner, or because it needed to be recharge again due to overusage - it was as if the world had been torn apart. Mega Meltdowns. Better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all though, right?

Going on their first jetski ride with Michelle and Calley. It was a big hit for my thrill seekers.

Coop patiently waiting his turn on the jetski

Here's one reason the boys love Michelle - look at that dessert!!

I'm not sure why Will and Owen look so guilty...maybe they're thinking "Cooper has the best mum ever!" Or maybe its because they weren't keen to share with me.

Can you see the smiles? The boys have never been tubing before, but leapt at the chance when Michelle offered to pull all the kids behind the jetski.

Love all the little heads just poking out over their lifejackets - their hair was so windswept, it was very cute.

Can you see the delight on their faces? All we heard was "again! again!"

Owen comes into the kitchen and says to me "Yook, mama! I farmer!" Um...yes, sweetie, and such a pretty farmer!

Tommy rocking out on the Barbie Guitar. Dwayne, this should be used at your next gig if you really want to stand out. And I think the orange 'Hoops Star" outfit would work for you too.