Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Back, Baby!







Yes, yes, I'm back from vacation. I know you were all on tenterhooks waiting for me to post, so here I am. (Yeah, right.) Anyway, here's the dish.
We rented a cottage for the week on Pigeon Lake in Bobcaygeon. First off, I have to say that the cottage was beautiful. It was very nicely furnished, clean, and with a completely stocked kitchen, from a salad spinner to an electric knife. Very nice compared to other cottages we've rented which have 3 bowls and a spoon.
The bonus of the week was getting to spend extra time with my sister-in-law Ela, who is one of my very best friends, and her kids, who are the best too. They are very good to my kids, considering the age gaps (my niece and nephew are 10 and 12, where as my kiddies are 2, 5, & 7).

I was looking forward to the week also, because my brother took the same week off, and has a place on the same lake, so I figured we'd get to spend a lot of time together, and my two eldest boys were excited about hanging with their Uncle Paul.
Well, here's the ups and downside (s) to the week: Pigeon Lake, while fabulous for fishing, sucks for swimming. It is choked with weeds and is now infested with dead carp (google dead carp in the Kawarthas and you'll see what I mean), so that meant minimal swimming for the kids. And actually, by day three, officials were advising against swimming in the lake (not because of the virus that was killing the carp, as it does not transfer between species, but) because of the bacteria caused by the decomposing fish. Lovely. So, with no swimming, what to do with the kidlets? Well, there's always fishing.

Phoenix and especially Keegan (aka Izumi) had a great time fishing with their Uncle Fern. Phoenix caught a few rock bass, and Keegan, within 3 seconds of casting his first line, caught a nice sized smallmouth bass. Then he caught a rock bass, and a baby perch (which he declared "so cute!" and kissed it before tossing it back into the water). Mark and Auntie Ela took the kids for canoe rides which they greatly enjoyed as well.

The rest of the time, we read, played countless games of Scrabble (never take on Lucas, you can't win against him!), or ate yummy food. One day Mark and the kids and I went into Fenelon Falls to walk around, and stop for ice cream. We found a great little park there with a fabulous playground, and a nice beach and graduated swim area onto Sturgeon Lake. Mark took the boys and Ela and her kids there the next day to swim.
And as for hanging with Uncle Paul? Well, he seemed a lot more interested in fishing with my brother-in-law, than with spending time with me and my family. Pissed me off, if you want to know (in case you are reading this, buster!). I actually had to send my kids off to him at the dock in their lifejackets to ask them for a ride in his new boat. (N.B. I never was offered a ride in his boat, period.) I also had to invite myself and family to his trailer to check it out. I was annoyed that he spent more time with my in-law and his kids than he spent with me and mine. But what can you do?
Evenings were good. We either sat around the campfire, eating toasted marshmallows and drinking Bailey's-spiked coffee while watching the bats swoop around to eat the mosquitoes, or hid from the bugs and played Scrabble at the kitchen table.
Nights? Not so good. Mainly because Mark and I had what I have come to call "the unwanted roommate"-aka Ty. Ty, from night one, decided that 12-2:30 am was a great time to crawl onto our bed, jump on our heads, and sing what lyrics he knows from the Wiggles, count from 1-10, skip along the alphabet song, and run through his repetoire of animal sounds. NOT FUN!!!!!!! Little bugger! Plus, mid-week his asthma kicked in, so I was on puffer-duty all day and night too. So, Mark and I pretty much need a vacation now from our vacation!
All in all, I would give this vacation a 6.5/10. The kids would score it at least two points higher.
It was a nice place, but not for a couple with three VERY BUSY kidlets, that need to swim.
Did get some nice nature shots though. Enjoy! I will post pictures of the cottage and kidlets tomorrow...

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

We went to Pigeon lake earlier in July for four days. It was just when the carp were just starting to die so not too bad. Sad about the unfriendly Uncle, my Father-in-law is the same way with his antique car. Been married to his son 20 years and never even been around the block in the thing. My daughter rode in it once in a parade. I call his type of people ones who insist on hassle free living, don't even point the kids in their direction, they can't be bothered.

Anyhow, we rented a houseboat on Pigeon Lake. It was pretty windy the days we were there and crossing the lake in a houseboat was hair raising - stuff flying out of the cupboards and everything creaking like we were on the SS Minnow. We saw one group of rental cottages had a water trampoline and it was not too far from some of the best fishing that we found in our travels. We thought we might like to stay there some time, but it was nice being on the water in the houseboat also.