Frogs, Cheese, & A Peacock: Our Cottage Weekend

The first time all four of us headed up to Ben’s family’s cottage was last year around this time, and based on how little sleep we got, we swore we would never go up with both girls again until Eloïse was considerably older. Despite that less-than-ideal initiation, we recently decided to give it another shot.

We kept the menu simple, and bought a few things at a local market on the way up, namely fruits, vegetables, and an assortment of cheese. The market has a little farm attached to it, complete with rabbits, chickens & roosters, alpacas, and peacocks. For Aurelia, it was most definitely the male peacock that stole the show.

She had a million questions, and was fascinated by the way he fanned his plumage, and even the way he squawked. She was sad to leave, and for the remainder of our time away, the peacock became one of her main topics of conversation, including when we would see him again. Luckily, the excitement of getting to the cottage gave her something to look forward to.

The cottage is located deep in the woods, and can only be accessed by 4x4, and in the winter, by snowmobile. It is an old hunting & fishing club, without electricity, built over a hundred years ago, and sits by a lake where no other cottages can be found. Trying to describe it in a way that gives it justice is next to impossible. The first time I visited, over twelve years ago now, I was blown away that such a place existed. A great number of friends have spent many, many weekends here, and it’s pretty safe to say the place has become legendary. For many years, Ben & I headed up to it every chance we had, sometimes even leaving late at night on a whim. Now, with two little ones, the opportunities to head up together are rare, but it remains one of our favourite places. For Aurelia, it has quickly become one of her favourite places, too.

When we finally pulled up to the cottage, and settled in, we headed right to the lake, where we got down straight to the business of hunting for frogs.

We got lucky with one, thanks to Papa’s skilled hands, but after the girls examined him a bit, we let the frog “go back to his family”.“Bye, bye Fog!”

We spent our time relaxing, eating a mainly-cheese menu, and exploring our surroundings with the kids. We took a canoe ride around the lake, headed to the beach, captured &examined minnows, bloodsuckers, lilypads and dragon flies, caterpillars, and just savouring every little moment. Bliss.

We strolled down the path through the woods with the hope that we would have more luck finding frogs in puddles. The frogs weren't plentiful, but it didn't matter: splashing in puddles was just as fun.

The girls both loved taking turns swinging on the porch. Wait, let me rephrase that: they loved to swing, but had a harder time with the "taking turns" part. Nevertheless, their glee was hard to contain.

Despite being a little concerned before we left how our little family adventure would go, everything went smoothly. The children even fell asleep easily, and slept through the night, giving Mama & Daddy a little break. It was sad to leave after only having stayed a single night, but since it was all we had planned for, we had little choice. We headed back home, with a quick stop to visit the peacock one last time (a visit that would be followed by watching several YouTube videos of peacocks. Do you realize just how many peacock videos are out there?).

This trip provided a little glimpse into the future and to hopefully many, many more cottage adventures. Seeing my little girls at the cottage together, witnessing them having so much fun living out the simplest of childhood adventures, like hunting frogs, was so awesome, I can’t even begin to describe how it made me feel. I love that they have such an amazing place to discover. Although it already held a special place in our hearts, this little piece of paradise has suddenly come to mean so much more to us, because of two very special little people.

Big S & Little S

Here's a secret: Up until now, whenever I have walked into someone's home for a session, I have a certain level of anxiety. What if my mind goes blank, and I lose control of the session? What if the kids don't warm up to me, or are uncooperative?

Having said that, I am happy to report that, so far, I haven't run into any of these situations. In fact, I'm pretty sure that the kids  I have had the pleasure of working with have enjoyed themselves, and that getting their picture taken was relatively painless for them. Nevertheless, there is always the fear that the conditions during a session may be less than ideal.

On this day, I was feeling no different. I had met these little people previously in the fall, and it was more than likely that they would not remember who I was. What I quickly realized was I had nothing to worry about. This little almost-four year-old young man was the most ideal model. He not only greeted me enthusiastically, he posed for me without any prompting, in such a natural, relaxed way, I could not have asked for more. His little sister was a dream, easy-going, content just hanging out. And Mama? Well, she and I had the most amazing chat, and we had so much fun, in fact, we lost track of time.

Here's another secret: by the end of the session, a little piece of my heart had been stolen by this boy. He is just an awesome little person - full of energy, enthusiasm, sweetness, an amazing conversationalist, and positively gorgeous to boot. I feel honoured he was willing to show me his dance interpretation of one of his favourite Elvis songs, complete with splits, flips, and pirouettes. After his performance, when I asked him how he knew how to dance like that, true to form, he shrugged and replied, "I just know."

I believe you do, S.

Lopez

This is Lopez. Lopez is what happens when a Mama is stuck inside with two little girls on a rainy day in May. It was Aurelia’s idea to make a caterpillar. Truth be told , Lopez, named after Daddy’s muse, Jennifer,was not our first attempt at a pompom caterpillar. The first caterpillar we attempted to make with pompoms a while back was too fragile to survive any kind of touching, as the glue proved to be an inefficient mean of assembly. This time, however, I had the idea to run a needle and thread through them all, and it worked really well. Apparently in the process, we also created Lopez’s best asset, according to Aurelia, anyway. You see, the thread I used was red, and Lopez’s tail-end pompom was bright yellow, so the knotted thread was fairly obvious. I predicted when I was making him, that this little knot would be the topic of many conversations, and I was not wrong.

Late last night, at around 1030pm, once Eloïse was in bed, Aurelia, who had gotten out of bed, asked to hold Lopez. Having been up since 4am, I was exhausted. So when Aurelia asked me what that tiny knot of thread was, I absent-mindedly responded, “It’s Lopez’s bum hole.” She paused, examined it more closely, and declared, “Oh! You’re right!”. Well, this little knot of thread kept her busy for an hour.Ben and I were talking in another room, and we would hear the little pitter-pat of her feet coming toward us, and she would exclaim, while pointing at Lopez’s derrière, “Look,Mama! It’s Lopez’s bum hole.” (If we were more responsible parents, we might have thought this to be disturbing, but luckily, we are not, so instead, we thought it was hilarious.)

Morning arrives. When Lopez’s is finally pulled off the shelf from his resting place by Aurelia, the first thing she examined was his bum hole. And then she proceeded to explain Lopez’s anatomy to Eloïse, a moment I was lucky enough to capture on camera.
Sadly, Lopez did not survive the day without first losing his eyes, and losing his “figure”. But not before he received a lot of love and praise for his bum hole from two little girls.
The lesson here? If your name is Lopez, it’s always about the booty.