The Cottage Vacation

June 30-July 4th - our family vacation. :) And what a lovely holiday it was. The whole Heikoop clan (minus Henry & Heather's family was there), so it made for a lively, full and fun few days together. It was one of the first long weekends the Windmill crew got, for a long time. (other than Rob, who sacrificially stayed behind a couple days to manage the Windmill) We headed up northish - Bancroft area - to a cottage, Deanna's grandparents owned, and graciously lent to us.

(all these pictures were taken by various members of the Heikoop family :)

The cottage: cute and we all fit rather well, with three tents, and the little sleeper room James and I used.

Getting to the cottage at 1 a.m. on the Thursday night/Friday morning was eventful... trying to find your way to a cottage without the exact directions, was interesting, but eventually we all found the right signs to guide our way. :)

James and my little home. :) It was super nice to have this little house to ourselves with the kiddo's. It had two beds, and we set up our playpen for Erik. Perfect place for the kid's naps and all. So thankful for it.

Erik and the well played with blocks.

The deck got lots of use.

Brad's boat. We all enjoyed it, and the wake boarding/skiing that came from the use of this machine. :) Brad was so nice to share it with us.

On the first day I discovered my favorite thing to do at the cottage: take the sea-doo out and practice diving from it. I just love embracing the water...sigh....too fun. I'm a terrible diver, but I did improve. :) And not being the greatest swimmer (but enjoying the deeper water) having the sea-doo close by, was handy. I would draft any other free siblings out there to "enjoy" the moments with me. :) Thankfully, Nelly, James, Diane, Rob and a couple others were obliging. :)

Katy loved visiting the other "homes".

She's "pretending" to sleep with Will for afternoon nap.

William took some gorgeous sunrise pictures... I was sleeping. :)

Diane resting with Erik.

All the family was so good about the children, helping out, playing with/holding them - which was awesome. They may have gotten more attention than normal/or overly healthy for them, but it was all worth it. :)

Katy "sleeping" again in Brad's hammock. A couple of the guys brought their Filipino hammocks to relax and sleep in.

Erik got some good "Uncle Tim" time in.

Canada Day evening - everyone but mom and dad (who sweetly watched the kids for us) climbed aboard Brad's boat, and we drove to the other side of the lake, and watched the fireworks with a bunch of other motorists. (along with the mosquitos)

It was a good show too - about 20 minutes or more.

Diane cooking a breakfast. We all took our turns making at least one meal and cleaning up afterwards, working out really well. The meals were excellent: sausage gravy breakfast, baked potatoes with chili, chicken a la king & Caesar salad, pizza, taco salad & corn on the cob, burgers with a asian salad and a Greek salad.

All around the table

Ice-cream cones for dessert

Play time with Sarah and Diane using Katelyn's new birthday tea set from Oma.

My two favorite guys together.

Sisters on the cough right before we all watched "Sink the Bismark"

Beautiful Nelly...on her way to Japan today to teach English and do some mission work with a brother/sister team for the summer. We'll miss her, but excited for this opportunity.

Brad the new uncle to lots of nieces and nephews.

Dad got some good reading time in this weekend.

Erik the teether.

Some of us got some bad sunburns, but Tim topped it all. Poor guy.

Lovely Sarah

Katelyn got a few sea-doo rides in with Sarah, William and me.

Deanna - love this picture of her - hard to believe that in a couple weeks Lord-willing, will be holding her own darling baby!

Tim's picture. :) It is pretty.

 Cheesy smile for Tim.

 Nelly and I soaking it in - using a pool noodle and a life jacket to relax in the water.

 Diane the gorgeous - in her hubby's boat.

 Cruising and spotting for the wake boarding behind her hat. I think it was William wake boarding at the time.

 Yup, it's Will catching a lot of air. The guys did great on the board - Brad was quite impressive...sigh...and I couldn't even get up on the wake board. At least I succeeded with the water ski's. :) (for the first time)

 Sisters

 Rob on the board

 Playing Fast Scrabble.

 Ben blessing his wife's heart. :)

 Erik the chubby

 So cute...

 Trying to get a family vacation picture - which didn't work so great...but we tried.

 Katy wasn't a big swimmer - mostly played on the dock, but that's alright.

 Tears to prove she was "all done".

 Erik, when used to the water, enjoyed it for a bit longer than his sister.

 Mommy/Son time

All of us sisters - except for Heather & Marlene.

 Brad the BBQ-er

 Mom and Dad

 Then right before leaving, we tried to get a family picture taken...

 Then Tim lit a fire cracker...

See the smoke....? And then finally...

...we got at least one decent one. :) Then most of us headed home. ( a few left the next morning)

Lots of great memories.