BOYS AND TOYS

Poppy and Nana gave Q a very cool remote control boat (Donzi) for his birthday.  He played with it for hours and hours and hours that first day and by the evening it was no longer working.  We assumed it was the batteries so the following day I bought some new ones, but no cigar, the boat would not work.  Poppy made some calls, read some websites, talked to lots of people and concluded that the Donzi was poorly made and was destined to be returned.  He called my sister in Toronto and had her go and pick up a new, bigger and much better boat called a LiteHawk Charger.  Jal was coming up in a few days time and very kindly delivered this new, bigger, better, faster boat to a thrilled little boy.  The amount of play that the Charger received both at Poppy and Nana's cottage and the following week on the island was incredible!  The YouTube videos consumed as well as the reviews read was amazing.  Thanks to Poppy and Nana for the amazing gift.  Quinn loves it!

The original Donzi boat

The new Charger boat

Boys watching boys YouTube r/c boat videos

Checking it out.

Learning about it

Test, test...

There it goes!

Totally out of the water!

This thing is wicked!  Thank you Poppy and Nana!

WATER SKIING

Tubing and water skiing were nearly a daily routine for the 10 days we were on the island.  Both Owen and Kaitlyn have been water skiing for a year or more, Nora had tried several times this year but not yet had the success she was hoping for and Kieran thought he should give it a whirl too.  After some "dryland training" and pep talk the water warriors decided to get in and go for it!  Nora celebrated a HUGE success of getting up and getting a solid ski in.  Kieran was amazing and popped up quickly.  He wasn't able to stay up for long for he was up, definitely up!

Dryland Training...  Getting a sense for what it will feel like to be pulled up by the boat

Kaitlyn coming in from her ski

Nora is UP!  Kelly (her mum) can be seen cheering in the boat.  Amazing!

Kieran take one

Losing his right foot a bit...

Working hard to get up...

Maybe if I shove my bum out to the left...

And he's down!

Kieran take two...

He's UP!  Stunned, but up!

Quinn's dryland training...  He opted for no water, maybe next year...

THE POWER OF PLAY

I love that summer time, and cottage time allow for zero scheduling just take the day as it comes, eat when you are hungry, read a book when you are feeling quiet, swim if you need exercise, sing if you are musical and enjoy being surrounded by the beauty of nature.  Kieran, Quinn, Owen, Kaitlyn, Nora and Maeve are remarkably good playmates.  Certainly they have their moments where they need to take a break, but those moments are few and far between the creative play time they put in when they are with one another.  These are just a few shots and the power of play that happens.  From Owen pretending to be a ventriloquist (Quinn was the doll) to the 6 of them putting on a "musical", I use this term lightly as they mostly sang about beans, it was quite funny though.  To engaging in some dock giggles with the adults.

Quinn the star of the show

Q and his posse

How does one get ABS like that???  I'd like them for myself!

The finale!

Walking Dave down the dock with every intention of throwing him in

There goes Nora

There goes Kieran

And Quinn

Lastly, Maeve.  Better success at throwing Dave in next year!!!

FINDING YOUR INNER NINJA

After an hour long hike on the island, all 6 kids came back with long sticks.  What they created with them over the next several hours was amazing.  They grabbed some yarn and started twirling it around each stick, the yarn then extended long enough for them to create a strap (think of a guitar strap) for them to strap it around their own body and carry it without having to hold it.  They spent the next hour coming up with amazing choreography and team work and then out came the face paints.  An hour long hike, sticks, yarn, creativity and face painting led to an entire afternoon of fun and a trampoline performance to boot, naturally, the song Inner Ninja was played for the performance!  Thankful for summer time!

EXCITING MAIL

Quinn was thrilled to receive some mail this afternoon.  He excitedly opened it, trying not to rip the cute froggy sticker on the back of it.  He opened it up and a name tag fell out.  We opened the letter and read that it was from Ms. Masellas, Quinn's soon to be grade one teacher.  Yippee!  Yahoo!  We high fived, did a little dance in the front hall and he ran the letter upstairs to his bed where he plans to sleep with it tonight.  I must admit, I was secretly hoping Quinn would have Ms. Masellas.  Although neither of my boys have had her as a teacher, I have come to know her calm, gentle, kind, creative spirit throughout the halls of the school and feel like she and Quinn will be a great fit for one another.  We are all very excited, grade one, here he comes!

** Via text and phone we have learned that most of Quinn's favourite buddies, Ben, Cooper, Deagan and Joseph P. are also in Ms. Masellas' class.  The gaggle of boys lives on from kindergarten.  Bless you Ms. M.

GRATITUDE

A tradition we started a year or more ago that we do on the island every night is light a candle in the boys bedroom.  Each one of us get to light the candle and say what we are most grateful for on that particular day and then we blow our candle out.  I am often amazed by how much thought K and Q put into what they share each night and am grateful they are appreciative of their family, friends, food, places we get to spend time and how lucky we are in this big wide world.  This is not a good photo, but I thought it was important to share nonetheless.

Kieran sharing his gratitude and about to blow out his candle

CAMPFIRE

We had an evening campfire on the island one night, it started with a marshmallow roast that led to some face painting and loads of laughter.  The kids that went to sleep over camp this summer decided to share some of the new songs and skits learned.  Kieran decided to start the campfire off and set the tone of hilarity that followed.  He started with his favourite camp song, called Aunt Oova and then performed a second number and called it Aunt Kelly.  It was quite funny!

How many roasted marshmallows have you had, QBall?

Uncle Mark and Maeve

Kieran's fire painted face and marshmallow on fire!

Maeve and Kelly pretty in pink

Kieran performing Aunt Oova for everyone

Song #2 - Aunt Kelly has many monkeys...

"Men with shirts on their heads"

An original act performed by Nora, Kieran and Kaitlyn

Grampa Mike enjoying the show