Long Weekend Cottage Fun

A few weeks ago, Curt and I got an email inviting us to 'The First Annual Wielemaker Cousins' Cottage Weekend'.  The email was from his cousins James, Joel, Blair and Carl - the Roeleveld's were organizing this weekend at their cottage, a beautiful spot on Harris Lake, near Point Au Baril, Ontario.  Almost immediately we responded and said we would be there!  We were lucky enough to spend a weekend at this cottage last summer, and although it's pretty far away (about a four hour drive), we knew it would be a great time.

In the week before, Curt and I were having second thoughts about going...our weekends in August had been VERY busy, and we were thinking we should stay home and get organized for our trip to Myrtle Beach.  However, before we could email the Roeleveld boys to cancel, we got an email from them with details about the weekend.  They had gone to a lot of trouble to organize the meals for the weekend (who was going to cook when), where everyone was going to sleep, and all the other little details...and, once we saw the work they put into it, we decided we couldn't cancel on them, we didn't want to ruin their plans!

So, on Friday night, we hit the road - we drove as far as Orillia and spent the night at a hotel there.  Then Saturday morning, we got up early and finished the drive, arriving in Point Au Baril just before 10am.  And, as we pulled into the marina to park, James pulled up to the dock...the cottage is only accessible by boat. 

We spent a lot of time on the water, the Roeleveld boys LOVE their water sports, and they have all the 'toys' you need....a new ski boat, water skis, tubes, slalom skis, a wake board and a wet suit for bare-footing!

We took over 300 pictures throughout the weekend!  Three days, three hundred pictures?!?!  Curt likes to use the 'Shoot & Select' feature on our camera - it makes sense, it's for fast moving objects...you press the button, and instead of taking one picture, it takes multiple, then you pick the ones that turned out best.  So, that's how we ended up with so many pictures.

That being said, it's been hard to choose pictures to include :)  I've really narrowed it down here...

This is where we spent most of the weekend...either hanging out on the dock watching everyone try various water sports, or on the boat, watching from there.

Curt, wake boarding like a pro...

Me, wake boarding like a ROOKIE!  You can tell in this picture that I'm not very comfortable, but, I'M UP!  I was fine as long as I stayed inside the wake...once I went outside the wake, I was stuck and couldn't get back in :)

  And, to be fair, here's one of me going down...because there are a lot of these too!

I have to admit, I was pretty excited to get up the first time I tried!  I've been wake boarding before, but it was SEVEN years ago.  Now, the boat played a big part in me getting up, but still!  This is a ski boat, it's meant for water sports...so, the tow rope attaches to a bar above the boat, rather than right behind the boat - I really think the fact that the rope comes from a higher angle helps you get up!

When we weren't on the water, we were usually eating :)  But, Curt and I also took a few games...Ticket to Ride was a HUGE hit with the cousins, I don't think any of them had played, but they were hooked!  One of the many games that was played (Blair in the green shirt, my brother in law Mark, Joel, Carl and Anthony's back).

As we drove home, Curt and I talked about how glad we were that we ended up going.  We were the oldest ones there (by a few years!), which was a HUGE joke throughout the weekend, but it was still great to hang out with the cousins who could make it.  The Roeleveld boys did a great job hosting, and made sure that everyone there had a great time!  So, a big thank you to Uncle Jack and Aunt Laura for letting us use the cottage...and to the boys for organizing all the details for us!  We are looking forward to 'The 2nd Annual Wielemaker Cousins' Cottage Weekend' next summer :)