Today is birthday #26 for the beautiful Christine. We are spending it with her at her family cottage on Lake Erie with tons of friends – should be really fun.How do you feel when you walk into your home after an out of town trip?
This summer Dave and I have gone on a few trips and he himself has been away for business a couple times as well. Usually when we return from some time away from the house, we feel relieved, though tired. I usually feel more relaxed as I have my things around me in case I need them and I am anxious to get whatever photos I took during the time away onto my laptop. Lately though, I have become restless upon arriving home. I think this is due to the state of our house. We usually try to clean up the house before we head out for a trip, but we pretty much always fail. Before heading out to the cottage, we had no time whatsoever and did absolutely nothing to clean up. Therefore, when we got home, the fridge was full of spoiled food and the kitchen was a mess. Fortunately, it did not smell as we did take out the garbage before leaving. If the house is not clean or at least tidied up a bit, before leaving for a trip, coming back to it afterwards isn't as relaxing as it should be.
The receipts have been counted and tallied, the car has been washed, vacuumed and generally de-sanded and the photographs (for the most part) have been downloaded to the computer. Now comes the process of editing and retouching and displaying the memories.
Cottage 2009 was a very successful trip and was definitely a great vacation #3. It did well as the final summer vacation of 2009 and, like every year, I am very thankful to Chris and her family for allowing us to join them at their cottage.
Friday afternoon we headed out of Ottawa with a very full car and drove Erin out to Belleville. We then had the worst Pizza Hut experience ever as it took 2 hours to get, eat and pay for our food, for which they attempted to overcharge us. Driving the rest of the way was pleasant and we got into Paris at about 11 after picking up Justin from Brantford. Saturday morning we drove to Long Point and arrived at the cottage at about lunch time.
I love Chris' Cottage - it is so pleasant and peaceful. The moment you walk through the door you are instantly calmed and all the troubles of the real world are lifted from your shoulders. Sunday morning Dave and Justin headed to his family reunion while Chris, Jerrica and I went sailing with Chris' family. It was an incredibly windy day and despite the fact that I was perfectly fine on the boat last year, I got sea-sick. I did not get physically sick though, which is good because according to Chris' uncle no one has thrown up on the Meridian yet (he would know since he is one of the owners of the boat). When the guys got home we made a fire and had delicious smores. (pictures to come at a later date - stupid SD card).
Monday was the Too Late for Canada Day party, an event we usually miss as we have to head back to Ottawa that day but since we were staying extra long this year, we got to participate. Dave made a little buddy very quickly and learned even faster that this particular little buddy was not the type you want to have. We ended up hiding out in our room playing Guitar Hero for a little bit to relax and by the time we came out, the little buddy was gone. 
I practiced my night photography a bit more this night but am not entirely pleased with how they came out.
Tuesday was pretty low-key. We went swimming as we had every day and played a fair bit of Settlers. We went grocery shopping and made Pad Thai for dinner, which I am told was pretty good. A little more settlers later and the night was over.
Unfortunately we have come to Wednesday, which was the day we left. We drove back to Ottawa sad and tired. Dave and I had to keep switching as we were both really tired and neither of us could drive for very long. Oh and as a side note, never go to the Brantford bus station unless you really have to - that place is so sketch!
Blogger has this amazing feature I like to call Schedule Posts. Well, it isn't really called that, it is just what it is. When writing posts for your blog(s) you can schedule them to post at any time. I love this feature because I often feel very creative and like writing several posts in one go. I think it would be a little annoying to come to this site, however, and find that I wrote 7 posts the day before. So I schedule them to appear over the next few days. It also helps in keeping my posts regular as now when I have time to write several posts, I can and then have them appear on the site on days that I know I will be too busy to write new posts or days when I am out of town and incapable of posting.
For example, I am currently on a beach on Lake Erie enjoying the sand and sun with my friends (and my camera) but I have been able to keep the posts coming as I sat down a few days before my departure and wrote as many posts as I could. I know, since it is the August long weekend, very few people will be visiting this site, but I still felt it necessary to have something here for those that did find a few minutes to come see me.
We head to Long Point, Lake Erie today after work. It is an annual thing now, us visiting Chris' cottage and it is a holiday I start counting down to as soon as we get out of the driveway after the trip. Every year, we pack up the car (though the first year we rented a vehicle) and make the 8 hour drive after everyone is done work. We land in Paris and then head to the cottage the next day. Previously, we have stayed until the holiday Monday and then made the drive back without Chris as she stays longer with her family, but this year we will be staying an extra two glorious days as per Jerrica's suggestion.
Another sort of tradition is the addition of one person each year. The first year it was just Dave and I and then the second year we brought Jerrica with us. This year, we are bringing Justin with us. We will be picking him up along the way and he will spend the 5 days at the cottage with us, it's very exciting.
Today we will be leaving work early unlike previous years, and picking everyone up then heading out of town, hopefully before the traffic picks up, it is a long weekend though so it is pretty unlikely that we will miss the traffic jams altogether.
Vacation #2 - Montreal and Cirque du Soleil.
I ordered tickets for Cirque's new show Ovo just now. It is a show about the world of insects and I am very excited about seeing another Cirque show - and in their hometown no less! The show is on a Sunday and we plan on going to Montreal Saturday and spending the day at the Biodome and Botanical Gardens, likely with our friend and old roommate Yan. We are going to take both the day before and the day after the trip off from work to be able to really enjoy it.
Vacation #3 - Cottage on lake Erie.
For the past two years Dave and I have gone to Chris' cottage on Lake Erie. Usually we spend the August long weekend there and are home in time to go to work on the Tuesday. This year we have decided to make the trip longer and stay until the Wednesday, returning to work on Thursday. I can't wait and even the idea of the longer stay makes me very happy. With the addition of Jerrica last year and Justin (possibly) this year, the trip keeps getting better!
A few people I know have recently gone travelling and the pictures from their trips are making me want to do some travelling of my own. Dave and I were planning on going to Montreal for a weekend which would have satistified my itch for a few more months but I now have to go out of the city for work purposes (and therefore does not fall under travelling for fun) so our plans have been delayed. It is looking like we will be able to go sometime near the end of February but we kind of have to keep playing the waiting game as my workload appears to be quite heavy then and taking a couple days off to travel may not be the greatest idea.
I do however know that there is the annual Lake Erie cottage trip in August, which will of course be super-duper fun but it seems so far away right now. We also want to travel to Nova Scotia/Maritimes this summer to visit his Aunt and our friend and generally have fun of course. But again that seems very far from now.
Weekend trips are probably my best bet right now, like Montreal, Quebec City and Vegas (yes I am including this in the category of weekend trips).
I think I really just need some photography opportunities as that seems to be one of my favourite parts of travelling - especially since the photo editing opportunites after the trip are vast.
During my last trip to Chris’ cottage I fell in love with a breed of dog – the soft coated wheaten terrier. Her family friends have one named Kailey (not sure on the spelling) and she was absolutely adorable. I love terriers but the thing that makes this one perfect (I think so at least) for me and Dave is that it is not a small dog. They are about 30-45lbs and therefore classified as a medium dog. 
Wheatens were originally bred in Ireland to be all purpose farm dogs. They tend not to be as aggressive as other terriers and I have been told that they have a tendency to not bark but rather communicate their needs in other ways such as nuzzling. They are keen jumpers and unless trained not to will jump up on people when they first meet them (in a kind playful manner though). This is often referred to as the “Wheaten Greetin” which I think is really cute. There are four varieties of wheatens: Traditional Irish, Heavy Irish, English and American. The differences between the different varieties has to do with their coat colour for the most part, however, the American breed is prone to more diseases and illnesses then the other varieties. Wheatens are hypoallergenic and like Yorkshire Terriers, do not shed, which is ideal for our living style and we don’t want to have to vacuum on a regular basis. They are playful and energetic and generally adorable. There are of course the many cross-breeds but who cares about those when the original is just so ideal.
There are a few breeders around, 3 of which are right here in the Ottawa region (as a matter of fact, one is ten minutes from our house). I want to start communicating with the breeders to find out prices and estimated dates of litters, etc. I would only purchase one from a reputable breeder and luckily enough, the 3 that are in this area are not only registered with the Canadian Kennel Club, but also with Soft-Coated Wheaten Terrier Association of Canada. They are also active senior members of the Ottawa Association and I believe one of them is the president. I would feel safe purchasing a dog from one of these breeders, even though it would cost more to do so. My parents believe Eddy had his genetic disease due to poor breeding and possible inbreeding and the best way to avoid that is to go to a reputable source who shows their dogs and therefore has to have legal pedigrees with all their dogs. 
In case you can’t tell by now, I am very excited about this. I have done tons of research and want to take the next step and talk to breeders. I feel I could care for this breed of dog quite well and I know I would love it more than anyone else possibly could. Now I just need to get Dave on board with me for getting one in the new year (I would prefer now, but it just doesn’t make sense with our travel plans for December and how much attention and stability a puppy needs).
Note: images from wikipedia (top) and Soft-Coated Wheaten Terrier Association of Canada (bottom).
Annual trip to the Chris' cottage this year included a day on the her parents' (and aunt and uncles') sailboat - so great. The whole weekend was beyond words. Thank you Chris (and family).
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