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July 07, 2006

Happy 4th of July!

Ok, I know it's been a while since I posted, but it was the holiday weekend after all. We only got back on Wednesday evening and I've only just now had a chance to sit down to create this entry. It was a fantastic and long weekend and Don and I had an amazing time. It's never really summer until we go to Meaford (Georgian Bay, Ontario) and visit the Bucks. All the activity caught up to me the night we got home so I just crashed for 2 hours in the evening. I hated to skip iaido class, but I had to do it--I was SOOOOO tired. Anyway, here are just some of the pictures I took. I'm really getting into taking pictures...I just wish I could have used Nick's camera. As Will Smith once said, "I have GOT to get me one o' these!"

I'll try to get Don to post the rest of the pictures on his Web site for everyone to view. Click on the thumbnails to view the entire image.

Here's Uncle John & Aunt Nancy's cottage where Don and I stayed. The Bucks own five cottages all in a row--Uncle John's dad or grandfather had owned the land and they eventually built all the cottages right there. They even own some land on the other side of the road which doesn't face the bay so that no one can build there.

Here's Jessica with Uncle John. Jessica hasn't been up to the cottages since she was about 11! It was so nice to have her, Brian and Derek up with us. Poor thing was so emotional when she left. I know it meant a great deal to her that Uncle John & Aunt Nancy invited her up. I think it brought back a lot of wonderful memories for her and that it was very interesting for her to see all the changes since she was last here.

Derek really got around here. He sure provided a lot of entertainment and I think he REALLY had a fun time. I know Aunt Nancy enjoyed having him. All her grandkids call her "Ahma" and they call Uncle John "Poppa." Derek was so cute always calling out, "Ahma! Ahma!" or "Poppa! Poppa!" He REALLY loves them! What a darling boy!

This is Kevin Buck (John's son and Don's cousin) & his wife, Anne with their kids, Allie and Justin ("Justy"). I thought this made such a great picture--it'd make a great postcard to send to the rest of the family. Justy absolutely LOVED having Derek around--they became great playmates. Finally, Derek found someone he could play with that was just as rough (if not rougher) than himself.

Here's a view of the shore leading into the water from the Bucks' cottages. The water is beautifully clear and clean--absolutely NO seaweed to get tangled in. Love that! Only thing is that it's kind of hard to walk on all the rocks as you go out for a swim, so it's better if you wear water shoes. The water was 65 degrees--cold, but very refreshing, since the days were so warm and sunny.

Derek loved climbing on all the boats they had on shore. Altogether, the Bucks own several boats of all kinds. Derek always liked climbing into the kayak just to sit. He also liked climbing up onto the catamarand to play. I think this time, he was in need of a nap. What an absolute angel he is!

This is a view of the picnic/firepit area from the deck of John & Nancy's cottage. This is where all the Bucks gather at night after dinner (which we usually eat outside) to sit around the fire. We have drinks and talk the night away--I think it's definitely the best part of being up here.

Tom, John's oldest son, owns a beautiful yacht called "The Kare's Away"--a play off his wife's name, Karen. He gave Don a chance to drive it around the lake a bit. We drove down Sunnyside Beach to a point just off the military base shore. We anchored and took a nice little swim in the lake. I always love taking rides on The Kare's Away.

These are the horses we rode at a place just down the street from Sunnyside Beach. On the left is Pinto Boy, the one I rode. Quite the ladies horse he is. He loves getting all the attention from us girls. I specifically requested to ride him since he was so great last year. Last year, he was so fond of me, he didn't want to leave me to go into the stables. Jessica, Mary (Don's cousin) and Kim (Mary's daughter) accompanied me and this time, we had a pleasant, relaxing ride, though I wish we could have run the horses a bit.

Here's Don's cousin Mary. After riding the horses, she took us to a really beautiful scenic point on one of the nearby roads. It overlooks the town of Meaford and the bay. Very breathtaking. I had hoped to take an online sign language course before I came to Meaford again, so that I could sign with Mary and her other daughter, Amanda. They usually don't join us for the fire because they can't read people's lips. I was hoping I could change that, but I hadn't had a chance to take the course. I'm still going to try though.

Don and I took a nice long walk the first full day we arrived. We just went down the road where the cottages are. I ended up taking a few really nice pictures like this one. I got lucky and caught this butterfly looking for flowery sweetness.

Here's another I took during our walk. One of the neighbors owns a piece of land across the street from his cottage (like the Bucks). The landscaping he did is the most beautiful landscaping along the entire road. It's an open field of grass with a long stone gate with Chinese dogs sitting on either side of the gate entrance. In front of them is a Japanese Maple and a circular patch of flowers. The man was leaving just as we passed by and he was gracious enough to invite us to walk around his garden, since he saw me taking pictures. People here are so nice!

This is just a view of the river that runs into the canal in downtown Meaford. The canal has a small marina that opens up into the bay. It's where Tom keeps The Kare's Away.

Fire makes such a great subject for photography, don't you think? It's unpredictable what kind of color or flames you'll get. Nice!

Don had just a little bit of Scotchy-wotchy left in his bottle of Oban 14-year old single malt. He said he's always wanted to drink it straight from the bottle and I thought I should get proof. haha!

And lastly, here's a funny Mongoola face that we bought in a little boutique at Blue Mountain, about 40 minutes from Meaford, where we had dinner. John, Nancy, Don, me, Judy (John's daughter) and Kelsey (Judy's daughter) met Tom and Karen here on their way back from dropping their son Jon off at the Toronto airport. Dinner was really delicious and Don picked up the tab as a way of thanking Uncle John & Aunt Nancy for taking such good care of us over the weekend. We put the face on the front porch of our house to welcome our guests as they enter.

John & Nancy invited us to come up more often and Don offered to come up during Labor Day weekend to help take the docks in as an excuse to come back. It'd be great cause I'd love to come back. Hopefully it won't be too cool by then.

Posted by Amy at July 7, 2006 09:00 PM

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Posted by: meat at July 14, 2006 01:01 PM

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