Never have we ever had cottage week in March before. March in Quebec, north of Ottawa... it's a thing, a wintry, cold thing. But goodness was it pretty!
I can't remember exactly when I reached out to Emily to see what she was doing on March break, and how we could figure out how to get Hazel and Fiona together. Fiona regularly asks when we're going to see Hazel. When we have an upcoming visit planned, she counts down the weeks.
Emily suggested we come up to the cottage with them for part of the week, and so we did.
Monday
The plan was to leave early, but then it sounded like Emily wasn't going to be up at the cottage until later in the afternoon, so we didn't leave early. I walked the dog, we got everything organized and ready, it always takes longer than we think, but we did it. Fiona was sad that we didn't leave until just before noon, but then I realized I'd forgotten my coat, so just before we got on the 401 we went back home.
The drive was great lol. It was great because Ken did all of the driving while I read "The Hail Mary Project". Really though the drive was good. A little rainy, a little foggy, but good.
We stopped at the OnRoute in Trenton.
Some of the fog.
Such a good book.
We stopped at Wendy's in Renfrew.
We crossed into Quebec just after 4 pm and we got to the cottage just after 5 pm.
Emily and I took the dogs out. Emily had snow shoes on and I had my waterproof running shoes, I only fell once lol.
Milo ran up and down the hills following Bella.
Fiona was so happy.
Alice was too.
Bella and Milo were happily reunited too, but, after the crazy snowy run through the forest, Milo was limping and it freaked me out.
Duolingo... I don't know. I am learning words. I'm not learning how to speak French, but I'm learning words... I still like it so there's that.
Tuesday
Emily talked to me about organizing some things for the kids to do, games, karaoke, and a bake-off. It was pretty cute. She bought white chocolate, and the kids had to bake things/make things in their teams that featured white chocolate.
I continued to worry about Milo. He desperately wanted to go out, so we walked without Bella and not for very long. He continued to limp, but he wasn't crying or in distress.
games
karaoke
worrying about Milo
Fiona went snowshoeing with Emily and loved it.
Not sure when/if I'll see the cottage in snow. It snowed over night quite a bit and the temperature dropped a lot. It was -27 at one point. But goodness it was beautiful.
I continued to read, lots.
Games were played - this was of course Just Dance.
Hazel wasn't feeling 100% and might have barfed a few times, but she kept it together pretty well and was able to have fun with Fiona.
I think Alice and Lauren were the only ones that enjoyed the colouring book and markers we brought.
I was really quite impressed with everyone's bake off entries.
Holden and Carter made chocolate dipped strawberries and brownies.
Fiona and Hazel made marshmallow treats with Lucky Charms cereal - it was St. Patrick's Day after all. They also dipped fruit in yogurt and white chocolate.
Lauren and Alice made chocolate chip cookies, and blueberry white chocolate bark.
Milo took up residence on a towel beside me on the couch.
Fiona and Hazel went scouting for icicles.
Many games were played after dinner. Lots of fun was had, and there was a karaoke party. It was good. I think everyone had a great day.
Wednesday
In the morning I got up and went outside with the dogs. Milo wanted to run around after Bella, so I only had Milo outside for a little bit. Then I walked with Emily and Bella. I think I enjoy my walks with Emily the most. We just chat - I probably talk too much, but it's peaceful and I love walking around in this beautiful location.
We had a pretty chill morning - aside from getting the laundry started. I finished my book, it was SO good.
It was so cold our hair turned white with our breath!
I took cute pictures of all the friends.
After lunch though it was go time. We cleaned and tidied.
I continued to worry about Mr. Milo. He was still limping, but again, he wasn't crying and he was happy to walk around. I wasn't sure when/if I'd take him to the vet, and the fact I didn't want to take him to the vet made me feel like I was being neglectful.
Carter took some group shots.
One with the dogs.
We had eaten lunch together before the cleaning. Just before we left I let Milo walk around for a bit, and then we were off. We left shortly after 2 pm and then we had a long drive home.
We took the longer way so that we'd be close to rest stops and just in case the roads were bad. The "most" fun part of the drive home was getting rear ended on the bridge over the river from Quebec to Ottawa. The guy hit our trailer hitch, damaged his car, but not a scratch on ours. Thankfully it was a very slight bump so no one was injured.
We stopped three times on the way home. We arrived at home just after 8 pm. We were in no hurry I guess lol. We had a lovely time away. It was a short visit, but it was lovely. I'm so grateful for our dear friends and their generosity.
I'm not sure if we'll have a cottage week this summer. Emily really wants to make as much money as she can renting it out. But if there's availability, we might have a second cottage week this year. We'll see what happens. Either way, we created some fun memories this week. We'll see when we visit again - I wonder how long before Fiona is asking to see Hazel again. We sure do love our Lim-Andersons.
*A note about Milo. He continued to limp a little for a couple more days, and we went easy on walks, until Milo was done taking it easy, and before I knew it, he was better and I was so so very grateful. We sure love our Milo.*
**A note about sickness. Poor Hazel really was sick. She had a fever, a cough and she barfed more than once. Thankfully Fiona never did get sick. On top of that Holden lost his sense of smell and taste after the cottage and then Lauren got really sick - they assume, with Covid. Again, neither Alice nor Kate got sick. I'm sorry that our friends had so much sickness, but I was very thankful that we didn't.**
