The Family's Summer Vacation

We took our annual family vacation to Canada in July this year. DH's aunt and uncle have owned property on a lake in Quebec for over 30 years, and over time have created an incredible getaway which they generously share with friends and relatives all summer. This is the 4th time we've gone up, and we just never get tired of it. It's about a 10 hour drive (depending on traffic and pit stops) straight up through North Bay, Ontario, crossing into Quebec at Temiscaming, and 3 hours north of that. While we're there, all we do is fish out on the lake, swim, go for hikes or atv rides, or hang out at the cabin and read or play cards and board games. They do have satellite tv, but I don't watch very much myself - of course, the kids are ecstatic that they don't have to live without Disney Channel and Cartoon Network. You'd think this would get old, but it really doesn't. One of my favorite activities is to do puzzles while I'm there, because they have a perfect table for it where the puzzle isn't in danger from kids running around. There just isn't anywhere at my house like that. I probably do 4-5 puzzles in 2 weeks.

Here is a picture of the "cabin" from the water. As you can see, it's really a house, complete with 3 bedrooms, 2 full baths, full kitchen, a washer and dryer, screened porch, etc. But they like to call it a cabin.

You can see the pontoon boat, which we generally only take out once or twice while we're there since it's a real gas guzzler. There are 3 other boats, owned by Uncle Cliff and various sons, but the big one was out of commission this year so DH spent all his time out in the small one.


We generally catch quite a few fish, certainly enough for at least 3 good fish fry dinners and plenty to take home too. Mostly we get walleye (Uncle Cliff calls them pickerel), but we sometimes also catch catfish, perch, and small mouth bass too. Every year, though, DH is hoping for "The Big One" - his prize northern pike. He hasn't caught one big enough to mount yet, but he knows it's out there waiting for him.

Here are DH and Uncle Cliff after a good day's fishing. You can see from DH's face that there is nowhere else on earth he'd rather be.

Each night after the boat(s) come in, Harry the Heron flies in to wait for Uncle Cliff to clean the fish. He knows he can eat good at O'Neil's Little Bit Of Heaven - and he's not shy about waiting for a table!





The kids, naturally, have a great time there too. They don't fish quite as much as their dad, but they still find lots to do! This year the temperatures were moderate, so they only got to swim a few times. One year it was in the 90's for 5 days straight! We ended up getting into the van and driving 1 1/2 hrs to Pizza Hut for lunch just so we could sit in the air conditioning! You can see from these pics that the days were sometimes warm, sometimes cool.

Here's Danny in the boat. Although he didn't go out every day like his dad, he still went fishing quite a bit.

He especially liked it when he got to "drive"!

Here's Dan and Dad with the day's catch. Not too shabby!

Katie also loves to fish, but she'd rather go out on the dock and fish from the pontoon boat than spend the day on the lake (ahem, can you say "flush toilet"?). Here she is with one of the many catfish she caught:


She did like going out with her Daddy for a quick jaunt down the river (where the Ottawa flows out of the lake).

She also likes driving the boat!

Here's a few pictures DH took when the fish weren't biting. lol

This year for a change (and mostly because of having the smaller motor) Chuck spent a lot more time fishing up the river (where the Ottawa flows into Lac Sinard) than trolling out on the lake.

Isn't the scenery just gorgeous?

One day, you'll never guess what they saw!!

Yes, that's a moose, crossing the river right in front of them! Glad DH had the camera with him that day. Pretty cool!

Uncle Cliff, of course, doesn't get to fish every day. Since he and Auntie Jan live there from May through September, there is quite a bit of maintenance to be done on the house and property, like lawn mowing, fixing boat motors, taking the trash to the dump, working on the docks, etc. Always willing to lend a hand when needed, DH helped Uncle Cliff cut down a tree by the cabin. Danny and Katie were allowed to help cut it up with the log splitter:


On our last days there, there were some big thunderstorms, which sometimes knocked out the power. Last year the tornado that went through North Bay caused a power outage throughout areas of Ontario and Quebec, and we were without electricity for almost 3 days! This year, though, we were only out for a few hours. When the storm had passed, there was a gorgeous rainbow. It was actually a double one, but I could only get this part in the shot.

Can you see how it's reflected in the water?

You can see why we always love our vacations in Quebec. As someone else put it: "Life, the way it should be." Already we're looking forward to next year!!