Looking back...

As I get ready for spending time with family I came across a story Melissa wrote in September. Kind of like the "what did you do this summer story" that you always have to do in September. I thought I would share it. As you think over the last year remember all the great times you spent with friends and family, all the memories that made 2006 a memorable year. (Her spelling not mine.)
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The Tail of the Travelling Cottagers

By Melissa Borgdorff

Sept 19, 2006

Like most summers I go cottaging with the Wagensvelds, my mom's family and the Borgdorff's my dad's family but my mom's cottaging trip was a whole different story.

Well the drive was just horrible. It was so long, we had to turn around so many times and we had no idea where we were going. All we knew whas that it was somewhere near Perth and it was called Tay Hawk. We were also carrying a boat so we went even slower. Let me first introduce the family who went. There were my Grandparents. The Jonkers, Aunt Krista, Uncle Dave, Madelyn, Lauren and Rachel. The Wagendsvelds Uncle Jay, Aunt Jenn and Annika who is 7 months. There was the Mecleans, Uncle Doug, and Aunt Jennifer. Than there was my family. Mom, Dad, Jake Kristen and me. Nick also came from the Borgdorff side because Jacob in the only boy. After getting there we finally got to settle in.

We got everyone sleeping somewhere adn we noticed that the place was infested with animals. There was a mouse in one of the bunkies. Two mice were in the kitche, ants were everywhere, and we watched a snake eat a toad. Owwwwwww, but most of all the mosquitoes were the worst. Our little cousin Annika, yes who is only 7 months got eaten alive her first night. We did end up getting the mice out of the cottage, we did fix the ant problem and the mosqitoes we just had to live with. The rest of the week was just AWESOME!!!!

We had lots of fun in the water, like swimming, fishing and doing water sports. The lake was really warm and we swam to the island. We had lots of fun with water sports, we got to try knee boarding, wakeboarding, water skiing, and tubing. We had a fishing tournament and my dad won. There was a scavenger hunt and many campfires where we sang lots of silly songs, took lots of pictures and most of all we got it all on tape. It was definitely the best vacation ever. I would do it again any day.

So if you are looking for an adventure, cottaging with the family is the way to go and if you are not looking for an adventure don't go cottaging. Thank-you

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Hope it brought back some memories of this trip or trips that you have spent with your crazy family. As Christmas nears and you think back to years gone by what you remember most is the time spent together and traditions you shared with family and friends, not what was under the tree.

Kim