We had a 2:1 parent – child ratio this past weekend. The girls were invited back to the cottage for the weekend, in order to give P and H a surprise visit actually. So at home it has been a little quieter for B6, Andrew and me. B6 was a little disappointed when he heard where they were off to, but we have kept him busy and had a good time doing it.

On Saturday the poor lad was subjected to a morning of shopping, but it was in a variety of locations including Sugar Mountain! It wasn’t my idea, but Andrew’s choice of candy shows that it was strictly for research purposes. They came out with cinnamon balls, aniseed balls, cola balls, sour apple (B’s choice) and Turkish delight (to please me!). After the shopping we decided to make use of our new family membership for Ottawa’s public pools and went to an outdoor one close by. I did laps, B and A went off the diving boards.

On Sunday mornings during the summer several roads are closed off to cars so that bike riders and in-line skaters can use them. We haven’t made use of this privilege before so the three of us set off yesterday morning. Bear in mind that Andrew has been riding to work for a few weeks now, I have been averaging one bike ride a year. We had an initial hitch when Andrew promoted B6 from his cool red bike up to the next in line. It is the perfect size for him, but it is not so cool and it is purple! Convincing him that a bigger bike would make the ride much easier was not helped by the fact that across the road there was a boy riding his big, cool, black bike.

Once we were down the street, through the park and over the bridge, the tears had dried and we were all enjoying riding on the road beside the canal. There were all sorts of people out, those taking it easy, those training for the next triathlon and everyone in between. We made it down to the market and decided to wander around downtown for a while. The ride home was a little tougher; it was up hill in places and into the wind but we all made it and agreed it was manageable and fun.

The weekend is over but we still have only one child here. The girls are having a few more days away. B6 and I got out the bikes again, and rode to the pool for my laps, his jumps off the boards! The ride was nowhere near as long as yesterday so we handled it with ease.

As you probably gathered swimming is a major focus while at the cottage. Even though our hosts had their swimming lessons they were happy to swim for hours with us too. Early in the week the Bi-Lake Swim Meet was on and competitors from a neighbouring lake turned up to swim against “our” kids. B6 was too young to compete but all the girls were involved.

During the week we swam for fun, the children made up all kinds of challenges and competitions and were in and out of the water all day. N and I challenged ourselves to swim across the bay each day. We were not sure of the distance but we wanted a swim similar to the laps we do at the pool. Over the weekend, while the dads were still there, Andrew spotted for us and after that a couple of the children agreed to paddle along beside us while we swam. After a few days we increased our distance a bit and found that we were still handling it fairly easily. It was so nice to swim without having to turn around every 25 metres. If we timed it well and swam mid afternoon the top 15cm of the water was warm and it was just when we pushed our arms down and round that we felt the cold water underneath.

On Saturday the club held its own swimming regatta. This was the one everyone had been looking forward to. Although the day dawned cloudy and grey the races began and our girls and boy competed in plenty. The first and second place swimmers in each race qualified for the Tri-Lake Meet to come the following week. I’m not sure how many ribbons our crew won between them but we were very impressed with each of them. Half way through the schedule the rain started coming down but the races continued.

I had done both of mine by then, the front crawl and back stroke for over 35s, so I just stood in the rain and cheered for the girls. The final event was the long distance swim, which all four girls did before the lightning struck and the event was finally called off. Our very wet crew piled into the boat and headed for the cottage where we lit the fire and dried out.