Back from summer vacation

a

We rented this rustic storybook cottage on the edge of a lake in New Hampshire. I was ready to really take a week off after launching my store these past couple of months.  Even so, I did miss blogland and keeping up with all of you~so here is a quickie version of my family vacation.  Hubby and I along with the kids headed up for a week of R&R....we went to the same lake hubs has vacationed on since he was a boy~he has a skiboat on this lake that he keeps at his friends dock, so it was convenient to move it over to our dock for the week. 

 This is the back of the cottage that faces the lake...it has a nice screened in porch that a wonderful breeze blew through~the owners had edged the back of the house with cut down tree trunks...not sure I would have done that...at first I thought a forest had been planted in a line and cut down!

 From the cottage the only negative was this hilly trail down to the waters edge...all of our calves were feeling it after two days. But once you got down the hill, the dock revealed itself and there we spent many hours.

 It was shady in the morning~and then sunny all afternoon long.

 We came up with this trailer that had hubby's motorcycle and
room for our bikes, as well as room for any antique treasures
I wanted to drag back to my shop!

We brought just about everything you could think of...bikes, chairs, beach umbrellas and even air conditioners (since last year was brutally hot inside the cottage we rented).  However we never needed them, it was pleasant and warm in the day but cooled off at night where you needed a blanket.

 This was the first morning....I went down to the dock with my magazines,
and you can see I still had my sweater on~it was very peaceful on the edge of the lake.

 By the afternoons the sun would come out, and here I would sit with some more magazines, including this fun new one, Vintage Style! The water is so clear and sparkly at this lake~we would dunk Tobey and Dillon as they are not big fans of the water, but in they would go to keep them cooled off.

 One of the last days I decided I would try to waterski, as Colin was trying to master the one ski...I had not been up in 6 years....but I decided I would do it the next day~and after a couple of vodka tonics I felt quite sure I still had what it took, to rip off the waterski challenge!  It has been just as many years since I quit playing team tennis, and although I wondered if I had the physical strength and fitness I used to have,  I thought I have to at least try.  After all I had been doing this year with the store, maybe it was the year to be a little more fearless when it came to this sport...you see hubby is a great water skier...I skied as a twelve year old and had not seen skis until we started dating when I was age 47!  So of course I had to ski then..and I did, but truthfully I was scared of falling and wiping out in the water, with the water up the nose etc....not my favorite thing.  Well I hadn't been eager to get back on skis since our dating days.  However with everyone skiing this vacation I thought it was time to JUST DO IT!! The next morning I was quite determined after spending the night imagining getting up on skis and finding it to be easy as pie.  Thats what I do when I want to accomplish something, I visualize myself doing it, and then I reinforce it with positive self thinking....

Wanna see how I did? 

 You will hear me yell "Hit it!" which is the instruction for hubby to take off~Colin is video taping me from the boat. You can hear him cheering me on!  First try I was so eager I stood right up and fell right out of my skis...Hubby told me to stay in the seated position longer...and I did and got right up. Mission accomplished~and it felt exhilarating! 

 I'll admit I still worry about wiping out! 

I had to trim the video for it to go on the blog,

but right after this section I did flips and tricks.

Hubby is a good water ski coach~

and fun to vacation with 'cuz he is always in a good mood!
So we had lazy days spent in the water 

together~and it was very fun! 

Colin was having a blast, and even my 

Swedish MIL came and stayed for 3 nights.

We had cookouts with our NH friends, Judy and Lance, and Bridget, who owns Rustique.

Bridgets adorable son came and played at the lake

for two days~he loved every minute of it...here he is driving the boat!

We were soooo tired from  all that good fashioned fun~

there was no TV and no internet (besides phones) at the cottage.

We enjoyed a bike ride or two...tons of swimming and lots of eating.

No dieting this week~we had the kitchen stocked with fresh fruit and 

lots of naughty things like fresh blueberry pie and Klondike bars!

Big fat sandwiches at lunch with Lays potato chips~yum!

Our cottage was down at the end on a large private lot,

accessed by a private road in the woods.

The only bad thing that happened was that Dillon escaped one evening as 

we sat outside with our cookout at the picnic table! He had been gone an hour

before we noticed he was missing!!! It is our biggest fear, to lose him, as he is 

a dog that will just follow the scent of a trail and be a wild child.

We always have him on lead, he is not the kind of dog that sits at your feet.

It was awful...we noticed a screen had been popped out of the window in the bedroom and suddenly our cookout turned into a manhunt for Dillon.

We all spread out, Lance and Judy were there with us too. Hubs jumped into his truck and took off down the road, Colin went into the woods, and I started down the road on foot. We were calling Dillon's 

name~it was so scary to think we might lose him...and then all 

of a sudden I heard Lance yelling "WE GOT HIM"!!! 

I ran back to see this~

Here he is just coming out of the woods, all muddied up~

fresh from his adventure.  Colin heard his neck chain tingle in the 

air and he followed the sound and spotted Dillon sniffing around in the woods. 

It was the best way to end our vacation, 

as the next day we would be leaving and if we hand't found him 

I am not sure what we would have done...but it all ended happily!

Dillon got a bath in the lake, which he hated,

 and we hugged him up good.

Of course I got to go on the antique trail as we stayed right off of

Route 4, better know as Antique Alley, the longest 

stretch of antique dealers in New England~

 I will be blogging about the Scandanavian Antique shop I visited,

where I found more than a few Mora clocks!!

Stay tuned~