booze sun party fun cousins yeah!

It's just that kind of day here in the countryside. Seung Yi has crashed out on the mattress that Anne and Ji moved into the living rom to create their fort, she's wearing nothing but Ji's swim shirt that has a skull and crossbones on it and she's got her hair in raggedy pig-tails. I spent the afternoon on the beach with Ji and Hannah and Sarah reading a trashy magazine. Phet took all our recycling to the dump this morning. And to top it all off Pam came over and brought us homemade cookies with chocolate chips, raisins, AND nuts!

[Seung Yi woke up in the interim and we ate dinner and went to the Howdenvale beach where she swam like a fish and then we came home, had a fire and some marshmallows and then got into bed early. Really: the perfect day. Now we're back in Toronto already.]

So now, in retropsective: it was a great holiday up on the Bruce. We drove up on the Wednesday and had a couple of days to settle in and putter around and put up the annual new selection of framed photos. Uncle Phil and Aunt Theresa very kindly hosted us for spaghetti dinner and while Seung Yi was petrified of their dogs Lucy and Ethel at the begining of the holiday, by the end she didn't freak out every time they entered the room. Our house always makes us happy and this summer was no exception. It's kind of fun having a place you don't see all the time - we come back and keep saying to each other, 'wow, what a great house!'. The kids had fun rediscovering all their toys and I had a good time setting up the bar. Thanks to Don (MacFarlane, Adam's Dad) we had a very substantial start to the alcohol collection which only grew as our guests arrived. We covered the entire bar trolley when the first weekend began and had reduced the coverage to less than a third by the time the second weekend rolled around. Well done, livers!

We had great houseguests and hosted more tenters this year than ever before. We were pretty worried at first because there was a massive rainstorm the first night, but obviously our friends are made of tougher fabric than us because they not only stayed out in the deluge that evening, they chose to stay for the rest of the weekend as well. Luckily, the weather turned sunnier (if not actually "warm") for the rest of the time folks were sleeping outside. Adam came up on Friday with Matt, Saira, Julia and Beau, and then Anne, Tara, and Erin followed along later that night. Emma showed up with Jenny and her friends Laura and Marie on Saturday, and Phet's family and our Mum came up as well. It was a big, rooting-tooting fiesta night on Saturday. Saira coordinated an awesome spread of Tex-Mex treat and we all supped heartily and knocked back margaritas. Poker was the big draw of the evening and Phet took home the pot that night. Everyone seemed to be keen on a second game but in the end the shed became the after hours hangout of choice. Tho' the gang started calling it the office, which I quite like. Phet does work so very hard there, doesn't he...

On Sunday we hosted our annual Canada Day party WITHOUT RANDY. It was weird and strange and I sure hope we don't have to do it that way again. However, despite Dad's absence, I have to say that I think Phet and I did a pretty good job getting everything ready. The appetizers were plentiful, the fish was perfectly cooked (thanks, Tara!), the sausages were yummy, the chicken was grilled nicely (thanks, aunts!), and there was plenty of dessert. The only error we made was in not cooking enough fish and chicken. I sort of forgot that people would eat both. And that some might like seconds or thirds. Ah well, live and learn. We know for next year. The highlight, though, of Sunday night was the arrival of Elizabeth, Hannah, Sarah, MaryAnne, Claudia and Julia. We hadn't seen MA C & J for over two years, and were thrilled that they made it up to our place.

The rest of the week was a total cousin fest and I think we've now set the stakes pretty high for subsequent get-togethers. Aunt Theresa booked us in to a gym in Port Elgin with insane trampolines and a climbing wall and we had a hoot there (note to self: remember that jumping on industrial type competitive trampolines makes me want to pee! Weird). After jumping we had a huge lunch in Port Elgin and then went about beaching and shopping. Later that week Mum organized an awesome horseback riding event for us. One hour out on the range with the ponies! I was TOTALLY TERRIFIED. You must check out the photo of me on my horse because as Ji said it looked like I was riding a donkey, but I was completely scared that it was going to lift its front feet and toss me over like a wicked drunk in Black Beauty. Other than the horse madness, we entertained ourselves with long stretches at the beach and with massive amounts of snackage. My personal favourite were the chelsea buns that I went to pick up early on Sunday morning so that all our guests could enjoy a proper Sauble Beach breakfast courtesy of Nancy's Bakery. Yes, Dad, in your absence I was able to pick up some of the slack and I even remembered to buy cream and a Globe & Mail. Maybe now I'm really an adult, you think?

The beach was as gorgeous as ever. No matter where I go - Phuket, the Perhentian islands, Goa - I still love Sauble best. I have never been to a beach with a better combination of lovely sand, massive dimensions, exceedingly expansive and gently curving geography, clean water, and sunsets that drop down precisely into the water at the very centre of vision thus creating spectacular colours both above and on the surface of the water. Sauble is also my favourite because its in Canada, which means that I can sit on the beach ALL DAY LONG wearing pants and a long sleeved sun shirt and a hat and maybe even rest a towel across the back of my neck and never break a sweat. Of course, that also means that I didn't actually go "swimming" once and didn't get wet any higher than my thighs, but hey, that's kind of Canadian too.

To everyone who came up for the party: thanks, we love you, we had wicked awesome time. See you next year, and bring your friends! To everyone who couldn't make it: we missed you! Uncle Phil, Uncle Pat, Auntie Cathie, Nick, Jodi, extended Dwyer family, Fontzwieckis, Woolgars, and Dad: don't forget to put the party on your schedule for next year. We want to see you and we love you too.

Here's an album from the week. There aren't many pics from the actual party because I was - boo hoo - on cooking and coordinating duty and didn't take many. Maybe Tara will post hers up on Facebook, hint hint.

[Countryside-8-July-2008]