The evolution of the cottage weekend

We spent the weekend at my husband's family cottage.  It's winterized so we are able to enjoy it all year round.  I was marvelling with my husband last night at how our cottage weekends have evolved over the last four years.

Before kids we rarely went up to the cottage just the two of us.  We did a few times, but I know we both were bored by the end of the weekend.  There is no internet up there, there is satellite TV which gets you a lot of Dallas, Who's the Boss or Full House reruns and the closest movie theatre is about 40 minutes away.  It was nice to be there for the weekend, but we were ready to go home by Sunday for sure.

We very often brought friends up with us though, and those weekends were lots of fun! We actually had cocktail hour (this may have been inspired by the reruns of Dallas mentioned above). I always got adventurous in the kitchen, trying new recipes, and we'd linger at the dinner table after having enjoyed appetizers, a main course and dessert. More drinks followed in the living room once the meal was over. We'd stay up late and sleep in the next morning.

My in-laws also let me take over the cottage for girls weekends!  I hosted my book club there once, had two bachelorette parties and a few other girls weekends - just because. The most important factors in these weekends were who was bringing what magazines to read, and what snacks and drinks were we going to have.  We'd divide up the meals and cook up some amazing food, swim, read, suntan and usually even get in a run or a walk or yoga on the deck.  We'd stay up too late and sleep in the next morning.

Yes, for some reason, we actually took pictures of our snacks!

Now we are a family of four who uses the cottage in a very different way.  Today we spent the day looking for good sticks, throwing rocks in the lake and seeing how many froggy jumps we could do in a row across the front lawn.  My in-laws live down the road from the cottage, on a farm, and my son is just enthralled with his Grandfather and is treated to multiple tractor rides each day.  He also loves playing with the Tonka trucks that have been kept in the attic since my husband was a kid.

We certainly don't have cocktail hour at the cottage these days, but enjoy a drink together once the kids are in bed instead.  We aren't bored by the fact that there isn't any internet, but go to bed early for some much needed rest or even catch a nap in the afternoon.  We love that the chores from home are left behind and that we focus on the kids and just play with them as much as they'll let us.  We still invite friends up, but they bring their kids too, and we head out to local zoos instead of golf courses or ice cream parlours instead of late night drinks in the closest town.

What a difference a few years makes - now we go to bed early and are up early!  I laugh out loud when I think of the weekends pre-kids at the cottage and feeling like I almost had too much time on my hands or feeling bored!  Now, the more relaxed pace is so welcome and I look forward to many more times spent there.