Summer

Until I was 12, we spent every summer at the cottage Grandpa built. 5 kids - my brother, sister, me and my 2 cousins. This is the 5 of us at the beach. In the background is the little green VW bug that my mom used to have packed and ready to go on hte last day of school. We'd hop in the car and take off for the 2+ hour drive to the cottage. Summers were the best!

The property was not on the water - in fact it was quarter mile walk to a public beach but that mattered little to us. We spent the summers all together - a family of 5 sibliings with my mom and my aunt. My father and uncle remained in the city working, and my grandparents came up only once every couple of weeks - on Wednesdays - my grandfather's day off from work.

Even as adults, all of us 'kids' remember it as the best time of our childhoods. It was a simple life. We spent each day from morning til dinner time on the beach. We swam, built sand castles, made waterways through the sand and swam some more on 'our' beach that we shared with a handful of other families who were regulars there. Evenings were spent playing on the swingset grandpa had installed out front - or just exploring. We climbed rocks. We climbed trees. We had adventures in places we discovered and 'owned' by virtue of discovery. We caught frogs - somany frogs that we went into business, selling them for fishing bait!

On rainy days, my mom would work with us on crafts - or we'd play school - pencilling in workbooks preparing for the next grade. We built a tepee in the back and hung out there...

Life was easy and relaxed. I can remember the smell of of the cottage when we first opened it each year, the feel of the soft sand out the front, and the sense of peace that was ours for 8 weeks each year.

What a wonderful experience. We were luck kids!