Yes, this was a long time ago, but we had so much fun on this trip that I'm going to post my photos anyway. We stayed at our favorite cottage on Oxtongue Lake, and despite an inauspicious beginning (we were locked out of the house) all turned out well: we went on some beautiful hikes, sat around a bonfire by the lake, shared a splendid Easter dinner, were visited by the Easter Bunny, and - most of all - enjoyed the wonderful companionship of friends.
Day 1: the collecting of souvenirs from the forest begins.
The girls seem to have inherited papa's ability to fall sleep anywhere, anytime, and in any position.
Day 2: Mama and papa were on breakfast duty and were too busy to dress Basti, so our ever-resourceful son went roaming around the house in search of some socks to put on. He settled on Ryan's (post-morning-run) socks...never mind that they were 20 sizes too big. Properly attired, he came to the kitchen to help make the pancakes.
The Easter Bunny found us all the way in Algonquin.
Ilo on the prowl for those chocolate-filled easter eggs.
Basti was a happy camper with his bag full of eggs.
He was even happier when his cheeks were stuffed with chocolate. We eventually had to hide the eggs again...
Easter morning outing to a nearby waterfall. Adrienn and Julia decided to climb up the hard way.
Ilona was (uncharacteristically) much more cautious.
The girls decided to put on a play and worked on it all morning. It was something about a chick being born, but it was never staged because nobody wanted to be the egg (or something like this). Also because they got distracted by something even more fun: leg-writing.
Julia seemed ready to go along.
Corinne having second thoughts?
Meanwhile the rest of us enjoyed lots of photo opportunities by the river.
Basti and Ilo recharging on mama and papa.
Basti with his "come and tickle me" look.
Corinne and Basti racing back to the car.
Ahh...the moment we were all waiting for... Carroll and Ryan carving up the magnificent turkey they had prepared.
Day 1: the collecting of souvenirs from the forest begins.
The girls seem to have inherited papa's ability to fall sleep anywhere, anytime, and in any position.
Day 2: Mama and papa were on breakfast duty and were too busy to dress Basti, so our ever-resourceful son went roaming around the house in search of some socks to put on. He settled on Ryan's (post-morning-run) socks...never mind that they were 20 sizes too big. Properly attired, he came to the kitchen to help make the pancakes.
The Easter Bunny found us all the way in Algonquin.
Ilo on the prowl for those chocolate-filled easter eggs.
Basti was a happy camper with his bag full of eggs.
He was even happier when his cheeks were stuffed with chocolate. We eventually had to hide the eggs again...
Easter morning outing to a nearby waterfall. Adrienn and Julia decided to climb up the hard way.
Ilona was (uncharacteristically) much more cautious.
The girls decided to put on a play and worked on it all morning. It was something about a chick being born, but it was never staged because nobody wanted to be the egg (or something like this). Also because they got distracted by something even more fun: leg-writing.
Julia seemed ready to go along.
Corinne having second thoughts?
Meanwhile the rest of us enjoyed lots of photo opportunities by the river.
Basti and Ilo recharging on mama and papa.
Basti with his "come and tickle me" look.
Corinne and Basti racing back to the car.
Ahh...the moment we were all waiting for... Carroll and Ryan carving up the magnificent turkey they had prepared.
The best part about Christmas for Basti was singing his favorite song - Silent Night. He loves this song so much that he even sang it at Adrienn's choir concert, causing the audience to turn around and look at him instead of the choir...He was happy enough to perform it again, as long as he got to see the video afterwards...
