Our summer vacation at the lake

Our family just got home from a week away at a small lake in New Hampshire. Now that we have two stores, its a rare event to take time off. But more than ever, I was ready to get out of Dodge and find some rest and relaxation. This cottage was booked in early spring and I am so happy I was able to get us a week there as it sells out early. When we vacation, we bring our dogs, so that narrows down the options in cottage rentals. We stayed at this lake before, but the cottage was smaller and it wasn't sitting right on top of the water like this one was. So check out our spot and see what we were up to last week!

If you don't know these characters, let me introduce you. Left to right: Sylvia the schnoodle, Tobey the shih tzu and Dillon our rescue bully dog. Sylvia is technically Justin and Madison's dog, but she loves being part of the pack, so whenever she can, she wants to hang with the big dog! She is very smart and funny, and will copy anything that Dillon does. I gave her a blueberry off the bush outside the cottage door and she spit it out. I handed one to Dillon and he gobbled it up. Sylvia then picked up her spat out berry and chewed it up too. Its so funny to watch her emulate Dillon. We kept Dillon on a long lead tied to the big porch overlooking the lake. Sometimes Sylvia would get tied up too as she liked to sneak away. Tobey is getting older now, so he couldn't really even walk down the porch steps, so that meant no lead was necessary for him.

Lots of sitting around on the deck took place. With that water view, it was just the place to be! Our first couple of days it felt like fall weather was approaching~not hot and sunny like it should be at the end of July. Colin joined us for most of the week and was ready to relax as well. He has started his new career job as an outdoor project manager for a Boston firm, and he now understands why people take a week to relax on vacation and get away from the stressful demands of full time employment!

We planned to do a lot of water sports since we had a prime spot on the water.

We had a pair of kayaks and a canoe as well as hubby's vintage water ski boat.

This is a shot of me getting ready to drive the boat so hubs can waterski. He LOVES to waterski! This lake is a perfect waterski lake too. Colin skied, but this year I did not. Maybe next year (hehe).

Dillon loved to go in the boat for rides. He does not like the water though, and gets nervous and starts gulping it in big mouthfuls. Hubs would scoop him up like a baby and carry him out so he would have to swim back and it was just too scary for him, so he only went swimming once. Actually all the dogs only went in the lake once. They much prefer land.

It was in and out all day long. If we were on the deck, the dogs wanted to be on the deck. If we came inside to make meals, the dogs wanted to come inside. Just like traveling with toddlers, you had a lot of checking on where they were, and letting them in and out.

A view of the lake side of the cottage with its double decks and dock.

There were two decks, one of the second floor and one off the living room,

and they were perfect for hanging out our wet towels from the day's swim.

We would enjoy the morning sun and the afternoon shade, which was perfect for cocktails and appetizers before dinner. I cooked every meal, from breakfast to lunch and dinner. We had most dinners cooked out on the grill, but breakfast was a big indoor event, with a pound of bacon every day, eggs, english muffins and pancakes or french toast! I enjoy cooking and since I am always running to work, big breakfasts are a rare treat.

The sun would come onto the deck in the morning to dry out the towels from the day before and Dillon loved to grab a spot and warm himself in the sun. Thats my coffee and cell phone and reading glasses. Waking up early, grabbing a coffee and sitting out here was just heavenly.

As the day progressed the lower dock would be filled with dogs

and people enjoying being on the lake.

Justin and Madison even spent a couple of days with us grabbing in some down time.

Justin has been working his butt off and enjoyed just kicking back

on the floating raft with a good book while his dog and our dogs waited on the dock.

Dillon in his usual chilled out postion, while Syl and Tobey were their vigilant selves.

Hubs and I pretty much stay out of the sun these days, as its not kind to our pale skin tones. We would put on our big sun hats, and cover up and hang on the porch, like this time when we were shucking corn for dinner. Dillon is all wrapped around the pole with his lead. I think we had a half a dozen leashes laying around so we could hook them all up at a moments notice.

This shot of Sylvia looking through the railings at my mother in law was so cute.

My MIL comes with us every summer and she is so easy going and

I love to spoil her by doing all the cooking as that is

what she is always doing for everybody else.

Classic summertime shots at any cottage around

here probably include sunglasses, bug spray,

magazines, and towels galore.

What a view! This is right outside the sliders to the main living room.

And right upstairs was another deck offering the same.

One thing I like to do right after getting to our summer rental is to head to the local market and get a big load of groceries and lots of fresh fruit and flowers. I love flowers on our table, its homey and pretty and I get to enjoy them all day for a week! This cottage didn't have a vase so I made do by putting the flowers into a juice container.

We ate blueberries by the handfuls and the peaches were in season

and perfectly sweet and juicy. We swam, we slept, we ate,

and did it all over again, every day for a week!