Rivendell

We just spent a great long weekend up at Kyle's parents' cottage on Green Bay. The cottage is called Rivendell, and Kyle has many memories of the place from childhood, but he hadn't been up there in almost ten years and this was my first time visiting. We loved it and hope to get back up there frequently.

It was great to be right on the lake, and to go out to the water's edge in the morning and watch it change throughout the day. The weather was sunny and warm, which also felt good. One morning, Kyle and I went for a kayak and saw two huge bald eagles perched atop trees. We also took lots of exploratory walks along the water with Sylvie, so she could check out the "puddle" and "bubbles", as she called it. 

We saw lots of fun wildlife while we were there, including a snake and a porcupine, waddling around the woods in front of the cottage. 

Kyle thought this wagon pull was like a metaphor for our lives right now, which made me laugh. 

We took Sylvie out for a couple walks in the water, because it was so warm and the water is very shallow. After some initial trepidation, she loved it! She took big steps in the water, holding our hands. 

Pearl (who we are watching for a couple weeks) was not comfortable with us going out in the water without us, so she ran in and climbed into my arms so she could come along. 

Good times in the hammock.

Walking on the road, which really got my fear of ticks going. Because of the mild winter,and maybe due to other variables, the tick population seems to have exploded this year. So every time we came back inside, we also did a full once-over to get rid of any ticks that were trying to hitch a ride. I *really* dislike ticks, but was feeling less anxiety about them by the end of the weekend, since they're pretty slow moving once they're on you, and they don't start chomping into your skin immediately upon landing. 

Kyle and I also went mountain biking while we were up there, which was so fun! Neither of us had biked trails in forever because we always opt for road riding, but we had a great time. We went just the two of us on Saturday, and Kyle's friend Lexi joined us on Sunday for another ride. The trails we rode on are xc ski trails in the winter, and there was a mixture of dirt, mud, sand, hills, flats, roots, branches and grass. 

Such a fun weekend. We're already looking forward to our next trip.