Back From The Great White North

Well, we've returned from our trip to Canada. We got in late last night (Thursday) after having spent nearly a full week up at the cottage in Kingston and in Ottawa for Jonathan's wedding.

Jen will I'm sure post a more lengthy version of our trip with pictures later this weekend, but lets hit some of the highlights of the past week:

-- Jonathan and Stephanie's wedding. For those who don't know the Beckman family, here's the scoop. My mother and her friend Patty went to nursing school together and have been the best of friends ever since. Patty and her husband Gary, along with my folks, have known each other for nearly 40 years, if not more... the Beckmans have the cottage next to ours, and we spent every summer with their kids (Carrie, Jen and Jonathan). We've always considered them family (we call them Aunt Patty and Uncle Gary, the Beckman kids have their Aunt Barb and Uncle Jack)

That's a long winded explanation to say that they are family, so when cousin Jonathan asked if I'd be the MC for his wedding to Stephanie, I jumped at the chance. It was a honor and a privilege, and it was a lot of fun. I got to show off some of the ol' Watts wit (I'm so modest) and everyone had a good time at the wedding.

Here's a picture of the happy couple, and another one (the famous "couch photo," minus the married couple, who missed their brunch the next day to head to Niagara Falls for a truncated honeymoon).

Stephanie and Jonathan

The rest of the gang (left to right: Cousin Jen, Martin (Carrie's husband), Carrie, Sister Jen, me, Jen, Ken (Jen's husband)) and little Alexandra in the front (Ken and Jen's daughter)

-- The Beckman wedding was an opportunity to see other "cousins" (actual cousins of the Beckman's who we also spent much summer time with). It was great to reconnect with Geoff, Jane, and Katie Walker (and to meet Jane's husband Chad and Katie's boyfriend Dave) and the Thompson clan (Bob, Debbie, Lisa, Amy, and Christina). Most of those folks I hadn't seen since Ken and Jen's wedding, and hopefully we'll get to see more of them now that we live out here on the East Coast

-- Another highlight: learning my sister has fallen in love with Radio Disney. We had XM radio in our rental car, and Sister Jen had us put it on. She then proceeded to sing along with every song by Miley Cyrus, the Jonas Brothers, High School Musical and Camp Rock...as Jen and I looked at each other in horror and then just busted out laughing. And my sister wonders why she's single.

Oh and thanks to my sister, I've now got that Miley song running through my head to the point where I actually downloaded it to my iPod this morning. I hate you Sister Jen...

-- Getting to play golf with my Uncle Dick and cousin Joe. Aunt Irene and Uncle Dick were kind enough to watch Mr. Cooper while we were in Ottawa for the wedding, and when we returned, Dick invited me to play golf with him and Joe the next day. That's always fun, because Uncle Dick can dish it out as much as he can take it, as can Joe, so the whole morning was full of fun trash-talk and waiting for the beer cart girl to begin her round at 11am...I shot a score that we won't mention here (which means I bought the ice cream at the end) but it was a great time.

-- Getting to go to Judy and Blaine Williams cottage a few lakes over for dinner Wednesday night. Judy is another cohort of Mom and Aunt Patty's from nursing school days and she and Blaine have been friends with our family for a long time. The added bonus of spending time with them is that Blaine happens to be one of the five funniest people I know (the other four? Will Selva, Chris Lango, Dave Tribbey and my father, who gets funnier and funnier with each passing day). Anyways, Blaine regaled us with stories from here and there, and we laughed a ton, as usual. My personal favorite is the fact that he referees soccer games that feature three-year-olds playing on a field that uses cases of beer for goalposts...that's Canada in a nutshell, pretty much.

-- Getting to spend time with Grandma. That's always precious, and at 88 years old, she's still feisty as ever. Grandma always manages to drop a gem of a comment every now and then, and she didn't disappoint this trip. We can't wait to go back and visit her in the fall again...

-- Cooper at the cottage. Cooper's first trip of what I'm sure will be many to Buck Lake, and he had a blast. Jen was worried about him running off into the wilderness but he never left the property. Sister Jen took him for a bunch of walks, he got to chase chipmunks, squirrels and rabbits, he even went for his first swim in Buck Lake! (though to be fair, it wasn't voluntary, and he's still pissed at Daddy for throwing him in)...

-- Getting to see Aunt Ede and Isabelle. Aunt Ede is my grandmother's sister-in-law and its rare that we get the chance to spend time with her. Isabelle is Ede's long time friend who our family has gotten to know through the years. They came out to Buck for lunch on Tuesday and it was a good time, though we had to keep Isabelle from stealing the fine dishes again!

-- Spending time with Mom and Sister Jen. Hey, when you don't live in California, you have to try and get as much time with family as you can. I'm glad the three of us were able to be up at the cottage together, and I can't wait to see you guys (and Dad) sooner rather than later.

-- I'm sure I'm leaving stuff out, but it's time to get back to the grind of work. I'll leave you with a few quotes from the trip. Trips to the cottage and summers spent there with the Beckmans always seemed to breed stories that have lived on and random quotes that will be repeated to our grandchildren. This year was no exception, and while they might only make sense to those of us who were there...here they are:

"Jonathan, cars cost money."

"Never pay more than a dollar for mustard"

"I'm not in the picture! And I'm going home!"

Love to you all, and expect more from Jen this weekend

Mike