Ohana

I think it's a combination of my dad being sick, my trip back home and C's upcoming wedding... I've been drifting down memory lane lately.

- Payday Thursday sub night! (we made our own)
- Dad's eight track players and what seemed like hundreds of eight tracks!
- Dad singing his favorite songs in the silliest ways.
- Friends and family dropping by throughout the weekend.
- Going to the cottage every weekend during the summer.
- Hearing my parents chat at the dinning room table after dinner over tea.
- The smell of coffee on Saturday mornings.
- The radio on all day every day.
- Having Legos at the cottage only... and being completely obsessed with them.
- The giant Barbie house my dad made me (with carpet, wallpaper, mirrors, a garage - with light, a patio with tiny little spindles and green AstroTurf!)
- Belle, our beautiful miniature collie.
- The countless hours it took my mom to make all of my skating costumes. (hand stitching the tiny little beads)
- Dad pulling our sleds back up the hill, even when he didn't slide with us.
- Stockings on New Year's morning.
- Mom and Dad waking us up at 12am for fondue on New Year's Eve/Morning.
- Making snow forts under the boat during the winter.
- Mom throwing us some cans of 7up while we were swimming in the lake, while it was raining. (you have to love Fido Dido!)
- Building stuff with Dad. I'm sure I was very "helpful".
- Eating chips and soda on Friday and Saturday only.
- Never once trying my mom's butter tarts, but now wishing I had.
- Making that popcorn over the stove at the cottage. Nothing tasted better.
- Eating an obscene amount of "Mr. Freezies" at the cottage. (must be where Reece gets it from)
- Parlez francais!!! Allez dehors!!! (ha!)
- Veggies and dip was a staple at the cottage.
- My mom's green peppered steak.
- Dad's jokes told again and again and again...
- The rainbow they had painted in my room.
- The endless supply of crafts I was provided me with.
- The paddle boat.
- Skinny dipping.
- Catching leaches and covering them with salt.
- Dad and his friends coming together to build the "big" projects.
- Exploring the islands.
- The sounds of loons at night.
- Watching sunsets together.
- Our "American" friends from Michigan.
- Dad cutting down, what seems like, every one's trees and thinking he was the strongest man on earth. (I think he still is!)
- Making the rock bridge to the other island, as a family.
- Walking "to the goose and back" in the mornings with my mom.
- Our multiple family trips.
- The console TV that we had up until 3 years ago.
- All of the Halloween parties my parents let me have... and participated in!
- Christmas Eve parties at my grand-parents' house and Santa arriving on his snowmobile!

We have memories, good ones and bad ones, that bind us for life. Ohana.