School is Out!

Monday, June 24-Thursday, 27, 2019

The Bowman boys had a busy week with Grandpa, Barbara and Grant – celebrating summer:

On Monday afternoon the boys visited the cottage (stopping at Bouchette for ice cream). They took some casts from the dock. It was bug jacket time! They enjoyed dinner and then tucked in for a good sleep.

Tuesday was Eagles and Dragon Fly Day.  The boys played a game as soon as soon as they got up and then David decided to make an eagle (out of an egg carton) like Sam had made last year.  Sam enhanced his eagle with paper wings. Then it was fishing with Grandpa time – Grandpa caught a pike.  After lunch, the boys noticed dragonflies hatching by the water. They cheered them on as dragon flies love to eat mosquitoes. The boys had a happy reunion in the lake with Killer Whale & Dolphin.  David was pleased to get a dragonfly to land on his hand at the Tims cottage. He also learned from Colleen that you could get zap annoying bugs with a special zapper.

On Wednesday, Grandpa’s boat repairs were finished and it was ready for pick up at Maniwaki.  On the way to Equipment Maniwaki we stopped at the Hart store so Sam and David and Grant could get their own bug zappers.  These were very popular!  The boys were quite attentive at the Equipment Maniwaki store and garage. It didn’t talk long to get the “tube boat” attached.  Soon we were at the Tims beach to launch it. Note the bug zappers in the photos. Grandpa and the boys took the boat out for a trial run. It was good to have the boat back in action.  Then David and Grandpa worked on building a birdhouse with David’s tools.  Grant and Sam played a game and David joined them after awhile.

On Thursday, the boys started with a loon count with Grandpa and Barbara.  It was slow going for awhile, just some grackles. Finally, we saw some loons on the east shore. Our usual loon nesting spot at Seagull Island had an egg, but no loon, just a tern nearby.  Our total was 8 adult loons. After the loon count, it was time for fishing and then lunch (accompanied by zapping bugs).  As Sam had a baseball game in Chelsea at 6pm we left the cottage at 4.  Unfortunately, at Kazabazua the police had blocked the road and we had to wait a half hour for our turn to detour. Luckily, we got Sam to the ball field in Gatineau just before the game started. We all enjoyed watching him hit as well as take a turn at being the catcher.

Friday was an adventure day.  We drove to the Bonnechere Caves near Eganville, stopping en route at Grandpa’s favourite ice cream store in Renfrew.  Exploring the caves, we all learned a lot about underground tunnels and fossils. Returning home, we crossed the Ottawa River at Portage du Fort to Quebec.  This route took us past the ruins of the old McKechnie farm where the boys great-great grandfather, Archibald MacKechnie, had settled in about 1830.  Back home at Chelsea, Maman prepared a delicious pasta dinner for us and then taught the boys how to skip. A fun end to a busy day.