Liann Bobechko
I know from experience how great it is to be kid at the cottage. Growing up at my extended family’s cottage near Huntsville, I remember the feeling of endless summers at the lake and the delirious freedom of a whole day stretched out in front of me.
There are memories that feel so fresh and real I can climb inside them and poke around for hours: Hiking through the woods with my grandparents, playing on the swim raft until I was shivering and my lips were blue (and then being bundled up in a huge towel and snugggled by an aunt or my mom), playing cards until the bullfrogs were chug-a-rumming. We had the requisite shelves of field guides, the groundhogs that we would catch scurrying away every morning as we opened the back door, or the bats scuttling out of the attic at dusk.
Every minute of the day, it seems, inspired a question. Learning about nature and the environment (one of the areas I work on as an editor here at Cottage Life) couldn’t be avoided at our cottage. As a new parent of a toddler, I am sometimes in a terrible rush to share my experiences with her, but I know I have to let her discover her own passions and pastimes at the cottage at her own pace.
A cottage day seems filled with keeping our daughter from chewing on batteries I hadn’t noticed were stored on a low shelf, or eating the gravel driveway, stone by stone. But, we also get to hear her point at the sound of a chickadee overhead and say “burd,†or crouch in the water to peer under the dock. Our little busy body keeps me and my husband hopping, and we wouldn’t have it any other way.
-Liann Bobechko, Senior Associate Editor, Cottage Life magazine
Recent Articles and Blog Posts
Fun Family Day activities to do up north
I love the Family Day weekend. Not only is it a new holiday in the deadliest month of the year, but it actually is a great time to do something fun with the family. If you haven't planned something, it's not too late! There are...
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Reading, writing, ‘rithmatic, and riotous fun
Okay, so we all know reading books promotes literacy, and who can knock it? Reading is one of my favourite pass-times (good thing, given what I do for a living) but, according to the ABC Life Literacy Canada, developing literacy...
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Trapped inside the cottage!
Here's another guest post from Catherine Hewlett, former web coordinator at Cottage Life. She loves visiting her in-laws' cottage and says she finds the cottage most relaxing when she's organized, saying "If I know I've packed...
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Boat Show bedtime reading
I went to the Toronto International Boat Show yesterday afternoon, and came home with my usual collection of pamphlets, business cards, photos, and the show directory.
My 2.5-year old daughter pulled the directory out of my bag...
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Dreaming of summer
I got the following note from Drew Gulyas, a friend of mine who is on leave right now with his three girls. He's a teacher by trade and before that he was a co-director at Camp Oochigeas. Pretty lucky kids to have the year at...
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Bring the kids to “the lake” this weekend
I remember as a kid being dragged around the boat show. Don't get me wrong—it was always exciting, for the first few hours anyway, and I did look forward to the snacks: things like caramel corn and massive pretzels that were in...
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My kids miss the cottage
Catherine Hewlett, former web coordinator at Cottage Life, took a moment out of her busy day as a mother of three to tell us what's going on with her family as they pine for the cottage in the off-season:
I am very fortunate to...
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Three books for cottage youngsters
As we draw close to the end of the year, I thought I'd share a few more cottagey books for kids that have crossed my desk recently.
Pond Babies by Cathryn Falwell is a nice book for the very young in which a mother and...
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Build a bookshelf, build a woodworker
Give a kid a bookshelf, and he can put his books away. Teach him to make one, and he'll be building you a new bunkie before you know it. Isn't that how the expression goes?
As a young kid at the cottage, my brother and I used...
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Santa, a tiger, and a zipline! Oh my!
The Great Outdoors & DIY Weekend is coming up at the end of the month! It's an excellent family outing where the kids will have fun, you’ll get some holiday shopping done, and Santa will be there too! Kids 12 and under get...
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