Most of our summer vacation was spent at my family cottage on Lake Huron. My Mother’s parents built it in the 1950s. I’ve been spending time there most summers for the last 40 years. It is a time for family, as well as vacation.

I’ve chosen to live thousands of miles from my family. I love the city where we live and the life style it offers. But one problem is that my children don’t have a large extended family that they get to see all the time. I continually struggle with how to give my children a sense of family, and an understanding that our small nuclear family isn’t their whole family. I have been surprised and pleased to find our family cottage is a great way to bring all my family into my children’s lives.

When my daughter's first tooth fell out, it seemed like the tooth fairy's job wasn't too bad. Replace one tooth with $1. and there's a happy child in the morning.

Then came the night that her tooth fell out while a babysitter was taking care of her.

There are some interesting nature cams out there, but this one has captured our attention. The National Geographic website has a live camera at a place called Pete’s Pond in Botswana.

I have to admit, I thought I was finished with the whole car seat issue.  Installing car seats has to be one of the hardest things to do correctly.  First you have to have the car's manual to find out how a car seat should be installed in this vehicle.  Then you need the car seat manual to figure out how to install this car seat.  And then you have to hope the two sets of instructions don't conflict, if they make any sense at all.

I was in a shopping mall the other day trying to find a Christmas present for my daughter.  The shopping mall was filled with busy people, long line-ups and endless sale signs.  There was no sign of Christmas anywhere.

All week, the kids were talking about what would be the Easter Hunt this year.  My daughter even stated that it wouldn't be a new idea this year.  She was sure that they had tried all possible hunts.  They would get to do one of them again.  She was hoping for written clues in backward writing.  My son decided that he wanted puzzle clues that would lead them to the treasure.