Civic Holiday Weekend - 2007

The Civic Holiday marks the fourth annual Schmidt - Burtt / Sweet cook-off (now the Goose Island cook-off) and the second time this holiday has been spent on Goose Island. Here are some pictures and a bit of dialogue about the weekend:

Here's the view from the cottage. It sits in a calm bay on unpredictable Lake Nipissing. It really is a hidden oasis.Here are the castaways... Vanessa is behind the camera. Then, from left to right, Sherry, Kevin, Matt (Kevin's Brother), Julie (Matt's soon-to-be wife), Me, Courtney, Jordan, Lauren, and Joel.
Here's Vincent Strolling on the boardwalk.
This is Kevin and I leaving in the Four Winns Vista on Saturday morning to pick up Matt and Julie. The Four Winns was our hotel for the weekend too!
Vanessa's feet and the (new) dock.
Here's a shot of the beach and part of the flotilla. The furthest boat is Kevin and Sherry's Four Winns Fling, then our Sea-Rayder, and a canoe. The big Four Winns is tied up to the dock as is the new aluminum boat!!!
The "Kids" out for a paddle.
Kevin and I giving Courtney a spin.
Me kicking up a little wake for the crowd.
Taking Court for a slow cruise around the bay.

Joel and Lauren making the "Tim Horton's" style sandwiches.
Ta-da!
Kev taking me for a spin in the Fling.
Kevin showing his tubing prowess with me at the helm of the Fling. He was soon begging for mercy.
Sherry and Court modelling.

Me and Vee.
Kev and Sher.
Can you say Shrimp?The winning meal - homemade crabcakes, jumbalaya, shrimp. Very good and very hot in perfect burning-diarrhea-causing goodness.

Kevin and Matt in the Fling, Jordan, Courtney, and I in the Sea-Rayder going for an evening cruise of the French river.
Kevin and my winning sand-castle from our competition. We made this in about one hour. I wish I could be modest but we clearly obliterated the competition...
Courtney and Matt with their runner-up sculpture - Corona bottles in a bucket...
Vanessa and Julie's pitiful excuse for a castle... BTW - there's no picture of Sherry and Jordan's castle because I ran it over with the boat. Oh, and Joel and Lauren were too cool for the competition.
One of the surprising highlights of the weekend for me was fishing at dusk with Kevin and Matt in Kev's new aluminum boat. I thought I hated fishing but it did bring back a lot of memories of trolling around with my dad. I think I still enjoy the boating more than the actual fishing, but that's because I've never caught anything like Kevin did - the 5.5 lb bass above!!!

That's it for the pictures.. Thanks to Kevin and Sherry for their hospitality.