When looking at your family cottage, look who it goes to, the various family members and places you visit.

If a child is given love, he becomes loving . . . If he is helped when he needs help, he becomes helpful. And if he has been truly valued at home . . . he grows up secure enough to look beyond himself to the welfare of others.
Dr. Joyce Brothers
1974

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Did you know that just watching and listening to a water sprinkler on your lawn provides solace and serenity. Our chocolate Labradors back from their vacation at the lake and family cottage seem eager to chase squirrels and lay in the sun on the moist grass in their own yard. What a beautiful day in July. We finally got a break from the humidity for a few days.

The labs enjoying air conditioning tire from sunning outside and decide to siesta in the family room. Jake, our chocolate lab, probably dreaming about the lake vacation romp at the family cottage, promptly starts snoring. Ahh – the life of a dog. Our backyard has a pond with four fish. The water rushes over rocks giving that soothing sound. The scenery changes at home. There is no big lake or cottage to sit by, but there is peace in the backyard with the birds chirping and butterflies flying on the bushes. Returning from a cottage always amazes me at how much you miss the beauty of the water.

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To watch a Labrador Retriever swim in the lake is like watching a sea otter. Their heads are above water and they meander with such ease in the water. Our chocolate labs have grown up swimming at our family cottage in Suttons Bay, Michigan. This year, a family friend took them for a weekend vacation to their lakeside family cottage near Elkhart, Indiana. Now if you have never owned a lab, they love the water. These beautiful creatures believe this is paradise at its best. Labs have webbed feet. If you spread their paws, there is a built-in paddle – each webbed paw is in the in-between parts like a duck. They can spend more time swimming after a stick or a ball, until you have to declare the game is over.

Dogs are our link to paradise. They don’t know evil or jealousy or discontent. To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden, where doing nothing was not boring – it was peace.
– Milan Kundera

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The Cottage-Law Dogs of Summer!

Our beautiful chocolate Labradors summer with us at the family cottage. Each year, they become dogs at the beach. They love the water and would jump off the docks in Suttons Bay, Michigan to swim. It’s usually Ginger first, and then Jake.

This year, a family friend offered to give our labs a vacation at a farm in Elhart, Indiana. I hope you enjoy the photos and their adventures on the farm. Ginger is the princess and very mild mannered and then there is Jake – the lab who does everything with robust and character. My husband and I should have known why he was the last puppy left in the litter.

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Drinking a cup of joe, on a beautiful 4th of July weekend, I experienced solace as I watched swans swimming and boats heading out of the marina in Suttons Bay, Michigan. The sun was beautiful on the water. The boats were heading out for adventure at the National Cherry Festival in Traverse City, Michigan. What a different world from our other home in Farmington, Michigan. The air is crystal clear. Ahh – the joys of summer – relaxation and peace.

My teens are happier. We always have a friend in tow. Our eldest, now 18, has college in the fall, but with a summer job and other activities, his summer has changed. The twins, now fifteen, are not working yet and can enjoy the summers of yesterday romping on the beach, biking, and staying up way past midnight. Adventure is always looming for our family at the cottage. New friendships, new experiences filled with laughter, and the stress of the daily grind seems to disappear. These experiences make owning a family cottage absolutely the best moments in life.

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Catching the LOL Momentum (LOL stands for Laugh Out Loud) while at the family cottage.

Laughter produces the natural feel good endorphins which help lower stress, benefits relaxation and sleep. It gives you a natural high. These laughing endorphins boost the immune system in the body. Laughter also helps lower blood pressure and may alleviate pain. Laughter is a great form of medicine. Everyone benefits from laughter. Families become stronger, friendships are better and marriages are deeper when laughter is put in the midst of daily life. Siblings can become best friends through laughter. The average child laughs 200 times in a day. The average adult laughs only 4 times a day. Laughter can boost your mood and help relieve anxiety and depression. A good belly laugh is highly recommended at least 3 times a day. It is good for your body and soul.

We have a friend named Tommy, who is an adult. He laughs every time you see him. He has more fun than any person I know. He probably will live to be 100 years old. Doctors prescribe for their patients to watch a humorous cartoon or sitcom daily.

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I looked at him like wow, this is true kindness (and you are crazy.)

The best moments in life are teachable. I never used to believe this, until I witnessed my husband teach my boys what is and makes a good Samaritan. You know the saying, “what goes around comes around.” It is the lesson in life you train your kids to be good to people, because you never know who you are being good to, or that phrase as a parent you say repeatedly, “be good to others because you don’t know who’s watching you.”

We were summering at a cottage on Good Harbor Bay near Lake Leelanau. We ventured out to the lake on a beautiful summer’s day. We boated on Lake Leelanau with our boys at “Fudgey Beach.” We loved this-the boys swimming, floating on rafts, and tubing – great relaxation medicine! The boat floating next to us had a family with the most beautiful golden retrievers on board. We chatted with the family and commented on how well behaved the dogs were. We decided, as my husband said, “pull up shop” to head back to the cottage for dinner and a beautiful summer sunset.

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Their fond memories exuberate, like a family cottage, charm and comfort.

Leave a legacy of integrity and good will. Defining the family cottage means: joy, relaxation, summer skies that go on forever, walks along the beach, skipping stones, bonfires, children laughing, our chocolate and yellow labs running through the water, fireflies, good friends, serenity and peace.

Experiencing the cottage life brings you closer to the wonder of God’s beauty. You wish it would go on forever. We spent summers, it seems for a lifetime, in northern Michigan. Our twins, now 15, were two and our 18-year-old at the time was four. Since teens are very enduring and unique, I decided to ask them to define the word “cottage.” One of the twins responded with, “a house by a lake where you hang out on the beach.” The cottage, he stated, would be by a town with good places to go, and good people to see. The other twin described a cottage as nice, quiet and beautiful. He remembered swimming, tubing behind the boat, and our dogs running on the beach. Our 18-year-old described a cottage as something on the water.

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“As reported by the Detroit Free Press (see article below) there is unprecedented opportunity for those who have dreamed of owning a vacation home, cottage or cabin to make that dream come true.

After the purchase is completed, furniture moved in and the first family barbeque is voted a success – and cleaned up after, and your children and/or grandchildren are nursing their first sunburn of the summer season, what’s next?

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We’d love to know about the best time you and your family had at the family cottage!

What are some of your favorite family cottage memories?

When were those good times?

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