For Mike's 50th, the evening started a bit slow with dinner and festivities at a local golf club but the evening got crazy when Jason and Jeff (more of Lisa's cousins) took us to a local house-party in the woods (the redneck party) after the first party! We left Mike's birthday party a little before midnight, arriving at the redneck party shortly after midnight. There was a live band playing, a bonfire and free flowing beer! 
We danced, drank and enjoyed the party till the wee hours ... not getting back to our hotel until just before 4am ... dang those rednecks can party!
The next day was rough as breakfast was at 10am. We enjoyed the pancakes and bacon before limping back to Toronto in the early afternoon.
The next weekend, it was off to Buck Lake on Friday night with James (he had arrived the night before and stayed at our place). After a long four hour drive, we arrived as the sun was setting and enjoyed some frosty beers (thank the gods for mini-coolers) while the fridge revved up. James' brother Ian arrived shortly after we did and the four of us quaffed many a beer on the deck until midnight at which point Lisa and Christos retired, although not before a trip to the deck where James and Ian indulged in some late night skinny dipping! The next morning we awoke to discover that Ian had already left for another social engagement (at 7am!) after he and James had been up till 4am catching up over cold beers (it was a veritable forest of empties on the kitchen counter the next morning).Saturday at Buck Lake was a full day. After a hearty breakfast it was off to Westport to re-provision (beers!) and visit the town. Serendipity was on our side as it happened to be the Westport Music Fest! We wandered around Westport for about an hour, visiting the local museum, shopping at a "Life Is Good" store on the main drag, re-stocking booze and food and just meandering through the crowds listening to the music. All in all quite a fun afternoon!
We made it back to Buck Lake in the early afternoon and spent the rest of the day enjoying cottage life. We played a game of Carcasonne in the sun, listened to much music (Balearic according to James), did some turtle watching, had a wonderful steak dinner, enjoyed a floating sunset "booze cruise" of the three of us on a paddle boat in the lake and then just relaxed in the evening. A plan to light a fire was shelved as by the time it was dark we were already tired. Instead, we lit some fireworks that we had purchased in Westport (over the objections of Lisa) and then watched a little BBC TV on Christos' Ipad.
Sunday morning incorporated a hearty breakfast and a last goodbye to the turtles that seem to have taken to sunning themselves on the log of the deck at Buck Lake.
