There's a rich history to the area of the Laurentians where The Bride's family has a summer retreat. And it's a widely known locale. Our neighbours to the north at Lac-des-Seize-Îles (16-Island Lake) are from Scotland. In the parking lot at the head of the lake, you'll find license plates from Florida, Nova Scotia, Maryland, British Columbia, Texas, Tennessee and the District of Columbia, just to name a handful. The families generally range from middle class to affluent but I've never seen anyone flaunt their wealth. Granted, I didn't spend my youth summers there, like The Bride, but in the four-plus decades I've accompanied her, I've never met a disagreeable person. We co-own the cottage with our nephew Matt and his family. He's a teacher and gets to spend most of the summer there and his wife Claudia is able to work from there when allowed. Their children (Robert, who will be 13 in a few weeks; and Sienna, who hits 10 early next year) are the apple of our eyes and are the product of outstanding parenting. Yes, we're biased, but both are sensational kids, and we couldn't be prouder of them. We were fortunate to be there this year during the lake's annual swimming and boating regattas. (There was a time, close to a century ago, when results would be printed in the Montreal Star, but those days are long gone; so is the Star, for that matter.) But the kids show up in droves. Many are competitive while others just enjoy the experience. Robert and Sienna also have wonderful friends. Sienna's BF is Clara, whose nickname is "Clara Bara." She was delighted discover our elderly dogs, Becky and Sara, who we call "Sara Bara." Clara's older brother Jeremy is Robert's best cottage pal. Another of his faves is Chase, who might be most polite youngster I've ever met. Then there's Avi, a few months older than Robert, but his constant companion. Wherever he is, you're sure to find her close by. And her younger brother is Kellen, who was determined to reach 150 laps in the water, because, doggone it, if his sister was going to reach 200 laps, then he was going to get to 150. (They both succeeded.) We spent a dozen days there (with sensational weather) before returning home on the holiday Monday (not doing that again -- it took more than nine hours in stop-and-go-traffic). But being there with our family and the kids' awesome friends made our summer richer by far!