Every summer we used to get the entire family together at my mother’s lake home, but with all the children and spouses or significant others, the grandchildren and (this year for the first time) great grandchildren, this large a crowd is getting to be too much for Mother to handle. So this year we decided to have each of the children arrange for their own family’s vacation throughout the summer, and each of the children will invite Mother to come as their guest for that weekend.

We’ve always wanted to visit Canada in the summer time, so this is our opportunity to take a vacation at Blueberry Lake, in the Mont Tremblant region of Quebec. We’ll be renting a Quebec-style log home (or what they call a chalet) for the second week of July. The chalet has 4 bedrooms, so Mother can join us for the entire week or just the weekend and have her own bedroom. When she arrives, we’ll arrange for a spa visit and a gourmet dinner, so none of us have to worry about cooking or cleaning up.