Culture Shock After Barely A Week At The Cottage?

We had a fabulous family week at a cottage in Sharbot Lake.  Our close friends and family came to visit.  I had a great time, but I do feel like I have more "work" to do there than at home.  Well maybe not more, but different work to do, for sure:

• I had to hand-wash the dishes.  Not a big deal, but a time eater.
• I hand washed clothes a few days and hung them outside.  Another time eater, as well as an arm workout from all the manual agitating of the stuff in the sink.
• Being always on alert for the kids outside - I mean we were 5 big steps away from the water at all times there.
• Making sure the kids had 3 meals plus snacks - as a working mom I only have to worry about this at most 2 days a week.

We arrived home late this morning and we lunched and sent the kids to a birthday party (otherwise we'd still be at the cottage tonight...)  We unpacked the truck, put the food away and I immediately started in on laundry and clean up.  I even indulged in a bath.

It's so nice to be home and have every comfort available.  But sometimes I wonder - if we can live at a cottage for a week with nothing to do, and I can stay off my phone for entire days at a time, why do I have to exist here, in this house full of stuff we don't really ever use, and constantly crave being online although I know nothing is going on there either?  It's such a strange life we live.  We have everything, but need so very little.

I think this is what's driving me crazy.  I long (already) to go back to the days where we eat, clean up, go outside and enjoy the day, eat, clean up, enjoy the day some more, eat again, clean up and then put the kids to bed.

Enjoying the day consisted of:

• Lake play - swimming, paddleboating, fishing
• Reading or sitting quietly (while always "watching" the kids)
• Feeding the wildlife
• Reading
• Sitting quietly (wait, did I say these already?)

Yes, there was tv, and yes, we let the kids watch a movie, or spend a little time with our phones, but we were mostly unplugged and just with each other, and with nature.  It was awesome.  No one even asked to go home (this has happened in the past.)

I'm trying to relax back into home life (we had Kraft Dinner for supper today) and not let it not get me down that the kids have no interest in going outside tonight, and that's all I want to do - pour a glass of wine and go sit outside.  After all that's what I've been doing for the last week!