Overdue Vacation Update

My mother-in-law reminded me that it has been a while since I blogged so here is the condensed version of our holidays.

We went to Bar Harbor/Acadia National Park, Maine with my sister and her family.

We biked on the beautiful carriage trails built by Rockefeller starting in 1913. There are a lot of bridges that Connor liked to climb. He kind of reminds me of Kilroy.

Even though we had been here before we got lost a lot. Not surprising with maps that didn't show the underpasses and overpasses and great signs like this.
Connor went deep sea fishing with my brother-in-law and nephew. They came back with lobster, pollock and cod so we had a feast.
While they fished the rest of us went to Dive in Theatre with diver Ed on the Starfish Enterprise. It was educational and fun - a laugh a minute. We highly recommend it for anyone in the area.

We all enjoyed exploring the tide pools.
All of us as we are preparing to depart.

Bogs

In the fall of 2009 I found myself in need of new winter boots and I wanted new rubber boots too. After a little searching I discovered Bogs. They are made of neoprene and rubber so they are waterproof and warm well below zero. I love them. I have worn them to work and horseback riding, walking the dogs and shovelling snow and they slip on fast to pick Connor up at work. They come in 4 different heights from ankle to rider's. I love the funky choice of colours. Except for men's - they only get black or camouflage. I bought Tori a pair when I bought mine - they are great for the wet winters the Maritimes get. Kevin got his very recently. Shown below are mine, Tori's and Kevin's.
So now I really only need one pair of boots. The problem is I would like a different height and a different colour. Oh well. If anyone is looking for new footwear look for Bogs.

Exploring

Sackville is only 10 or 15 minutes from Nova Scotia so we went there on a day trip. When we got there it was low tide so we went to the nearest "beach" to explore tide pools. I love, love, love exploring tide pools. We went to Joggins Fossil Cliffs. None of us are into fossils but it was close. I actually didn't even look at the cliffs - just the ground. I nevertheless found a few fossils. I have no idea what the first one could be - snakeskin? fishscales? The second one is obviously a section of a petrified tree.

The waves were quite angry.

This is one of the many coal seams in the area.

The colorful one plays pirate.

The Trip to Sackville

The long drive to Sackville to take Tori to Mount Allison University was uneventful.

Very uneventful.
Maybe even boring. 
Yup, most definitely boring.

 
The highlight was another visit with our good friends the Sylvester's in Kingston. Laurie fed us lunch (again). Thanks Laurie.

Kevin's shirt says "PADDLE FASTER - I hear banjo music". Just in case you cared.

Good Friday Paddle

Yesterday 10 of us went canoeing on the Nottawasaga River. It was our first paddle of the year and I think our earliest first paddle ever. Last year's April paddle was 9 days later, windy and 25 degrees colder! This day was warm and beautiful and only windy the last half hour.

Here is Connor fooling around in his brand new kayak. This was the first time he had been out in it and he capsized shortly after launching. He got the hang of it after that and no more problems - except him and Dalton carry on like a couple of teenage girls and were spending more time talking than paddling and making us wait.

Armin and Alec were ahead most of the way. Here they are waiting for us for lunch. After lunch they left us. They finished at least 45 minutes ahead and actually had gone to the put in to retrieve the truck and trailer before we caught up.

This isn't a great picture but it shows the high water line. I think it looks neat.

What Kevin brought back from the Olympics

I picked Kevin up about 7 last night.  This is some of what he brought home:

A bell for my bell collection (first one that I can wear)

 A beautiful decorator tin of Roger's chocolate miniatures (when I was a kid and my dad travelled a lot he would bring them home for us as a very special treat)

Some decorative coke bottles (remember Kevin loves coke? See here and here) 

We can add the coke bottles to our large collection of Olympic memorabilia, which until now consisted entirely of this can of beer we believe is from the 1988 Olympics.  Connor fished it out of the Nottawasaga river a few summers ago.

 

Halfway

We are roughly halfway through Kevin's "deployment" to Vancouver.  The exact date of his return has not been confirmed.  He celebrated this milestone by having an emergency root canal today.

The biggest problem we have had at home is with smoke detectors.  The batteries were not changed in the fall when they should have been so that was part of the problem.  I have replaced most of them now and vacuumed them.  Several times the detectors have had full alarms.  This usually occurs in the wee hours of the morning prompting me to walk around the whole house and make sure nothing is really on fire.   One night two separate detectors went within 15 minutes of each other - but there was no fire.  A few of the detectors with new batteries are still chirping occasionally so the whole unit will be replaced when he returns.  Usually it is our carbon monoxide detectors, not our smoke detectors that have problems.  It is scarier with CO because you can't see it.  Anyway I am not complaining.  We haven't had a flood, breakdown, illness or any other crisis.  I have only had to shovel snow 3 or 4 times and it has only been a few inches, not feet as often happens here. 

Things I have observed during his absence:

I run out of socks before I need to do laundry (not that he is dirty, just that 2 of us don't produce enough to fill a front loader).

I am doing very little grocery shopping.  Again, not that he eats a lot, just it is so much easier to feed two - especially when one of them is at work half of the nights.  And I have very few dishes to wash.

It is very boring eating alone so often.

There is nothing worth watching on tv most nights.

Toilet paper lasts way longer.

We are saving a lot of money on gas and vehicle insurance (I took his SUV off the road while he is gone).

I enjoy sleeping on a bed where the mattress is level (remember we had the memory foam folded in half so there was a cliff in the centre of our bed).

Room with a View?

As most people know my husband is in Vancouver for 6 weeks assisting with security for the Olympics.  Whenever we go away (which isn't very often) I get excited because we can stay in a hotel.  He doesn't share my excitement because he gets to fly and stay in hotels lots.  This time he isn't staying in a hotel.  Can you guess where he is sleeping?

 Because there is a shortage of accommodations some of the personnel are being put up in 3 cruise ships. I thought this time he'd be more excited as we have never been on a cruise.  He wasn't.  Transportation is a hassle and very time consuming.  The hours are long and access to internet and phones difficult.  The rooms are smaller than a hotel room and these guys travel with lots and lots of gear.  You can push the beds together to make a queen but that gives you even less floor space so some of the guys just use one bed for sleeping and one for storage.  But look at the view!  Doesn't that make up for the other problems?

That lovely wall was his view for the first two weeks.  Yesterday they took a little trip to a new berth.  Now he gets to see this: 

Now he's excited.  Right, honey?

He's Gone

I just got back from dropping Kevin at the base.  At 3 am he will take a bus to Trenton then fly to Abbotsford and spend the next 6 weeks in Vancouver assisting the RCMP with security for the Olympics. My family knows that I hate driving at night (because of poor night vision) and driving in winter (3 slides off various roads years ago) so the fact that I was driving at midnight is an achievement in itself.  I am very grateful that God provided dry roads, clear skies and peace for my trip.

Kevin has been away a lot over the years. Once we figured out that we actually only lived together for 13 of the first 36 months of marriage. When we lived in Alberta the 2nd time he was gone as often as he was home. I got used to the absences easily and never stayed at home moping or whining. I handled every challenge that arose.  However it has been years since he has been so far away, gone more than a week and never so long in the winter so I am a little apprehensive. It doesn't matter as much if your furnace or car breaks down in the summer. I am very glad he will get to see Caitlin while he is there.

Anyway some things will be different here for the next while and I thought I would highlight a few:

- I get to control the remotes! (if I can figure out the new ones)

- I have to drive Connor everywhere

- I have to make my own tea at night - and lock the doors

- I get a normal bed (this one needs a little explaining - we need a new mattress and in an effort to stall that big purchase we bought a memory foam pad - I like it but Kevin didn't so it is folded over onto my side - that means there is a big drop in the middle of the bed - it is easy to fall down onto his half and it looks retarded - now I can unfold it and spread out)

- I get to worry about floods and sump pump failure, snow shovelling and all those other fun things

- I get a clean house (and bathroom)

and that's all I can think of at this hour.  I am not a night person.

Tiny Marsh

Connor, Kevin and I went canoeing at Tiny Marsh today.  Normally we are the only ones there but it was very busy today despite the cool temperature.  There are trails and observation towers, an education centre and of course the marsh.  The water was very high so we got to paddle in places we normally can't access.  We saw swans, a turtle, a muskrat who went right under our canoe, several beavers and fish, a few great blue herons, terns and red-wing blackbirds  and Connor found the 2 Northern Water Snakes shown below.  They weren't bothered at all by us sitting there taking pictures for 10 minutes.

After the paddle, we went for a brief walk on one of the trails.  All the mama Canada Geese were hiding there with their babies.  There must have been 50 goslings in 50 feet!

 

Sorry we didn't get any pictures of the other wildlife.  The camera is buried in a dry bag andKevin couldn't get it out fast enough when the swans took off nearby.

For supper we had quiche with asparagus and chives from our garden.  Yummy.