What we found at the Beach

Tori is demonstrating to Connor and I how to find microscopic sealife in the tidal pools.

She has always had amazing eyesight. When I went on hikes with her classes the teacher would ask "Who can find a _______________? Tori was always the first. Eventually she would be asked to give the other kids a chance. The first picture is a hermit crab. The second a regular crab that was half the size of her pinky nail.

After all that fresh air we needed lunch. Look where we ate! It was excellent - both the food and the service.
After lunch we went to a beach north of Amherst and had a nice swim. It took us longer to find the beach than we actually swam but we had the whole beach to ourselves. I guess everyone else had problems with the directions and lack of signs too. A few seals joined us but kept their distance. Connor has a waterproof camera but didn't bring it so blame him for the lack of pictures.

Connor's Shoes

Before you look at the pictures you need to know a few things about Connor.

Connor does not wear sandals or flip flops.

Connor does not wear dress shoes.

Connor will not even wear running shoes.

Or winter boots.

Connor wears skateboard shoes. Period.

Connor wears brand new shoes biking. And in the snow and rain. Connor canoes and mows the lawn in brand new shoes. He will not wear his old shoes once he gets new ones.

He goes through shoes very quickly. Mom will not pay for his shoes any more.

Therefore he usually has only one pair.

He brought one pair of shoes on vacation with us.

I am sure you can already see where this is going.

There were spots on the Fundy Shore that looked like red rock. It wasn't. The smooth shiny surface was very deceptive. It was thick, gluey mud. People with sandals (me) or people with extra shoes (Kevin and Tori) could "walk" on the "rock". Not such a good idea for Connor.

He made the best of a bad situation. He used some of the coal deposits to put toe protectors on his new workboots. (The shoes were previously black, orange and bright blue - double click on picture to get a closer look)

We went shoe shopping as soon as we got back.

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.

A sidetrip

We lived in New Brunswick for 4 years before we moved to Ontario. We took a little detour from the highway to see our old house. Here it is, sitting in the middle of 1.37 acres. It hasn't changed much. There is a fence on the right side now and the septic tank has recently been dug up. We never had any trouble with the well or septic but the new owners phoned us a few years after buying it and apparently they had had a lot of trouble. They wanted our help in complaining to the builder and the township but we really couldn't help them out. There were 6 of us and if that didn't cause septic trouble I don't know what would.

New Brunswick is a scenic province and we enjoyed exploring the forests, rivers and coastline and many other attractions. This bridge is a 5 minute bike ride (downhill) from our old place. Pretty isn't it?

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.

Before we went

On Sunday we had a family gathering/farewell to Tori/celebration of August birthdays at the beautiful Springwater Park in Barrie. We don't go there nearly often enough. Springwater has lots of natural beauty, hiking/biking trails and a small wildlife exhibit. And there are several large playgrounds too. Something for the whole family. In the middle of dinner there was a bit of water fight.

Tori got the worst of it.
Our good friend Linda made this cake. It is hard to see here but there is a line drawn from Wasaga Beach to Sackville with the mileage and the balloons are for all the August birthdays in our family. It was a huge cake and there is still lots in the freezer.

Road Trip!

1713 km to get there. Can you guess where we went (and why?)