Celebrating 35 years!

Last weekend my family celebrated my parent's 35 wedding anniversary in Prince Edward Island.  We spent a morning out sailing in my sister's boat in the Charlottetown Harbour with the kiddies.  They loved it!!  Gabriel was very excited watching the mechanics of how everything works.  Magdalene was, as I expected, waving and waving, yelling/slurring (in her unnunciated little toddler voice. "Seeeeee-yaaaaa-laaaa-taaaaaaa!!!!!"   All she wanted to do was climb up over the side of the boat and launch herself into the water.  So it was quite a feat trying to keep her in there for the two hours or so we were on the water.  This girl sure is a mover!

It was all very exciting....  I say to myself that someday we'll be on the boat and that will be entertaining enough on it's own.  We will be able to sit back and enjoy being on the boat, and that will be entertainment enough for us all, rather than finding ways to distract our children from the excitement of being on a boat, while we are on the boat TRYING to enjoy ourselves.   Relaxing was not quite the word.  But we all definitely loved being in the boat on the water sailing around.  So we are looking forward to many more summers doing just that.

For dinner for my parents, we went to the Dunes Gallery which is hands down the BEST artist haunt on the entire island.  Located in Brackley Beach on the East end of the island, it houses some fabulous Canadian artists--paintings, jewelry, pottery, clothing, glassware.  It is surrounded by beautiful gardens and at one end is a restaurant.  We went here for dinner where we could order some appetizers, wine, dinner and dessert and walk around the gallery with a glass of wine in hand between courses.  The food was excellent (mostly local fare) and so was the hospitality.  This is definitely one of our top picks of MUST-DOs in PEI.  Just make sure you make a reservation far, far in advance for dinner (months!)

We had a wonderful celebration with my family and it was so good to spend some quality time together talking and reminiscing and just having fun together.  And just for fun, here are a couple of random extra shots from that weekend together.  My children are ready to trade me in for Aunt Angela and Uncle Nathan!

DIY: Family Photoshoot

We decided this year, my parents' 35th wedding anniversary, that we would do something special.  We would all get together for a weekend in PEI and celebrate, have a nice dinner, go boating and have our family photo done.

So we organized it well, or thought we did, in advance.  We talked about clothing for pictures, photographers and locations and sleeping arrangements.  As it turns out, life happens and got in the way of pretty much everything, which meant people ended up crowding in together and were sleeping on the floor, pushing tables together in a hap-hazard fashion at the restaurant and trying desperately to get a hold of our photographer the morning of our shoot when she never contacted us beforehand.  In the end, it all turned out well, a little differently than expected when I ended up duct-taping my brand-new high-end professional camera to a broken 25+ year old tripod and running back and forth to get myself in the family photos, but I think we were all just delighted to all spend some time together (the first time in three years), have a good time, and get that family photo that I think mom and dad have been dreaming of for 30 years now.  I cannot wait to get it printed for them and for us and have it hanging on the walls of our various houses. 

Home in Rural New Brunswick: GECA Part 4

One of my favorite things about going home to New Brunswick and my parents' home is looking around to see how much things have changed (or haven't).  As I pulled off the long stretch of highway between Quebec and the my parents' home, I remarked how familiar every turn was.  Despite living away for 10 years, nearly every landmark was almost exactly the same.  Some trees had grown taller, a few new buildings here and there.  But, not being subject to any sort of economic boom, like many other cities in this province, it has remained as familiar and comfortable as a pair of old leather shoes as I drove through town and into the countryside where my parents live.

Here, much to my delight, was the crux of the changes--new paint on the siding (finally!!!), trees cleared (through massive windstorms mostly) or grown from seedlings to huge sources of shade for the house, rooms updated and long-anticipated renovations done.  The old playhouse was restored for the grandchildren and the tractor rumbling, ready for rides around the yard.  Is there anything quite like taking your children to visit the home of your childhood?   

After four days of driving (roughly 21 hours in the car) and 1800 kilometers behind us, we were ready to settle in for more than a night.  Bumpa and Nanna kept the kids occupied with tractor rides, big airplanes launched with a fishing rod and fishing line, a zipline for my brother's old batman toys--one that stretched down to the playhouse, and baskets full of toys.  It was fun digging through all those retro toys my mother saved.

And just like any Saturday when I lived in New Brunswick, we had to stop into the market, if not for locally grown goodies or crafty purchases, then just to see who we might run into from High School.  

I was happy to see that the market was alive and thriving--filled with other people our age and their young children (even if I, strangely, didn't really recognize anyone). 

Time with Bumpa and Nanna were the highlight of the trip.  Here is a play-by-play of the airplane on a fishing rod.  Amazing to see in person.

Building garages for cars in the rock wall.  

Great-Grammie came to visit us.  Thank you for coming up to see the little ones!!  I often think of you when I write blogs because I know you enjoy seeing pictures of the littles so much.  And today, here you are, on the blog!!

Two highlights for the trip for me, were a day trip to Saint John so my little ones could meet and spend time with their Great Aunt Julie and cousins and so I could spend time with this family--friends from my childhood. 

The other highlight was some much-needed, long-overdue time with my brother and his wife (below).  They are so beautiful and so in love.  It was so great hanging out with them for an evening.

And we are off again already on parts 5 and 6 of our travels!  Keep tuned in! :)

xo

From us in New Brunswick