Summer Part 4: Nova Scotia

Wow, this feels like the never ending summer.  Hopefully I'll get this summer stuff finished before the first snow fall. A little Florida humor there for you.

Campmeeting concluded on Saturday night, July 15.  Any other year would have found Duncan flying up on the 12th or 13th and then all of us driving up to Nova Scotia that Saturday night after the last meeting.  But, with the dates falling differently this year (as they will next year), we headed back to my parents' house on Sunday morning.  With no Duncan, of course.  My mom had to work Monday - Thursday but we were able to get a few fun things in.

On Monday, we went down to the Cape to go out on Uncle Kevin and Aunt Sherrie's boat along with Jonathan, Marcela, Zasha, and Lucia who were in from Texas for the summer.

Aubree taking a turn to drive.

Just your typical Cape Cod home.

We were in a little waterway on the ocean.

Afterwards we got some ice cream at Four Seas which is a Cape Cod tradition.  They only take cash (who still does that??) and when we got there, we discovered their ATM was broken. Fortunately, we were able to scrounge up just enough for everyone to get a cone.

Tuesday morning we got dropped off at the train station in Norfolk to ride the train into Boston to the Children's Museum. There is just something about waiting for a train that I find so exciting even as an adult.

The trip into Boston is about 50 minutes.

The girls have outgrown a lot of the museum but there are still some fun things for them to do.

Duncan flew up late Thursday evening into Boston.  His flight was delayed a couple of hours but at long last we finally picked him and we were on our way.  Our destination was actually Pugwash, Nova Scotia.  My dad was there for Campmeeting and Shawn and Camille were as well since Shawn was speaking for a couple of days.  The travel time there is shorter than going to the cabins by a few hours.

Passing the border.  Hip, Hip, Hooray!!

Pugwash is on an amazing beach.  Unfortunately, it has tides and the tide came in very shortly after we arrived.  But it was a gorgeous day.

Drone footage.

Catching up with Papa whom we hadn't seen in a few weeks.

We ate supper at a hole-in-the-wall pizza place and the toilet was a little strange.

Shawn and Camille stayed at the camp since Shawn was preaching but my mom, Ricky and Ana, and us rented this place about 10-15 minutes away.

Very old fashioned but it worked.

Ran into the dad of my friend Lisa.  He went to school with my dad.

It's so comfortable and pretty to sit outside the main pavilion listening to the sermon.  Shawn had a terrific one as usual.

Plus, they. have a sandbox right there for the kids to play in.

Bre.  So cute!

These two!

My dad and his sisters have this little cabin at Pugwash that they stay in for the week.  This was Sabbath lunch.

We left Sunday morning to head for Arichat.  It is only about a three hour drive so just a hop, skip, and a jump.  Just as we got there, it started raining. So things didn't start out on a high note.  But within about half an hour it stopped and NEVER RAINED AGAIN. It was truly amazing. Honestly, we couldn't have asked for better weather all summer.

We (okay, maybe not specifically me but most others) were down at the lake every day.

In the first few minutes of the first trip down to the lake, Brady got stung by a bee on his foot. At least we know he isn't allergic.

Once again, Uncle Terry brought his boat which is good for hours of fun.

Trying to stand up.

Love his hair!! It got so blond over the summer.

Colby and his funny faces.  It's kind of his thing.

Daddy/daughter paddle board trip.

Proof I came down to the lake.

The kids love to catch frogs down there.

Games are another thing we do a lot of....Uno, Monopoly Deal, Ticket to Ride, Rook, Scrabble, Mafia to name some. Brady learned to play Monopoly Deal just before the summer and he loved to trash talk as he played Gigi and other adults.  Note there was no Dutch Blitz because Alison didn't come again this year (after missing two years ago which I thought was a one off.  She's lucky I still talk to her).

Shawn seemed to win a disproportionate amount of games.

Yup.  That's all the older folks on their phones.

We also did several outdoor kind of games including beanbag toss, a scavenger hunt, and the Amazing Race.

One of the Amazing Race teams.

Another one.

Scavenger hunt photo here.

Watching the adults do bean bag toss.

This year we had a new addition to the kitchen in the form of a bunch of little picnic tables for the kids to sit at for meals.  This way we were able to all eat together instead of the kids first.

The only problem with these tables is that at least one kid a meal spilled their drink.  I think because it seemed to partially slope down on the edges? I'm pretty sure Colby did it at least four or five times himself.

Camille and I made spaghetti with the special tomato sauce. A vegan alternative to the lasagna we usually make every year.

Uncle Terry serenading Shawn and Duncan with some Abba as they do dishes.  I have no idea why!

Calleigh helping Gigi make Special K loaf.

Kids helped Gigi make a "big" breakfast one morning.

On Sabbath a bunch of us decided to do something different and go to a beach in Port Hood.  It's about an hour's drive on the opposite side of the island.  We had heard that they had the best beaches on Cape Breton.  We were not disappointed.  It was really great and we vow to go back there next year.

It looks a little cloudy here but that wasn't for long.

Shawn put up his drone.

Maple got to come too.

The kids found a ton (Calleigh says 142) of hermit crabs and set up a whole city for them.

Other random pictures from our time there:

Off on a little hike.

Ricky had some toenail problems so Uncle Terry and Devin did a little "surgery" on it for him. It drew a big crowd.

Lots of book reading going on.

A new ice cream place opened up in town.  Nice people and more flavors than the Spud Wagon but a little bit more expensive.

Back at the Spud Wagon.

Colby loves to play around with my cousins.

Devin is one of his favorites after our cruise in February.

Singing on Sabbath.

We didn't see Bre for too long since Ricky had to get back for work.

Working on puzzles was an ongoing activity.

Shutters were added in the off season.

Legos are always popular.

Missing: Zasha, Lucia, Tyson, Westin

The three Brace cabins.

One family is assigned to clean the bathrooms each day.  I discovered Calleigh volunteered to take Jen's place since she was having morning sickness.

My absolute favorite Nova Scotia activity...reading a book.

We celebrated Aunt Toni's 65th a little early.

Goodbye Bre!

The kids have such imaginations. All it takes is some pieces of wood and they can entertain themselves for hours in the basement.

We left on a Thursday morning, drove to Shawn an Camille's for supper, then on to my parents for the night.  Our flight home left Friday afternoon out of Providence and then the kids and I were finally home after six weeks and a day.  What a great summer it was!