Thursday, July 29, 2010

Grand Bay West beach





























What a beautiful boardwalk around the Grand Bay West Beach area....just gorgeous scenery. As you walk down the beginning of the boardwalk, the beach is on your left. As you can see from the pictures, there are many beautiful little beaches along the trail.







Tuesday, July 27, 2010

on the boardwalk




Here's Isaac on the boardwalk around Port aux Basques harbour with mom's house in the background. He was very excited to see the boats coming and going, but he started to cry when they left. He said, "Mommy, the boat's not stopping. Where's it going? Come back" We watched two boats leaving and one coming in. He wanted to take a picture of the boat as it was leaving and he called out to the boat, "People, say cheese." This is the Atlantic Vision, the newest addition to the ferry fleet and the one we crossed the gulf on last week.


Monday, July 26, 2010

Grand Bay West Beach































More fun in the sand and sun. This is a beautiful beach in Port aux Basques. Great spot for treasure hunting. Ella liked being buried in the sand , but not as much as Isaac....he just loved it - do it again, do it again!!!!!





Sunday, July 25, 2010

Back to the Codroy Valley

Well, it's back to the Codroy Valley again. This time, we have Lisa and Scott in tow. Lisa and Scott drove mom home and helped her get settled into her new apartment. She has a great two-bedroom unit - which I may have already talked about. Anyway, the apartment is in the building that used to be the Kindergarten school. She is very happy there and it is a really spacious apartment. Lisa and Scott then went to St. John's for a week and have now returned.
We went up to the Codroy Valley to see the Wildlife Museum and petting zoo. We fed the goats and saw a lynx and a coyote. As you can see, Isaac was more excited about the mechanical animals on the farm. They also had a play area...now that's a see-saw!












Searston Beach again







Well, we had so much fun the first day, that we decided to go again...this time with a bit of planning. We packed a picnic and had our lunch there. We had our lunch on the river side and played in the water a bit, then we headed across the road to the ocean side. The waves were high and the water C O L D!!!!! But that didn't stop Ella, Neil or Isaac!



Port aux Basques







Our first day home was beautiful, but the next couple of days were foggy and cool, so we did like everyone else in Port aux Basques - we headed for Codroy Valley where it was warm and sunny. It's only 20 minutes away, but the sun is always shining and the temperature jumps about 10 degrees! We went to Searston beach at the mouth of the Grand Codroy River. There were lots of people swimming and camping. We forgot our bathing suits, but that didn't stop Ella and Isaac from enjoying the water and looking for treasures. Luckily, I did have a change of clothing for them. This is a beautiful beach with lots of clams when the tide is low. It was high when we visited.

Ferry Ride







We had a great ride on the ferry. Isaac was very excited to see the ferry. He kept asking where the boat was and every boat we saw along the way, he would ask, "Is that the boat mommy?" He was pretty excited that we were going to drive our van onto the boat. He kept saying he wanted to see a whale; however, we had no such luck. Actually, they didn't like to stay outside too long as Ella just wanted to check out the gift shop and Isaac wanted to play in the games arcade - even though he never actually 'played' any of the games, he liked sitting in the car rides and changing the gears. No pictures of Port aux Basques harbour as it was dark when we arrived, but we went out on deck and it was still exciting.



couple of past photos from my phone



Even though we have given up Isaac's afternoon naps, he still manages to get a few in. Here he is asleep in the chair while getting his hair cut.


And here's the 15 lb (67 year old) lobster in Shediac....

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Shediac








Well, after two days of driving, we finally made it to Shediac and Neil's sister's place on the beach. We only had two nights as we booked the ferry for Friday, July 19th. Not sure what's happening with the ferry this year, but it's really hard to get a reservation. We had a great day on the beach. The tide was high, but still fine and the water was choppy but warm. The kids had fun looking for treasures and hermit crabs. Isaac's greatest find was ROCKS. He loved finding rocks and throwing them back into the water. We ended the day with a big feed of lobster.....mmmmm delicious. Ella and Isaac preferred the king crab legs. At the fish market, we saw a 15 lb and a 19 lb lobster. They were 67 and 72 years old respectively. There was also an albino lobster in the tank. We took a picture, but on my phone and we don't have phone service here. I'll post the photo later.

Welcome Summer




Summer's here and we're off to Newfoundland. Mom sold her house last fall and now has a two- bedroom apartment. She went home just a few weeks ago to get settled away. Everyone's excited to see Ella and to meet Isaac. We can't wait for him to see the ocean and the beach. We've been telling him about the trip and how we're going to drive onto a big ferry and cross the ocean. Isaac wants to see a whale. We're wondering how he'll make out on such a long road trip. It's a 22 hour drive to the ferry. Ella is a great traveller. We stayed in a hotel in Quebec the first night and swam in the pool in the morning. The kids loved it. Before we stopped at the hotel, Isaac was getting a bit restless. He kept saying, "Mommy, I can't see the holiday. Where did our holiday go? I can't see it, mommy." Then he'd say he wanted to go home, he was tired. He certainly talks more in the car than Ella.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

hanging out with friends




Here's Ella and her friend Liam who was visiting from Newfoundland enjoying a friend's pool on a very hot Canada Day weekend. The other picture is Isaac and Ella having dinner with Scarlett who is almost three. The last few months she has really come out of her shell and the three of them enjoy playing together.

more rainy day fun


One thing Ella dearly loves is facepainting. We sat on the front porch in the rain and did facepainting. Ella loved her butterfly and Isaac chose a pirate face. As you can see, he's a very gentle pirate with a pink tutu. He loves this skirt and carries it everywhere.

Rainy day fun


The great thing about rainy days in Toronto is that it is still warm and fun to be out in the rain. On one day, Ella and Isaac donned their rainboots and umbrellas and marched up and down the street singing "we're having a festival". It ended in the two of them being absolutely soaked after jumping in large puddles with a couple of older neighbourhood kids. They had such fun, but I forgot to take pictures of the final product.

Ella's dance recital




Ella was sooooo excited about her dance recital. Here she is with her best friend Gemma, who was also in the recital...in a different group. The theme this year was 'Cats'. Isaac also loved it and tried to follow Ella up on stage.

Happy belated father's day




Yes, it's catch up time again. At least it's only one month ago. Where does the time go...I think I ask that question a lot. We had a great father's day at my sister Donna's place.
Isaac got new glasses! Not sure what happened, but he broke the arm off the other pair. We had them taped up for a few days until we could get a new pair. Now he has THREE pairs. That should get us through to his next check up. Actually, at his last check up in May, the doctor said his vision was getting a little better and we didn't have to come again until November. We have also finally found a peadiatrician for Isaac and we have our first appointment for September 1st. Hopefully, we'll get this cronic cough cleared up and he can get those tubes in his ears. We also started speech just before leaving on our holiday. We'll work on it during the summer and start again in the fall.