Friday, August 28, 2009 - Camping in Banff

This morning we woke up around 7:30 to start getting the car packed and the girls ready for our Banff camping trip. Dean’s brother Tom and his family (wife – Tara and boys – Adam 5 and Ben 4) were visiting from Yellowknife and we were all going together. We left the house around 10:30 and arrived at Tunnel Mountain Village I around noon.

Our first step was to set up our tent while the Northern Nauglers set up their tent trailer. We made a lunch of sandwiches and Becca just sat in her high chair which we strapped onto one of the sides of the picnic table. It was great to watch the cousins run around and play with each other. We got two campsites side by side and a nice clearing in the woods right behind them with lots of room to play.

After lunch we headed into the town and went for a nice long walk along the river to see the falls. It was quite hot so we stopped by the river to dip our toes and then headed to Cows for some ice cream. We then set out to find a liquor store so the adults could have a treat. We stumbled across one called “A Liquor Store.” – it sounded good however we could only fit inside a few at a time because it was the smallest store I have ever been in. It wasn’t a big problem and we got what we needed and headed back to the campsite.

At the campsite, things were rough with Rebecca because we couldn’t really put her down to crawl around. The ground was quite dirty and she was always picking things up and putting them in her mouth. It meant that I always had to hold her which made it quite frustrating to make dinner and eat. Fortunately we just had an easy meal of hamburgers barbequed on Tom and Tara’s barbeque on their trailer. Tara did the dishes in the sink in their trailer and I got Becca ready for bed. We had her set up in her playpen in the tent and I had lots of blankets for her. She cried for quite a while and it broke my heart but eventually she calmed down and fell asleep.

We roasted marshmallows with the other kids and Isabella really wanted to tell scary stories with the flashlight so we indulged her for a bit. The older kids went to bed quite easily. We had our campfire at Tom and Tara’s site so that we were farther away from Becca sleeping, and I was thrilled to find that she stayed asleep while I went in and put Bella to bed. We unzipped one of the windows so that Bella could peek out at us over at the campfire so that she wouldn’t be scared at being alone. She had a few issues of falling off the air mattress but she eventually fell asleep.

The rest of us had a nice visit around the fire and enjoyed our drinks. We went to bed and were quite comfortable in our tent. I had a hard time falling asleep and around 1am Bella woke up to go to the bathroom so I took her. I fell asleep quite easily after that.

Thursday, August 20, 2009 - Tenting in the Back Yard

Today Isabella and I had a camp out in the back yard. It started out rocky as the replacement poles we had ordered to replace on broken earlier this summer turned out to be the wrong size - they were too long to fit. I was quite miffed as both Bella and I had been looking forward to this for days. We could set up the main part of the tent and one of the side rooms, but the other side room just hung loose and was blowing around in the wind. Worst case scenario we could still sleep in it, but if you know me then you know I want things to be perfect.

After Becca's nap and lunch we drove all around town trying to find a replacement pole (the ones we had previously ordered took 3 weeks to arrive and we are doing REAL camping in a week so I couldn't wait that long). We couldn't find a long enough pole, but I did find replacement parts so I had to settle for rebuilding the pole from scratch.

At first I couldn't get the metal connector off because it was glued on and after my neighbour Ryan watched me trying to pull it off for about 10 minutes he offered to help. After WD-40, vice grips and tin snips he got it off. I headed back to the back yard to start threading a new length of shock cord through the sections and realized that was going to be pretty much impossible. I was quite frustrated, but at least I understood the physics of how it all worked now. Just before giving up I had an epiphany. I realized that if I took two sections off of the long new pole then it was the right length. So I pulled the shock cord out - cut it and tied a new knot at the shorter length and voila! D'uh - I felt so stupid- it took 15 seconds and I could have done that without all the effort Ryan and I put into the other one...oh well - it all worked out and I didn't tell Ryan I didn't use the part he worked on for me :)

About 7pm - after Big Brother and Becca was in bed - we headed outside and started a fire in our fire pit. It took a bit of work due to the breeze, but eventually we got it going. We used the barbeque to make our hotdogs and had a nice dinner outside which Dean joined us for. Dean went inside to enjoy his evening to himself while Bella and I stayed out and told spooky stories around the fire. We didn't put much wood on it because we really only wanted coals so we let it dye down and we got some great coals for marshmallows. Bella didn't like how the smoke was blowing towards her so I ended up roasting hers, which was probably for the best. Dean snuck back out now that we were having treats, but went back in when we were finished.

We headed into the tent and got our beds all set up. I had gotten a new queen sized air mattress to replace one with a hole and two twin air mattress which were on a great sale and I knew we would eventually need. Bella slept on a small one while I took the big one. First we made shadow puppets on the wall and then we told a few more stories before going to sleep. We both drifted off quite quickly. I was cold during the night, but Bella was snug and warm.

Dean came out before leaving for work to have me turn on the baby monitor I had in with me. By 8:10 Becca was awake, but Isabella was still sleeping. I tried waking her up but she was zonked. I reluctantly left her alone in the tent while I went in to get Becca. Around 8:45 I saw Bella coming out of the tent and I was pleased to find that she was happy and not angry I had left her alone. We all had a nice breakfast of oatmeal to warm me up - although Bella only had about 5 bites and Becca pushed hers all out with her tongue.

We had a great night and I'm almost tempted to leave the tent up and do it again tonight!

Saturday, August 8, 2009 - Home to Calgary

Today was a full day for our last. Mom and I headed out to the Farmer's Market and to get some groceries. Dad, Dean and Isabella went out to play some tennis when we got back and we all had a busy morning.

For lunch we were lucky enough to be joined by the Desmonds for a barbecue. We had a nice time visiting and enjoying the hot sun. They left around 2:30 and we loaded up the car to start our drive to the airport.

We said our goodbyes and drove off around 3:30. We had no issues returning the car or getting on our flight. I was rather frustrated to find out that our flight had a touch down in Ottawa as we thought it was direct and this was adding an extra two hours to our flight. The girls were really good. Bella sat and watched TV and although Becca didn't want to fall asleep she was quite happy being awake. Becca eventually got about an hour's nap near the end.

We got back to the house about 10:30pm and it took Isabella less than 10 minutes to complete mess up her room which I had completely cleaned before leaving. We all had a tough time unwinding and getting to sleep - except for Becca who fell asleep as soon as I put her in her crib.

Like always it's nice to be home, but we dearly miss our visits with everyone.

Friday, August 7, 2009

Today was a nice day. We went out for a drive in the morning to a petting farm in The Falls where we got to see lots of neat animals - we actually only got to "pet" goats so I felt it was mislabeled but it was a fun time anyway. We even got to practice using a lasso to rope stationary plastic bulls - it was much harder than it originally seemed.

For lunch we stopped at a place called Sugar Moon Farms where we had a great meals of baked beans, pancakes and sausages - all topped with local maple syrup. It was delicious! We headed back into Truro, but didn't arrive home before stopping in for some ice cream.

We had a light dinner and then headed off to bed early since we had a big day of travelling home tomorrow.

Thursday, August 6, 2009 - Back to Truro

Becca woke up at 8:15 today, which we really can’t complain about, but we had gotten spoiled by her sleeping in until at least 9am. We packed up the car to head to Truro, but first we stopped at Starbucks to get one last treat before heading into the Starbucks void.

We arrived in Truro around noon and were treated to a great lunch from Murphy’s Fish and Chips. Becca went down for a nap and the rest of us enjoyed a great hot and sunny afternoon. Dean sat out reading trashy magazines and got a tan, while Bella and I played in the little pool and with water guns. We were running low on beer and coolers so I took Bella and we walked to the liquor store which is about a 10 minute walk away (5 without Bella). Coming back she was so cute pulling a case of Keith’s in her wagon – we even got a couple of comments from some young business men who thought it was a great idea. When Becca woke up she joined us in the pool and we had a great time.

For dinner we had some steak with fresh local vegetables. After dinner we enjoyed some local Jost port and Cuban cigars before heading off to a local pub called The Red Bird. By the time we walked home from there we only had energy for a piece of pie and then off to bed.

Wednesday, August 5, 2009 - Clams and The Mar II

Today was a fun day. We woke up and had bacon and eggs for breakfast. Then we headed out to drive around for a bit so Becca could get a bit of a morning nap. It was nice to drive around and check out some of the residential areas we used to enjoy driving through. We also drove through the ship yard which is always fun.

At about 11:30 we arrived at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic where we got to see lots of ship replicas and we even got to see all the original models from the “Theodore in the Big Harbour” show they film in Halifax. Bella and Dean went on the Acadia while Becca and I waited on the dock.

For lunch we went to Captain’s Catch (a tradition) for Clams and fries. They were very yummy as usual. We were entertained by a very naughty gull who kept pulling garbage out of the nearby can looking for food. At 1:30 we met up with Dianne for our afternoon Pirate Cruise on The Mar II. It is called a tall ship and is a ketch (two masted) that is 75 feet long (half the size of Dean’s tall ship from last summer). It was a lot of fun and the weather was beautiful. We had lots of wind and a full main sail and jib on the way out, however we lost the wind on the way back. The cruise lasted about an hour and a half and we had a good time.

After our sail we treated ourselves to some “Beaver tails” a wonderful deep fried pastry. Dean got apple cinnamon, but I got chocolate hazelnut (I’m pretty sure it’s Nutella). We drove over to visit relatives of Dean’s: Uncle Jack and Aunt Gwen Hornsby. We only stayed for a few minutes because it had been a long day and we wanted to get home.We relaxed at Diannes for a few hours and put Becca down to bed. At 7:30 Dean, Bella and I went down to the pool and although the windy air was quite cool the pool was wonderfully warm and we had a great swim.

At 8:00 Dean went out and picked up some Sushi we had ordered from a local restaurant, Sushi Nami and we had a nice late dinner. Although the sashimi was wonderful, the rolls were a little bit disappointing and next time we are in town we will probably try a different location. We got a head start on packing for tomorrow and then went to bed.

Tuesday, August 4, 2009 - Parks and Spring Garden Road

This morning we had a nice leisurely sleep in and got up around 9:30am. Becca had actually woken up at midnight, but after a brief nurse she went back to sleep. We had breakfast at Dianne’s and then set out for the day. We started our adventures at Dalhousie University where both Dean and I met and graduated from. We walked around the old grounds and missed those days of very little responsibility and lots of good friends whom we have mostly lost touch with. We bought Rebecca a little shirt like we did for Bella on her first trip there. We also got a great shot glass that made us think of Dave as it ranked the universities and Dal was at the top and SMU at the bottom – to be expected. We were going to give it to him for his collection but then decided to keep it at our house because we would enjoy it more than he would.

Our next stop was Point Pleasant Park. We used to love this park, and although it is still nice, it lost a lot of its trees in Hurrican Juan in 2003. It’s still a nice stroll, but you don’t feel like you are in the woods anymore, it’s more like a walk by the beach. We used to see about 40 squirrels on a typical walk and today we only saw one.

For lunch we decided to walk along Spring Garden Road and find something. First we stopped at the Second Cup to get a family sized (large) frozen hot chocolate – everyone should try this drink – it was fabulous, and perfect on a hot day. We also made note of how the Royal Bank across the street was now a Starbucks and we knew that Dad would find this ironic. We eventually settled on Your Father’s Moustache for lunch and had some nice pub style food. Becca was quite fussy during lunch which was the first meal she really cried during so far this trip. Bella of course was perfect and ate her lunch like a princess. After lunch we headed over to the Public Gardens and they were spectacular. Although they also had Juan damage they had been repaired nicely and they were stunning. Bella and Dean threw coins in the fountains. Dean’s wishes were a secret but Bella wished to first be a princess and second to be a car racer.

After our walk we strolled a little more down Spring Garden Road, but then headed back to the car as the girls needed a nap. We went for a lovely drive out Purcell’s Cove Road and got some stereotypical pictures of your typical Nova Scotia scenic view. We drove out by the lighthouse by Duncan’s Cove which is one of our favourite hikes, and reminisced about Bob the seal who watched bob in the waves one day.

We got back to Dianne’s around 4:30 in time to hit the pool before adult only time at 5:30. She made us a nice dinner of steak and then Dean and I headed out for an evening on the town.