Powder Rooms and School Rooms.....similarities?

First, a side note: IT'S A GIRL!!! We are sending our congratulations and love to Steve, Katrina, Naomi and Petra on the birth of Rachel Jean this morning at 3:30!! Welcome to the family Rachel!

Alrighty, now for our update: We have been very busy here in Nova Scotia. We're making sure we see lots of things and are checking out all the "touristy" spots and more! So we checked out the Citadel. It was an absolutely beautiful day (which are few and far between here...) and so we spent a few hours touring around the rooms and different exhibits.

Here is some of the gun powder stash:

Here are the rules that were posted in the school room at the Citadel.
Emily took this great picture of us. It has the MacDonald Bridge (one of the bridges between Dartmouth and Halifax) in the backround, but that might be kind of difficult to see on this size of picture.
And here the soldiers were shooting off fake cannons. Despite the fact that they were fake, they were very loud!

Next on the list was the Parade of Sail for the Tall Ships. The Tall Ship festival has been going on since Thursday and on Monday they were leaving for the next port. So they sailed around the Halifax Harbour and then out onto the ocean. So we got a few close-ups of the ships and then we drove down the coast to see them sailing out.

And then last night, we checked out the Halifax Public Gardens. They have beautiful flowers here! So there were lots of photo ops! Here are a FEW of the pictures we got!

YAR! Me Sailin' Ship Just Arrived! (or, Boats That Float, and/or, She Be Me Whiskey Lass)

Saturday, we visited downtown Halifax and toured the waterfront. Here's Steph in the Farmer's Market, which is also located beneath Alexander Keith's Halifax Brewery. We were going to do the tour of the brewery, but it costs $15! - they give you two drinks - but Steph doesn't even like beer (I'll tell you what she DOES like later...) - and really, how fast do you have to drink those two drinks on this tour? Two drinks in an hour and Steph'd be a little tipsy as we toured downtown...

The Tall Ships Festival is this weekend in Halifax, on the waterfront. So we got a few looks at the ships. This one is from Winkel, Holland.

This next one is the HMS Bounty (I've been on it before - I think in Brockville), It has appeared in such Moving Pictures like "Mutiny on the Bounty" (Marlon Brando) and also "Pirates of the Caribbean II and III. I'll have to watch the movies again, just to find the ship...

Yar, and this be me pride and joy. Built her meself with me own two hands, and she be the fastest ocean going vessel the far side of 1938.

Okay, I wish.

But this is the Bluenose II.

And, I guess this guy is always parked here. But we took a picture anyway.

So the waterfront was nice.

Also along the waterfront was a store we happened into called Rumrunner's. They sell three kinds of cake - Chocolate Rum Cake, Original Rum Cake, and a Whiskey Cake.

Guessed which one Steph liked the most? - the Whiskey Cake.

Which shouldn't be surprising because she loves Cherry Whiskey too.

So I guess that now I can call her 'My Little Whiskey Girl' (reference to a Toby Keith Song)...

Boats that don't float, and other strange tales on the Bay of Fundy

"This is the forest primeval; but where are the hearts that beneath it
Leaped like the roe, when he hears in the woodland the voice of the huntsman?
Where is the thatch-roofed village, the home of Acadian farmers, --
Men whose lives glided on like rivers that water the woodlands,
Darkened by shadows of earth, but reflecting an image of heaven?"
- Evangeline, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Lines 7 -11

Thursday afternoon we headed up to see part of the Bay of Fundy! So here are some pictures, and a few short descriptions of what happened out there...

The poem I started with is from Evangeline, an epic poem about the Acadians - whose land we were going into -- Grand Pre, Wolfville, Blomidon and Cape Split.

To be fair to Martin and Emily, I'm posting pictures more or less, of just Steph and I. They can tell you about Maria's first camping experience...

This first picture is us at a lookout overlooking the Minas Basin, near Grand Pre. I, of course, am wearing the hat Steph said I could ONLY wear to work. But I think the hat looks good...? Oh, and the view was nice, too.

In Grand Pre, we visited a National Historic Park which was set up on near the church that now symbolizes the deportation of les Acadiens, by the British (1755 - 1763). Unfortunately, by the time we arrived, the dramatic presentation was closed for the day, and they still wanted $8 a person for admission. We opted for the tourist booth instead, where I picked up the book "Evangeline" which shows promise as a good read....
We also stopped at a Winery and toured their 'vineyards' on our own. Here's a pic' of Maria getting close to the grapes.

On our way up to the campground at Blomidon, we had a view of some boats that don't float. "Apparently", the tides here are quite severe...

We spent the night at Blomidon Provincial Park. The campground was pretty empty, and the wood they gave us was pretty wet. It was hard to get a good fire. But I think Maria didn't mind.

We had hamburgers/sloppy joe's for dinner.

And smoke for dessert.

Unfortunately, we were limited by a firepit that only allowed a view of the fire from one side -- also the side where all the smoke travelled to. We didn't plan this picture - we were breathing fine just before it, but as soon as the timer was set to go, our seats were consumed by smoke.

All night - it rained. So when I (foolishly) tried to defy nature and start wet wood on fire, well, breakfast was consumed by smoke as well...

This is the beach at Blomidon, at low tide. At high tide, we'd probably be under water. Or at least IN the water.

Finally, we visited Cape Split. Take a good look at the second picture below -- those are clams that, apparently grow in every groove in the rocks Steph and I are standing on in the first picture. Hence, we discovered that we were actually at Clam Cove - an appropriate name.

The water at high tide would reach about 3/4 of the height of this wharf that is quite obviously useless during low tide...

Pictures of us at Martinique Beach

East Coast Extravaganza

Alright, so to update you on our first few days on the East Coast:

~Sunday afternoon: We went for a walk in Bedford, which is a little bit northwest of Dartmouth. We went for a walk along the Bedford Basin. It was very nice weather although as you can tell from the pictures, it was quite windy.

~Monday: David and Martin went to check out the "new house" and spent most of the day drawing up deck plans and plans for the inside of the house. Emily and I went shopping. (Sorry, not many pictures really from this day).

~Tuesday: Martin was called into work :( so after Emily and I hiked all over Dartmouth to get a few groceries, David and I went to work at the "new house." We had to move a HUGE pile of rocks in an attempt to level out the area for a driveway, only to find out that it was actually some kind of septic bed.....so we'll have to tell Martin about that tomorrow....oops! And now we're babysitting Maria, which is incredibly easy (no thanks to Emily for feeding her prunes before she left, and I have a husband who won't change diapers....!!!).

So that's been our time so far. We're planning on going to an ocean beach tomorrow and checking out some touristy towns, so that'll be fun! And then we're hoping (if the weather cooperates) to go camping Thursday and Friday near the Bay of Fundy and doing some hiking around there. So lots to do and see!

Here are a few more random pictures:

Yar! Me Sailing Vessel Set Sail Without Me, So I Had To Drive!

I guess our journey begins in Woodstock, ON, on thursday night. We left (Steph's) parents and headed up to Barrie to take care of things at the house and pack up, and then Friday afternoon we headed to (Dave's) parents for the night. Then bright and early on Saturday Morning, we managed to get on the road by 6:15am!

This is what our car looked like!

After driving for about 7 hours, or more, we found out that somewhere we had made a wrong turn - because the signs ahead of us said Woodstock was coming up, and then Caledonia? - so we had to double check the maps. We THOUGHT we had gone through Quebec already - and we'd been driving for a long time - but I guess EST looks alot like OUEST...

We did stop at Grand Falls in New Brunswick - it was nice, but not anything too great.

Despite seeing all theses signs - Steph was disappointed that she did not see any wildlife except the black birds on the side of the road...

The new highway going through New Brunswick was nice! It made for good driving without any traffic problems.

And although we thought we had made good time - We finally arrived in Dartmouth at 10:00 pm (Ontario time) <11:oo>

We were just in time to hear (faintly) "Live and Let Die" by Paul McCartney - who was doing a big outdoor concert in Halifax.