Jungle Boy

Potty Update: Tyler definitely earned his potty treat today. He used the potty twice. We used a different approach this time which made things a little more comfortable for him. Instead of using just the potty seat on the big people's potty, we took it off and put in on his little potty so he could use it on the floor. Hooray for Tyler!!!

Safety First

Tyler's current favourite book is called 'Dinosaurs, Beware! A Safety Guide' written by Marc Brown and Stephen Krensky. Just about everyday, Tyler brings me this book for me to read to him. It is a book detailing all the safety rules you can think of; from the home to the playground, to even giving first aid. It is delightfully illustrated with hilarious drawings of dinosaurs in precarious situations that it is as much fun for me as it is for him. This book is actually a hand-me-down from Ute. She used to enjoy reading it to her boys. It's nice to see the tradition continue with Tyler.

Potty Update: Tyler spent most of the day asking for a "potty treat". We tried to explain to him that he has to earn it. There were two separate occasions where he got all excited and said he had to go potty, however we were too late to get there in time.

Here We "Go" Again!

This morning Tyler surprised us by going to the potty all by himself. He was just about to climb up on his chair to eat lunch, when all of a sudden he ran towards the bathroom saying that he needed to go "pee pee in potty". Immediately we helped him on the potty and it wasn't long after that he proudly did his business. We were very excited for his big achievement that we gave him a brand new "beep beep" as his potty treat. Then we called Daddy, who is on his way to Florida tonight to visit his family and drop off Sophia.

With everything going on during the past few months, we held off on teaching Tyler how to use the potty. The original plan of teaching him in May got pushed back. Now we have lots of time for "potty time".
Steve Update: Steve arrived safe and sound at his mom's house an hour earlier than his E.T.A. Sophia is checking Florida Grandma's place out and making herself comfortable. Steve is glad to be back home. He is looking forward to going to the big birthday party for our two nieces tomorrow.

Friendly Giant Heather

My friend, Charmaine, and I went to Iona today. Our plan was to go to the Highland Village and do a few caches in the area, however the weather wasn't looking too promising to bring the kids out to walk through the village. So instead we decided to hit a few caches that only required a short walk. Of course, I forgot my GPS at home, so I tried to manually input them into Char's Magellan. Unfortunately, we had a few technical difficulties and once on location it started to down pour. Strangely enough, once the cache was found the rain stopped and the sun came out. Anyway, I thought I would share this cache story with you mainly because it was a pretty little spot. Here is the actual size of the church...

Growing Friendship

When Andrew comes to visit his grandparents next door to Nanny's house, Tyler gets so excited and often yells out Andrew's name and runs to get his shoes on. Tyler loves going outside to play with his buddy. They usually follow each other around the two yards. Andrew is Tyler's first real friend because they are the same age.

Tonight the boys had fun playing with a watering can as Andrew's grandfather was using it. After their fun was over and the boys each went their separate ways for the night, Andrew's grandmother brought up a special little watering can for Tyler. Andrew got one as a surprise as well. I can imagine they will both have a blast together playing with them! Tyler says thanks for the "bucket" to Andrew's grandmother.

Happy's!

It's almost impossible for us to pass by a McDonald's without Tyler shouting "Happy's" or "Happy fries". For awhile now, Tyler has been calling the hamburger franchise, "Happy's". I'm guessing he got the name from a book we have that teaches him opposites. There is a picture of a clown that represented the word "happy" which just happens to be Tyler's favourite part of the book. Tyler would always shout out "Happy!" when he saw the clown. Since Ronald McDonald is a clown, perhaps that is the reason why he calls McDonald's, "Happy's"...or perhaps the real reason is the smile on his face when we stop there.

Inflation

Summer is finally here! The weather today was a high of 27 degrees Celsius with a nice breeze. This afternoon we decided to soak up the sun a little bit by going for a stroll. Tyler and I went to the nearby convenience store. When I was younger, I used to walk up to the store all the time and get a Popsicle. Back then, Popsicles used to cost 25 cents. Today the Popsicle was $1.00. Even though it just seems like yesterday, it's crazy how much things increase in price. Oh well, no matter the price, you still have the same enjoyment. This was Tyler's first Popsicle and it was funny watching him try to eat it before it melted.

Lobster Treat

It was a beautiful sunny day and a perfect day for a picnic. For the past couple of days, Mom and I had been talking about getting a few lobster. It had been years since I've had lobster from Nova Scotia and since it is lobster season, I couldn't pass up another chance to enjoy the tasty treat. So last night Mom called and placed an order for a half a dozen.

We picked the lobster up in Westmount and since one of my favourite parks is close by, we decided to go there for our picnic. Tyler of course, had corn, but when he saw the lobster he thought it was a crab. He kept saying "big crab". I guess he remembers the one crab I had left over from our Maryland feast that I took home. Anyway, it was good to finally have lobster from back home again.

Wonderful News

On Monday, June 16th, a beautiful baby girl was born to the proud parents of Christine and Gabriel. Maia Gabriella Miller Boutilier was born weighing 7 lbs 4.6 oz and 19.5 inches long. She is already very alert; she actually was born with her eyes already opened. Mother and baby are doing great! They were home the next day! Christine and Gabriel, congratulations on your sweet little girl. I can't for you to come home this summer so I can finally hold her!!!

Today is also a very special day for my friend, Larissa. It is Larissa's birthday! Best wishes go out to you, my friend! Have a wonderful day!!

Twice As Hard

This was the day that we had been dreading for some time now. Steve left today to drive back to our home in Maryland and start his journey to his deployment to Iraq. It will be at least 6 months, and it could be more, before we see him again. Saying goodbye was not easy.

Steve set the alarm for 5 a.m. this morning. We let Tyler continue to sleep as Steve said his goodbyes to him last night. After a half hour of saying goodbye, Steve made his way on the road. Heartbroken and crying, I went back to bed. When I got up again I immediately realized that I had Steve's passports in my purse still. Oh no! When I phoned him, he was just approaching Antigonish, which is about 3 hours away. Steve turned around and we agreed to meet up with him. He not only forgot his passports, but also his travel bag and leave papers. We've had so much on our mind the past few months that it was no surprise that we forgot.
Finally we met up with each other in Whycocomagh. They say that some things happen for a reason and today was no exception. We were so happy to be able to see Steve again and now Tyler could see Daddy again too. Steve mentioned that we were really close to a cool cache and so we decided to go find it together while Nanny waited in the car with Tyler. It was so wonderful to spent a little more time with my husband. Before long, we had to say our goodbyes again. It wasn't any easier the second time. I just pray that he stays safe and the time somehow passes quickly so that we can be together again. Steve, I love you so much and I miss you!!!

The first photo was taken yesterday was meant to be our last family photo before seeing each other again, but then this morning we got the opportunity to take another one.
Steve and I were just talking on the phone and he should arrive at his dad's house in Rhode Island tonight at 10 p.m.

Additional Photos

Our Adventure Continues

One of the best aspects of staying at the Sea Parrot is their breakfast. Lonnie is known for her awesome Belgium waffles. She said that people have actually booked rooms just because they heard how delicious her waffles are and we can believe it. These are not just your ordinary waffles, they are filled with delicious fruit! You are totally full by the time you finish breakfast because along with the waffles you get cereals, granola, yogurt, fresh fruit, juice and coffee.
After our fulfilling breakfast, we were ready to burn some fat and oh boy, did we ever. We had mentioned to Roy that we were interested in purchasing land someday in the area to open our own cabins. He gave us directions of some properties that he knew of that were for sale. Steve and I had nothing really planned for the day, so we thought it would be fun to check it out. It was a bit of a hike in to the first property. We wanted to hike the whole way in to see the view of the ocean that it had. That morning, we had checked a few water front properties which involved a lot of bush wacking and hiking, but we had a ton of fun.
One of the properties had a cemetery in the middle of it which was sort of weird because we weren't really expecting to see that, but it also boasted the most beautiful view of the ocean and cliffs. It also had remains of some huge cement blocks that look like it was part of a large fishing wharf. We noticed a year carved in that read 1944. We are currently researching the history of the area. Of course, it is going to be a long time before we actually consider buying the land, but right now it is just a dream.
After lunch at the Clucking Hen, we decided to grab a nearby cache. The cache took us on the Red Island Trail. Again, this was the first time both of us had been there. The trail was quite nice, but the flies were nasty. Though after we did the cache, we weren't quite satisfied. We wanted to explore more and actually see this Red Island the trail was name after. We found a trail that branched out to a peninsula and we thought this might lead us to the island. The walk along the beach was a lot of fun. Steve played "fisherman" by fixing all the lobster traps we would come across.
Well, after hiking a long distance along the peninsula, it turned out that Red Island isn't an island after all. It's just a big peninsula. Oh well, we still had a blast. We spent a lot of time out on the shore, collecting shells, fixing traps, and taking photos. The weather kept changing the whole time we were there which explains the Cape Breton saying" If you don't like the weather here, wait 5 minutes and it'll change". By the time, we returned back to the car it felt like our legs were about to fall off.
The hike definitely worked up an appetite so we went back for dinner at the Clucking Hen and had mouth watering pan fried haddock. By the time, we arrived back to the Sea Parrot we were pretty much exhausted. This concluded our little vacation for just the two of us. The next morning, we woke up and headed back on the road. Of course, not before gobbling down another one of Lonnie's amazing waffles. It was wonderful spending some much needed quality time with my husband before he gets deployed for 6 months to Iraq. It was really needed. The three days of our vacation was so nice. It just too bad that it couldn't be longer. Steve needs to hurry back from his deployment so that we can do it all again.

Our Adventure Begins

After we ran a few errands with Nanny and Tyler and dropped them off, we were off to start our little escapade. Steve had booked two nights at the Sea Parrot, a beautiful manor located on the Cabot Trail in North Shore. To get there, we took a little ferry pulled by cables called the Englishtown Ferry. This is always a fun part of the Cabot Trail and a favourite with the tourists. Speaking of, Steve played tourist by taking some photos and while he was taking this one, he was yelled at by one of the operators for standing on the ramp.
The Sea Parrot is just a 15 minute drive after you get off of the Englishtown ferry. This was our second visit to the Sea Parrot. We fell in love last year with the beautiful rooms, amazing view, not to mention the incredible hospitality of the owners, Lonnie and Roy. They have cabins and apartment suites that are available and each one is specially themed. Our room was the "Far East"room lavishly decorated in Asian accessories.
After settling into our room, we explored the beautiful grounds that Lonnie and Roy work so hard to keep looking terrific. There is access to an amazing rocky beach which Steve and I walked soon after. We could have easily stayed here and relaxed in the many hammocks or lawn chairs all day, but the day was still new and we wanted to make the most of our time together.


We got in the car and drove down the road to Wreck Cove. As we passed by the hydro power plant, Steve noticed a map. The map was for roads leading to various parts of the island, including Baddeck and Cheticamp. We were totally up for an adventure so we decided to take the road to Baddeck. Keep in mind that this was a dirt road and totally out in the middle of nowhere. We passed by the odd camper along the road, but other than that there was nothing out here. To our surprise, we did run into a pack of cows! They may have escaped because there were no pastures out there for them to feed on, but yet they were tagged. The wild cows weren't the only wildlife we noticed out on the isolated road, we also saw a huge moose! Finally after 2 hour drive we arrived in the village of Baddeck.
By this time, it was great to see civilization again. We stopped to do a few caches in the area, but then our stomachs were telling us to stop and get some dinner. So with this being said, Steve and I found a Chinese restaurant. When we got inside and sat down, we realized that this is the same restaurant that we ate at the first time Steve came to Cape Breton. It was neat to come back to it again. On our drive back from Baddeck, we noticed a structure from across the bay that looked really neat. From our distance from across the water, we could see that there was a road that looked like it went to the building. We couldn't resist the temptation to go and check out what this large building was. Steve found the road and we met a few locals just as the road appeared to have come to an end, so we asked them where it lead to. They said that we could take a path to the old saw mill. Aha...mystery solved, it was an old saw mill! Cool! We got out of the car, walked down the path and soon we were greeted with this amazing structure. It was huge! What a perfect place for a cache!
Then after our exploration ended, we were back on the road again. Steve decided to take a drive down to Englishtown. While there we noticed that we had cell reception again, so I called to see how Nanny and Tyler were doing and say goodnight. It was a beautiful night and I got some great photos before heading back to the Sea Parrot.
When we got back to the manor, the hot tub was calling our names. The Sea Parrot has an outdoor hot tub overlooking the beautiful sea. The night was gorgeous and the view was amazing. We had a cystal clear view to the neighbouring islands, including Bird Island and the Point Aconi Power Plant. The hot tub was incredible! It was very difficult to get out because it was just too relaxing. It was the perfect ending to a fantastic day! This was day 1 of our adventure.