Pretty in Pink

When Mom was putting in her new garden, she asked me to pick out a flower that I liked to put in it. Of course, I selected my favourite, the stargazed lily. The other day two of the flowers bloomed and yesterday evening the third and final flower made its' appearance after a rain shower.

Return of THE SUMMER PEOPLE!

It's that time of year again in Port Morien; it's the festival of the Summer People. This year the festival expanded to include the neighbouring community of Birch Grove. Charmaine phoned me this afternoon and together with our little boys we went and visited them. The following are some examples of what we saw today.

Growing Pains

It's been a tough week for Tyler. His lower right 2nd bicuspid is cutting through. It's looks quite painful. For a few days now, only the outer U-shaped part of the tooth is showing and is surrounded by some blood. The middle and the remainder of the outside still has yet to show. Yesterday afternoon was particularly rough, though after about an hour of giving him some Tylenol he seemed to finally obtain some relief. There were even some nights were he woke up crying in pain. Let's hope that the rest of the tooth will cut through soon, so he can finally have this done and be back to his normal self.

Fountain of Youth

During today's playgroup we went on an outing to the park. However before we ventured out, we had our usual free play and craft time. The craft for today was a beach ball. Tyler made his quite flashy looking with lots of cutouts along with some poka dots.
After cleanup and everyone got their lotion on, we all walked down to the nearby park. Once we arrived, the children were given a brown bag filled with some snacks to enjoy a little picnic during story time.

Then it was finally time to get wet and have lots of fun. The park has a great fountain were children can walk right in. It was funny because at first Tyler would only run outside of the fountain. It took a few times before he actually got right where the water was coming out. All the kids had a blast and the parents had fun watching them play.

Louisbourg Encampment

This weekend the Fortress of Louisbourg National Historic Park of Canada is celebrating the 250th anniversary of the second siege of Louisbourg. In conjunction with the anniversary, the fortress is having an encampment of French, British, and Native military and re-enactors.

The Fortress of Louisbourg is the largest historical reconstruction with costumed interpretation depicting life in 1744. Today Tyler and I attended the closing ceremonies of the encampment with my friends, Charmaine, Kelly and their son, Cameron. As always it is a pleasure to walk through the fortress and experience life back then. This particular visit was even more exciting with the large number of re-enactors coming from all over North America and other parts of the world. When we first entered into the fortress, Tyler's first remark was "funny people" in relation to all the costumed people. Anyway, we had a great time and even ran into some people we knew. Here are some other photos I took for you to view. My camera battery died, so I had to use Charmaine's extra camera. I will post those when she puts them on a disk for me. Until then, please enjoy these...

Ballet for Horses

This weekend there is a dressage event held at one of the local stables. Being a horse lover, I definitely did not want to miss out. However this morning when I looked out the window it was raining cats and dogs (not even one horse in sight). So with that being said, we did our errands instead. By early this afternoon, the rain stopped and it looked like it was clearing up. It didn't take me long to jump in the car and head over to the event.
The event was quite exciting! I've never been to a dressage show before. For those who may not know, dressage is best described as ballet for horses. It is where rider and horse work closely together to perform graceful ballet-like moves. There were quite a few competitors from all over the Maritimes. The horses were absolutely beautiful! They made my day!

In Loving Memory

Today my dad would have turned 69 years old.

We miss you so much and you remain in our hearts forever! We feel your love around us everyday and we will continue you to take you everywhere with us.

Today is your birthday and even though you are not here to celebrate, there is no better place than being in Heaven.

With all our love.

Until we meet again.

Live Broadcasting

As a way to keep connected besides doing the blog and making phone calls to each other, we use the webcam. Last night, was the first time we tried it out and it was so much fun! We used to talk with the webcams all the time before we were married so it brought back good old memories. Steve and I used to have a blast making faces and saying silly things on the webcam.
This morning I went out first thing this morning and purchase a webcam for Tyler and I to use. Tonight was the first time Tyler saw Daddy in a long time and he couldn't believe it was him. He squealed so loud and he danced around the room with laughter. It was so wonderful to see him so happy. It is a blessing we have this technology to keep in touch like this :)

On the Line

Recently we made the decision for my mom to go off of her well water and join the county water line. Her pump had been giving her some trouble, so we said it would be less worrisome for her to just get on the water line and not have to bother having to get the pump repaired frequently. First of all, a guy had to come a dig for the line to go in. Luckily, they didn't have to move my dad's memory tree, however they did come close. Unfortunately they had to dig up part of the garden that Steve put in. Then the plumber came and hooked up the pipes. Finally there was an inspector from the county that came and approved it. It was a lot of work, but well worth it. We love our new water pressure the most!

Obey the Law

Today at our playgroup we had some very special guest speakers come in to talk to the children. However before our guests arrived it was the normal routine of playing, crafting, story time, and snack time. The craft for today was in relation to our guest speakers. The children made traffic lights. When Tyler was finished making his, he was covered in glitter. He did a wonderful job though.
Soon it was time for our special guests to arrive. To our surprise, it was a police officer and his partner to talk about safety. Police Officer Sam was pretty funny and the kids really loved him. They learned all about bicycle and water safety, and dealing with strangers. We all had a great time today with the playgroup and we are already excited for next week's!

Happy Birthday to my Uncle Jim!! Have a fantastic day today!!!

Dinner with Sarah

Tonight we went to dinner with Sarah. Sarah is a long time friend of ours and actually she feels more like family. Mom looked after Sarah and her brother, David, for about 10 years when they younger. Growing up, I've always considered Sarah to be more like a sister.

We had a great time at dinner catching up on stuff and then afterwards she came over to our house for awhile. It was wonderful seeing Sarah again and we hope she'll come over again soon.

Steve Update: Steve flew to New Jersey today to start his regular training before the start of his deployment to Iraq. He'll remain in New Jersey until the 5 weeks of training are over. He says that so far everything is going well and he is in with a good group of people that will be his co-workers. Steve will be in charge of 6 others during his deployment.

Row Your Dragon Boat

Today was Sydney's 2nd Annual Dragon Boat Festival. The boat festival is a fundraiser for the Cape Breton Cancer Clinic and the Cape Breton Special Olympics. 33 races took place today. My best friend's mom participated in one of them. I promised Tanya, that I would check it out and take some photos since she lives away. Despite the rain, the Sydney Marine Terminal was packed full of people and unfortunately I didn't to see her mom.
We are so glad to have attended because the boats were quite interesting to see. It was the first time that we've seen the races.
Since first mentioning to Tyler about going to see the dragon boats, his excitement was enormous. He is going through a phrase where he absolutely loves dragons, dinosaurs, and robots. Plus getting out in the rain this morning was so much fun for him. He got to wear his new rain jacket for the first and splash in the puddles with his boots. Sorry Tanya we didn't get to see your mom. I hope you enjoy the photos though.

Tyler snuggled up to Big Bear and fell fast to sleep this afternoon.

Cookie Man Revealed

Just about every little boy and girl has an imaginary friend. Tyler has talked about "Cookie Man" now for at least 6 months. Some of you already know about his friend. Sometimes Tyler will see Cookie Man and point him out to us, but we are unable to see him. We think Cookie Man lives under the table, specifically plastic lawn tables. Tyler often talks about Cookie Man being in the hole that the umbrella goes in.
The other day Tyler and I were drawing and he asked me to draw the Cookie Man. I explained to him that Mommy didn't know what Cookie Man looked like. In order for me to draw him, Tyler had to describe him to me. First of all, Cookie Man has not one, but 3 heads! Then Tyler said that he had green hair on the two outer heads and red hair for the head in the middle. Then he proceeded to tell me that Cookie Man has 3 chins, 3 necks and attached to his necks were his bums! Oh my goodness! Tyler also said that he only has one set of arms and hands, but 3 sets of legs. This Cookie Man is has turned out to be quite the character!

Teddy Bear Picnic

"Today's the day the teddy bears have their picnic." Though this teddy bear picnic didn't take place in the woods like the song suggests, instead it took place in New Waterford at the Colliery Lands Park. This afternoon we packed a lunch and with Winnie in tow, we headed down to a great day of fun. Tyler's other bear buddy, Nanny Winnie, opted to stay home and keep Nanny company for the afternoon.
After lunch which consisted of cucumbers, one of Tyler's favourites, we headed over to the booths to see what was being offered. We found out that the Canadian military just doesn't exist to serve and protect our country, but they also do a great service to our teddies. They set up a teddy bear health clinic to ensure all the teddies were healthy and feeling well.
Under the same canopy was a daycare for the bears. Tyler thought it would be a good idea for Winnie to attend the daycare for the afternoon because he was planning on being quite busy with the other activities being offered at the picnic. So Tyler signed in Winnie for a couple hours. Winnie said he was quite excited to meet some new friends. It's not that often, Winnie gets the chance to get out and socialize with the other stuffs.
Then it was off for an afternoon of fun. Tyler had the greatest time running in the sprinkler provided by the fire department. He got soaked which was nice because the temperature was rather high today. After Tyler got cooled down, he wanted to go and check out the bouncy tents. Tyler then went and tried his luck at the fish pond. This was followed by some bubble blowing and playing in the toddler section. He made his rounds trying each activity several more times.

Before we knew it, the teddy bear picnic was over. We picked up Winnie from daycare. He told us that he met a lot of new friends. Winnie was very thankful Tyler took him out for the picnic. However it was time to take Winnie home "because he was a tired little teddy bear."

Happy birthday to our niece, Bryanna!!! The birthday girl turns 5 years old today.

Hay There!

For the past few days, the farm next door has been harvesting their hay field. On Sunday afternoon, they started by cutting the hay and turning it over. They turn the hay over to help dry it out.
Since our land is adjacent to the farm's, we have a good view of the field. Tyler and I sat in our lawn chairs during the first day and watched from a safe distance. Tyler went inside and got his binoculars to get a "closer" look. Notice in the photo that the binoculars are being used with the opposite end. LOL
The next day, they turned the hay once more and start baling the hay. The guy instructing the whole process allowed us to enter the field to get a closer look and more photos. Every tennis ball they found in the field, they gave to Tyler to play with.
However as the sky grew gray, it was a race to get the baling completed before rain fall. They only managed to get about 30 minutes worth of baling before the sprinkles of rain arrived. Then they scrambled to get it all gathered in the back of the truck and into the barn before the hay got too damp. Tonight they have completed the baling and they are sitting in the field still. Last year when we came to visit Nanny and Poppy we had just missed the hay being harvested, however the bales of hay were still in the field. This photo was taken the day after our arrival.

Socializing

For some time now, we've been wanting to get Tyler more involved in activities with children his own age. Back home, we don't have any children his age that live near us, so up to this point he hasn't had much social interaction with other children. We felt it was important for Tyler to enhance his social skills to aid in his development.
This morning we attended a playgroup for children from the ages of newborn to 6 years old. It took Tyler no time at all to fit in. He jumped right in and played amongst the children allowing him to practice his skills in sharing. After free play time, they had arts and crafts followed by clean up time, and then snack time. During snack time, they were read to and then it was circle time for songs. Both Tyler and Mommy had a fantastic time and we are planning on adding this to our weekly routine. When Tyler was asked what his favourite part of the playgroup was, his reply was "toys!".

Hand Painting

Tyler said that he wanted to "hand paint" today. We bought some finger paints a few weeks ago, but we were waiting for a not-so-hot day to go outside and try them out.
At first, I really had to coax Tyler to put his whole hand in the paint. Finally he put more fingers in and then eventually his whole hand. He kept laughing and saying "poo poo".
It wasn't long, however, that he had fun by moving his hand around the plate. He liked to mix the paint and asked for more colours to be added.



Unfortunately, the wind picked up a little more making it difficult to paint on the blowing paper, so we decided to put away our stuff. This is what the finished product looked like. We will continue again some day soon when the wind isn't as strong and the sun isn't too hot.

Steve Update: Steve entered the first stage of his journey for his deployment to Iraq. He flew to Mississippi this afternoon where he will be doing paper work to prepare him for the deployment. He'll be there for a week, before departing to New Jersey where he'll continue his training.