Fun with Cousins

Aunt Chellee and Uncle Peter invited us over for dinner. Tyler was so excited to see his cousins again. We enjoyed a super delicious dinner and watched the pilot episode of 'Fireflies'. Thank you so much Chellee and Peter for everything. We had a wonderful night!!!

Lots of Water and a Movie

This morning Tyler helped Dad wash the car. As you can imagine, it had a ton of bugs splattered all over the front. But it also had some tar on it from the road construction we went through to get here. Steve got one side of the car cleaned off from the tar, but then had to call it quits because of the hot weather. Then we went in the backyard with Grandma and got the pool filled up for Tyler to cool down in. Dad, Grandma, and I enjoyed the shade of the trees. Later on in the afternoon, Grandma took us to see the movie 'Despicable Me 2'. It was such a cute movie!!! We came out of the movie theater to quite a downpour of rain, though we had to go pick up some groceries in the same plaza we thought the rain would slow down some, but it didn't. When we arrived home and sat in the car in the driveway hoping the rain would ease up a bit, Grandpa came out and greeted us with a big umbrella to escort us to the door. It wasn't long before the rain got worse and came down in buckets while it thundered and lightned. Tree branches came down and flooding in the backyard started to happen. We enjoyed a yummy chicken dinner and strawberry shortcake for dessert. 

Hello from Florida

We left Grampy and Grammy's early Friday morning. The traffic was crazy, but after a long day of driving we made it to Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina. After staying overnight there, we got back on the road and late this afternoon we finally made it to Grandma and Papa's in Florida. We are so happy to see everyone again. Tonight Tyler was so excited to pick two pineapples from Grandma's garden.

Hello from Rhode Island

After a long 14 hour drive the day before, we arrived in Rhode Island to visit Grampy and Grammy before our move to Bahrain. It was a beautiful sunny day and so we decided to visit the incredible Green Animals Topiary Garden. The garden is part of the Brayton estate. We started our tour by exploring the Brayton House which was built in 1844. Each room was filled with Victorian furniture and even had a large collection of antique toys. It was quite amazing to walk through and imagine yourself living there back in the past.

The Green Animals were absolutely beautiful. I could have stayed there all day taking in the amazing beauty of the flowers and the topiary. There was just so much to see and admire. The workers were still in the gardens working hard to maintain the beauty of it while we walked through. Tyler found a swing that he had fun on. Afterwards we walked down to the waterfront to the old boat house and we walked along the shore. There were a lot of shells and interesting rocks. Grampy, Steve, and Tyler skipped some rocks into the water.

We then came home. Tyler was super excited to see Grampy run the trains again. That's all he talked about all day long. After the trains, I played some horseshoes with Tyler in the backyard for a bit before Steve decided we should go over to Great Grandma's house to say hello.

We had a nice visit with Great Grandma. She had just arrived home, so we had great timing. We had some peach ice cream together and Tyler built some Lego cars with the set that Great Grandma gave him. We were amazed how fast he put it all together using the directions. Great Grandma invited us out for dinner. We went to 99 Restaurant which was the first time for Steve, Tyler and I. It was pretty good. Then we drove back to her place where we sat and talked some more before meeting Grampy and Grammy for ice cream at Newport Creamy...super yummy!!!
Here are some more photos from the day.

Family Day

Mom wanted our last full day in Cape Breton to be a family day where we could all spend it together. Joe took the day off from work and met up with us in the afternoon. While we were waiting for Nanny to get ready to go into town before doing some errands in the morning, Steve and I went down to the old bridge that was closing within a few days to be replaced with a brand new one and took some photos.

When my mom was ready, we drove into Sydney to do some errands and picked up some flowers to take to my dad's and grandfather's grave.

We had lunch at a great Italian restaurant and then for dessert, Nanny wanted to take us to the Tasty Treat.

Our cache was ready to be placed, so we dropped off Nanny and Tyler at home and Steve and I went and placed the cache in it's new spot we found.

We came home and waited for Joe, Marlene and Tristan to arrive at mom's. When they arrived we decided to go outside in the backyard to enjoy some sun. Marlene and I found the patch of the little green sour leaves that we used to eat when we would play Barbie's underneath the trees. The funny thing is we have never seen these leaves grow anywhere else except my mom's backyard. We decided to Google them and after some searching we found out that they are called Sheep Sorrel.

Mom was going to have a turkey dinner for dinner, but the turkey ended up going bad and so we decided to just go out and eat together instead. Mom treated us all to a lovely dinner at the new Irish pub that opened up. Afterwards, we went down to the park and took some photos. Tyler and Tristan had a blast running through the splash pad there as well. Joe wanted to show Marlene how to find a cache, so we all went to find a cache nearby. Marlene and Tristan were so excited to find their first cache. We then went back to my mom's. It wasn't long before Steve suggested we get some ice cream at the Tasty Treat. It was a good way to end our last night in Cape Breton.

10th Place!!!!

Our day started off by receiving an invite from our friends, Charmaine, Kelley, and Cameron, to go over to their house for a BBQ for lunch. My mom joined us as well. We always have such a great time when we get together with them. Good conversation with lots and lots of laughs. Meanwhile, Tyler had fun playing with his buddy, Cameron. Every time we get together, I always wish we lived closer. Soon we had to say goodbye because we made plans to meet Rhonda for dinner. Charmaine mentioned that she was running in a race later on that evening and that interested Steve very much. He told her that we may call her after dinner and that he was considering running the race with her.

We came home, dropped off Nanny and Tyler, and then picked up Rhonda to head over to Rita's Tea Room for dinner. Ever since Steve saw the Tribute to Rita MacNeil when she passed away earlier this year, he wanted to go to her tea room. For those who don't know who Rita was, she was a Cape Breton singer/songwriter who was internationally known. Her sweet angelic voice and song lyrics touched millions. After becoming famous, she opened up a tea room in the one room school house in her native town of Big Pond where she also lived. The food was excellent and it was so nice to see all of her accomplishments and awards she had won over the years. Once we finished dinner, we walked outside through the beautiful garden.

Steve was feeling like a good run when we were done, so we came home, he changed into some running gear, and we called Charmaine to make plans to meet in New Waterford for the big race. We met up with her and found the park where the race was to start off in. The Collier Park was the site of an old coal mine. They had done it up as a nice tribute to the mine with actual equipment. We've been there before for geocaching and summer festivals, but we never thought we would be returning to participate in a run. LOL Steve and Charmaine signed up and after an hour, they were off! Rhonda and I waited for them to come back by having a hotdog and listening to the band play, the entertainment they had for those waiting for the runners to return. It wasn't long before we noticed the first runner return. It was at that time when Rhonda and I decided to head to the finished line and wait for Steve and Charmaine to return. I had a good feeling that Steve would have a good run. He's a good fast runner and he always finishes in the top when he does his run for the Navy. I was right!!!

Steve placed in 10th place!!!! I was super proud of him, especially since he hadn't been running in over 3 weeks and this race was totally spur of the moment for him. The route was a total suprise for everyone and there were a lot of hills they had to run up. He cooled off with some water and soon after we cheered Charmaine as he ran through the finish line. We were also very proud of her. She just started running last year. The race had 62 participates in it. Steve and Charmaine enjoyed some fresh veggies, fruit and chocolate milk.

 Steve wanted to celebrate with some junk food though. LOL So we all went to the Tasty Treat for some celebration ice cream! LOL Steve not only got ice cream, but he also got fried clams. LOL
It was a great way to end a wonderful day with our friends. Below are some more photos from the day, including a special photo of me and Rhonda's mom. She had been like a second mom to me growing up as I was always over at their house.