Days 4 and 5

We have made it to Thunder Bay! Our day four was a rest day, visiting with family and enjoying not being in the van driving all day long. Hubby and I visited the cemetery so I could see my grandpa and great grandfather's grave sites, he and I went for a run, and the he took the kids to the park nearby.  An aunt and uncle popped over with some kids, grandkids, and dogs. Another aunt and uncle came up from Sudbury and we had some great conversation.

Day five saw us from Elliot Lake to Thunder Bay with a lunch stop at the giant goose in Wawa with my aunt and two of her grandchildren. Smarty spent his device battery on videoing some of the drive along Lake Superior. We put our toes into the water in one of the bays, and we visited the Terry Fox Memorial and view of the Sleeping Giant. More to post on the trip from Thunder Bay to Winnipeg and today's trip from Winnipeg to Minnedosa but I'll get those later today.

Days two and three

Days two and three complete! And now we have a rest day.

Day two started with finding out that the elevator in the hotel was broken. The night before I had gone down to cycle a bit in the fitness centre and when I was finished the hotel staff were trying to get some people out of the elevator which had stuck on the second level. So I wasn't terribly surprised to see the "Out of Order" sign on the door in the morning.

We passed through Saint Louis de Ha! Ha!, found some Couche Tard, and navigated pit stops and lunch stops in the beautiful Province of Quebec. We found dinosaurs, cheese curds, and fleur de lis.

Shortly after one of the stops , when we were back on the road, Smarty asked Daddy to explain something he had seen in the restroom. It was a condom dispenser, with brightly coloured cartoon type advertising on it. So Hubby explained, plainly and concisely, what they are and what they are used for. Yikes! Kids growing up too quickly!

When we arrived at the hotel just in time for a massive rain storm. When it stopped we decided to walk a couple blocks to a grocery store for some fresh food. While we were shopping it decided to start another torrential downpour again, letting up a bit right when we were done. We got a bit wet on the walk back to the hotel, but I enjoyed it. I had forgotten what it's like to walk in a warm rain! Tons of rain in Nova Scotia, but it's different.

Day three brought us to Petawawa for a coffee break. We saw deer in the woods, the big machinery on display, and we did a brief walk through of the Canex. On the road again there were cars parked along the sides of the road sporadically and people picking berries, lots of tiny little townships, and inukshuks. There was a sign for three townships ahead with a combined population of 300.

And the chatter. After having tea, Monkey is always talkative. And bored. Still asking for food every 5 minutes, she started telling us why she needed more gummies. Apparently littler kids need more food than bigger kids because they need to grow bigger and stronger. Also, her little puppy wasgoing to kill everyone. Listening to her imaginative play is slightly terrifying. But we eventually found that she said "kill" but was meaning "bite". So I think (maybe?) we convinced her to use the word she means instead of the one that is morbidly entertaining.

We made it to Elliot Lake to visit with my Grandma and Great Grandma, back in the house I always remember visiting as a child. Smarty has been loving the back yard, the girls loving the dolls. Troll's homestead (a gazebo Grandpa made decades ago) is still there, and walking through the yard brought back some really wonderful memories for me.

Introduced the children to their Great Grandmother and Great Great Grandmother. Hubby and I visiting and chatting until bedtime,

The Journey West: Day One

Day one is complete, children are in bed, quiet is all around.

We crossed the Nova Scotia/New Brunswick boarder this morning and made it to Edmundston before supper time. No one ate anyone, very few lost tempers, and both girls slept most of the way through the first part of the journey.

We dug out devices around 10 this morning and had to explain again and again exactly why the internet wasn't working.

Conversation with Girly: "Why won't it let me do this game? Can I use Google Chrome?"
Us: "You can't. There is no wifi on the road. Google needs wifi."
Her: "What about Google Play? Can I use that?"
Us: "No, Google play needs wifi. What don't we have on the road?"
Her: "What about Google Voice search??"
Us: "No! The Google won't work at all. You have to wait until we are at the hotel."
Her: sigh...

So, it's been a little educational for her about technology and the rustic nature of the ways of road trips.

No one was sick, we discovered in a big way that Monkey is a boredom eater. Every five minutes she's absolutely starving and two minutes away from passing out with fatigue. The boys kept themselves entertained with books and live streaming their thought process while videoing themselves.

We played in the pool when we got in, kids vegged in front of the tv, Sergeant played a new game with Hubby while I went down to the fitness centre for a half hour. And now sleep.

I'm experiencing some technical difficulties, so I don't have pictures to post, but I'll keep working on that.

Endings and Beginings

Done.  Finished. As I am typing this little family is ensconced in a hotel for the second night, the start of another adventure. Yesterday morning, bright and early, a packing crew came to the house and started boxing up the parts of our lives that are being shipped almost all the way across the country. The rest has been put into suitcases and bags for our own drive across. I'm going to try my best to write even a few lines every day to keep people posted of the trip as well as load pictures on.

Yesterday started out raining like stink but quickly dried up and it's been sunny ever since. Warm and humid today, teasing about a thunder storm that didn't happen. All in all, a surprising end to our three year stay here in Nova Scotia.

I remember that first week here in the hotel waiting for our belongings to arrive. Seeing the incredible fog! Not even able to see the tops of the bridges as we drove across the harbour, exploring this new place we were going to call home.

Getting that first house unloaded and lived in before Hubby took off for basic training, figuring out school supplies, where to shop, incredible sticker shock. Then experiencing the incredible amounts of rain that arrives in the fall!! And starting out an evening drive, just the kids and I, and turning around because I didn't want to drive through the wall of fog I saw coming in off the shore.

Making friends in the neighbourhood, having our house house over flowing with the kids on the street, walking to and from the school every day. Getting notice that we needed to find a different home because of situations out of everyone's control, and having to pack up and clean again. Having tons and tons of snow days, Hubby's health issues, other family members' health issues, pulling through, having Poppa and Gramma visit and come with us to PEI that first full summer.

Walking with our toes in the sand at a number of beaches, visiting lakes, going to camp last summer and hanging out with the family. Peggy's Cove a couple times, out to Cape Breton to see Louisbourg and circle Bra D'Ors, and finding that amazing industry museum in Stellerton! What a fantastic stop that was!

Being able to get the service flights over the holiday season, being able to visit family then, and then returning home to the winter that only decided to start the day before we left. We've collected shells, combed the beaches for sea glass and sea life, had ice cream cones at little shops, driven the scenic route between Moncton and Halifax, and picked apples in the fall.

We've met some really nice people, made a few good friends, and are really looking forward to reconnecting with old ones again. Stay tuned...