SAILING

The 3 older boys had an extra special opportunity to take two weeks of sailing classes while in Nova Scotia (this is still the highlight of their entire vacation:)

(If you click on the highlighted words below, more info will be given about the particular boats - interesting;)

Patrick and Luke taking in some of the action.

Preparing to head out.

Sean holding 2 sailboats as his mates finish preparing to lauch.

The water was a mere 15*C (brrrrrrr, 59*F)

Aidan spent a lot of time the first week whipping around in this speedboat....

On his very first day, Drew and Aidan were "treated" to a ride on a 420 by a more experienced sailor. As it happens quite frequently, the boat flipped. Drew was able to leap clear, however, Aidan ended up under the boat. I asked him why he didn't just dive down and swim out... he tried, but his life jacket prevented him from diving deep enough. Eventually, he saw a crack and swam for it. Needless to say, it scared him to death and it took him a few days to recover his nerve.

Drew "crewing" an echo

This is not a pic of the boys, but gives you an idea of just how hard/far they have to lean to keep the boat from tipping over.

Sean skippering, seconds before they almost flipped.

Well, they managed to remain upright, but took on a LOT of water.

Here you can see the back of the boat beginning to sink.

Aidan in his opti.

Race day

Luke's 3rd Birthday

Wow, my baby is 3.

I guess he is not really a baby anymore, but he will always be MY baby.

He continues to bring so much joy into our lives.

Since "boys" were in sailing class, Mommy, Daddy, and Luke, and Nana and Grandad spent some special time alone with the birthday boy.

First, we met up in town for lunch at the Wag.

Luke chose grilled chicken and fries for his lunch, but also snitched a bit of Daddy's chicken club sandwich;)

He then finished off his lunch with a slice of Irish Cream cheesecake.

He LOVED it and polished off the whole dessert with little help from anyone else.

What a silly boy.

Just the 3 of us continued on to Theodore the Tugboat -

Luke was sooooo excited:)

What a sweet (tired) boy.

He wanted his daddy to hold him pretty much the entire time...

But was willing to stand alone for a few minutes inside the boat.

Finally, Mommy got a chance to hold him -

He was cracking us up blowing raspberries the entire time we tried to get a shot.

We arrived back home just in time for hotdogs (Luke's choice) and birthday cake (also his selection - he chose one with both chocolate and vanilla cake baked in a checkered pattern).

Blowing out his candles as we sang Happy Birthday.

We sang this to him several times throughout the day, as he would keep singing it to himself.

Delicious.

Hey Buckaroo,

You are THREE!!!

Check out the expression on his face.

Buzz is his newest, BESTest non-human friend!!!

(Didn't want to make Joshua feel displaced;)

White Point

Patrick and I booked a getaway for just the 2 of us, thanks to his parents willingness to look after our 4 boys.

It was WONDERFUL!!!

Self-portrait on our private balcony overlooking the ocean.

The sliding door was OPEN any time we were in our room, so that we could hear the waves crash and retreat.

Room service -

Patrick chose a bagel with smoked salmon, capers...

And I chose Acadian French toast with well-cooked bacon.

At times, it was VERY foggy (total pea soup).

You can see the tiniest hint of it in the picture.

View from our balcony

We took a short drive to Liverpool.

Everything is in full bloom right now.

Didn't Patrick take a great photo?

Gorgeous rose bushes

Me and the love of my life:)

Patrick hanging out with his newest friend.

Do you recognize him?

This pic is somewhat unrelated, but it was soooo cute.

Luke was beyond happy to have his daddy and mommy return at the end of our trip.

Lobster Extravaganza

Ready for dinner

Bon apetit!!!

Dinner you say? What am I supposed to do with this?

Eat it?

The exterior is too hard.

Suck out the insides?

No thanks!

Michael and Patrick still going at it, long after the others left.

YUMMY!!!

The aftermath.

July 1st - Canada Day

Akin to America's July 4th.

This was the view as the sun was setting.

Sean, Aidan, and Patrick

Waiting...

Still waiting...

Rachel and Patrick - thank you Sean.

I just had to take this pic before rescuing him:)

He did not appreciate all the noise.

Didn't really get any great shots of the fireworks, but here you can see how they shot them off over the water. There were people on shore and also offshore in their sailboats enjoying the beautiful display.

Sea Kayaking

Introductory class:

Lesson #1. Sea kayaks - size, shape, length...

Lesson #2: Skirts (or to make the men more comfortable, kilts) Always remember, "high is dry."

Lesson #3: Life jackets and oars

Lesson #4: Adjusting legs and securing "kilts".

Not sure why they all look half -asleep, because they were super excited and ready to go.

During our lesson, an eagle caught a fish and an osprey tried to steal his catch.

Our instructor said that it was the 1st time he had ever been upstaged by a bird.

At that particular moment, we were not the greatest students, but he was a kind teacher and overlooked our momentary distraction and excitement.

And then 2 eagles...

What a show!

And were off...

straight for "Eagle Island".

Bald Eagle

Kingfisher

Taking a break at Clam Island to refuel and relax.

Bilge pump

Snack time - water and granola bars

You gotta make sure to provide "fuel" for the "engine".

The "cold" pose.

Oh, so cold.

A crab (actually, just the shell)

Who knew the bilge pump would turn out to be so much fun?

Proof that I did actually go on this little excursion.

On the way back, we rigged a tarp and sailed more than halfway home - loved it:)