Swimmin'

As the summer went on, my belly expanded and my energy shrunk. So, as any good pregnant mom would do (ha ha) I sat under an umbrella in the shade and read a book while my girls took swimming lessons and swam for a couple of hours just about everyday. It benefited us all. My girls had fun playing the water, drastically improved their swimming skills because they weren't as nervous about the deep end, and wore themselves out by being in the sun. So, we could all just chill the rest of the afternoon and sleep well at night.

It also made the trips to their cousins house and neighborhood pool much more exciting too.

Independence Day

The life of a researcher, medical student etc... never seems to slow down. And while my hubby was hard at work on the 4th of july, we joined a few friends to celebrate the holiday because it just wouldn't be as fun without dad since mom doesn't 'do' fireworks. I'll gladly make cute treats with holiday themes and bring the food, but I leave the fireworks for dad, but since he wasn't around, we left them for the 'other' dads who weren't in the lab or on call that day.

Like I said, I will make the food and fun food at that...

David wanted to take in a treat to the office to say thanks to the doctor and nurses who had been so nice to him and let him do his family practice rotations on 1/2 a day every Friday for six months so he could have a little more time to catch up with the rest of the 3rd year medical students in the fall. So, I had WAY to much fun making a vanilla bean cheesecake, but since it was a few days before the 4th, I couldn't help but go with the theme... and it made me dream all over again about opening my own bakery, in all my free time?!

And what would a red, white and Blueberry 4th of July weekend look like without the blueberries? We skipped out last year on picking because we had just returned from a long family trip and I don't think my kids ever forgave me, so after much pestering and despite the fact that I was pregnant and very much so had the "I don't care about anything extra," attitude, my kids once again won and we had a blast. The blueberry farm here also sells these awesome apple cider popsicles that are so perfect for a hot summer day and every time I go I think I should make them, but never do.

Bay of Fundy, New Brunswick, Canada

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to walk on the bottom of the ocean? Well, actually it's just more rock, sand and seaweed, but still cool! Here we are at Hopewell Rocks on the Bay of Fundy. People will kayak around the rocks at high tide, but once low tide hits (a few hours later) people can walk through the rock formations, but the water comes in quickly because of the shape/length of the rocks and the gravitational pull of the moon etc... There are several signs warning people to get to a high spot and sit it out if they can't walk back to the entrance. Rumor has it some people are trying to petition it be added to the 7 (natural) wonders of the world.

There are some really fun looking caves, but they can't be visited because the water comes in too quickly. The water can raise 54 feet in 13 hours.

At the top looking down.

You can't see the bottom, but this took a fair amount of climbing on Abby's part to get to the top of these rocks.

Us.

Tide heading in...

Prince Ewdward Island, Canada

Everyone has their own list of 'what I want to do someday' and well, because I am a fan of Anne of Green Gables (maybe is the red hair?), one of mine was to visit Prince Edward Island. It intially started out as, 'go on my honeymoon to Prince Edward Island,' but hey, life requires adjustments (and funds and a good reason for the hubby...) So, almost 10 years after the honeymoon, we went! YEAH. And thank you to the in-laws for the wonderful tour!

We took a ferry over from the mainland and this is the last piece of land seen before arriving on the island.

It was cold and wet but the girls managed to go outside on the boat for a short while.

The water was really rough that day and it was hard to walk on the ferry unless holding onto something, but Abby wanted Dad to take her to the front of the boat so they started heading that way, then suddenly jumped backward and for cover around the corner where we were, as a HUGE wave came up over the front of the boat and though they did get a little wet, they avoided being DRENCHED and we all got a good laugh.

Girls playing on a boat inside a boat!

Is there such thing as an outing with Grandpa Simpson not including a treat?

Silly Girls.

The day was cold and rained on and off, we stopped for a moment at one beach so the girls could walk around and just as we got to the bottom, it started to hail hard and it hurt, so needless to say, we all hurried back up to the car and Abby loves to tell the story.

I couldn't miss out on a 'bridge' moment, on PEI with red hair and my future doctor (aka Gilbert...) As one of my best friends in high school and I would often quote, "isn't it romantic?" okay enough sappiness.

And then we headed to the REAL house of a FICTION character...Anne of Green Gables...in the middle of a golf course.

The girls were getting sick of all the picture taking, so to keep them interested in giving me partial smiles, I suggested hiding Jeana's new friend 'Lobsty' the lobster in the picture. It turned out to be too good of an idea because we ended up with even more pictures than I wanted to take, but just for fun, feel free to hunt him out in the following pictures!

Notice the 'Anne' themed hair.

And the girls just couldn't keep their hands off Raspberry Cordial, don't worry there was parental supervision!

A walk through lovers lane.

Some uh-oh K-I-S-S-I-N-G on Lover's Lane.

And some sitting...

Can you tell they are scared in the Haunted Woods of Avonlea?

And some Anne dolls as mementos.

The second day was much warmer, warm enough for oblivious-to-the-cold children to play in the water.

Look Familiar? Yeah, another Anne moment.

And more ice cream...gotta try the local flare.

If you look closely at this pictures you can see a bridge in the background. A seven mile bridge to be exact. Kinda creepy. This bridge goes over the ocean to connect PEI with the mainland. We took the ferry over, then the bridge back. Both were experiences.

Another treat you say?!