1st day back at school!

Does this little girl look happy or what??



I dropped her off at school, and off she went, happy as can be, instructing me to have a nice day and to GO. TO. WORK.

I picked her up after work, and she ran to me to give me a hug. She had a HUGE smile and was very cheerful! I was relieved that it started off so well. Let's hope the rest of the year will be like this!

on growing up

"Mom, I would really like for you to not come to school with me on the first day. I don't want to hurt your feelings, but I really want to do it by myself this time. Don't worry, I’ll tell you all about it when I get home.”

As sad as I was to hear this, I need to encourage my baby girl to grow up. She is growing up into a wonderful, happy, independent girl. I am so proud of her.

Celebrating end of summer at the Ex

Yesterday, I had a last minute, spur of the moment idea. I told Maelie we were going somewhere but didn't tell her where. Bill drove us to the Ex (parking is 20$ so we rather find other ways to get there.) Needless to say Maelie asked a million questions about where we were going... she was ecstatic when she saw the rides!!

She even ended up in the Cannon Ball... basically they bring you up really really high and then drop you! Maelie said her heart stopped! I don't think she expected THAT.



She enjoyed the Pharaoh ride (which in my day was the pirate ship). She did this ride over 30 times I am sure. At one point she even ended up sitting at the back with the Ex mascot! I had to get a close up of that. He even put his arm around her, probably thinking she was scared. Little did he know that she had already been on 25 times.




We took a little break from the rides at some point to go visit the petting zoo. Maelie fed a bunch of goats, llamas and alcapas. They are SO cute! Even if they could use some teeth work. Can you imagine having one of these in your backyard??





Other rides she tried were the haunted house that takes you around in a little buggy, the hang glider, and of course, the swings!




All in all, the day was beautiful! I wasn't sure if we'd get some rain, but finally, it passed right by without hitting us. We got home exhausted and Maelie had a lot of stories to tell her Daddy!

We are one week away from saying goodbye to summer vacation. Maelie is going back to school next Monday! Hurray!

Changes!

Today we had an appointment mid afternoon, so afterwards, I decided to take Maelie out for a special treat. She got her hair bleached! Initially we were going for purple strands in her hair. However, after the lady bleached her hair, it looked really good! So Maelie decided to keep it that way.




While we were there, we decided to try "Take 2" with the earrings! Maelie got her ears pierced again (the last time was a flop... but she was younger).



Maelie was SO happy with all her pampering!! Yes, she knows she is spoiled!! We are definitely ready for "back to school 2009!"

Going back home

We left by bus on August 13th in the morning. Since we were arriving in Moncton before noon, and the train was only at 5:20, we checked in our big suitcases and headed off to Crystal Palace for a bit of fun!



Maelie called it the FUN park because she said it was so much fun! She enjoyed the rides and especially loved the roller coaster! She went on it over and over and over.




We had some lunch, did some more rides, and soon enough it was time to cab it back to the train station.


Maelie slept well on the train. We unfortunately were 2 hours behind so we missed our connecting train in Montreal and had to wait an extra 3 1/2 hours. They gave us free lunch vouchers so we at least sat down and enjoyed a nice meal. Maelie was just too excited to get home and see her daddy so she basically didn't eat!



Once home, I could barely muster up the energy to speak! We had supper, and relaxed. Maelie spent time with her daddy, and swam with Tristan. Our pool was at 83 degrees, but I couldn't even muster up the energy to go in! I would have fallen asleep in it for sure! I think the fatigue from the whole trip was catching up to me. I am still recuperating as I type this!

Back to reality.... back at work on Monday, and only 2 more weeks of summer vacation!

I must say that our trip was well worth it. We enjoyed our familiy tremendously and the train was quite an experience. Maelie is an absolute pleasure to travel with. She is patient, and knows how to amuse herself. She did not whine or complain. She knew some of the waiting was out of our control and we just had to make the best of it. I love her so much and I am extremely proud of her!

The Birth & more

August 9th brought the birth of my new nephew, Brennan James. I was blessed to be there to see him come out! I always wished that one day, I would see a baby come out. Giving birth is not the same because you are doing all the work. Being at Brennan's birth was more like a vacation! My sister was doing all the work.

Here he is just born, still attached to his mama.



Here he is cleaned up.



He's got all his fingers and all his toes!



Maelie was able to hold him when he came home. I am glad that babies don't make her want a baby in the house!




Here is my mom with all her kids and grandkids.



Brennan was also baptized while we were there! That was pretty fast!



While my sister was in the hospital, Maelie was not allowed to visit, so I decided to spend the day out with her instead. (only parents, grandparents and siblings of the newborn were allowed due to bacteria going around)

We ended up spending the day in Cavendish with our friends from Gatineau. They rented a cottage out there and so we went to Ripley's Believe of Not museum, shopping on the Boardwalk, and then for raclette at their cottage. It was wonderful! Though it felt wierd to see friends from Gatineau in PEI.





Maelie got her hand made out of wax. It turned out really nice!

more vacation fun

On Friday, we decided to head off to a different beach. One where Maelie could swim without having to walk 8 miles to get deep enough. This beach was on the north shore about 20 minutes away. It was packed with dunes, and white fluffy beach sand.



Maelie ran through the water and jumped over the waves. She didn't want to actually swim too much because she wanted to keep her eyes on the jellyfish.



She of course had to collect a bunch of seashells!



We built a sandcastle but then a cloud came by and it started raining hard, so we left. If I remember well, that was the night there were thunderstorms all night long!

Cows ice cream

We went for a tour at the Cows Creamery. Cows is delicious quality ice cream! Maelie prefers plain though... so the interesting kinds were not for her. Plain chocolate was her choice.





We couldn't take any pictures inside the facility, only in the store or outside.

After our visit, we went to the Boardwalk in Charlottetown and did a bit of shopping.



After lunch, Maelie and I were off to the beach again. In the evening we went to see Lucas play ball. Looking over what we did that day, I now understand why Maelie was SO exhausted at the game!!

Beach day

close to Jo's house. The tide was so low that we could practically walk over to New Brunswick! (slight exaggeration of course)



We went to the beach on our second day in PEI. This beach is really
Maelie loved looking for shells. We saw lots of jellyfish, hermit crabs, small fish, snails, etc !!



I love the gorgeous red dirt and beautiful red cliffs!.



The next day, we went to the Farmer's Market and got a few things from there. I couldn't believe how much more expensive produce is that out here!

They even had perogies and cabbage rolls at that market, so I HAD to take a picture to show Bill. If we were to sent him a "wish you were here" postcard, that would be the picture that would really make him want to be there.



In the afternoon, we drove off determined to find a beach to get seashells. We ended up at the ferry at Wood Islands. It was not technically a beach to swim at but we did find a lot of interesting things, and we got to see the ferry take off!



Lucas found some starfish.



The beach was gorgeous and we were also right by a lighthouse. They had a few play houses for the kids and a small playground.





Stay tuned for more...

Back to real life! safe and sound!

We returned from our 12 day trip yesterday afternoon after 32 hours of travel! We had a great trip out east visiting my sister and family, and of course seeing my new nephew, Brennan James, be born!! That was a dream come true.

I have almost 300 pictures to go through and I will definitely recap a bit of our holiday.

We left on August 2nd, excited for this new adventure. I hope Maelie keeps her sense of adventure! I know it has taken me MANY places in my lifetime! As we were 5 minutes in our first train ride to Montreal, Maelie said " Are we in PEI yet?" That's when I knew the ride may be a bit LONG!



We had many places to go through as you can see. I didn't sleep much at all that night. We made some friends in line before going on the train and so there was a lot of chit chatting to keep us busy.



Maelie managed to sleep a bit on the lower bunk (aka the floor) while I stayed in the seat.



Maelie was very patient. The closer we were getting though, the more excited she became! We couldn't wait to get there.



Once in Moncton on Monday lunchtime, we had to take the bus over to Borden where Jo and my mom were meeting us. By this time Maelie was exhausted! When we got on the bus and she found out there was a washroom on the bus, she said "wow, mom, this is the COOLEST bus ever!" and then she passed out for the whole trip.



When we were on the bridge, I knew I had to wake her up as our stop was right after. I said "Maelie, look! We are on the long bridge to PEI!!". My enthusiasm was met with "Who cares." She couldn't even open her eyes, poor thing!

It was pretty nice and sunny when we arrived, and so the cousins all did their best to make Nathan laugh while cooling down in the pool.



Stay tuned for more...