Back in New Brunswick

Today was travel day #1. We left our cottage around 8:30 this morning to start the drive to Edmunston, NB.

It was a pretty uneventful day once again. The kids watched movies so that kept them pretty quiet along the way.

The only trouble we ran into was trying to find somewhere for lunch. The place we stopped at last week had cars lined up to get into the parking lot. We didn't think that seemed like a good idea so we kept driving. However, when we checked our GPS there wasn't anything else listed within 100 km. We kept driving to see what we could see and eventually stumbled on a little motel and restaurant. We went into the restaurant to find that it had 6 tables inside, all of which were occupied. Some of us went to the bathroom while others tried to find a table. We eventually got one, but it still took the overworked waitresses 10 minutes to get it cleaned off from the last people for us. It was crazy busy the whole time we were there, but we finally got some pretty good food and got on our way again.

Nick was feeling pretty tired this afternoon, so I took over the driving for the last 200 km or so of the trip. We had some pretty heavy rain at times, but overall a good day for a drive.

We got to Edmunston around 5:30 and had supper at Wendy's before checking into the hotel. Then we went for a quick swim in the pool before trying to get the kids to bed. It is currently 9:00 our time and Wesley is still awake. Hopefully he falls asleep soon because Nick will soon be back with some DQ and I'm not sharing!

Slow Day

We didn't want to do any long drives today, because we'll be spending the next two days in the car, so we stayed pretty close to home today.

We went back to the Railway Museum this morning for another ride on the little train. The kids were just as excited this time as they were the first time. Fun times.

After lunch we went back to Basin Head beach. It wasn't a terribly warm day today, so I wasn't too fond of the idea of swimming. When we got there we saw that the tide was really far out today. We went and walked around in the shallow w

ater where the water had been the other day. While we were out there we saw a sand crab walking past us. He then buried himself in the sand right before our eyes. Very cool!

When Wesley and I were walking by ourselves we found the tiniest hermit crab I could ever imagine. His tiny little claws barely poked of the shell. We picked him up and Wesley named him, "Hermie". Then Nick and Darcy joined us an

d they found several full-sized hermit crabs and one snail. We loved playing with them and checking them out. Of course, the kids wanted to bring them home, but they've been returned to their homes in the ocean.

It was a pretty low-key evening around here, starting to get cleaned up and ready to go in the morning. We're sad to be leaving but we've h

ad a wonderful time. We packed a lot into our week though. I love this island and would love to stay a bit longer. I guess we'll just have to come back another time!

Green Gables Day

Today is the day we've all been waiting for. Green Gables!

We had about an hour and a half drive from our cottage to Cavendish so we arrived shortly after 11:00. It was raining when we got there, but it was still quite busy. There were women dressed up as Anne and Diana in the barn (which is a bit of a museum), and we saw them right after we got there. We toured through the house and Darcy thought it was great. She picked up on things from the book throughout the house. After touring the house we took a walk along Lover's Lane.

We then headed down the road to Avonlea Village. This is a fairly new place in Cavendish so we've never been there before. It is a little village set up to replicate Avonlea as it would have been in Anne's time. There are activities from the time period and characters from the book are walking around. There are plays, concerts and games going on throughout the day. The kids really enjoyed it here and we had a blast.

We left there to do some shopping along the Cavendish Boardwalk before heading to St. Ann's Church for theirfamous lobster dinner. Not being a seafood lover, I had the steak, as did my Dad. Darcy has tried lobster before but was really excited about having it again. Wesley had chicken nuggets. Nick was looking forward to the lobster as much as I was looking forward to Green Gables! It was a great meal, and a great part of our island experience.

We don't want to do too much driving around tomorrow, as we'll be spending two long days in the car over the weekend, so we're staying around the cottage tomorrow. The weather should be good, so we're planning to return to the beach we visited earlier in the week. We might also go back to the railway museum for another ride on the miniature train. Plus we'll have some cleaning and packing to do to get ready to start home on Saturday. Our wonderful vacation is coming to an end.

Passing the Love to the Next Generation

I think we can officially say that the love of Anne of Green Gables has officially been passed down to the next generation in our family. We saw "Anne of Green Gables - the Musical" this afternoon and Darcy was absolutely in love with it. But I'll get there.

Today was our day to head to Charlottetown. It started off with a tour of Cows Creamery. That was a great time. The kids each got a cute t-shirt and we all got to sample some tasty ice cream. Delicious.

After a quick lunch we headed to downtown Charlottetown to get ready for the musical. Before the show we went to the "Anne of Green Gables Store" which is like heaven on earth for me. I could have spent a lot of money there.

Ever since we started talking about this trip, Darcy has been talking about buying a straw hat with red braids attached. That was the first thing we sa

w when we walked into the store, so we picked it up. She also chose an Anne Doll. She wanted the hat to wear to the play.

Then it was on to the play. Our seats were in the second row, in the centre of the row. If you've never seen a play this way, I highly recommend it. We were right at stage level and felt like we were part of the play. Amazing. Darcy loved the play. She laughed like crazy at the funny parts and cried (along with pretty much everyone else, I'm not going to lie) when Matthew died. She told Nick all about it at dinner. I think she's already as in love with the Anne story as I was at her age and I'm pretty sure this is something that we're going to love for a long, long time.

Nick and Wesley went to see "Zookeeper" while we were at the play. Wesley had a good time. Nick thought it was terrible.

Tomorrow we are heading to Cavendish to see the Green Gables home. Then we're going to Avonlea Village for a bit more Anne fun. I can't wait. There could be a lobster dinner in our future too.

Another Great Day

Today was all about the animals. I'm talking about real animals, not my kids.

We started out today visiting Buffaloland Provincial Park. This is a place Nick and I loved to visit when we were here on our honeymoon. What a letdown it was today. It just doesn't seem to be well-cared for anymore. 13 years ago there were different kinds of animals, they were close to the lookout and it was really exciting to see them. Today there were only buffalo, and they were in a completely different field from the viewing area. It was pretty disappointed. The kids were bored out of their minds.

From there we went to Panmure Head Lighthouse, which we climbed all the way to the top. It was pretty cool and we got an amazing view of the ocean from there. In a field right beside the lighthouse were some cool horses, which got a much better reaction from the kids than the horses.

From there we went to Springwater Farm, a cool little sheep farm we had read about in the Visitor's Guide. It's just a little family-owned farm that we drove into. We were greeted by the family's dogs and then taken around to see their sheep, rabbits, and chickens.

We followed that up with a little shopping, and then we went to Greenwich National Park. We didn't have time to walk all the way to their famous sand dunes but we took a nice walk. The only animals we saw here though were mosquitos. And tons of them.

We then returned to the cottage for a relaxing evening "at home". I'd hate to mention who won the Trivial Pursuit game between Nick, Dad and I, but I will say that they were beaten by a girl.

I won't pretend to hide how excited I am about tomorrow. We're off to Charlottetown tomorrow for a trip to Cows Creamery and "Anne of Green Gables - The Musical". Darcy, Mom, Dad and I are going to the musical, while Nick and Wesley are going to the movies. Then Thursday will be our trip to Cavendish to see all things Anne. Darcy hasn't bought her hat with the red braids yet but I'm sure she'll have a chance over the next two days.

I can't wait!

Day 2

What a great day!

We are loving our vacation. We started our day with some sugary cereal, which is a big treat in our family. We must be on vacation.

Our first stop today was the Elmira Railway Museum. It's right beside our cottage and we'd heard something about a small train to ride around so we wanted to check it out. There wasn't much to see in the museum, but we loved the train ride. It was a 15 minute ride on a small little train going through the woods around the museum. At times, I thought Wesley was going to go out of his mind with excitement, especially when we went through the little tunnel they had built. He was positively gleeful.

We then had a trip to the grocery store and lunch before heading to the beach for the afternoon. We went to Basin Head Beach and had an amazing time! Wesley got a little freaked out by the jellyfish, but still had fun digging in the sand. We found seashells, crabs, and the previously mentioned jellyfish.

When we were back at the cottage making hamburgers for supper I realized that we hadn't bought ketchup for the hamburgers. You can't have hamburgers without ketchup so my Dad and I took off to find a little shop where we could pick some up. Well, apparently our cottage is in a really remote area with no shops anywhere. All we could find was a little restaurant so I went in there to ask if they knew of anywhere that I could buy some ketchup. They couldn't tell me anywhere closer than 20 minutes away but they were able to give me some little packets, so we were all set!

After supper we drove to the lighthouse at the eastern tip of the island. We got there at 7:02 and it closed at 7:00 so we couldn't go inside. We walked around, looking at the magnificent views. Again we encountered two little foxes who were running around by the lighthouse. These guys seem to be everywhere. It's pretty cool.

We're expecting rain tomorrow so we're not sure what we're going to do tomorrow. We're hoping to visit Buffaloland Provincial Park, which is a place Nick and I loved to visit when we were here on our honeymoon. There's a lot of wildlife there and we know the kids will love it. We'll see what tomorrow brings!

More pictures will be posted soon on our flickr site.

PEI Trip

So, I've totally slacked off on my blog recently but thought that our PEI trip would be a perfect time to start again.

We're here! We made it to PEI this afternoon around 3:00. This is my third trip to PEI, the first was in 1979 and the second was in 1998 when Nick and I honeymooned here. I was six in 1979 and don't really have a lot of memories of the trip. Nick and I loved our time here on our honeymoon. Being the Anne of Green Gables lover that I am, it's definitely one of my favourite places.

I'll admit I was nervous about being in the car for two days with the kids. They really surprised us! They were great! They watched a lot of movies, and they were really patient, and good the whole time.

We went from Ottawa to Edmunston, NB yesterday. There's not a lot to see in Edmunston, so we ate at the hotel and then went swimming. We were pretty wiped out after our day in the car so weren't feeling up to too much anyway.

We were on the road at 8:00 this morning, and after a hard time finding McDonald's we got our breakfast and got on the road. I was surprised at how beautiful New Brunswick is. I haven't been there since 1979, and I don't remember it at all.

In 1979 I got to PEI by ferry. In 1998, we arrived by plane. Today we took the Confederation Bridge. That is amazing! Even Darcy said, "I'm going to stop watching my movie so I can look at this!" It was incredible.

After a quick stop for some groceries, we found our cottage. I don't think we can really call it a cottage. It's more of a summer home. It's got 3 bedrooms, 1 1/2 bathrooms, a full kitchen (but as Wesley noticed, there's no dishwasher), and satellite TV. It's beautiful.

There is a railway museum next door to our cottage. We walked past there tonight and we think we'll check it out tomorrow morning. Apparently there is a small train that we can ride around the area. Wesley will love that.

While we were on our walk today, a small animal came out of the bushes. At a quick glance we thought it was a cat, but it was a fox! We were almost close enough to touch it. Very cool.

So, that's where we are so far. We're trying to plan out the rest of the week, so we can see everything we want to see. It's going to be a great time!