Holiday!

Wow, it's been a busy week! What have we been up to? A lot!

Wednesday was Canada Day. The kids spent the morning playing with their friends, C cut the lawn clover, and I was busy packing for our trip the next day. My friend and her hubby have a boat and they invited us to go sailing with them for a few hours. So we packed up and headed over to the marina. We cruised around the harbour and then out into open water. We saw quite a few seals which was really cool. Unfortunately S started saying her stomach felt funny so we headed back in. We had a great time and really appreciate our friends taking us out on their boat!

Wednesday night there were suppose to be fireworks for Canada Day but since we had to get up early for our trip the next day we decided not to go. It turned out to be too windy that evening for the fireworks so it wasn't such a big deal that we didn't take the kids. They were pretty tired from a hard day of play so they were okay with it too.

Thursday we got up early and took the ferry over to Nova Scotia. The crossing was smooth and there was a nice breeze blowing. I was glad the seas were calm because when it's rough it can cause my vertigo to act up. Being on our friends' boat didn't bother me the day before except when we were stopped. We arrived safely in Nova Scotia and started making our way towards Cape Breton. We stopped along the way and had lunch at a place called Mother Webb's. If you get the chance, stop there. They have a simple menu but it is tasty.

We made our way up the Ceilidh Trail. Along the way we stopped to enjoy the views. This was one of them:

By the time we reached the cottage we were staying at, S was saying her stomach was feeling bad again. She kept saying she was going to throw up and eventually she did a few times. :-( Not how we wanted to start our holiday! Thankfully once she got it all out she said she felt better. I don't know if she was feeling carsick or if she ate something that didn't agree with her. She got a good night's sleep and woke up the next morning feeling all better. 

Friday - since S was better we decided to head out to the Cabot Trail and make our way up to the Cape Breton Highlands National Park. C wanted to hike a specific trail - the Skyline trail. We decided to give it a try. We parked and started making our way up the trail.

This doesn't look so bad...

The first part of the trail was easy, as you can see. It was pretty much a road. We followed it around until we came to a picnic shelter where a ranger was set up with information about the wildlife we could potentially see along the trail. The kids were excited to see how big moose antlers and skulls can be. Too bad we didn't see any moose this trip! But we did see a skunk on the way to the ferry (we didn't get sprayed!)

After listening to the ranger for a while, we started on the trail. It was narrower than the beginning but still a good sized trail. We hiked along and at the time the trail seemed fairly flat. Yeah, not so much. Coming back up the trail was a gradual climb. It was tough at times because I am out of practice for hiking (thanks winter) but I made it. As we hiked along, these are some things we saw.

I liked how the ferns and flowers were growing up around the stump

It's hard to tell from this picture but we're hiking along the top of a mountain

Yellow flower

These little white flowers were everywhere. I wish I knew what they were!

A pretty little waterfall

Eventually we came out of the trees and realized just how far up we were.

Egads, is that the road down there?

How high up are we?

Yeah, we're up high and that's the ocean out there

This is a boardwalk that goes down to some viewing platforms

Looking out at the ocean

Yeah, that is high. I think I will stay right here, thank you.

C and the kids went down there but not me!

There was a boardwalk that went down to viewing platforms. I stayed on the first one because I have a fear of heights, to the point that I have had panic attacks before on things like Ferris wheels. C and the kids went down there but I decided that it was better for me to stay up on the top rather than have a panic attack in front of the kids. The views were spectacular from where I was and I could pretend that I wasn't standing on the edge of a mountain. :-)

After this we headed back to the car, which was a good long hike uphill. We drove around a bit more and then headed back towards town. We stopped for supper along the way and then made our way back to our cottage. Everyone was worn out from that hike. It was fun but hard work! It was an early bedtime for everyone.

Saturday we headed the other way on the Cabot Trail and went to Baddeck. C got a cool new hat and I got to visit Baadeck Yarns. I'll do a yarn blog tomorrow to share what I bought. There were lupines blooming everywhere (both here on PEI and over in Cape Breton). I just had to get a picture of them because they are so pretty.

After lunch, we made the decision to drive the whole way around the Cabot Trail. A lot of the way was just beautiful wilderness but we did stop along the way at some of the overlooks. At this one we managed to spot at least one Minke whale. I couldn't get a picture of it because it was too far away but it was a really neat experience to see one in the wild.

After that we continued around the trail until we found a place for ice cream and a beach that the kids could play on. J was a crazy man and went into the icy cold water. S stayed on the shore because the water was too cold for her. I don't blame her! C took the kids to explore a waterfall that was next to the beach. 

We finished the drive with supper at a tasty restaurant and then headed back to the cottage. It was another early night since we were all tired from all the driving!

Sunday we headed back home. The ride on the ferry was nice and no one got sick. It was good to be back home. The kids immediately went out to the trampoline and wore themselves out. I think they missed the trampoline!

Monday (today) we got back into our regular routine. C went off to work and I took the kids out to find new shorts (not a whole lot of luck there). We went to the grocery store because we needed some groceries at least for the next few days. We also went out to a place that sells homemade baked goods. The Sugar Shack, run by Borrowed Kitchen, is run by the mom of one of S's classmates. All weekend long she was making lemon meringue pies. Since we were out of town I couldn't get one but I sent her a message and she was able to make one for us today. It looks delicious!

I also made some semi-homemade muffins. I used a blueberry muffin mix but I added strawberries to them. I had one and it was pretty darn tasty. We'll see what the kids think tomorrow morning.

The kids are pretty tired right now. Our neighbour invited us to come swim in her pool and we spent about two hours there. A good time was had by all! I think the kids will sleep well again tonight. I know I will!

Okay, I think I'm all caught up now. Tomorrow I will be sharing pictures of all the lovely yarn I have acquired recently. Until tomorrow then!

Fruit Roll-up Fail

A few weeks ago a friend shared around a link to a blog that had a bunch of DIY things on it. One of those things were homemade granola bars. I gave them a try and they are fantastic. So I figured other things on that site would be good too. There was a recipe for homemade fruit roll-ups and I thought, great! My kids are always begging for them so I figured making my own with nothing but fruit in them would be great.

The original recipe called for mangoes but they are expensive (and I could see S saying she didn't like them). Reading through the comments on the original blog I saw that you can make them with strawberries. Again I thought great! Strawberries were on sale this week so I picked up some. I followed the recipe - puree them in the food processor, spread them thin on a parchment lined cookie sheet (I don't have Silpat mats), and pop them into the oven.

After three hours I checked them and parts of them were dried to a crisp and others were still goopy. I left them in for a while longer in hopes that the goopy parts would dry out. Most of them did but of course that made the dried parts get crispier. Finally I pulled them out. Next I covered them with wax paper, just like the recipe says. I flipped it over and began to pull the parchment off. This is what I ended up with:

It doesn't look anything like what it's suppose to although it does taste good. J says it tastes a little sour to him so maybe I should have added some sugar to it. I was trying to figure out what went wrong and all I can come up with is that I had the puree spread too thin in some places and too thick in others. It looked like it was even but apparently it wasn't. Also, I think having a Silpat mat would have helped. Next time (if there is a next time) I may also spread all the puree in one tray rather than splitting it up. They will most likely end up more like fruit bars rather than roll-ups but that's okay with me.

C has a dinner meeting tonight so it was just the kids and me for supper. When I asked them what they wanted to eat their response was pizza. Now, ordering pizza and having it delivered here is expensive. And since I had to go to the grocery store anyway I picked up the stuff to make our own pizzas at home.

I picked up what I thought was just two crusts but there were actually two crusts per package so I had the potential to make a LOT of pizza. I ended up sticking one pack in the freezer. The other pizzas ended up being half cheese, half ham/pineapple (J's request). Here they are before baking and after:

Of course S pulled her "I'm full" routine which just means that she's tired of eating whatever it is we're having. She started saying that after her cheese came off and I refused to give her a new piece until she finished her current one (yeah, I'm mean that way). J gave the pizza two thumbs up. So at least I got that right today!

I had planned to make blueberry muffins today but the failed fruit roll-ups took so long that by the time they were done it was almost time for the pizzas to go in. I will make the muffins tomorrow. They aren't my homemade ones but I'll add some little touches to make them seem like more than just a mix. Sometimes you just have to go for easy over homemade!

Adventures in Camping

I survived camping. It was touch and go at times whether I'd survive but overall it was fun. The kids had a blast and C had a fantastic birthday weekend, so all is good. So, what happened? Let's find out!

Friday we arrived at the campsite and were greeted with this view.

Yes, our campsite overlooked the beach. I was a bit worried because the campsites were really close together but the waves created enough white noise to drown out the sound of the people around us. The kids were thrilled that there was a family next to us with kids around the same age. They were also thrilled that there was a playground across the street from our campsite. It kept the kids busy while we were busy putting up the tent.

We finished setting the tent up and realized we were all starving. So C got a fire started in this cute fire pit and we heated up some hot dogs over the fire. We only sacrificed one hot dog to the flames.

When we went to bed that night, I knew it was going to be cold. What none of us realized was how cold it was going to be. All of our sleeping bags are rated for summer and it felt like winter that night. I slept for maybe 2 hours at the most because I woke up shivering. S woke up very early (like around 4:30) and climbed into my sleeping bag with me because she was cold. We kept each other warm and were both able to sleep for a while. It was crazy how cold it got that night.

Saturday it was maybe 6:00 when I stumbled to the washrooms. I spooked some crows along the way and they took off flying. I was half asleep when a bird buzzed by me at head level, maybe 6 feet away from me. I figured it was a crow until I saw a large white tail flying away from me. I looked up into the tree and saw a very large bird sitting there.

It was pretty amazing to see a bald eagle just chilling in the tree outside the washrooms. She (or maybe he?) spent the morning sitting up there, just people watching. Even the park employees were fascinated by it because they said the bald eagles usually hang out by the entrance to the park rather than near the camp sites. I guess it just wanted to give us an up-close view of the wildlife.

While we were eating breakfast the fishing boats started coming around checking their lobster traps. It was fun to watch them. I hope they got a good catch!

For breakfast, C baked some biscuits in the new dutch oven we got. They actually turned out pretty good. While we cleaned up, the kids spent the morning playing with the kids from the campsite next to ours. Around lunchtime we decided to head into town to see what we could find to eat. We ended up at Avonlea which has a bunch of restaurants. The kids ended up with grilled cheeses and C and I had turkey clubs with chunks of roasted turkey on them. They were good! Afterwards the kids decided that we needed ice cream and I agreed. They were a bit chilly while eating so S and J sat in the sun to eat their ice cream. It was very cute!

After having ice cream the kids realized the ponies from the pony rides were back from their lunch. They begged us to let them ride the ponies, so we agreed.

After that we headed back to the campsite. C took S on a walk on the beach while J hung out in the tent and read his book. I sat out in the sun, knitting and watching an osprey hunt in the ocean, which was really neat. I also watched a family park their pop-up camper two sites down from us. As they were getting it set up, I thought I recognized the mom and son. When C and S got back from their walk, the boy came running over to S. Turns out that I did recognize them - the boy was in S's class this year. Both children were thrilled to see each over. They spent the rest of the day entertaining each other. S didn't go to bed until after 10:00 because she was in the boy's camper (with all the other kids) watching a movie.

Playing on the beach with a school buddy

While the kids were busy playing, C got the wood prepped for the evening fire. He was having fun splitting wood and getting to play with his hatchet.

We cooked some burgers on the lid of the dutch oven for supper and they turned out good. We finished up the meal with some delicious s'mores. I didn't get any pictures of them because they didn't stay around long enough. As soon as one was made someone was eating it!

At bedtime we made sure that everyone was bundled up a bit more than on Friday night, although it wasn't as cold. Everyone slept much better Saturday night, including me! I was wearing three layers of shirts, two of pants, socks, a hat, and C doubled up the blanket before putting it over me. I was toasty warm and got a decent night's sleep.

Sunday morning we had a simple breakfast of cereal and then the kids went off to play while C and I broke camp. We got the tent folded without too many problems and reloaded the cars (we brought two rather than try to stuff everything and everyone into mine). The kids had fun playing on the beach while we were working. Everyone was pretty tired when we got home but we all had a good weekend. 

That evening, no one wanted to cook so we headed out for an early supper. While we were eating, S's front tooth FINALLY came out. It was very loose earlier in the day but she refused to let anyone near it. She was blowing bubbles in her milk when it fell out. I am so glad that darn tooth is out. Now she can go back to eating normally instead of just on one side of her mouth. The Tooth Fairy was so tired last night that she forgot to come until this morning. Thankfully S was tired too and was still asleep when the Tooth Fairy showed up. That was a close one!

It was a busy, fun-filled weekend. We have another hopefully fun-filled weekend coming up when we return to Cape Breton in search of moose! But that's a few days away so I have some time to get ready. Now I think it's time for a nap - I'm still not recovered from my lack of sleep Friday night!

Crazy week

This week has been a bit crazy, thus the lack of blog posts. We're going camping this weekend (like in a tent, that kind of camping) and I've been working on making sure we have everything for it. The one thing we lack is a big enough car. I've stuffed what I can in the back of the car and the rest will have to go up in the roof rack. It's amazing how much stuff you have to take for 4 people for just a few nights of camping.

The kids finished up school today. S says she's sad that she's done with kindergarten but J is happy to be finished. I'm trying to switch my brain from having free time during the day to having the kids around all the time for the next two months. I tried to take advantage of my dwindling free time this week. I went over to the Hush Puppy food truck for lunch one day and had a delicious roast beef sandwich and real hush puppies. Hush puppies are fried balls of corn bread for those that don't know. It's a southern thing that I have missed.

Looking at this makes me want more hush puppies

I also managed to get time to go in and have my nails redone. My verdict on the shellac? Excellent! I chose to do it again because it stayed on my nails in spite of me trying to do everything possible to get it to chip off. It cracked, I broke a few nails, but it didn't chip. It is pretty good stuff I have to say. I swear it's the only way I can keep polish on my nails for more than a few days.

I've just about finished my secret knitting projects that I've been working on. I have one I need to finish but it's easy so it won't take me long at all. I need to get some buttons for trim so I will work on that next week when we're back from camping. I'm still trying to decide if I'm going to take any knitting with me this weekend. I guess it depends on how much space we end up having in the cabin of the car. I know knitting doesn't take up much space but then we don't have much space left.

I will take my camera with me and get some pictures over the weekend and share them on Monday...if I survive. Camping in the backyard is looking pretty appealing right now...

Oops...

I realized last night that it had been a few days since I posted anything on my blog. I was going to work on it last night but we were all curled up watching Big Hero 6 and I really didn't feel like sitting at the computer. So here I am now, writing. S has a friend over, J has disappeared into his room, and I have a few minutes of quiet.

What have I been up to the past few days? Hmm, let's see. Thursday I wasn't feeling well so I spent the day resting and being fairly lazy. I did make a batch of homemade granola bars. You can find the recipe here. I mixed dark chocolate chips and dried cranberries into mine. I did find that they got better after they had set up for a day or two. C suggested that I add almonds to them next time. We're going camping soon so I will make another batch and try his suggestion. Oh, and I had a check-up with the dentist for my night splint. I'm slowly getting used to sleeping with it in at night. It's going to take time though.

One interesting thing from Thursday was that S discovered there were some new friends on our back deck...

If you can't tell what those are, they are a whole lot of baby spiders. They had hatched and were slowly moving around. By Friday afternoon they were gone, hopefully off to eat all the flippin mosquitoes around these days. Go forth and feast upon the mozzies, spiders!

Friday I was feeling better which was good because S had a birthday party to go to that evening. She had a blast at the party. There were only 6 kids total so it was small but all the kids said they had the best time ever at a party. The girl having the party loves Avengers and Transformers, which is awesome! S picked out some Avenger action figures for her and the birthday girl had a Transformer's cake.

Saturday two of my neighbours had a yard sale. We really only had a few things to contribute. We cleaned out a lot of stuff when we moved a few years ago. I had some bags of clothes but decided not to mess with them. We did manage to sell S's old dresser (that we had since J was a baby) and a few video games. S's old bed didn't sell but that's okay - I can haul that over to the donation place easily. The dresser was too big to fit in my car so I'm glad it sold.

After the yard sale was done we headed over to try out a new food truck in town. It's called Hush Puppy Po'Boys. They specialize in southern comfort food.

Their special this weekend was the Gator Po'Boy. Now I've had gator before and while some people say it tastes like chicken, it doesn't. It has kind of a fishy taste to it. J hadn't tried gator before so both he and I got the gator. It was pretty good, although the pieces were a bit big for a sandwich. C got a roast beef and gravy sandwich and S ordered fries since they didn't have much she liked. She ended up not eating the fries because they had a Cajun spice on them that she didn't like.

Afterwards we headed downtown to get some ice cream. There was a solstice festival going on so we looked around. I bought some buttons for my gloves and a cute pair of earrings. The kids got to touch a lobster, look through a special telescope to see the sun and sunspots, and then they dressed up like lobsters. At the ice cream place they were giving everyone a free upgraded cone (dipped in chocolate instead of just plain) so we all enjoyed a cone. S had trouble eating hers since she has a wiggly top tooth but everyone still had fun.

Sunday was Father's Day. C decided he wanted to go for a hike so we headed off to a section of the National Park that has hiking trails. Of course both of us forgot to pick up the bug spray so when we got there we opted to go hiking on the beach instead of through the woods (damn mosquitoes!). It has been many months since I hiked on sand so I am feeling it in my calves today but we all had a great time. Here are a few beach pictures:

As you can see, it wasn't very crowded. J had fun practicing skipping stones. He was getting pretty good at it! After our hike we headed to a cool little fish and chips place nearby. C and I both had the fish and chips, J had chicken wings, and S had her usual chicken nuggets. We also ordered a plate of mussels, which came out of the bay across the road from where we were eating. Talk about tasty and fresh!

C wanted to get ice cream again but by the time we got back to town it had started to rain. Instead I ran up to the store and picked up a cake topped with lots of fresh berries (and yes, I picked up the whipped cream to go with it!). This is what's left of it. Do you think we enjoyed it?

Today has been rainy so I've spent the day at home doing laundry. Exciting, eh? I've also been working on some secret knitting projects. I won't be able to post them for a while because they are a surprise for someone who might be reading this and I don't want to ruin the surprise!

Shellac update - well, I've almost reached two weeks with my shellac nails. 

There are definite cracks in the polish but not a single bit has chipped off. You can tell my nails have grown a lot by the gap at between the polish and my cuticle, but overall I'm happy with how it's held up given how much I have used my hands in the past two weeks. I go in Wednesday to have them redone. I'm looking forward to it!

Field Trip!

Today S's class went on their end of the year field trip to a provincial park and I went with her to help out. The park is on the edge of the Murray River, which looks like this:

Pretty, isn't it?

The kids traveled to the park on the school buses while parents traveled in cars. I rode with the mom of one of S's friends. We started out later than the kids but still arrived at the same time - school buses travel slower than cars I guess. :-) The first thing I noticed when we got out of the car was the mosquitoes. The park was thick with them! We all loaded up with bug spray, including the kids. We then headed down the path to the play area.

On the way we passed some large statues of storybook characters like the Goose that Laid the Golden Egg, Peter Rabbit, The Three Little Pigs, The Three Bears, and the characters from the Wizard of Oz. I meant to take pictures of them but they were in the woods and the mosquitoes were really thick in there. They weren't as bad in open areas where the wind was blowing so we tried to stay in those areas.

One thing that surprised me was the fact that the park had an old fashioned, fly-off into the air, break a bone merry-go-round. These things are hard to find these days. I remember one at the playground near where I grew up and it was fun and dangerous. We would get that thing going so fast and if you didn't hold on you'd go flying off and tumble through the grass. I actually managed to get a picture of this one without any kids on it since they were eating lunch at the time.

You spin me round!

This park was a strange mix of old equipment and new. I didn't take any pictures of the new stuff because it looks like playground stuff you can find anywhere these days. But I did take some pictures of the old things because you don't see stuff like this often.

The Fort at the Playground

The Old School Metal Slide

The Jack-o-lantern. It scared me a bit.

The kids had a blast running loose all over the park. It's surrounded by trees (thus the mosquitoes) which created a natural fence for the kids. There was also a dairy bar which sold really good ice cream. All the kids were able to get an ice cream as a treat before heading home.

The field trip was a lot of fun but I was tired when I got home. I had gone on a hike through the woods with S and her friends and some of the other parents yesterday, didn't sleep well last night, and was on my feet pretty much the whole time we were at the field trip. I am ready for bedtime already!

Shellac update: It was last Wednesday that I got my nails done with the shellac. They are still holding up better than I expected:

If you look at them from a normal distance they still look nice. But I have noticed the shine is starting to fade and if you look closely at them you can see cracks starting in the polish near the tips of my fingers. Nothing has started to chip off yet, so I'll be interested to see what happens over the next few days. My appointment to get the polish removed/new shellac applied is a week from today. We'll see if I make it to then without any chipping.