Hello dear blog that I have neglected for over a month. Oh the things that I wanted to share here, but haven’t found the time. Even if I can find the time to sit down to write, my mind is instantly blank – amazing what four years of no sleep will do, isn’t it? But alas, here I am now, in my prime parenting capabilities (ie one child watching Paw Patrol on the iPad while one kid watches the new Spongebob movie on the TV and bless the baby for still being asleep). So, let’s start at the beginning shall we – back to the end of June and beginning of July. Where we start our “summer vacation” – as we live by the eldest’s school schedule – and begin our summer in Cape Breton.
(I must note here, in the spirit of *realness*, that I made a classic mom mistake – acknowledged that the baby was in fact asleep. Veteran moms know this is an absolute faux pas that will immediately cause the baby to awaken. I will return later today… hopefully.)
Okay – back to it. We left the final Friday in June to drive to Cape Breton where we had a wedding to attend the following day. Let me say, trying to keep three kids 4 and under seated and quiet through even a quick service and dinner should be an Olympic sport. I sure was sweating more than some of those athletes. But fortunately, we did it, and booked it out of there before we overstayed our welcome. The rest of the visit was spent out at the land, camping under the stars. The boys were fantastic. Fresh air really did them some good. On the last night they stayed up until 10 pm catching fireflies in their bug catchers. It was magical. We love a Cape Breton Summer!
While there we also met up with old friends with new babies, and old friends we hadn’t seen in way too long. We had two beach days at two different beaches – one lake and one ocean; one sandy, one rocky. Both fishable, but no one caught anything of note. We rode a ferry, ate lobster rolls, cooked marshmallows over the fire. We went to the wharf where both boys hooked and reeled in their first fish, all by themselves! They were so proud and excited and much to their dad’s contentment – were asking to go fishing again and again. We racked up a good amount of outside hours for our 1,000 Hours Outside Challenge. I can’t wait to recap our hours for the month for you in another post, because I am so proud of us for blowing our monthly goal out of the water!
OH! and I almost forgot – the zip line! We bought one off Amazon for Christmas last year (as well as some rock climbing wall holds), and Matt and my dad built up the zip line for the boys at the land. We had tinkered around with it back at their house last Christmas but this set up was much cooler. They rigged it up so they could pull the zip line back to the start themselves, so they were completely self sufficient, and having a blast. First thing in the morning that’s right where they headed. Definitely worth its weight in gold. (I went to Amazon so I could share the one I got, but it doesn’t appear to be listed anymore, but I’m sure there are others.)
All that is to say, we had an absolute fabulous start to the summer. I think the excess of outside time and lack of screens really set the boys up for success for the weeks that have followed. Next up I will be writing about our camping trip at Kejimkujik National Park.
Until then, hope you are all enjoying your summer so far as well!
– R
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