This is long overdue, like a month overdue, but here it is – our New Brunswick vacation! And to forewarn you, it has a *lot* of pictures!

Day 1:

I woke up M at 4:30 and brought her very confused self to the airport where she let out the big yell of excitement when she figured out where we were going, much to the amusement of everyone around us! After landing in Halifax, we got our car and drove for 3.5 hours to get to Quispamsis and our friends. M fell asleep 15 minutes before arriving and so P (her bestie) and C spent a few minutes peering in the car window waiting for her to wake up!

We quickly settled in and M insisted on trying out the pool, which turned out to be her favourite place to spend time over the week.

Day 2:

We woke up and spent some lazy time at the house, then P insisted M see the “castle playground.” This one was amazing! It’s on the grounds of P’s school but is open to the public and is huge and awesome – lots of places to run and hide and get lost in. The kiddies loved it!

The afternoon was spent – where else? – in the pool!

Day 3:

Another lazy morning then we headed out to Cherry Brook Zoo. It’s a little one, the perfect size for our kiddies, and there were some fun animals, like Rory and Rosa:

The whole way through, M kept saying she only wanted to see the monkeys, which were the last animals, of course. When we finally got there, she took one look and went, “Huh.” Ha! 🙂

Day 4:

We did a little shopping in the morning, like 2 hours worth, then had a home day and another afternoon in the water!

Can you tell how much she loved it?

Day 5:

We went to another playground on this morning, a fun one next to the open air pool, and while the kiddies had fun, P and C seemed a little off….

Unfortunately, M passed along Hand and Mouth to them 😦 We’re the worst houseguests ever. It has been unstoppable here in NL this summer and M had a fever the first couple of days after we arrived which she quickly shared with P and C.

Boo. R and C, I’m still sorry… 😦

 

All of that translated into M having the pool to herself that afternoon as the other two were much the worse for wear.

Day 6:

The kiddies were still off, so we spent a quiet day at home and in the pool:

The really exciting thing is that M learned how to put her face underwater, blow bubbles, kick, and essentially, swim on her own!

P felt better in the afternoon and joined M for some chalking fun by the pool:

Day 7:

Our last day in Quispamsis. 😦

We spent the morning swimming, and C did all he could to make M laugh, a sound he loved (she has a full belly laugh!) and it all added up to one of my favourite pictures of the trip:

And what’s the point of a pool if the owners can’t have a water fight once in a while? 🙂 I think C won, based on the face full of water R is getting in this pic!

We left right after lunch to drive to Amherst, NS, about an hour and a half from the airport and the place where my aunt and uncle live. We were spending the night there so the drive to the airport the next morning would be a little easier.

My aunt loves little girls, she has a couple of grand-daughters herself, and she and M had great fun at their tea party which was complete with real cupcakes!

My uncle looks just like my dad and when M saw him, she just stared! Once she warmed up, he became Poppy Ron and he was the only one who could read bedtime stories:

The next morning, our wonderful, lazy, perfect vacation was over and we headed to the airport.

It’s always nice to be home, but I could have definitely stayed a little longer – though I’m sure our hosts were more than ready to see the back of us!

Thanks, R and C, it was fabulous!

S.