Shutter'd Memories Photography

Cailin and I recently had our photos taken. It was really fun to explore new areas in our city and get our pictures taken in some neat places. I've never seen the back of this wall before, and what a surprising backdrop for photos! The graffiti was pretty cool. Cailin was underwhelmed.
Cailin liked the big shiny sundial though! I've driven past this huge silver triangle thingy a million times and it didn't occur to me that it was a sundial ever. But what neat pictures they turned out to be! Cailin was loving the reflection.
And this is my favorite out the whole works:
Thanks again, Shutter'd Memories, we'll definitely be back for more!

More Cakes!

I've been busy lately in the kitchen. Building more cakes! This one was a request for a three year old's birthday party, he loves dinosaurs:This one was for a family friend that is really into hunting.
And a 1st birthday party where the theme was ice cream sundaes. This cake is made out of cupcakes and icing.
Here are the cupcakes to match - they are made to look like scoops of different flavored ice creams. Mint Chocolate Chip, Tiger Tail, Vanilla, Chocolate, Rocketship (blueberry and raspberry) and Strawberry:
I now have a page for my cakes on Facebook: Wicked Pine Cake Design. Have a look!

Ryan's West Coast Birthday

We all got together to celebrate Ryan's birthday. We got him a Care Bear birthday cake. Because, you know, we care. Everyone enjoyed the cake, and by everyone, I mean especially the kids. Our nephew Odin loved it (and he's wearing his Nova Scotia shirt!):Kelli and her friend Haley were quite a bit tidier than the other two.
Grace must be thinking about one of two things here: why don't they make cake with just icing cuz the cake part is blah, or, holy crap Cailin is messy.
See? Cailin is messy. Told ya.
We had a nice visit, and I know it's not Nova Scotia but... Happy birthday hon. Love you!

And... Home.

We got up this morning, said our goodbyes, packed the car up and headed for home. It's a long drive, about seven hours.

Cailin slept for the first three hours. We stopped for a quick lunch and got right back on the road. An hour from home, Cailin decided she was bored and woe be to us! Her yells were hurting our ears. As a last ditch attempt to keep our hearing intact, I made Ryan give her his earphones. Instant silence! Until he took them away...

So Cailin got the earphones until we got into town. They were a little spitty. Oops.

We made a little side trip to Nana and Papa's house. GG and Papa Ray were there with Bailey! And Auntie Hedder and our nieces and nephew too! We were so happy to see everyone and Bailey. Bailey immediately went into Papa Ray withdrawal the second she walked into our house. They treat her good over there.

It is so nice to be home.

Back to Alberta!

We traveled into Halifax this evening to the airport. It was a sad day of goodbyes and see-you-soons. Lots of family dropped by earlier in the day to say their goodbyes. There were tears. Leaving is never easy.

The airport was surprisingly quiet. We managed to check our bags in record time, went through security without a hitch and found a quiet place to eat dinner. Well, it was quiet until we got there. Cailin was having a great time laughing, kicking and throwing puffs around. She ate a lot off our plates and allowed us to put her back in the stroller. We walked around the airport several times.

At the gate, there was plenty to look at and Cailin met another little boy. They sat in their strollers just content to stare at each other. The plane was delayed but we walked Cailin around and kept her busy. There was a huge lineup for the change table before boarding the plane and that kept us busy for a while too.

Once boarded, we were so happy to find out we had a row all to ourselves. And air conditioning this time! No hot plane for us! Once we got up in the air, I got an attendant to heat up Cailin's bottle. She was so happy to see that bottle! After that she was out like a light and slept the entire flight to Calgary. There was some nasty turbulence since there was storms all around Calgary, but they changed flight paths to the airport and brought us in over the city. What a fantastic view of downtown! Plus it was Stampede time, so all the buildings had their lights on and everything was lit up.

The landing was a little rough, but we got down just the same. From there, it was a breeze to get our bags, get in the car with Grampy Brend and get on the road to Olds.

Nanny was waiting up for us (with pizza!) when we got in. Cailin was in pretty good spirits considering it was 3:30am her time. We had a snack and then off to bed. Long drive in the morning!

Last Day in Nova Scotia

Our trip went by fast. All too soon it was time to say our goodbyes to family and friends. The last night we were there, Nan Pauline came for supper. We took pictures of the family on the front deck.

Cailin taught herself how to point and now points at everything. In this case it was Pammy's flower basket:
Cailin got some last minute snuggles in with Grampy. They played in Pammy's flowers.
I got a nice 'Generations' shot. Four generations is pretty special:
She's going to miss her grandparents. Next time we come, she'll be walking and probably talking up a storm.
Thank you all so much for everything! Your hospitality, your feeding us and giving us a place to stay. We'll be back before you know it!

Again! VICTORY!

Cailin got her first top tooth!

Peggy's Cove

My favorite place in Nova Scotia is Peggy's Cove. I couldn't wait to get back there and share the sights with Cailin. The day was hot and clear on the drive down, but the area right around Peggy's Cove was misty and foggy. The sun was bright behind the fog and it made a beautiful light for pictures and a unique look at the lighthouse, houses and the rocky shoreline:The town was beautiful in the fog. Although the sun was dimmed by the fog, it was still extremely hot and humid. Cailin was a little fussy in her stroller because of the heat, so I hurried to get some shots and then get her back in the air conditioned car.
There was a broken boat on the shore:
And of course the lighthouse! I took tons of pictures of the lighthouse, but this one is one of my favorites:
On the way back to Chester, we passed a sign advertising Teddy Bear Quilts and I couldn't resist the temptation to look at homemade bedding. I chatted with the store owner for longer than Cailin and Ryan would have liked, but the store was so beautiful and interesting I couldn't just take a quick look. We bought Cailin a teddy bear quilt and a teddy bear made out of an old recycled mink fur coat. They call it a 'Bearloom Bear' and I hope to pass it down to my grandkids some day.

We stopped in Chester for dinner and Cailin took the opportunity to check out her vocal range in the diner. She would yell, then laugh herself silly. And throw Cheerios. She had a great time, and indulged in her newfound favorite food - french fries.

When we got back, Cailin went with Grampy and Pammy for a walk to the barn to see the goats and horses. Ryan and I drove out to the lake for a swim to cool off. When I say 'swim', I mean that Ryan went for a swim and I sat on a nice safe rock with the water up to my waist. We watched the sunset over the hills on the lake and it was beautiful.

On the way back, we stopped for an ice cream and that concluded our perfect day.

VICTORY!

She did it! Cailin has a new shiny bottom tooth! Funny, I didn't even know there was one coming in on the bottom. Now she has to work on getting the top four teeth out... Yikes...

Halifax Waterfront

After a long, particularly difficult night with Cailin and the teeth again, we got up and drove into Halifax to see the waterfront. We walked along the entire length of the boardwalk and got to see the sights. They are doing a lot of work to make the area more touristy. New buildings are going up and mixing with the old heritage ones. It was pretty. We walked underneath apartments right on the waterfront - imagine living there and getting that view every day! Cailin had a nap in her stroller as we walked along. I found a candy shop and bought homemade fudge and ice cream.

The day started off a little misty, but as the morning turned to afternoon, the fog rolled in thick across the harbor. It was neat to watch the fog come in and obscure the view and bathe everything in a light and dark shadow at the same time.
I missed seeing the naval ships on display for the 100th year of the Navy, but there were enough boats to tide me over. We saw tug boats too, and Theodore the Tug Boat was in harbor at the time.

For lunch we stopped at Salty's and ate fish and chips. Cailin really enjoyed the fish and ate a whole bunch of french fries off my plate. Then she discovered that if she threw fries on the wharf, birds would come and eat them. What a kick she got out of feeding the birds and laughing when they would come close to her! It was so sweet.
We got to see Pier 21, the place where all the immigrants came through on their journey into Canada. A cruise ship had just come in and it was really busy there so we weren't able to see the museum. We did, however, get to go next door to the shopping plaza and get some souvenirs.
On the way home, we got to stop at Old Navy. Lucky it was 30% off everything day because we went to town in there. Cailin got even more clothes - these ones her dad picked out specially for her.

Cailin got really sick later in the evening and had to have a second bath. Poor thing, those teeth are really giving her some trouble!

Moment of Silence

Cailin slept very poorly last night. Her top teeth are so close to coming in and it's been exceptionally hot here the last few days. Night doesn't bring much relief to the heat of the day when it's this humid.

I went for a drive this morning and left a peacefully sleeping Cailin with her dad. It was nice to get out and have a coffee and relax before it got too hot again.

This evening Pammy, Cailin and I went for a long walk around Windsor. On the way back, we stopped in the graveyard to visit Cailin's Great-Poppy's grave. We never met him, but I'm sure he would have loved Cailin. We put fresh daisies in the vase and Cailin left him an acorn.

Bridgewater

After kind of a long night with Cailin's teething, we got ready to head out to Bridgewater with Pammy. Pammy's Great-Grandparents built a farmhouse there on a beautiful property over 100 years ago. Sadly, I didn't get any pictures of the farmhouse, although I was sure I did. We had lunch on the deck there overlooking the garden. Cailin reached herself a strawberry and proceeded to make a mess out of her new white and green linen outfit from Nanny, even sitting on the remains of it to make sure she included the bloomer bottoms. She loves strawberries! (And no worries, the outfit came clean!)

Cailin got to see her Step-Great Auntie Kathy again, and meet Step-Great Uncle Monty and step cousin Jaclyn (is that how you spell her name?? Let me know and I'll fix it!) Cailin's Step-Great Grampa Frank got to see her in the car as she was napping.

Grampa Frank lives beside the property to the old farmhouse on a cranberry bog! I had fun exploring the yard as Cailin had a nap in the air conditioned car. This is the weir that controls the flow of water out of the bog:
Cailin exploring the farmhouse yard with Pammy and Great Aunt Kathy:
We also took a quick trip down to Crescent Beach. Since cars are allowed on the beach, we drove in, found a spot and parked to take some pictures. There were some houses there on the beach that were beautiful. How amazing to wake up there and get that view!
Pammy took a family picture for us too. Notice Cailin pulling her leg up to inspect sand on her foot. She eventually licked her foot to sample the sand. Still yucky. After her nap, she had a perfect sand ring around her mouth where her suckie used to be.
It was really windy and cool on the beach so we couldn't stay too long. Cailin walked on the sand with help and dipped her toes in the ocean again. The water is really cold!!

Then we drove home to have another delicious meal by Pammy. Cailin's first taste of fish and my first taste of cucumber salad.

Cailin rounded out her busy day by not sleeping very much. Poor teething baby.

Back to Windsor

We got up early-ish today and packed up the van to go back to Nova Scotia. It was a sad morning, none of us wanted to leave Nanny June and Grampy Don's house just yet, but the rental van had to go back. Before we left, we headed over to visit a very special relative. Cailin's Great-Great-Great Aunt Pauline is 91 and we couldn't leave without saying hi! Aunt Polly didn't want her picture taken, but I managed to sneak one anyway:

Not many little girls have Great-Great-Great Aunts after all!

The drive back to Windsor was a nice quiet one. Cailin slept a lot of the way. What a great visit we had in Moncton! Can't wait to go back.

Canada Day!

Happy Canada Day from Shediac, New Brunswick!We went to Shediac today for Cailin's first walk on the beach. It was very windy and a little cold so we didn't stay long. Just long enough for Cailin to see the birds and surf.To dip her toes in the cold ocean.
For a few quick family pics.
And to feel the sand between her toes. Cailin put her sandy foot in her mouth to sample the sand. Verdict? Yuck.
We got a lot of beautiful pics on the beach then headed into town for a fried clam feed. Cailin ate a bunch of french fries and made friends with the people at the table next to us.

On the way out, we stopped at the world's largest lobster statue and got pictures of that too. It wasn't that busy in Shediac today, and that was surprising for Canada Day.

It really stormed bad on the way back to Moncton, we were glad to miss the rain. What a beautiful day we all had.

Later we watched the fireworks over the lake. A perfect end to a perfect day!