I could easily enjoy another month or two of warm summer weather, sunshine & shorts, no need for jackets, and long summer days. That’s one of the most noticeable things already – the days are growing shorter as fall approaches. It’s getting dark already before 8pm, which is a sure sign that summer is drawing to a close.
So here they are, the young scholars: Mustang entering Grade 5 and Button starting Grade 2.
Grade 5!!?!! How did that happen so fast? It seems just a short while ago I was dropping a little girl off at the school door for her first day of Kindergarten. Some days you think they grow up so fast. (These, of course, are offset by all the days you wish they’d display a lot more grown-up behaviour!)
Another cycle of life – plans for Thanksgiving, Villages season, Christmas and the winter to come and finally the burgeoning of new life once again. All in its due time…
So here it is – the beginning of another school year. I know Mustang would have loved another month – or two or three – of holidays. Button too, though he’s somewhat more academically inclined, is still not a fan of spending days at a desk.
Other than our big holiday and summer camps, the summer was spent with swimming lessons for the kids and just plain having fun.
True to my word, once home I gave Laoye $50 to pick up some more fishing equipment. He found a nifty collapsible rod and reel set for only about $25 at Canadian Tire, and a second set for even less at another discount store. Since then, at every opportunity Mustang has wanted to go fishing. We spent one Sunday afternoon at a park down along the river an hour’s drive from the city, where we camped one weekend last summer, and took in a pretty good catch. But we’ve also just spent the occasional hour along the banks of the canal, dropping a hook with a bit of bacon as bait. The fishing has been plentiful – in one evening the kids caught 13 fish, on another occasion 11 (those are the ones big enough to keep; it doesn’t count the little ones we tossed back)! We’ve had several rounds of fish chowder and a couple of fish frys as well. Mostly they’re catching bluegill and yellow perch, with the occasional pumpkinseed, rock bass, or sucker thrown in for good measure. I even found a slough of recipes for bluegill on the internet – apparently it’s a great sport fish in the US!
We’ve made occasional trips to the dog park with MoMo, as well as jaunts to our neighbourhood field and forest. Oh, and we took in the Shrine Circus with some young friends
Button has played soccer again all summer, including three weekend tournaments in June, August & one yet to come in September. (We missed the July tournament.) He enjoys it and we’ve missed very few practices other than when on holidays, as the weather has been quite good.
Another past-time has been fox-walks through the forest at night. A family (or two?) of foxes inhabits the neighbourhood urban forest, and if we walk there around sunset, wearing dark clothing and being as quiet as we can, we often see them wandering rhrough the meadow or along the paths as they head out of an evening’s hunt.
On the days when we’ve had time to kill, Nanny has done crafts with the kids and gone bike-riding with them, taken walks to the library and just hung out around the house. Or Laolao has engaged them in various activities, from shopping to iced caps at Timmy’s.
All in all it’s been a good summer – though never long enough.
This summer, in addition to our holiday trip and two weeks of swimming lessons, the kids each took in three weeks of summer camps.
Mustang loves animals so when I discovered in spring that a nearby zoo offers summer “Junior Zookeeper” camps I knew she would love it. Indeed I was right – they got to meet the animals, learn about their habits and how to care for them, and participate in preparing food (chopping lots of fruit & veggies!), feeding, cleaning some of the cages, and also playing games and doing crafts. The final Friday afternoon there was a graduation ceremony after which campers could show their families around the zoo, so I took the afternoon off and we all headed out to take it in – even Button, whom we picked up early from his camp.
Unfortunately for Button, campers have to be 8 to attend the Zoo camp so he was too young to go this summer. Instead he went to a Science and Technology camp at a local museum that same week. They learned about gadgets and gizmos – made a rocket, a real working model lighthouse, and some goop – as well as the usual camp crafts and games. He enjoyed it but wants to do zoo camp next year!
The second camp they enjoyed was overnight church camp off the shores of Lake Huron. As it’s a fair distance from home – and to provide a “security blanket” for Mustang in particular – I stayed the week to volunteer in the kitchen. The kids both enjoyed themselves immensely, with evening campfires, after-supper games, archery (a hit with both), Gaga ball, Quest, and other activities. The food was also awesome (if I say so myself) – we worked hard from 7 to noon every morning and then had afternoons off before heading back for final supper prep at 4:30. MoMo came too and spent the morning relaxing on the deck while I worked, and afternoons on walks with me or resting in our cabin.
The final day-camp, back home, was the week after we returned from church camp and was again all about animals, this time at a local agricultural research station / farm. The younger kids, Button’s age, get to look after a cow and help feed and care for it all week. Mustang’s group helped to care for the rabbits and sheep. Both groups also had water games and crafts. They also spent time in the kitchen making their afternoon snacks – and getting another perspective on how the food we eat has its origin on farms, from the earth we tread.
Sunday morning dawned clear and sultry once again. After a cool beginning to our trip we now were into a heat wave!
In mid-morning a prospective puppy purchaser came to meet us at the Sanctuaire. She’d contacted me a month or so back and I’d offered to meet her during our trip so she could see Mo and check us out, and me her. She was a very outgoing lady and likely a good dog owner, though it emerged she wasn’t necessarily looking to buy a puppy from Mo’s upcoming litter but possibly down the road, once her current dog (aged 9 and not faring well) passes on.
Button and Mustang had been fishing along the St Lawrence prior to the lady coming and, after greeting her and posing for pictures with her and MoMo, I told them to come to the bus “and don’t forget the fishing rod” which they’d been using mere moments before. But the fishing rod was nowhere to be found. Button had last had it down along the river, but had likely dropped it once the lady came in his excitement to meet her. We walked along the entire shore, looking for it, and even asked at the campground office if anyone had turned it in. Nothing. I was rather disappointed, not merely because we’d only had it less than a week and used it all of twice, but also because this was after all a Christian sanctuary and wouldn’t you expect people coming here to be honest folk? Apparently not. Although the folk along the riverbank were not necessarily pilgrims but could also have been general city folk enjoying the beach.
A final wave good-bye to the Sanctuaire and we once again boarded the bus for the final leg of our journey home.
At supper-time we finally rounded the corner to our house and gave a cheer! Home at last!
It was good holiday and an adventure for us all, but it was good to be back home.
The best place in a campground to catch moths is at the toilets. In case you didn’t know.
After a leisurely breakfast, we headed back to the main road west, out of the park and towards the Saint John river valley. This is a rich and fertile area, with excellent farming and good soil for potatoes. McCains has their headquarters in the area, and a Potato Museum at which we stopped to learn more of the lowly spud.
One thing I learned is that potatoes have the highest protein content, next to soybeans, of any vegetable or legume. No wonder the Irish could, not just survive, but fare well on little more than potatoes.
Further up the river we stopped at a beach. It was a lovely hot day, near 30°, and all sunshine and blue sky. The kids played in the water for an hour, then we got out the fishing rod and wandered down to a nearby dock where they tossed the line into the water for another half hour or so, without success.
From there we crossed into Quebec and went into the city of Rivière du Loup, a bustling small metropolis. Near the centre of town is a park with a series of waterfalls (and hydro-electric works). A system of walking paths follows the gorge, and we embarked on a walkabout. The kids and I with Mo headed in one direction, while Laolao and Laoye said they’d go the opposite way. We had gone about half the distance when the heavens opened and rain began to pour down. In no time we were all soaked to the skin – so might as well keep walking! Shortly along we met Laolao and Laoye who, wisely, had read the clouds and fished out their raincoats before setting out. By the time we got back to the bus the rain had stopped and we all dried off and put on dry clothes.
That night we spent in the Zellers parking lot.
I’d said I’d pay for a whale-watching expedition for all of us – hence the stop in R-du-L. As luck would have it, the next morning dawned rather foggy, but we made our way to the cruise dock nonetheless. We had been told, after all, that there was a money-back guarantee if no whales were spotted.
No sooner had the ship left shore than Laolao and Mustang spotted a beluga. That was the first and last whale anyone saw. The riverguide / naturalist gazed through the fog non-stop and called out whenever he saw a grey seal – of which we saw, or rather glimpsed, quite a few – but no whales were to be seen, no doubt in large part owing to the fog.
Upon returning to the shore we were informed that they could not refund us our money but we were free to take the afternoon cruise at no charge, or we could take a voucher to take the cruise again at a future date this year, again at no charge. As we had no time to linger I took the voucher, with little hope of making it back out to R-du-Loup for another chance to see whales, at least not this whale-watching season.
From there we headed west again, towards Trois-Rivières, and found the Sanctuaire Notre-Dame-du-Cap, a Catholic retreat centre with a small campground for pilgrims to the Sanctuary. We took up residence there for the night and spent some time that evening exploring the lovely grounds.
The next morning we drove into the town of Alma, on the edge of Fundy National Park. We picked up some sticky buns, about which we had heard rave reviews, and enjoyed our morning coffee at a small tourist pull-out stop just south of town. This was another opportunity to experience the tides in the bay. We arrived near high tide, and the water was lapping the beach not far off the viewing area, as the river flowed into the bay at little more than a metre under the bridge.
We explored the seashore, the kids wandered down to the river edge, and we checked out the small store across the bridge and picked up some wieners and marshmallows for our anticipated evening campfire. In the store Mustang spotted a fishing rod - $48 plus tax. She desperately wanted to buy it, and she’s begged all spring and summer to get fishing equipment. As I’d planned to pick some up once home and this wasn’t too expensive, I agreed to the purchase as long as Mustang and Button each contributed their saved up allowance money – some $18 – to it. They readily agreed.
After lunch we explored the bay some more. By now the tides were visibly receding, about a metre’s land width every minute, and we were able to walk out and out and out, farther and farther. We discovered little crabs and small shellfish as we walked out. After an hour or so we headed back in – Mustang first with MoMo, then Button and I sneaked towards the bridge, under it - as the river was now a mere trickle and the water level a good 10m below the bridge deck – and up to the bus from the land side.
Mustang and Button joined some people out along the river flats, discovering that they were doing research on eels – fishing them out of the water and banding them. Finally I called the kids in. As we walked to the bus, two motorcyclists drove past. We called MoMo to us, and as we approached the bus the motorcyclists walked up to the bus and knocked – it was Laolao and Laoye’s friends from their home out west, who were travelling cross-country and had stayed at our house over the Canada Day weekend while we were gone!
After a brief visit we climbed aboard the bus and headed into the Park for our second night at a real campground. The first campground right at the cross-roads did not allow fires, so that one was out as one of the reasons to stay at a campground was precisely to have a campfire. So we headed a short ways south into the park where a fire-friendly campground was to be found. After selecting our spot, we walked down to the pathway to the river into the Bay. A boardwalk along the upper cliff took us past a viewing point for peregrine falcons that nest along the cliffs on the opposite bank of the river – unfortunately the view from the telescope was obstructed by a tree! Then down a set of stairs to the river. It was, however, quite windy so despite the sun we were shivering and did not stay long.
Everyone got to bed quite late after the evening campfire feast of hot dogs and s’mores.
The next morning we said good-bye to Burke (Lane had left the day before to help her daughter move) and began our onward journey. I had thought we could stay in PEI one more day to see some more of the eastern reaches of the Island, but Laolao wanted to head down along the Bay of Fundy in New Brunswick, and after reviewing the map and assessing our timeline, I agreed it was a good plan.
So east we went towards the world’s longest bridge – 12km across the Northumberland Strait from PEI to NB. Along the way we stopped in Victoria-by-the-Sea, a small town filled with artisans (mostly people “from away” who have settled on the Island). I had hoped to find there some craft to purchase as my personal memento from the trip, but we had insufficient time to spend looking about and so I just picked up a few chocolates from a chocolaterie – in which we also had morning coffee break and spent some time watching the chocolate makers at their work through the viewing window. There we also found the largest tree on the Island, which the kids attempted to scale without much success as there were no lower branches to give them purchase.
The town is the setting of a novel we had read earlier in the year called Tango, which chronicles the adventures of a small ship-wrecked dog and the girl who finds him. Told primarily from the dog’s perspective, it is an interesting and heart-warming tale filled with treacherous cats, sneaky rats, and a mysterious fox. (I recommend it for ages 6 to 110.)
The drive over the bridge was an uneventful adventure, in the sense that one is conscious of being “alone” on this narrow ribbon of bridge surrounded by water on all sides. It was somewhat foggy so the view was limited, but being high up in the bus we did at least have a view over the side barriers, which would not have been the case in a car.
After a quick lunch on the NB side, we continued our route south. In mid-afternoon we arrived at the Hopewell Rocks, also known as the Flowerpot Rocks – a grouping of large columns of rock and earth near the coast topped by trees and grasses (hence the name “Flowerpot”) which become islands when the Bay of Fundy’s prodigious tides come in but around which one can walk when the tides go out. We arrived at mid-point between low and high tides, giving us about two hours in which to walk along the ocean floor.
A long metal and wooden staircase takes one down the cliff edge towards the ocean floor. As soon as one reaches the bottom one is greeted by the view of these huge looming columns, some small and round, some long and skinny, reaching skywards. I had expected to see more sealife on the bottom – starfish, mussels, crabs, clams, kelp, and so on – so was surprised when not much was in view. Perhaps the tides are too vigorous for them to take hold in that area, or perhaps they are swept out with the retreating tides.
The ground was mostly gravelly and sand, with some muddy areas and a few spots where seaweed grew. The kids had grand fun slipping and sliding in the muddy spots, getting almost totally covered in mud! We walked along investigating the rock formations, searching for ocean life, and generally enjoying the afternoon. MoMo was allowed to come down with us along as she was kept on a short leash.
Certain spots along the cliff edge were blocked off owing to danger from falling rocks or cave-ins, and ocean floor monitors patrolled the area to ensure everyone vacated the area in advance of the incoming tides. We made it back up in plenty of time, washed off at the tap & spray nozzle on the cliff-top, and browsed the gift store and museum displays for a short time before supper. (The kids each bought a lovely necklace with a small vial of some precious or semi-precious stone: Turquoise for Mustang and Obsidian for Button. We decided we’ll have to name two of the puppies with those names in honour of their coastal paternal heritage.)
We might have spent the night in the parking lot there but the management shooed us off the lot so we headed down the highway another half-hour before finding a pull-off at which to spend the night.
The next day was sunny and warm. Our destination was Anne of Green Gables land. But first we visited a potter’s studio, a llama sanctuary (nobody home, so we just said hi to one of the llamas over the fence), and stopped to tour Lucy Maud Montgomery’s birthplace that we happened upon along the way.
By the time we reached Cavendish it was mid-afternoon. I wasn’t sure exactly which spots were the best to visit, so spent a bit of time in the Visitor’s Centre checking things out. The old post office where LMM had worked was across the road, as was the Green Gables house of the story, so we stopped in there first and spent some time reading the displays. Then I figured we’d head over the Anne of Green Gables theme park, down the road a ways. But by the time the kids and walked over it was 4:30 and the park was to close in half an hour, so we just visited the gift store as I wasn’t about to spend $50 in entrance fees for just a half-hour visit.. (Instead I spent about $80 on gifts!!)
As it turns out, the Anne of Green Gables National Park was the place we should have visited. At the end of the day I was rather disappointed by having missed out on any of the main Anne attractions, after having read the book to the kids and having built up some expectations. But they didn’t seem to mind so much, and we enjoyed a Cow’s Ice Cream (best on the Island!) and they each bought an Anne-themed t-shirt with their allowance, so the day was not all lost. And the fish chowder we enjoyed for supper was superb!
Our final day we spent exploring Charlottetown. We started with a visit to the provincial legislature, moved on to the Confederation Centre outside which we enjoyed a performance by the Young Players, paused for lunch on Victoria Row, came back along the shore boardwalk, and ended the day with my visiting the Founders Hall for a multimedia presentation about the making of Canada (which brought me a few realizations I hadn’t fully understood before!) – in which John A. MacDonald played a part - while the kids and Laolao & Laoye played along the shore.
Grade 5!!?!! How did that happen so fast? It seems just a short while ago I was dropping a little girl off at the school door for her first day of Kindergarten. Some days you think they grow up so fast. (These, of course, are offset by all the days you wish they’d display a lot more grown-up behaviour!)
