Nova Scotia Vacation 2008

For 12 days at the beginning of August, we headed up to Nova Scotia to visit with Scott's family, attend his aunt's commitment ceremony and have Alex baptized. It was a full trip especially considering that we hadn't been up there in two years! After moving to Charlotte in 1997 Scott swore that he'd never again go home in the winter and we've pretty much held true to that vow.

The temperature in Halifax was just what we'd been craving...ranging between 75 and 84 degrees. Although we had several cloudy days and it rained on and off we were loving the fact that it wasn't "crazy hot" as Will says.

We packed in lots of fun stuff, but the slide show covers the highlights. On Saturday, we had Scott's aunt Linda's commitment ceremony to her long-time partner Bethana. The ceremony was in their garden, right on the water and very classy. Will had a great time at the reception, climbing on the old tractor and in the antique pickup truck. He even had a try on a pair of stilts! The following afternoon Linda & Bethana hosted their guests on a boat cruise of the Halifax harbor.

After the boat cruise, Scott's sister, brother-in-law and niece took the boys home with them so that Scott & I could enjoy a few days to ourselves...what bliss! On Sunday night we walked along the waterfront, stopping at a couple different bars to enjoy some Canadian beer and live music. We hit the Halifax Alehouse for some awesome fish & chips. Then, by total fluke we "scored" floor tickets to the Avril Lavigne concert at the Metro Centre (scalper price $45 total). I really like her music and we enjoyed the show, but were surprised by how young her following is...the whole place was filled with 9-14 year old girls! Needless to say we didn't use the floor seats and instead sat among the parents! We ended the night with a quick tour through the casino. The following day we shopped in peace and then headed out to Peggy's Cove for lunch. Then Scott surprised me with a night at the Oceanstone Inn & Cottages. We had the honeymoon suite! It's a beautiful spot, and very ecologically conscious. We toured the property and then had some beers on our oceanfront patio while reading the paper. We ate dinner at their "sister" restaurant called Rhubarb. What more could a girl ask for?

Once the boys came back from their visit, we had a big lobster feed. Will polished off an entire 1.5 Lb lobster and was pretty proud of himself! Later in the week we went down to the waterfront to watch some of the Busker festival. Every year, Halifax hosts a HUGE festival of street performers. The talent is amazing...there are acts from all over the world and it's a tough audition process to even get a spot in the festival.

One rainy Thursday, my college roommate (and one of my best girlfriends) Susan and I took the kids on the Harbour Hopper. It's a hum-vee that goes on land and doubles as a boat. So you start your tour on land and then it just drives off the boat ramp and continues on as a boat tour. You should have seen the kids faces as it drove straight into the ocean!

On Friday while Alex was napping I took Will to the Spryfield Wave Pool to play. He loved it! The waves would come on for 15 minutes and then they'd take a break and the slides and water rock wall were open. They had all kinds of cool foam alligators and cars for the kids to play with too.

Some of the biggest news from the trip is that Alex has started taking some steps! In his own special way, I think he timed it to maximize the attention from both sets of grandparents. Mum & Dad had flown in on Friday to be there for his baptism. On Saturday afternoon, we were all over at Scott's Dad's house prepping food for the
baptism and Alex walked across the living room to me. So everyone was there to see. His main mode of transport is still his walker or the army crawl, but he's starting to let go a little bit more.

On Sunday, we had Alex's baptism. Scott and I were married at United Memorial Church in Halifax in 1999. We had Will baptized there in 2005 and to complete the cycle, we had Alex baptized there as well. It was a beautiful service and the congregation was so welcoming to us even though to many of them we were strangers. Alex was a champ and didn't even cry (although he gripped his blanky tight and sucked on his fingers the whole time). After the ceremony, we enjoyed a reception on Susan's deck with a great view and perfect weather.

It was a great vacation, but busy! I'm craving one last beach vacation this summer where we can truly relax. But then again with a 1 and 4 year old is a relaxing vacation even a reality?