Let's go to the east!

We were off again. Myself and babe. New Brunswick bound. This time for a whopping three weeks! And you know what?! It was pretty fantastic! As per usual I was nervous flying. Why oh why would I choose a midnight flight with a baby??!! But guess what. It was only one (slightly) rough day with no jet lag for both of us as we recovered nicely with our lack of sleep one day to our tremendous amount of sleep the next in the right time zone! Yay! Note to self: would totally do that again (although not with Mark, he hates those flights).

Once there mom and dad had all my favourite foodie things: sugar doughnuts and raspberry jam, mussels, lobster rolls (and lobster), tuna burgers, poached apples and pork chops, gumdrop cookies, and butterscotch pie. YUM. And yup, time to start working out for moi!
For the first little bit the babe did a bit of strangeness with everyone. But slowly and surly she warmed up to Grampie and Grammie (or Gam, or Ga as that seemed to be said by babe and Grammie exclaimed, "She knows my name!"). Every morning she would have some grandparent time as I would sneak off to bed. Lots of play and then her outdoor walk with Grampie as he tossed her on his shoulders and paraded down to the woods. Apparently they did lots of chatting throughout.

Then we would all rest for a morning nap and be off to whatever the day brought. That would be visiting relatives, going for ice cream down the street, and visiting relatives. Uncle Ron, Aunt Barb, Aunt Mary, Nan, Cheryl and Keith, Margaret and her partner, Kathryn, Josh and their little man, Ian and Karen and their kids, Rino and Beth, Heidi and Ryan with their little man, Jason and Angela and their three, and let's just say the whole village of Stanley.

No joke about the last statement. On Canada Day everyone that I saw with Grammie would go, "This must be your granddaughter." Yes it looks like I am related to a little mini celebrity. Speaking of Canada Day, Grammie had their own float for the "Quilters" that Grampie drove down. Very exciting. And the parade, although small had heart!! Wheelers, farm animals, fire trucks, with candy, chips and freezies to hand out to all the littles.  And there was the "Village of Stanley" float where they did an honorary mention to both MY Grammie and Grampie for their work on the council. Way for me to think about the generations and the history of this place (i.e. my summers with my grandparents and my little love for that place). Plus I had the added bonus of seeing the fireworks with my husband on FaceTime as my dad was on fire duty and my mom was babysitting.

Another trip involved seeing the camp that my Grampie helped build. I don't think I had been there since I was a little girl. We had sandwiches, did the tour around the place, walk the beach, admire the lake. AND admire the butterflies, sample the wild strawberries and catch a look at the tadpoles. Downside those blackflies were out. Upside, babe seemed to have to reaction to them even as she got bit, poor thing.

here was some downtime away from the little one at times. Mom and I went to bootcamp a couple of times, yoga and of course got to see a bunch of movies on their android box. PLUS my indulgence Orange is the New Black and Game of Thrones, the later that I still haven't stopped thinking about. Gosh I love that show!

AND I had some Dad time too, kayaking the Nashwaak, twice! The first was slightly shallower than the second as I may have had to get out and push my kayak out of the rocks. Nashwaak 1, Tracey 0. But then the second time around I rocked it. Nashwaak 1, Tracey 1. Plus at that time my husband had come so that is always nice.

Plus I got the ultimate tour of the firehall. That's right, fireman's daughter right here. I got to try on the uniform (heavy), go in the truck and look at the whole hall and check out the vehicles. Very cool. Don't think I could do it though, even though Backdraft is still a favourite. That is tough stuff as that uniform is heavy and I wasn't even hauling a hose or anything. YIKES!

AND so I don't go on and on here are a few other things done. I got to go running in the evenings. Running legs are a little rusty but they got activated! We visited Killarney Lake where sand was eaten and baby tossing in the water was had. Hysterical giggles had by all as many spectators couldn't stop laughing as well. BBQ's with family. Dipping in the kiddie pool. Dipping in the river. Visiting a covered bridge, suspension bridge, oh my!

And then Mark came for the last week. Tours of the Woodsman museum, Fall Brook Falls, Region Museum in Fredericton where we saw my Great Grandfather's crutches. Walks on the bridge in Fredericton. Real fish and chips by the lake. Tours of Stanley where we had some ice cream and saw a black bear! Church dinner with real strawberry shortcake and three jelly salads with marshmallows!! Then walk through the Baptist and United church cemetery.

And my personal favourite thing to do was sit on the veranda in the screen room at night swinging on the swing. I loved hearing the bullfrogs croak and looking at all the lightening bugs in the night sky. Another fond memory of my childhood as I remember when my cousins would collect them in jars with grass on the bottom (they never stayed lit...i wonder why? wink wink). I would in turn sit with my grampie, aka my buddy, as he would make moose calls out in the distant. AND he was pretty good too.

Then we were on the plane again. And might I say, flying with two is way easier than flying with one! I even caught a movie this time around. And we survived with fewer meltdowns than usual, even with a three hour delay.

I found this visit brought on quite a bit of nostalgia for me as I was bringing my little girl to a place that I would visit from the very city that I am currently in. I will treasure this trip just for that.

love

nine, nine oh so fine

Well well my little monkey you continue to amaze me with all the changes that happen in just a mere four weeks! AND to see such a little personality shine through at such a young age is just really cool! So what is going in this last month....

Well lots of climbing climbing climbing and with that comes the occasional fall. One particularly traumatic one that involved you climbing and falling on a toy after that resulted in a bit of blood and a resulting shiner. Baby's first black eye....argh. You took it better than I did.

You officially have four teeth and your little toothy grin is pretty darn. Two top and two bottom. And when you are happy you squint those big blue eyes and give the widest grin. And sometimes we are lucky and get to hear that wonderful little laugh, squeal of happiness. Speaking of happy your emotions are big. When you are happy, you radiate big happiness. When you are sad (you may) cry, sob, attempt at hyperventilating (just so you know I am the queen of blueies so you got nothing on me!). You give us big drama and I kind of love it.

You just make us smile and give us big laughs. You are full of sillies with blowing bubbles and spitting and smacking your lips. Always seem to look to us for reactions of reinforcement (we don't really encourage the spitting part, wink wink). You love to clap your hands and "if you're happy and you know it" is probably a big favourite right now. You love tickles, arm rubs, and being chased around the house. Plus peek-a-boo is a big thing and you love to do it with a blanket to anyone watching.

We are starting to hear more talking with my favourite wolf howl as you round your mouth and sing a wolflike tune. I think you enjoy the sound of your voice (as your father would say...just like your mom). I may be inclined to agree as you do lots of chatting around the house and to all the people that you know. And I think that we have had some pretty awesome conversation myself :).

I stopped doing the official mom's group as you seem to just crawl away and I spend more time chasing you. Actually that is basically what I am doing right now. You have probably outgrown the library too really but the mom's I have met told me to continue to go as we enjoy seeing each other too. I now have an unofficial mom's group that is starting with lots of outings, something you should enjoy!

You and your dad have been having a routine going for awhile now which involves bath time. Why you say? Cause you like to move and climb in the tub too and really it is just easier to hop right in than constantly helping you sit. ha ha. AND it is a bonus for two little ladies.

The summer is about to start now. And your father is pretty pumped to feed you all his vegetables from his garden. And I think you will be excited to eat them too. Especially the potatoes and carrots. Right now you are digging the "baby baking" I am doing too, with banana bread and fruit muffins.

I know I tend to say it a lot but you really are just pretty awesome. Until 10 mos...
Love you lots!