Driving the Coast

 Wednesday was our last day on Prince Edward Island. We slept as long as we could and took our time getting ready at the hotel. We then drove back across the island to Cavendish and drove along the coast. What a beautiful drive! Mr. Stannix pulled over at every single look out and rest stop there was. It was a great way to spend a rainy morning. The children caught up on some much needed rest while we drove. When we stopped at the rest stops we would leave our doors open while we checked out the view so we wouldn't wake them up! When we came back to the car we tried super hard to synchronize the door slamming. We are awesome like that. I am in love with this province. The shore line was gorgeous and I would love to drive it all someday!

While we were on that side of the island we stopped and took at peek at the Anne of Green Gables house and Avonlea. It was pretty cool. Had it not been raining and the children not sleeping we may have explored it a little more. But I was satisfied with just being there and seeing it from the outside.

 

We decided to go and see Charlottetown while we were there. We said goodbye to the beautiful red coast line and drove across to the capital city. Even on a rainy day the drive was beautiful. Mr. Stannix being the thoughtful guy that he is kept an eye out for a red dirt road for me to photog. We found some pretty neat ones into some back fields, but couldn't stop in time. I still think this one is pretty great though!

 

We spent our afternoon touring and checking out Charlottetown. The kids mostly enjoyed stretching their legs in a big grassy area while we waited for our tour on the hippopotabus. The tour was super cool. This giant bus/boat drove us around Charlottetown and we checked out all of the old buildings. There was stone buildings, sandstone churches and other gorgeous buildings. I didn't get many pictures because of the plastic windows, but it was still neat to see! Half way through the tour we drove down to the harbor and our bus magically transformed into a boat and took us around the harbor to check things out. It was a nice way to spend the afternoon. We then drove back to the big bridge and crossed over. The kids were thrilled to be back at Nana's with everyone. Hyrum devoured his pancake dinner like a champ. He was a hungry boy after all of that traveling. Camilla was more interested in hanging out with her new friends.

 At breakfast today Mr. Stannix had to take a picture of the milk in a bag. That's the way they get milk here, in a bag. Pretty cool I think! 

 On a side note, Hyrum has really enjoyed watching the Olympics. 

Especially women's soccer.

It's our last day here and we've been spending as much time as we can with everyone before we have to head back bright and early tomorrow morning. It's been a good visit, and long enough that the kids have warmed up to everybody. Hyrum loves hanging out with Nana and walking around with her.

I also adore this picture of Mike with his Nana. They had a great game of crib, and he won. It doesn't surprise me though, he's pretty good! 

 

The kids loved Nana's stairs and they loved Nana's cuddles. I am glad they had the opportunity to meet her and get to know their great Nana a little bit. 

 

 Auntie Sue and Nana cooked a delicious Turkey dinner for us all to enjoy. For dessert we had homemade strawberry pie. Everything was so good! After dinner we took one last group shot before we left. My camera doesn't work so hot at night, so I may have to get a better copy from Tessie.

An Afternoon in Cavendish

After we had our fill of Confederation bridge we crossed over and stopped at the Gateway Village. It was loaded with souvenir shops and tourists. There was lots of fun Anne of Green Gables stuff around and Camilla and I even got to pretend to be Anne. I saw these darling Anne dolls and fell in love, but didn't end up getting one. After we left the shop Mr. Stannix said he would be right back. He emerged with an Anne doll, and she's beautiful. We plan on giving her to Camilla for Christmas. Her and I watched the whole series together. Before leaving we stopped at Cows for some of their famous ice cream and then Skyped Gramma and Grampa to show them Camilla's face covered in chocolate ice cream.

As I mentioned yesterday we wanted to hit up the beach in Cavendish for the afternoon. The drive across the island was quick and scenic. It's such a neat little place and I'd love to go back and check it all out one day! The beach at Cavendish was absolutely beautiful and we couldn't have asked for nicer weather! I may or may not have taken way too many pictures. The kids loved the water, but Camilla never went in too far.

They loved hanging out with Daddy and going in the water with him. When I saw the three of them walking towards me I couldn't help but snap a picture. It was adorable.

Hyrum loved filling his bucket with water and dumping it out again. He's such a cute little beach baby. I loved the red rocks and red cliffs off in the distance. The colors were fascinating!

Camilla found an abandoned pool and made it her own while the tide slowly crept up. Mr. Stannix and I giggled at the fact that she would rather swim and play in this little hole over the entire ocean! The kids were pretty cute playing together.

And just because I was in love with the red cliffs in the distance, I had to get a family picture of us hanging out in front of them. The beach itself was great. The area that we decided to swim in had sand all the way out and was shallow for a long time which allowed the kids to go out farther and explore more.

This picture of Hyrum cracks me up! I don't even remember what he was laughing at, maybe Camilla jumping waves. I love those cheeks.

Hyrum was totally his Daddy's boy at the beach. He constantly wanted to be in the water with him and swim with him. The two of them were pretty cute together. 

My favorite part was when Hyrum walked over and sat on his Daddy's lap at lunch. Nana and Auntie Sue packed us the most delicious egg salad sandwiches on home made bread. Talk about spoiled! Hyrum snuggled with his Daddy until we had all finished our lunch.

The late afternoon brought sandcastle making. Mr. Stannix always makes a castle with the kids and didn't fail to dissapoint with those "sand fortresses" of his. 

I sure do love my Mr. Stannix. It's been fun to vacation with him. He does a great job at making sure we're all taken care of, and it was so sweet of him to secretly buy that Anne doll. 

Camilla was really good about taking care of her brother. Whenever he would head to the water without an adult she gently guided him back to the towels. I love that he followed even though he was utterly disappointed.

It was starting to get late and the beach was starting to clear out. We didn't mind at all though because it was still plus a zillion degrees. Camilla finished off the afternoon by jumping into her "pool". She would ask me or random passers-by to watch her and then she would take a running jump and splash into the water. I think it was her favorite part of the entire day!

When we had finally had our fill at the beach we headed across to Summerside and checked into our hotel. The square stop lights amused me and I had to grab a picture of them. The yellow lights are diamond shaped, but it was impossible to get a picture of them.

After checking in to the hotel we drove around to find a place for dinner. All Camilla requested was somewhere that had milkshakes. The last time we had eaten out in Halifax she was sick and couldn't have a milkshake. We found a place that just said "Diner" on the side. We checked out the rest of the town but didn't see anything else that interested us, so we went to the no-name diner. When we actually pulled to the front of the building it had an actual name (I wish I could remember it). Lucky for us they were famous for their milkshakes. They were huge and delicious. Hyrum and Camilla split one, and I've never seen such a happy girl. 

This dinner absolutely cracked me up. I haven't laughed so hard in a long long time. While we were waiting for our meal I heard a "look at me Mum!". I looked over to find Camilla doing a head stand in the booth with her feet against the wall. Hyrum's faces were priceless as he sipped away at his milkshake. He grunted in approval and enjoyed every last drop of it! After our dinner came out our waitress brought out a diner style ketchup bottle for the fries. Without even thinking Camilla grabbed it off the table and tried to suck the ketchup out like it was a bottle. At first I wasn't sure what to think and then at the same time Mr. Stannix and I burst into a fit of laughter. It was the funniest thing she could have done. That crazy girl brings so much joy to this family I tell ya!

Prince Edward Island

 Today we took a road trip to Prince Edward Island. We booked a hotel for the night so that we could spend an extra day, see some of the sights, and spend time together. Some of the main things on the agenda were to get a good look at Confederation Bridge, check out some souvenir shops and hit up the beach at Cavendish. All were accomplished, including a very humorous dinner, but I'm going to split it up to save the picture overload. The car that we rented this time had a sun roof. It made traveling a lot of fun, and a lot cooler. It was an awesome little red car and I adored sitting next to Mr. Stannix in the front seat! Sometimes as we were driving along he would reach over and grab my hand in his for a little while. Other times he would lift up my hand and kiss it. I love when he does that, it makes me feel like we're dating again.

One thing I love about the maritime provinces is how quickly you can get from one to the other.  It didn't take us very long to get to Confederation bridge at all! We pulled off at the rest stop and walked with the kids to the lookout to grab a few pictures. We were lucky to have a clear day and a good view! Camilla hid behind Mike in the first pictures to stay away from the "Mozzie's". She is deathly afraid of mosquitoes as of late and needed to sit on the railing. The kiddos weren't entirely cooperative, but what can ya do? I'm looking forward to bringing them back someday when they are older and more interested in the bridge.

 

It's such a neat bridge. It took forever to drive across it. It was built in 1997 and is almost 13km long! I've heard that before the bridge there was a three hour ferry ride across to the island. I for one am glad for the 5 minute car ride. When we actually crossed I was slightly disappointed by the high edges on the bridge. If I sat up super tall in the car I could just see over them. It was cool when we got to the middle and all you could see on both sides was never ending blue ocean. It even twisted and had a bit of a hill as we drove along.

 

Just on the other side is the Gateway Village. We stopped there to check it out and grab some souvenirs before meeting up with everyone at the beach. I must say that I love Prince Edward Island so far! The way of life, the farm land, the red dirt, and the back roads. More to come from the red sand beaches!

Centennial Park

Today we decided to hit up Centennial Park. As we came outside to get into the car this morning Camilla said to me, "Watch out for the Mozzie's mum!" Auntie Sue calls Mosquitoes 'Mozzies' and Camilla picked up on it super fast. Cutest thing ever. The park is located in the center of the city of Moncton and consists of 230 acres to enjoy. We only hit up Centennial Beach to cool off. There wasn't too many people there and the water was really nice!  We picked up some Oreos and fruit to snack on for the afternoon. Hyrum has never had an Oreo cookie before, so I giggled when he ate his first one the right way! He took it apart and licked the icing, then ate the cookie. That's my boy. 

When we finally got changed into our swim gear we found a nice spot on the sand to park. Hyrum played in the sand for a while and Camilla splashed her toes in the water.

 

The kids were so excited to swim. Hyrum has become such a water baby. He would hardly let me hold onto him while he waded in, even if he was about to fall over. I'm sure if I left him he would keep walking in until the water was well over his head. He enjoyed going to the shore and plowing into the water as fast as he could and falling into his Daddy's arms. His little giggles are so contagious! I love how confident he's become and how his love for water is growing.

Camilla was miss independent and played mostly on her own. Sometimes she would piggy back out into the water with one of us to cool off and swim. She made a few little friends along the way. It's so fun watching her socialize. It was nice and relaxing and the water was perfect to cool off on such a hot day!

 Hyrum started shivering from the cool water and with a little convincing came in for a quick snack. This kid could eat a whole carton of blueberries on his own I'm sure! He stuffed his cheeks with them for a good five minutes.

Camilla had a lot of fun playing with her Daddy while Hyrum munched away. She thought it was pretty fun to be covered up in sand. Every time she giggled the sand would slide down and Daddy would have to dump another bucket on. 

Dinner time came too soon! We could have stayed and played all day long. The beach started to clear out pretty quickly once 6:00pm hit. We decided it was time to get the kiddos some dinner and headed out for Chinese!