Here and There

I couldn't help but notice many of the differences between Ontario and Nova Scotia this time as I was seeing it through Jon's eyes and taking in more of the details I had maybe overlooked before or just chalked up to being a part of the experience.

Clothes Lines
- I have concluded there is nothing as fresh and tranquil as the sight of a line with freshly laundered shirts and shorts blowing in the salt air breeze. Most people in Nova Scotia have and use a clothesline...In Ontario most people have and use exclusively their dryer...I think we need to bring back the clothesline!

Beaches
- Beaches in Ontario are plenty in the lake variety. They are nice and big enough that if the wind blows right there are waves that allow you to pretend it is an ocean beech. Some even have soft white sand flown in from California to complete your faux beach experience. The problem with these beaches is that they are measured for pollution each morning. Depending on that same wind and the amount of toxins in the water the beach could be closed three out of every seven days in the summer. My concern is how safe is the water on the other four days and what is my guarantee that I won't have diareah for a week after swimming. You are left with no choice then to join the other 20 000 people on the shore with your half a towel space of imported sand.

Beaches in Nova Scotia however are a different thing entirely. Firstly there are different kinds of beaches. If you don't feel like getting into a bathing suit and sitting in the sun all day you can put on a sweater and head up to the "shore" to cool off by the ocean breeze and walk along the rocks listening to the waves crashing up and hoping to come across a surprise crab or starfish (if this post goes unfinished it is because I am driving to the airport!!!). We discovered as well that some of the most beautiful beaches remained untouched virtually here when we went on a "busy" day and basically had a whole section to ourselves. Ben loved playing in the sand and letting the waves wash up on him. When we came back home I tried to recreate the experience for him by bringing him to one of our man made chlorine filled "beaches" where the water gets slowly deeper like a beach would. It is essentially a concrete hole and a little depressing considering where we had just come from.

Rush Hour
We were told on the day we were leaving to go a little early for our 6pm flight as we would hit rush hour...well we were pretty taken aback to see what rush hour was in Halifax... about 15 cars. When we drove home from Toronto that night at 9pm there were at one point 20 lanes of traffic full of cars. What we wouldn't do for a little of Halifax' rush hour!

Pace
In Ontario people always have somewhere more important to be then where they are and someone more important to talk to then the one they already are. If one is made to wait in line for too long in Ontario you will hear loud sighing, shuffling of impatient feet and the flip of cell phone opening to make an important call for the entertainment of the others around them to hear.
The occasion that best exemplifies the polar opposite attitude of the maritimer is when we stopped for our last ice cream cone (we had ice cream everywhere we went!) before heading back home. It was the ice cream experience of all ice cream experiences when we found a little corner store in Halifax. Here was a man who took pride in his ice cream that is for sure as he presented up with "ice cream art" piled high with different flavors and a little candy to top it off. We didn't order our ice cream from him..he created what his imagination led him to pile on a waffle cone. You can imagine how long he took to prepare one of these colossal picture worthy cones let alone one for Jon, my brother and I. When we left the line was out the door and I was shocked to see so many people patiently waiting for us and smiling at our excitement over the cones and our obviously "not for around hereness". I smiled and thanked them for waiting as they looked at me like "well what else would I do" I didn't want to corrupt the innocence of these gems of the earth by telling them that where we are from you would have long stomped out the door slamming it behind you, muttering about damn ice cream art and poor service! These are the savoured experiences of the trip...small but impressionable.

Such Tourists

I was excited to have Jon and Ben meet some family they had not met yet while in Nova Scotia and also play tour guide. I thought I knew my way around pretty well since I have gone most summers of my life. When flipping through the tourist magazine we ordered before we left I realized I had not been to some places I would be interested in seeing as an adult and ones I did see when I was too young to really remember. I jumped aboard the tourvan and let my parents lead the way! They did an awesome job at giving us a vacation to remember. With the generosity of my grandparents who let us use their home to stay in and my parents who took us everywhere, showed us lots of great sights, took us out for amazing food and gave us use of their car...AND a Nanny and Aunt who kept the food coming we were set! We also had some great weather thrown in for good measure even though the forecast was rain everyday. This is the recipe for a great vacation.

I don't think we could have packed more in a day if we tried! We went to Port George, Middleton, Greenwood, Kempville, Annapolis, Wolfville, Peggy's Cove, Halifax, Lunnenberg, Pictou, stellerton and more!

We had LOTS of fish and chips, Jon tried lobster...Drew finished it, we had our fill of pie, strawberry shortcake and warm buns (I just drooled on the keyboard!)

We went on horse drawn tours, shopped at adorable stores and Jon and Drew even went whale watching (where they mostly saw seals...this made Jon happy as he likes seals better anyhow!). Most importantly we saw lots of the rugged shoreline we came for.

10 days could not have gone by any faster. We blinked and it was time to say goodbye. We didn't do all the things we wanted to or see enough of the people we wanted to visit. There is then, only one solution... we have to go again next summer!!

Family Meet Ben...Ben Meet Family

It was very exciting to introduce Ben to his extended family that he had yet to meet. Ben is lucky to have 10 grandparents in total, including his great grandparents...Whew! That is a lot of Ben love to go around!
Ben seems to instinctively know when a relationship with someone is meant to be more then fleeting or short term. Friends of mine that he sees on a constant basis he is not that interested but have a grand parent show up at the door and he wiggles with happiness as he outstretches his arms and lets his mouth open with a happy grin. It didn't take long before Ben was giving his Great Grandparents the same reaction. He is definitely a fan of the grandparent!

Ben was also lucky enough to meet four great Aunts. Three of my Mother's sisters and one of my dad's sisters. He especially enjoyed his visits to their homes as they each offered something unique...a version of rocky (my grandparents dog who although sweet would potentially trample Ben in his excitement) who he could pet, chickens, (he has never seen these before!) flower garden's with an aunt and nanny who didn't mind if he popped some heads off the flowers and a lake. Ben took it all in and was always ready to meet the next person or place on our list.

Nova Scotia Vacation

I was nervous the days leading up to our flight. Ben does not love being in the car and he as of late hates anything that qualifies as a ride on toy- tractors, fourwheelers, rides at the mall, play bouncing horses at the park or his rocking cow. As soon as you sit him on one of these things the usual easy going and adventurous Ben howls until you take him off. I was very afraid he would classify the airplane as one of these huge ride on toys. My fears went unsubstantiated as he was wonderful and lucky for us our pride and joy was a dream traveller. He loved his great grandparents (loved my grandfather so much he couldn't help but yank his hair, grab his glasses and bite im everytime he got near him...at one point he picked up his cane and whacked him with it...out of love of course...), the ocean, travelling to new places and being with mom and dad 100% of the time (he is now more of an attention adict then ever!) We went many places and thus spent many hours in the car. It seems if I am sitting beside him with books, snacks and an off key singing voice he is content to sit there as long as required. Who Knew?!
I am looking forward to travelling again soon now that I know he is so adaptable!

The Other Woman...a Jelous Rant

I have as of late been forced to share my bed, date night and conversations with my husband and his other woman. She goes by the last name "phone", first name "I" Jon activly persued Iphone. It began the morning she was released and Jon darted out of bed at 5:45 am and ran out the door. If I didn't call him on his now worthless then beloved blackberry to know where he went I only needed to wait a few hours to catch him on the news...and then the radio. He was lining up to get his new love...Ms. Phone.

10 hours later Jon was the proud new owner of one of the first Iphones(I would like to add that it took less time then this for me to give birth!). He has since then spent countless hours bonding with her. He buys her whatever new accessory she could ever want and never lets her battery get too low. He downloads lots of useless applications that turn her into semi entertaining things like a zipo lighter flame (to use at a concert I may or may not be invited to accompany them to), a flashlight, and downloaded video console (this works at pacifying Ben in the car so she gets half a point for that...). When I ask Jon to stop playing with his toy at the dinner table-driving-church etc he shoots me a look and reminds me with less patience then before SHE came along that it is not an "TOY" but a vital business tool (that he is using to watch the top utube videos on). When I try to show interest in her Jon will hover over me like a nervous new parent while I fiddle with the gps application or the camera phone. After I do anything on it Jon quickly needs her back so he can try to either undo what I just did or try to do it better. It must be a loyalty thing...
Well I am happy that Jon is happy but not happy enough to let him get a blueray console...another new technology that will leave me another notch behind! If I could just figure out how to beam light through my fingertips, take a picture with my nose and have maps in my head then maybe I could even out the competition. Until then Ms. Phone until you develop applications for laundry services, meal preparation and toilet cleansing among other things I remain in the game!

Jenn...aka mommy

Ben is speaking more clearly now and has a few words he used frequently that are similar. "Mum mum" is his favorite snack, rice husks called "mum mum's". "Mo mo" is "more" and finally "ney ney" is me...it is sounding more and more like "Jenn" and then it occurred to us that why would he call me anything else! Everyone calls me Jenn and all day long when I was doing daycare the other kids were calling me Jenn and I was referring to myself as Jenn... HA! I wonder how long this is going to last?

Monkey

Ben climbs everything...slides, shopping carts, couches, coffee tables you name it he climbs it! This means that I can't leave him alone for a second so when I need to use the washroom or run upstairs I put him in the highchair for a few moments and trust that he is safe there...until now! I came in the kitchen to find him standing up and rocking the back. I don't know how he managed to get out of the straps let alone the tray that was pushed up tight against him! What are we going to do with him now???