Summer is Happenin'!

Wow! What a busy summer so far!

Class let out at the end of June, and since then it's been a wirlwind series of events:

1) Canada Day! What a gorgeous day for Canada's birthday - we're still a young country at 138!
The day was packed with fun an adventure... First there was a pancake breakfast at Alderney Landing. 2 pancakes weren't very filling, but we still had a lot to do that day, it was off to more adventures. A quick hop across the harbour on the ferry and we were on the Halifax Waterfront. Where the HMCS Halifax was docked not far away and open for tours. Of course the lower decks were off limmits, but it was still neat being on the ship and seeing the bridge, weapon systems and such. Then we hiked up the hill to the Citadel, which was open for free for the day. There was a long boring open ceremony, some cake and we took the chance to tour some of the Citadel's exhibits while we had the chance. We walked down to the Commons (an open park beside Citadel Hill) and had some lunch before heading home.
After a short nap, we went down to watch the fireworks - which I must say - were better than most I've seen in the couple of years since I lived in this city. After the fireworks, it was off to work...

2) July 4th: While a holliday for those in the US, it was a big day for us as well. My kids flew in from Winnipeg! We had a great time at Steak-n-Stein for supper, then a they were off to my Mom's while I got a quick 2 hour nap in before work... I'd spent the morning getting my bike 'mostly' fixed (the derailer's still giving me trouble), so I hadn't gotten much sleep that day.

3) July 5th: The cycling adventure! Chip and I cycled from our place in Dartmouth, out to Mom's place in Porter's Lake. While it's only about 35km away, cause the Trans-Canada Trail mostly follows the coastline, the over-all trip is more like a 50km ride. The trail is overall enjoyable... sections of the trail, either due to weather or lack of funds, aren't as nicely maintained as others. We were originally hoping to take the trailer out on the trail and bike out to Mom's place. But between barricades, partially washed out causeways (leaving only narrow clear trail), to rough trail, to trails barely more than that made from a truck or atv, to soft sand/lumber road... I don't think the trailer will make it. The trip took us about 8 hours to do... seeing as my son can't bike as fast as I do. Over all we enjoyed the trip.. there are some absolutely gorgeous sights to see, great rest stops to admire, and it is so peacefull. We had light fog for most of our trip, which actually was kind of nice.. when the fog finally burned off the heat was horrible! Good thing it was only for the last hour and a half of our journey.

4) July 6th: We took a trip down to Mosquidoboit to the railway museum, they have a few interesting artifacts. We took a short walk down the trail there, till we arrived at an old iron railbridge. My Mom's older dog was getting tired, so we headed back... admiring the wild rose bushes, scenery and munching on a few wild strawberries on the way. The kids had a lot of fun, my daughter really loves the peacefullness and beauty of Nova Scotia... so much different than the prairie town she lives in. We enjoyed some ice cream before heading home, the weather proved to be uncooperative for some fun on the beach.

5) July 7th: I left Chip at my parents' so he could spend time with his siblings.. I just hope they don't drive Mom crazy... It was a beautiful day for a ride back to the city along the trail. I got to see much more of the view without the fog, but the ride home was a lot hotter... I went through most of my water. Cause of the heat, I didn't spend too much time sightseeing or taking pictures. I did get a couple of nice shots... took a couple of 'lunch breaks' along the route at some of the more scenic locations. In all it only took 5 hours on my own, but with the amount of cycling I do each day, I can push myself farther and faster than I can the kids, so I was doing some really good time on some of the nicer sections of trail. I didn't want to take my time, cause I'm working tonight, and wanted to catch a bit of napping time and rest before cycling to work. Hopefully my knees will forgive me for all the work I've put them through this week. ;o)

Once I'm done downloading pictures from my camera, I'll see about putting one or two here.. or you can always see pictures of my adventures on my website - which is linked on the left.

Hope you're all having a wonderful summer so far!