Well it's been a long time since I updated the ole blog.
So, our Summer was wonderful and it flew by very fast for us which was great!
We went to Cape Breton on the 2nd of July and only came back to the Mainland on the 10th of September! That's how great the Summer was!
First of all the weather was great so that was an added bonus for us. We discovered the Chimney Corner beach. Apparently the tourists all know about it but we didn't. It's a little gem on the shore road that was enjoyed by myself and Rianne a few times over the Summer.
Inverness Gathering Days were fantastic for Rianne this year. She was old enough to enjoy it. She went on her first fishing boat ride during the Fisherman's Picnic at the wharf. Then there was Horseman's Day at the race track. She played games, won prizes and went on miniature horse rides courtesy of "Alf" who resides in Dunvegan. Rianne LOVED it and talked about it all Summer long! She renamed the horse and in her mind he's "Butterscotch". I wonder what he'd think of that :)
While in Cape Breton I picked up a job that lasted 3-weeks. I was traveling around hooking up computers in the schools of the Strait Regional School Board. Moving old systems, unpacking and plugging in new systems, throwing out VERY old systems. It was fun! Then I volunteered for a week at the local used clothing store because they were short handed due to vacations over the Summer. I loved being there and organizing everything. I managed to pick up some great stuff for Rianne and I while I was there because I had the time to go through everything.
I spent a lot of time "treasure hunting" at various used clothing places between Cheticamp, Mabou and Orangedale as well as Inverness. It's a great way to waste time and find some brand name stuff for cheap. My kind of shopping since we are a tighter than tight budget.
Then there was the pool and "slip and slide" ... Rianne spent many many hours in her Dora pool and the slip and slide this Summer. She's all tanned up like a beach bunny even with the thick applications of sun screen. Her Hannah Montana bathing suit was well used, as proven by her tan lines!
My cousin Brad came from Ontario for a visit in September. We picked him up at the Sydney airport on Sept. 5th. Rianne was excited to go to the Airport so we had to leave home at Noon and his flight wasn't scheduled to land until 6:30 so we spent time at the Mayflower Mall. That place really changed since the last time I was there. It's a nice mall with a good variety of stores. My favorite being Winners!
The mall closed at 5 PM so we had no choice but to leave and head to the airport. Brad's plane landed and we headed to Inverness where he stayed until the 11th.
Since being back in Westville I've been keeping busy with housework and yard work. It never ends!
Jon only has 2 more weeks of work in Edmonton and then he's heading East. It's going to be the longest 2 weeks of my life waiting for him to get here. I'm glad the Summer went by as fast as it did because that really helped a lot.
I took Rianne to the race track a few times over the Summer as well because she loves horses. She loves them way more than I do as a matter of fact. They make me nervous for some reason. Especially race horses. I had to get over that nervousness a bit and take Rianne into the barn where she made a new friend names "Sadie" (aka: Kilkerran Sonnet) who is owned by a friend of ours. Here he is introducing Rianne to the mare.
Rianne was in her glory being in with the horse. She must have worked with horses in a past life or something because she has a love for them like no other. Even before meeting a real horse she had a passion for them.
So that was our Summer. A very condensed version but a version none the less. I will have to remind myself to keep this blog more up to date in the future. Maybe it will be my 2011 New Year's resolution because we all know I CANNOT give up chocolate!
Today is the Fisherman's Picnic @ the wharf in town so Rianne and I went down. I put her in her wagon because there's no way she's be able to walk back up the hill.
We arrived at the harbour a tad bit late and missed the boat parade but we managed to get on another tour later on. I'm glad we waited because it was a longer ride and very enjoyable. I thought Rianne might freak out and have a meltdown in the middle of the Gulf of St. Lawrence but she really loved it and wanted to go again. So I guess I know what's on the agenda for next July.
I thought I remembered the events at the wharf as being more fun when I was younger than I found them today. Maybe because I was young and single and not a parent of a 4 year old. I used to stay later and listen to the bands and talk to friends. Today I was back home by 4 PM and I was tired!! Gotta love getting older huh? It's for the birds!
The ocean was beautiful today though and at one point before entering back into the channel you could see the sandy bottom.
Rianne played the little fish pond and got 4 prizes and she was thrilled to get a stuffed puppy. Well actually, she requested one after seeing another little girl with one. What a character!
All in all it was a great afternoon. They were predicting heavy showers with the chance of thunder and lightening but as you can see in the pictures it was beautiful! I would have actually preferred it to be overcast though.
Since arriving in Cape Breton we've been on the go quite a bit. Let me see if I can recap some events.
We arrived on Friday and then we were off to Cheticamp on Saturday. We started out at the church basement for their $7/bag clothing deal and then we moved on to the Bargain Shop before moving down the hill to Frenchy's. Before coming home we stopped at the ice cream shop at Mr.Chicken to cool off a bit with some chilly treats.
Sunday found us at the Inverness Raceway where we watched 3 or 4 races before going to visit some family.
I don't remember doing much of anything on Monday so we must have stayed in town. I think Mom took Rianne to the beach to play in the sand that evening so it was a fairly low key day for us.
Tuesday we went to Port Hawkesbury to the Walmart there to buy gifts for some events coming up this weekend. Rianne bought the new version of My Little Pony Cheerilee and she scored some art supplies at Walmart and the Dollarama among other things. The only thing I bought for myself was 2 jugs of water. How typical is that?? Parents are always on the back burner while out shopping.
Today (Wednesday) we were in Mabou to the Hope Chest (thrift store) where I found some nice tops. I should be set for the whole Summer now but will that stop me from looking around for that next big bargain? Probably not. Who doesn't love getting a great deal on good clothing? I live for thrift store shopping! All you need is time and patience and you are bound to find a gem buried in a bin.
When we got home I put Rianne in her pool where she stayed for about 2 hours or more. Loving every minute of it. Tishy even made her way in there with her .. fully clothed!!
I don't know what the remainder of the week will bring forth. I love being busy and being on the go. I wish finances made it easier to do.
This afternoon we ventured up the street to the traveling fair to see the sights and take in an adventure. Well, WHAT an adventure!! I paid $15 for 15 tickets and all the rides for children Rianne's size were 2 tickets per ride. The first thing she goes on is the carousel. I knew that was going to be the case because she just LOVES carousels. Okay fine .. I give the man the 2 tickets and I get on and stand beside her horse so I get a free ride .. yay me!
When the carousel was over she decides she wants to go on the little train ride. Hmmm I had my doubts that she'd last because she isn't good with new adventures and she's never been on a ride like that before. I put her in a train car and it goes and she loved it!! Yay .. score for a new experience. I was impressed with her and the big smile on her face was priceless and melted my heart. I should have brought the camera. 20/20 hind sight right there!
She then proceeds over to a little ferris wheel and it's all enclosed and it goes slow. Just perfect for the child thrill seeker. The problem is .. Rianne is NOT a thrill seeker.. not in the least. She gets in and there's another child in the same cage as her so I thought she would appreciate the moral support. I thought wrong. By the third time it went around she was in hysterics and the man had to stop the ride and let her off. So much for the ferris wheel. That was just the start it though. We walk more and she sees something similar to the thing she used to play on at the West Edmonton Mall at Play Park. It has a bounce house, rope ladder, suspension bridges and a slide at the end. She gives the man her 2 tickets and goes in and right off the bat she doesn't climb the rope ladder portion so the man lets her by-pass that section and let her go up the stairs. That's when she came to the first bridge, chickened out and came back down the stairs. Then she met up with an older girl who took her back up the stairs and held her hand going over bridge #1. There was a string of kids behind her because she was going so slow. She was timid of bridge #2 as well because it was higher than the first one. She got to the top of the slide and refused to come down so she crossed over the second bridge, going the WRONG way and stood on the balcony there and cried. The man running the thing had to go get her. O.M.G .. leave it to my child to be petrified of these types of situations.
So when all was said and done .. I was out those 4 tickets because they weren't refunded due to non-completion of the rides. Not their fault and it's their way to make a quick buck I suppose. I'm sure she's not the only child to freak out on rides but she was the only one I saw at the tie while we were there.
We make our way back to the train where she rides again. At least I knew she liked that ride. Here's where it gets rather comical. They don't play the "typical" fair music. You know what I'm talking about .. those old organ tunes like "The Entertainer" and such. Nope, here they were playing dance music. Rianne is sitting on the train waiting for it to go and low and behold Lady Gaga comes on singing "Poker Face" and Rianne looks at me and says " mommy that's your favorite song. It's Poker Face!!!" then the child starts singing along. The ride starts, she's sitting in the seat of the train, arms stretched out across the back of the seat .. belting out "Poker Face" .. Ahhh what a proud moment let me tell ya (insert sarcasm here).
Then we were off to the carousel once again. This time she chose a gray horse as opposed to the black one the first time around. Around and around on an old rickety carousel. It made her very happy and me slightly queasy but for her smile it was well worth it.
Then lastly she rode the train one more time. She was the conductor this time and got to press buttons that didn't do anything. Maybe they did back in the 1950's when the rides were in their prime but not anymore.
On our way out of the fair I bought her a sno cone. It was her very first sno cone ever and she chose a cherry flavoring. She sucked and munched on that thing for the next 30 minutes ...
Oh what an adventure!!
**PART DEUX**
Like one adventure wasn't enough, we went back to the fair grounds when my mother arrived after supper. Again we paid $15 for 15 tickets and yet again she had to be rescued from a piece of equipment. This time it was the smaller one and this time I had the camera.
Exhibit A:
Here she is being rescued by a kind employee. She was having an absolute melt down and yet when she got out of the mess she was in she wanted to go back in .. which caused yet another bigger melt down when I refused to let her get herself into that situation again. We re-focused her to the little train ride and carousel where she remained for the evening and then got another sno-cone on the way home.
Here are a few more pictures:
Rianne likes staying up until it gets dark enough for the solar butterflies to come on. Sometimes she stays awake but most times not because they don't come on until it gets dark enough and right now that's about 9:30-ish. Last night was one of the nights she got to see them because it was so dull out they came on a bit early.
She was in my bedroom window overlooking the flower garden where I have them all strung up in a tree. They were twinkling and blinking and she was acting like it was first time she's seen them (it wasn't). At one point she said to me .. "oh Mommy they are so impressive" ... whoa, say what?? I don't know where she picks up these words and is able to use them properly in a sentence but she stunned me with this statement. I laughed and said "yes Rianne they certainly are impressive" .. then she went to bed .. all impressed with her solar twinkling butterfly lights.
Who is this Jones family that everyone is trying to keep up with? This post has nothing to do with me personally trying to keep up with anyone .. it's about the Province of Nova Scotia .. Halifax in particular attracting big retail chains and keeping up with bigger cities.
This post comes on the heals of me discovering that there is going to be a Bath & Body Works store opening in the Mic Mac Mall in Dartmouth this Summer. I love that store and I have been sending a wish list to Jon in Edmonton to pick up soaps and stuff. Now I'm happy that I will get to shop at the store personally when it opens .. and when we get to Halifax. We don't get there often even though it's only about an hour away. Now we will have a good excuse to go .. at least another excuse. My other passion is Old Navy .. for myself and for Rianne as well as Gap Kids and The Childrens Place for her clothes.
Now, if they'd only get an IKEA in the HRM area my life would be absolutely perfect!
.JPG)