Columbus Day Weekend - Eastham (Cape Cod)

We ended up "winning" a long weekend at a house in Eastham at an auction at Jack's new school. It is owned by another family and was in an amazing location right on a small pond and about 1 mile from first encounter beach (bay) and about 4 miles from the CC National Seashore/Coast Guard beach. We had amazing weather - in the mid-upper 70s on Saturday and Sunday!

Jack got his first (2) trips on a sailboat (sunfish) in the pond. He very much enjoyed it, as did Steve. We splashed in the small beach at the pond, swung on swings hanging from trees and enjoyed the view. We also visited First Encounter beach for sunset and coast guard beach for sand-playing. We stopped by a couple of playgrounds and a real caboose outside a small railroad museum in Chatham.

As in Nova Scotia, Jack ordered fish and chips everywhere! It is his favorite at the moment.


Coast Guard Beach

Coast Guard Beach

Coast Guard Beach

Coast Guard Beach
\
Fort Hill - small hiking area. Steve and I were last there on our "minimoon" right after our wedding 7 years ago!
2011

2004

At the Caboose in Chatham

Playground in Eastham with an amazing "zipline" - both boys loved it

On the swing at the house..

First Encounter Beach

First Encounter Beach

First Encounter Beach

First Encounter Beach

Jack out for his first sail

Nova Scotia - Pictou Edition

After our time in Halifax, we moved north to Pictou for the wedding. What a fun hotel and gorgeous location. We stayed in a real log-cabin (updated with modern amenities)! There were various buildings on the property, a pool (boys loved) a life-size checker board, as well as canoes and paddle boats to use! Jack loved the latter.

Pictou is where a famous boat called the "Hector" landed packed with Scottish immigrants in 1773. They have a replica that Jack enjoyed viewing with Grandpa Pete.



"downtown" Pictou




On the Hector



At the lodge...







At the church


At the reception

A few pictures of nate at school!

Nova Scotia (finally!) Halifax

So we had a wonderful week+ long trip to Nova Scotia at the end of August. We were there to celebrate the wedding of Steve's cousin Breton and his new wife Kathryne in Pictou, NS.

We spent Sun until mid-day on thurs in Halifax and surroundings. We arrived at our hotel at dinner-time on Sunday and had a lovely meal at a restaurant that caters to vegans and is very allergy-conscious. They have a variety of things on the menu but it is always nice to be confident ordering things for Nate off the menu. It also had a subtle monkey theme which also won points with the boys!

On Monday we woke up and headed to the Halifax Citadel, which is, a citadel. It was walking distance to our hotel and provides a lovely view of the city. The boys enjoyed being able to run in the central courtyard and were OK with the cannon they shoot off at noon. It was really truly very very loud! We saw many men in kilts as the guides were in period uniforms. We found lunch at a nice coffee-shop/cafe and after a rest for us and nap for Nate, we headed back down to the harbor. We visited the maritime museum which had an amazing collection of ship models and a titanic exhibition including remains from the wreck. Halifax was the main port that the recovery operation was based from and many of the victims are buried there. There was a ship-shaped playground just outside and the boys loved it.

Tuesday we took full advantage of our rental car and headed about 2 hours south of Halifax to Lunenberg a historic town famed for its shipbuilding. It is even a UNESCO world heritage site. It was a truly perfect day and the views were lovely. It, too, had a nice maritime museum. Luckily for Steve it had a little play area for the kids so he got some time to actually see the museum! We spent some time walking around and getting lunch. We took the scenic route home so they could nap an enjoyed the coastline. When we arrived back in Halifax we walked around their formal gardens which were fantastic. It was a gorgeous park.

On Weds we spent some time in the morning at a playground and seeing the train station.

In the afternoon, Jack had the highlight of his trip - a trip on a tugboat named Theodore. Apparently in Canada there was a kids show for many years, akin to Thomas, about a tugboat name Theodore and his friends in the Halifax harbor.

Thursday we spent the morning visiting cousins' houses and catching up. After an amazing lunch courtesy of Steve's cousin Kevin we headed up to Pictou where the wedding was. (Another post to come...)
Citadel


Halifax Maritime Museum


At the playground at Halifax Harbour






Lunenberg / Blue Rocks



Lunenberg's Maritime Museum (notice the name in the back Peter!)


Lunenberg

Theodore the Tugboat

Jack in the Captain's Chair


View of the Harbor from Theodore


Fooling around with his new souvenirs

Jack at school - update

Jack is loving his new school - they get to go to a music room, the library and play in the gym! tomorrow they even have Spanish. They also have LOTS of running around/outdoor time. He comes home exhausted (in a good way).

One nice thing is that I think they are (already) expanding his horizons - he seems to be painting a lot more than he ever has before. Usually he is a block guy, plain and simple.

They sent about 5 pictures of the first full day and 2 of the 3 pictures with Jack had him painting.

The school is known for being "artsy" - especially musical - so I am hoping that will rub off some!

Jack also started gymnastics again today. It is the same class he was in last year since it is for 3-5 year olds. Nate started there too last week, in a parent/toddler class. Pics to come after "visiting/photo" week.

First Day of School! Nate edition

I just dropped off Nate for his first "mini-day" of school! (90 minutes as opposed to the normal 4 hours, which starts tomorrow).

He told me this morning when explaining he would go to school today he said "no, home." I was a little worried, but he got in the car with less fuss than normal and ran right to his classroom and the toy trains. He then said "bye bye" to me and I was off. We shall see if he freaked out when he realizes I was *really* gone!

(and yes, he really needs a haircut, I know:)

First Day of School! Jack edition

Jack started his new school today, quite a milestone as it is a PreK-8th grade school. He could potentially be there for 10 years! As a family it could be 12 including Nate's years there....

He had 0 issues with being dropped off a new place. I had to ask for a good-bye, seriously he jumped into the block area and didn't look back.

He seemed thrilled with his first day and said "it was so short." They got out today at noon, rather than the normal 1 (for him) and 3 (for others).

I will say the traffic on the way there was worse than I had expected. It was a very rainy morning and many area schools started today meaning LOTS of extra cars on the road. (For those of you not in a city lots of extra cars when it rains as people don't want to wait for buses or take long walks to the T/ride bikes). Luckily I think today was as bad as it gets (at least without snow). It is only 2 1/3 miles away and on a bus route, so we have a variety of options to get there.


Jack at his new cubby space