More Avonlea pics

Jonathan and Cori will appreciate these pictures! It was fun to dress up. Even Elania wanted to get dressed up. Mike was a great sport and went along with it!

What our family would have looked like back in the day!

In a little more fancy attire.

Sweet outfit! He will love me for posting this!

The wagon rides were another favorite thing for the kids.

We also went to Cows icecream on the Charlottetown waterfront. Brayden and Elania on top of the cow.

Avonlea Village

We didn't go to Avonlea Village before so this was our first time. This was our 2nd 'Anne' stop. It was actually quite fun. Lots of family things to do there.

Elania first experience on a teeter totter which she quite liked.

Brayden's first pony ride.

Elania's pony ride.

Mike trying out the stilts there. He did pretty good. I on the otherhand was terrible! The most I could do was 2 steps! My dad was the best! He just kept going and going. He had the upper hand though because he used to practice as a kid!

Off to PEI

PEI is so beautiful and so we wanted my parents to experience that.

At the Confederation Bridge going to Prince Edward Island. Nice photo shoot area.

I've always wanted to see the Bottle Houses in PEI since we moved to NS. We were going to go our first time to PEI but our car had troubles. We were going to go our second time, but then Brayden was born premature. So this time around was my chance! It was neat to see. This was the six-gabled house and was made with approximately 12,000 bottles!

In the background is the chapel which is made of approximately 10,000 bottles.

My mom likes Anne of Green Gables and so we of course went to those sites while in PEI. Our first 'Anne' stop was at Green Gables Heritage Site. Elania in the carriage with my parents.

Lobster supper

We couldn't have my parents out to Nova Scotia where fresh lobsters are caught and not have lobsters for supper! Since I am not a fan of seafood, this was actually the first time we cooked lobsters at our house! Mike usually ends up ordering seafood when we go out to eat. So this was a fun experience for both my parents and for Mike! I didn't watch the actual cooking part! Lucky for me they cooked them outside.

My dad holding the lobster he was going to devour!


Mike loved the whole experience. He looked a bit anxious when cutting off the bands off their claws and making sure they did take a swipe at his hands! Good thing it all worked out, or we wouldn't be in dentistry anymore!

The finished product!

Grandpa Q. was convinced by Elania to give a bear ride!

Citadel and Peggy's Cove

We showed my parents around Citadel Hill in Halifax in the morning and then headed over to Peggy's Cove for the afternoon.

My parents at the entrance of Citadel Hill.

Elania found somewhere to sit during the tour.

Me and my dad at Peggy's Cove. Just before this picture was taken, we saw some dolphins swimming by! So that was exciting.

Mom and dad at Peggy's Cove with lighthouse. (Parents in right hand corner of picture).

Mike and me at one of the docks in the fishing village at Peggy's Cove. We spoke to a gentleman there who actually lives at Peggy's Cove. It was neat to hear some of his first hand experiences with fishing and he explained how the lobster traps worked (beside us). It was a great addition to the day!

Whale watching and Balancing Rock

Whale watching on Brier Island, NS proved to be wonderful yet again! We were worried for a bit because it was very foggy that morning so it was difficult to find the whales. But we eventually found one by listening for it! The whale was quite the show-off and loved to hang out by the boats. It was very close to us and so we counted ourselves lucky.

My mom and dad in front of our boat.

The group of us.

Whale showing off.



After whale watching we went to the Balancing Rock nearby. This is us posing in front of it.

My Parents Arrive

My parents arrived on August 2nd bright and early in morning. We spent the day at the Halifax waterfront. We went to the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic and toured the boat there. We ate some yummy Beaver Tails. Grandpa Q. entertained the kids by catching a pigeon and letting them touch it! Okay - only Brayden was brave enough to touch it.



The next day (Sunday) was basically church and then traveling up to Brier Island to go whale watching the next day. On our way we stopped at the Historical Gardens in Annapolis Royal. They of course were very beautiful. Gorgeous landscapes and flowers. This is me and Mike under one of the archways in the rose garden.

Big G's

We couldn't go home without stopping at Big G's in Maine. We hooked up with Mike's dentistry classmate, Mark Carreira, who is from Maine. Big G's have these massive sandwiches there! Mike ordered me 1/2 sandwich and I could barely eat it all. Elania picked out a cookie that was absolutely huge. I wish we had one of these closer to us here.

Story Land

We couldn't not stop at Story Land again for Elania since we were so close. This time around she knew more which rides she wanted to ride and which rides were "too scary".
Brayden enjoying the carousel.

On the pirate ship playground.

Pirate ship ride.

Brayden exploring in the hotel.

The Flume Gorge

The Flume Gorge in the Franconia Notch State Park in New Hampshire was really beautiful. Our pictures couldn't capture it all.





Elania's first time mini-golfing. This was one of the few times she actually held the club semi-properly.

More Santa's Village pics

Brayden becoming Rudolph!



Elania brave enough to feed the reindeer!



Not everyone is happy to see Santa!

Santa's Village at Jefferson, NH

Santa's Village in Jefferson, New Hampshire was a must stop for the kids. Especially for Elania. It is a Christmas themed amusement park geared towards young kids. She can't get enough of the rides! We spent two days there, and she couldn't stop talking about it.


Elania loves carousels and insists I ride them as well.


Cute!


We found a large sandbox which the kids wanted to play in. Brayden hasn't learned yet to NOT eat the sand!


This was the only ride that Brayden could go on by himself without us! He wasn't too sure about it at first but since he rode it over and over again with Elania, he quickly loved it!



This was definitely Elania's favorite ride.

Ben & Jerry's Icecream

Next stop was delicious! Ben & Jerry's factory in Waterbury, Vermont. We took a tour of the factory and had some yummy icecream afterwards! It was a really nice day. We enjoyed being there and would have had even more fun had Elania not been so grouchy!