18 Days

For the first time in five years of working for the GoC, I booked off a big chunk of vacation time—July 15 to August 3—freeing us up for a coast-to-coast summer holiday extravaganza to see Grandma and Grandpa Arnold and Grandma and Grandpa Ashe. We marked those 18 days on the calendar in picture art depicting plane rides and swimming and BBQs and seashell hunts and smiles (even though Sam can spell now, he still sketches pictures on the calendar squares to represent special events). Then we counted down to the big holiday.

Sam and I flew out to Nova Scotia on July 15, arriving along with James and Charlie and meeting up the next day with Trace, Carter, Anabel, Janey, Savannah and Jasmyn. Throw in Jacquie, Brent and Rosalie for frequent visits, and it was a full house and cottage up on the hilltop. We spent most of our 11-day east coast vacation enjoying the scenery, the fresh air, the sunshine, the pool, the great food…but most of all each other’s company.

Sam loved the freedom and flexibility that comes with wide open spaces that feature an out-of-site dome tent that doubles as a spy base, a forest full of trails, and grown-ups who stay put on the deck while he and his cousins are off exploring. And he also loved choosing to come back and lay on a warm towel amongst the larger group to play with Rosalie in her kiddie pool or to read a stack of books (Davy Crockett was his fave. Killed him a “bar” when he was only three…).

We made our traditional pilgrimmage to That Dutchman’s Farm and had just as much fun spotting hidden gnomes (and now fairies) on the nature walk as we did when Sam was four years old. Funny how compelling that real live “look & find” is for the kids. Having bought a tasty range of gouda flavours in the cheese shop, the refrain for the rest of the week—no matter what the menu—was, “Does that have gouda on it?” Speaking of good-ah, Grandma & Grandpa also took us to Diane’s (twice) for fresh flounder off the weir and handcut fries. The best.

This year, we also made it to Five Islands, to walk along the terra cotta cliff faces that are exposed at low tide. Sam and the cousins drank from fresh water streams flowing from the cliff face, collected rocks and shells, and scrambled up several piles of huge fallen stones (though I was leary of a sudden slide that would add to the pile — those things had to have fallen at some point!). It was a beautiful day, but quite hot in the sunshine: time to head back to the pool!

It was nice to spend an extra long time with Grandpa and Grandpa Arnold (making pizzas! hunting coyotes!), but Sam sure missed Daddy—this was the longest he’s spent away from him. So he was doubly excited for the reunion that would kick off the west coast portion of our vacation. It began with a surprisingly pleasant 14 hour trip from Economy to Langley. A story for another day…