How the parents saved Christmas (in July)

We learned a very valuable RV life lesson last weekend that I must share. We decided to spend one night at our 'local' campground, Dunromin, in Granville Ferry. It was a Saturday night, so we knew it would be busy, but we had no idea that we were arriving during 'Christmas in July', which turned out to be a particularly big night for the campground. I noticed on the daily event board while we were driving in that Santa was arriving at the playground at 8:00. When I paid for our site, I confirmed this with the worker who told me that Santa would be in fact be there that night with presents for all the kids. Wow, I thought to myself, Caleb is going to loooove this and how generous of them to hand out a candy cane or dollar store item to each kid. When I told Caleb, he couldn't believe his luck. Santa? Here? Tonight! With presents?!?! Amazing!! I overheard him excitedly discussing this with the kids on the playground all day. At supper he told me that Santa was here last year, too, and that he arrives on a golf cart!

Earlier in the evening

By 7:45, the playground was buzzing. I have no idea where all these children came from, but there seemed to be about 80 of them all sporting their little Santa hats and elf pyjamas. Alan and I watched as Caleb tried to act calm while he paced by the road watching and waiting for the magical golf cart to pull up. At 8:00 sharp, the big man arrived towing a trailer full of gifts. He merrily jumped out of the cart waving hello and seated himself on an oversized adirondack chair in the centre of the playground. The chair was probably built solely for this annual celebration. Caleb watched in awe, and was the first child seated directly beside Santa's shiny black boots. At 8:01, my heart sunk as I realized that the gifts were definitely not dollar store items. These were REAL gifts. Big and wrapped in festive paper. These gifts were definitely not from the campground staff, but from parents. Parents who were not newbies to this whole 'Christmas in July' at a campground experience. These parents, unlike us, had come well prepared for this event.

I looked up in terror at Caleb, who was watching with big bright eyes as Santa started calling out names on each of the packages, knowing that there was definitely not a parcel with his name on that trailer. Alan and I stared at each other, shaking our heads. We were about to watch our little boy gets his heart completely crushed. We knew we could not stand by and let that happen. I threw Odin in the stroller, asked Alan to stand guard and be ready to comfort Caleb in case I didn't get back in time. I literally ran to the campground office to see what items I could purchase and find a way to sneak back into Santa's stash. $6.25 later, I was armed with a glow stick, a flimsy frisbee, a $1 Surprise Bag and a bag of rock candy. I explained the urgency of the situation to the worker, and he kindly 'wrapped' my parcel in a plastic bag and wrote Caleb's name on it. I sprinted back to the playground, snuck up to Santa's helper and handed her my package just in time. There were only about 6 kids left when Caleb's name was called out. He jumped up, no longer able to contain his excitement, and was handed his plastic bag. Thankfully he didn't seem to notice the lack of wrapping paper. He opened up the gift and was overjoyed with all of the contents. A surprise bag?!? A glowstick?!? Oh, Santa, you really out did yourself this time!

And that, my friends, is how the parents saved Christmas in July.

Stepping up to receive his gift!

Sunny days of Summer

Our co-pilot guiding the way to Kempt Shore while sporting his new 'fish head' hat. 

This past weekend we packed up Sunny and headed off to our first festival of the summer, the Kempt Shore Acoustic Festival on the beautiful shores of the Minas Basin. We had done a trial run with Sunny earlier in the week by spending a night at the Dunromin Campground in Granville Ferry, and things had gone really well (mind you, we only had to drive 3 km to get there), but we were feeling very ready for our first real trip in the old gal. After 13 summers of tenting with Alan at festivals all around the maritimes, we were super excited to hit the road in our little home on wheels, and to bring our two wonderful little boys to share the experience with.

Having Sunny at the festival was better than I could have imagined. We were able to cook all of our own meals, instead of filling up on french fries from the canteen all weekend. We had our own bathroom, so no port-a-potties for us! We stayed dry under our canopy when it rained. We had our own space to play, nap, relax and even host a fantastic late night jam session.  It is so nice to feel organized and know that you have everything you could ever need for a successful weekend. Board games, extra clothing, band-aids, snacks, drinks, towels, blankets...everything has its own little space in Sunny. Who knew that RV culture would suit me so well!

And of course the boys were fantastic. I felt like I was walking around with three celebrities at times. Alan ripped it up on stage all weekend and received many hellos and as we walked around the site. Caleb, with his fish hat that he had purchased at a yard sale earlier this summer, was getting comments everywhere we turned. At one point he said to me 'I think I've gotten something like 40 or 45 compliments on my hat!'. And Odin, with his bright eyes desperately trying to make eye contact with everyone around him, was also charming people and making friends around every turn. More than once we would be watching a show on the stage and I'd notice that Odin had at least 10 people behind him completely captivated - smiling, waving, clapping and laughing with him.

Odin loves to clap to music. The second he hears a little ditty on the radio or in passing, he'll begin clapping. Last night, I was laying in bed watching a show while he slept beside me. He had been sleeping for about an hour when the show's theme song came on during the ending credits of the show. Immediately, his little hands went straight up into the air and he began clapping! In his sleep! It was quite hilarious.

We now have a week off before heading out again in Sunny to a bunch of festivals throughout August. Sounds like a great way to spend my final 6 weeks of maternity leave.

Sunny's first jam

A love letter (to family and Fredericton)

Cousin party at Kelly's Creek. I love watching these kids make memories together.

It's hard to believe that 10 months have passed since we first hopped on the ferry to embark on my one year maternity leave adventure in Fredericton. I can honestly say it was one of the best decisions we have ever made. Spending time so close to our family and friends has brought all 4 of us so much joy. I don't think Caleb has ever felt more friendship and love in his entire life. The closeness he has developed with his grandparents, aunts, uncles and especially cousins mean so much to all of us. And what an amazing way for Odin to begin life, with so many arms to hold him, so many faces to smile with him and so many people to share in the amazing developments of a baby's first year. Our boys are incredibly lucky to have so many wonderful influences in their lives. How we ever will go back to being on our own, I'm not sure, but I do know that I wouldn't have traded this year for anything.

Thank you to everyone who helped make this year wonderful by celebrating so many special occasions with us - birthdays, mother's day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's Eve, Patriots games on Sundays, lunch dates with Grammie and Grampie, play dates with Teresa at Kathy and Roland's,  inventions with Greggy, piano lessons with Linda, Wednesday afternoons with Ava, watching Alyssa play basketball and the list goes on  and on... We will especially miss the ordinary days, just hanging out together because we could.  We may just have to have another child so we can do it all again! (**this is a joke, so don't get too excited, Linda!!)

Watching Dada play in Officer's Square

It has also been wonderful to rediscover Fredericton after so many years away. I love this town and I can clearly see why so many friends have decided to stay here to raise their families. Here are a few of the many things we will miss about this wonderful city:

- The Northside market. I have always loved the Southside market, but the Northside location was a new discovery for me. Amazing food (amazing falafels and delicious Ethiopian veggie meals), home baked pretzels (Caleb's favourite weekend treat) and weekly visits with Perley the Magician.

- Fredericton library - living without internet or cable the past few months means we've made several trips to the library for books, music and DVDs. This year's entertainment can be summed up for me with The Gilmore Girls (finished 5 seasons!), The West Wing and Choose your Own Adventure Books  which are as great as I remember.

- The TransCanada Trail. This is where Caleb first learned to ride a bike, and many, many trips soon followed. We stashed our first ever geocache here and found several more. The trails are such an incredible gem in the city.

- YMCA - It felt so good for me to join the gym and regain some sanity by spending an hour away from both kids (thanks mom and dad for giving me this precious time off). The Y is also where Caleb spent 9 months in junior kindergarten making many good friends and memories, and also where Odin had his first swims.  I can't wait to join the Fundy YMCA once we get back to NS.

- Friends! I was able to spend time with many close friends this year. Jill, Owen, Harris, Brent, Sarah,  Leah...the list goes on. I didn't actually get out as much as I thought I might, which may have had something to do with the fact that I had an infant latched onto my side 24 hours a day, but that made the times I did spend with friends all the more valuable and it truly felt good just know you were near.

- The Johnston family and the Alders family who shared their homes and wonderful waterfront views with us. Without them, this year would not have been possible.

Thank you all so much. We are already looking forward to our next trip back in August.

The boys and I took a trip to Bar Harbor with Greg and Linda last week. Lots of exploring and seafood consumption took place!

Tidal pool love

Mt. Katahdin look off

And we are off. Don't worry, there is a rope attached to the canoe!