Trip To Fogo Island

We've now lived here almost 2 years and while we've tried to explore the island as much as possible, it can be a bit tricky. This weekend, however, we made it all the way to Fogo island.

Our friend, Sam Martin has been the artist-in-residence there for 3 months, so we had a great opportunity to go and stay with him and his fantastic wife, Samantha and their lovable dog, Vader.
The two of them have become our good friends over the past year and a half and are, sadly, moving away to Iowa. We will miss them so much, so it was great to spend some time with them before they leave in August.

We had a great time. The drive up went really well, aside from a three hour wait for the ferry. Luckily the weather was good, so the girls could escape from the car to run around.

 

M was desperate to get out. 

G found a bunch of spiny sea urchins on the dock and kept throwing them back into the ocean so they could be free. We decided not to tell her that they were most decidedly dead.

We searched for dolphins and whales as we rode the ferry. G was pretty sure she saw her friend Joey the Orca Whale (her imaginary whale friend).

 We arrived to Sam and Sam's great little saltbox house on Fogo. G was very happy to be able to play outside whenever she wanted. While G is in love with Vader the dog, M is not a fan of animals. She screamed and shook when he came near, so we spent much of the weekend sending both G and Vader outside. It worked out well for both of them.

We hiked up to Sam's studio, a modernist box in the middle of a bog. It's a big empty space with a desk facing a giant window - what a perfect place to write.

 We took a trip to a playground and four caribou walked by, looked at us for awhile then began to graze. It was so cool to see them right there!

 We saw a few icebergs in all their glory.

And spent a good amount of time on a sandy beach. G was happy to play in the sand, while M was desperate to run giggling into the ocean. She's a handful, that one! Had it been a slightly warmer day, I might have let her experience the cold of the North Atlantic just to keep her from doing it again.

She's a bit skeptical about that.

Weekend Trip

We took a bit of an impromptu trip last weekend and it was great to get out of the city.We suddenly realized that with a car and no church responsibilities, we were free to go away for weekends if we wanted, so we packed up last Thursday and rented a cabin in Port Blandford for a couple of days, spending one of the days driving up to Bonavista (which is the end of one of the peninsula's of central Newfoundland).

Impromptu trips are fun, but can have their ups and downs.
The cabin was great. It was a cozy little place with 2 bedrooms. We don't own a playpen or anything, so we managed to make a bit of a nest in an open closet for M. It worked perfectly.

I forgot to bring our highchair, but M sat happily on our laps to eat. Parenthood does not have to be about bringing tons of stuff! We managed to bring all the things we needed for the weekend in one suitcase, our backpack diaper bag, a grocery bag and a small cooler. I'm pretty proud of that.

It was an absolutely beautiful drive. No rain, cool, crisp fall weather without being too cold.

One of the major highlights was this amazing playground in Newman's Cove. It had all the fantastic old equipment from our childhood, but the upkeep was great. Teeter-totters, swings, slides... G was in heaven.




Plus the awesome Merry-go-round. They just don't have these anymore. It was a blast. A perfect place to get out of the car and run around.

However, the downs part of "ups and downs" came when we arrived in Bonavista. We stopped for gas and realized that we had left our credit card back in the cabin at Port Blandford, and almost-2 hour drive away. We had already pumped our gas and through a (horrible) comedy of errors*, we didn't have money in our usual bank account. After much back-and-forthing, we finally left them with a license and debit card and a promise that we'd drive back to pay.

*It is quite embarrassing. It was a such an idiot mistake. I transferred money from one account into another in anticipation of our trip and, very stupidly, transferred it OUT of our main account rather then IN. And that amount just happened to be all but $25 of what we already had in our account.

So, despite seeing Bonavista's lovely lighthouse and beaches, it put us in a bit of a bad mood to say the least. We will definitely have to go back when we're all feeling happy (and have cash in our pockets).

Paul made the 4 hour drive there and back the next morning in about 2 and 3/4 hours, with me staying behind and praying that he didn't hit any moose!

In the end despite the frustration, it was fantastic to get out of town and see new parts of this beautiful province. 

Of Tents, Black Flies, Sandy Beaches, and Long Bible Stories

There are so many things to say about camping this week, but over all it was fantastic. We drove out to Terra Nova National Park and camped with my parents for three days. They were in their camper van and we bought a tent for the occasion.
We've been told to prepare for anything when it comes to camping in Newfoundland - sun,cold, rain,even snow- but our weather was perfect. It was sunny and warm the entire trip. We were able to relax, and G loved being outdoors. We brought several toys with us, but she played with a bucket and shovel the entire time - digging up sand and dirt in the campsite and filling the bucket with rocks and pine cones.
Tenting with kids can be challenging, but we tried to be pretty relaxed about it and I think it worked. G slept on an air mattress and I think was the most comfortable of all of us. M slept between us quite happily.
The first night, it was quite hard for G to fall asleep, especially with it being light out. She talked to herself and played in the tent until it was dark and we came to bed. Even then, she had trouble settling, so Paul told her a story. He began with another tent-dweller, Abraham, and continued to tell the story of the Patriarchs from Genesis. He had just made it to Joesph when G was finally asleep!
On Thursday night, we went to the interpretive theater put on by the park staff. We were unsure if it would be worth it to go (especially to keep our kids up late), but it was well worth it. If you ever have the chance to go, do it, it's hilarious.

Other highlights of the trip included picking shells off the beach with G, discovering an actual SANDY beach up in Eastport and seeing some more of this big beautiful island we live on.

There were also a few lowlights of the trip as well! G got carsick on the way out which involved a bit of a detour to get Gravol, and a bit of a stink in our already hot car. The mosquitoes weren't too bad, but the black flies were awful (in the evening). Poor M got bites on her head and G got bites around her entire hairline. I counted about 30 bites when we got home, poor thing!!
The other sadness was that I forgot the memory card for our camera, so I have no pictures of my own! My parents took plenty, however, so when I get some from them, I'll stick a few here.

Whales!

When we moved to St. John's, we had one goal: see some whales.**
 This week, we totally accomplished our goal.

(there are no whales pictured in this picture, but there is a hilarious sign of a guy falling into a wave)

My parents have arrived, driving all the way from Saskatoon to St. John's in their camper van (you can read about their travels here). So we went out to Cape Spear with them on Wednesday and saw several humpback whales swimming off shore! 

It was amazing to see them, and so very exciting for Paul and I. Neither of us had ever seen whales in the wild before, and it was one of things we had been looking forward to about living on the ocean.

Today, we went one step further and took a boat tour from Bay Bulls NL to see both the puffins and the whales. We forgot our camera (boo!) but we did see both! Tons of puffins, who are very cute and, as someone described them to me, like little flying potatoes. Unlike some of the soaring sea birds (gulls, etc), puffins flapflapflap their wings like crazy. It seems like they are constantly panicking that they'll fall from the sky. The colours on their beaks are very cool and G was very, very impressed.

But, of course, nothing can compare to the whales. We watched two humpbacks surface and flip their tales at us from about 20 feet away. It was exhilarating to see such a big animal so close, and fantastic to watch G get very excited. While others were oohing and ahhing and asking questions about white markings and fins, G asked the most important question of all...

"What are their names?"

**Note: we actually had many goals.

Lobster Time

One of the things that excited me about moving out east is the possibility of cheap lobster. Well, yesterday we drove past a sign that said $5.99/lb. I knew that in the grocery store it had been anywhere from $9-12, so this was a deal! They were also selling seal flippers, but I passed (I'd like to try them someday, but I think I'd like someone else to cook them for me first). 

So we brought home 3 lobsters. Our first challenge was at the truck. Would we like males or females? Uhhh.... "We're not going to be breeding them..." says Paul. We were informed that the difference is the size and the possibility of roe inside the females. Alright, so with that decision done (we got 1 female and 2 males), we set to cook these suckers.

I tried not to be squeamish. I really wanted to be okay with dropping them in the pot. But man, it was harder then I thought. They MOVED around and kinda freaked out when they got close to the steam. I had to wear oven mitts to grab mine. And I only had the courage to do one. 

There is a video of the first lobster going in, but the amount of freaking out by both of us is an indignity I'm not quite willing to share. 

Paul went mittless for the other two.

Then, there they were. All red and cooked. Much happier (to us, not to them) , much easier to deal with.

Then came the trouble of eating them. The tails weren't too bad, but the claws were a tough crack. We don't own any of the tools of the trade, so we had to improvise with pliers and a hammer from our toolbox. By the end there were shells and bits of lobster everywhere. I can see why people wear bibs for this kind of thing.

They were tasty. 

And we decimated them.

Yum.

A Catch-All Update

I didn't really post last week since life got kinda crazy. But here's a few pics of what we've been up to.

G was a Monkey for Halloween.


She loved trick-or-treating. Going to people's houses, yelling "Trick-or-Treat" and "Thank-you", getting things in her bag, being dressed as a Monkey... everything was awesome to her. It was quite a nice night too, not the warmest of evenings, but not raining, which is a miracle around here!
We (very wisely) taught her before we went out that she was collecting candy to share with Mommy and Daddy, and she dutifully did. I'm sure that won't last more then a couple years, though.
All the candy is now gone. But it sure brings out the politeness in kids "Please, may I have some candy, please?" was the funniest thing she said all week.

We were also kept busy this week by the (too short) visit of Paul's parents. We finally got a chance to be tourists, with the benefit of a car to get us around.
It was amazing to see the real beauty of where we live. We went up to Signal Hill.



And looked out over the vast Atlantic Ocean. If the earth was flat, you'd be able to see Ireland from here. Paul's parents visit Ireland regularly (his dad is from there) and they were impressed by how similar Newfoundland looks to Ireland.

We took a drive to Portugal Cove, then along the coast. The most beautiful view was Middle Cove. The ocean swirled and crashed against the rocks, it was spectacular.



Paul and I were amazed that we really live here! This view is only about a 20 min drive from our apartment. It's so cool how close together things are.

With the benefit of grandparents to babysit, the two of us finally got a much, much needed date night. It was so nice to get out without a child. We went to a nice restaurant and took our time eating. It was such a yummy meal. I got mussels and steak - two of my favourite things - and they were cooked to perfection. It would have been really perfect to have a glass of wine, but C'est la vie.

Getting out and about in a car really solidified our decision to buy a car. That, and the next day the St. John's transit (Metrobus) went on strike. There are no busses running, which means we have to walk everywhere. Luckily, Paul was already walking to class, and most of my outings are within walking distance. But I hope it ends soon. Walking is a (literal) pain sometimes.

A Trip Downtown

We finally took a trip downtown this weekend and were able to see the harbour and the sights of St. John's.
G fell in LOVE with these statues of a Newfoundland dog and a Labrador dog. She rode on them, fed them rocks (which is, of course, what a statue eats), pet them and generally refused to leave them. It took some convincing to move on with our day.
























We walked around the downtown pretty much all day, stopping in a few of nice shops along the way. We debated going up to Signal Hill, but decided it was too far for that day. But we did see it from the harbour.


The hills of downtown were amazing - I was reminded of White Rock, BC, but it is so distinctly East Coast as well. The houses are brightly coloured and the shore is so rocky.


It was a beautiful day and very sunny. I don't know what all this talk about rain is about - it's beautiful here! I've been reassured by several people, however, that the rain and the fog are coming!