Canada day and Fredericton

Whenever we go on a trip somewhere we usually take our camera with us because we're picture taking fanatics (if you could see all the pictures on our computer, you'd believe me). But, when we left last Wednesday to head to Halifax for the Canada Day festivities, we had forgotten it and we couldn't turn around to go back and get it. Adam had a job interview in the valley on the same day we were Halifax bound and we were already pressed for time, so there was no turning back for a camera. Well, I suggested it but my suggestion was met with the "are you nuts!?" look and as you can guess, he won (which I can understand). But now, we have ZERO pictures of Mya's first Canada Day. Well, I guess technically it's not her first but last year's didn't count since we weren't in the country.

We started off Canada Day with a pancake breakfast in the Grand Parade in downtown Halifax and it was my first pancake breakfast too! Most years I would get there too late and there would only be juice left or I would over sleep and miss it altogether, but not this year! Mya was really well behaved while we waited in line and she gobbled down her share of my pancakes. We decided to forgo the free cake at the Citadel because they would also be doing the 21 gun salute there and having gone before to the official ceremony thing on the hill and seeing babies in strollers crying, it's been my motto that if you can't plug your own ears, you aren't old enough to go. Same with dogs and fireworks. It's just mean. So instead, we walked to the commons and played on the playground and watched them set up for the family picnic that would be held there later.

Once it was time to head to our parade spot, we took off and Adam headed back to Nana's to get changed for his next interview. As we split Adam said to me "go make some memories!", so off to make some memories we went. That was the plan anyway, well, my plan. Mya had other ideas in mind. I noticed her head was getting a bit heavy on the walk to our preferred parade watching spot and I thought to myself "good! get a bit of a snooze, a cat nap, and once the parade starts you'll wake up." But that did not happen. I parked the stroller on the sidewalk facing the street and put my hoody on the ground to sit next to her and waited for the parade to start. First came a marching band, Mya never budged. Then came another, Mya stayed asleep. When I saw the bagpipes I thought surely she would jolt awake, but no. (I couldn't help but think of that scene from Mr. Holland's Opus where Iris is at a parade with a sleeping baby Cole and the firetrucks go by with their sirens and everyone is plugging their ears being bothered by the loud noise and Cole stays asleep. It turns out he was deaf and they didn't know but I wasn't worried that was the case with Mya!) Mya ended up sleeping through almost the whole thing until a couple floats from the end there were a couple boys playing guitars and they had mics and one of them asked into the mic if anyone had a pic he could borrow because he had lost his. That was it. It woke her up and she was awake and wondered where the hell she was. The look on her face was priceless actually. Once everything was over we walked back to Nana's for some lunch and a little play in the backyard and then we both went down for a nice long afternoon nap. We didn't get up until it was almost supper time...talk about wonderful!

We had been hoping to take Mya to the fireworks because we thought she'd really enjoy them but taking a 16 month old to fireworks at 10pm isn't the smartest, so she went to bed and slept while we had a drink with a couple friends and then headed to Citadel Hill all together. I think she was happier being left in bed anyways. Maybe next year it'll be something we can pull off.

The next morning we were off to Fredericton! We thought it would be nice to visit friends we hadn't seen since our wedding 3 years ago. Mya was a super traveler and couldn't have been better in the car and we made good time too! Rick and Linda were happy to see us and to finally meet Miss Mya. Mya was really happy to meet their 2 dogs and 1 cat! She's definitely an animal lover! It was much warmer in Fredericton than it usually is in Digby so we beat the heat by going to a park that had a wading pool for the kiddies! It was a kick ass place complete with wide open spaces for running around, a playground for getting the energy out and a kiddie pool for cooling down. The water was a little cooler than Mya was used to but once she got in, we couldn't get her out! I'll admit, it was nice for cooling down the mamas and the papas too and it was nice to see some other little kids. Monday morning came and we were back in the car to make the 4.5 hour trek back to Halifax. We thought it best to break up the trip back with a sleep at Nana's rather than push all the way through to Digby so this afternoon we were back in the car again and headed for home.

We did stop in the valley to look at a couple apartment possibilities because Adam got a job teaching for the second semester! Wahoo! We're keeping our fingers crossed that he'll be able to pick up another stint for the first semester and then he'll be all set! I guess it looks like we'll be moving to the valley!

Anyways, we're back home now and everything's been unpacked and put away and I think we're all gonna be happy to sleep in our own beds tonight. It's nice to get away and visit but it's also nice to come back home.