Whew...things are busy. This was a whirlwind of a 5 day trip. David's cousin, Kaitlin, was getting married. All but one of David's cousins went and we knew we had to go. We debated on bringing the kids or not. They'd miss 3 days of school and that was pushing it on time. But we figured it was a trip that would bring lifelong memories. The school work can always be made up. Halifax is a 4 hour time change, so our travel days felt long, really long. We had less than 72 hours on the ground, but boy, did we pack a lot into that time! Because of that, I didn't bring a laptop. I figured blogging could wait. I appreciated the extra time while we were there, but making up for it with a post containing 75ish pictures, maybe not worth it. Oh well, it is what it is.
We landed at 2AM on Friday, which was 10PM for us Thursday night, so I didn't think we would be that wiped out. But, I was wrong. We were exhausted. We crashed at the closest hotel to the airport. Then, had to go back and get the rental car in the morning since they are closed at 2AM. We headed to Auntie Barb's since that's where Gwynne was. Then, we headed to Uncle Pat's house who was hosting a BBQ for everyone.
This is some of the cousins. There are lots of girls!
It was great to see Rachel and Greg, and the kids all went swimming.
Emily was happy to see cousin Amy on the opposite side of the country than what we are used to.
Everyone in the pool. Well, the kids anyway.
Amy looked pretty with the orange flowers and orange glass.
It was Uncle Terry's 66th birthday in a few days, so we had cake.
The girl on the right is Scarlett. She is David's cousin Robbie's daughter. That's confusing.
Oh, this is Robbie! So, it's his daughter. The only Kelley who didn't come was Robbie's brother Marc. My bad! Aunt Paula reminded me that her son Greg and another cousin Christopher didn't come either. Oops. So, three were missing.
I hate this picture of me, but Amy and I were cracking up at who knows what.
The boys loved running around in Uncle Pat's backyard.
It was so great to see everyone and visit. We headed to a different hotel in downtown Halifax near the water. We slept 11 hours. We all felt much better after that. We got up and headed to Dalhousie University which is where David and his sister Alisa went to school, along with some other relatives.
The school has been there for 200 years!
This was the table where David studied a lot in the library.
We didn't know how much time we'd have for sight seeing, but we wanted to fit in what we could. We had about 3 hours before the wedding, so we took off for Peggy's Cove. It's the lighthouse on the Eastern side of Halifax on the ocean.
It's so pretty there, but the boys were jumping the rocks and scaring me. The waves crash hard there and all the avoid the rock signs were making me nervous. I was happy to get moving.
We left with all of us in one piece. Whew....
This is funny....Emily on her phone and the boys checking out the payphone. It worked too!
David went to get some lobster soup and I snapped a few pics of the kids. It's postcard picture worthy there.
Then, we realized we had about 90 minutes before we needed to leave for the wedding and we are 60 minutes from our hotel and I need to shower. But, we stopped for ice cream and a bathroom break before we hit the road. I love the kids in this chair.
Luckily, I already had everything laying out, so David got the boys ready while I showered.
Emily wanted her hair in french braids. The humidity is not a friend of the curly hair. So, I put it in two pig tails. Then, I sat behind her in the car and braided her hair as we drove. I was pretty impressed with myself.
Here's the beautiful bride and Uncle Pat.
And the mother of the bride, Dian and son Patrick. Man he has changed since the last time I saw him in 2005.
Here's the beautiful wedding party.
And my handsome Ben. He thought he looked like he worked for the CIA.
We also squeezed in a family pic.
Noah and Greg pretty much ran around these beautiful grounds the whole time. Luckily, nobody went swimming.
David and Alisa out on the bridge discussing life or maybe nothing. I'm not sure.
Here's Gwynne with all her siblings.
And Gwynne with all her family.
Here's Aunt Paula and Aunt Renate. Lovely people.
The wedding was just beautiful and I'm glad we were able to go.
Here's Ben sticking his head out our sun roof. He thought it was pretty cool.
The next day, we wanted to do some touristy stuff in Halifax. We did the Harbour Hopper tour which is a vehicle that goes on land and then in the water.
This is the St. Mary's church were David's grandparents got married, gosh probably in the 1940's sometime or maybe late 30's.
The kids thought it was fun when we went splashing in the water.
Ben looks like Rocky here. You can't really see what it is, but it's a giant wave that you can climb. I'm glad Emily still does stuff like this and isn't too old.
That's Noah sliding down.
Here's the church again.
Then, we headed up to the Citadel, which is an old British fort. It was uphill and Noah couldn't do it. So, David had to step in.
The fort had this giant moat so that nobody could scale the 40 foot wall. If they got over one, they'd end up in the grass area and be shot. Cool!
Boys and cannons.
Ben in this wig cracked me up.
The kids were watching people learn to march.
Ben getting Noah back for the cannon earlier.
The kids practiced writing with ink.
This is a little joke with me and cousin Amy.
We had fun in the tailor's room.
And we got to watch the changing of the guards!
Then, we headed to the Public Gardens. We went there in 2005 when Emily was one!
We recreated a few photos. I should've got the real photos, but I'm being too lazy. So, I'm taking a picture that I took before we left. It's good enough for you to get the idea. She's changed just a little.
Then, we headed over to Auntie Barb's. We found a store and got some Lune Moons. They are my favorite. They are like a Twinkie, but totally different, and totally better. Ben and Noah got their first taste and were hooked!
We headed out for one last dinner with the family. There was 21 of us!
Someone mentioned that Emily and Scarlett look a lot alike and I can totally see that. It's the eyes or eyebrows or all of it. Scarlett is only 11! They are all beautiful.
Then, it was time to head home. This was the sunrise coming up in Halifax from the plane.
Then, there was a storm in Toronto where our layover was. We only had 90 minutes, and we circled the airport three times. We finally land and had about 20 minutes until our next plane took off. I was worried. Who knew that we'd go through customs and security again before getting on our next plane. I figured we'd do customs when we landed in the US, but nope. We ran, Amazing Race, style through the airport and got to our gate as they just announced the final boarding call. Whew....
Some of us were tuckered out....
And some of us weren't....
It was such a great trip. I'm so very thankful that we were able to spend time with family and have a great time together.
PS.... I knew Aunt Linda had taken a picture of the two of us, but I must have missed it on her Facebook album she posted. But, I saw it today, so I'm adding it here. I also found another one with Uncle Terry that I like. You know, when you get married, you just hope that you can get along with your in laws. I never realized that I would love all these people like my own family.
