We have been back from our Canada trip for well over a week now, and have been slowly settling back into our normal lives here at home. After three weeks of having grandparents, aunts and cousins all around, it has been a bit tricky adjusting to being just us again, especially as P is working away from home for a while and only comes home on the weekends. I feel a bit teary every time I think back on our trip, it was so mazing to spend time with my family again and for them to spend time with Little T, and yet it seems like we hardly had any time together at all. We waited so long to see each other, years to be exact, and then it was all over in the blink of an eye. I don't want to sound ungrateful though, I know that some time together is always better than no time at all and I do have some wonderful and beautiful memories of our time together to look back on.
My sister is a wonderfully talented cook and treated us to many, many delicious meals over our stay, but the one meal that stands out from all the rest was the time she came home with a squirming bag of live lobsters! Caught that morning somewhere along the beautiful coast line of Nova Scotia, these were a treat like no other. There was some deliberation on the best way to get these little critters into the freezer, but in the end with plenty of squeals and screams from all of us, and a big pair of kitchen tongs, we got them in.
From the freezer into huge pots of boiling water they went and then we waited with ill disguised impatience for them to turn bright pink.
As neither my parents nor I had ever tried lobster before, my sister was very generous and bought each of us our very own lobster, plus a couple of spare ones. A good thing that was too or there may have been a bit of a scrapple to get another little bite of sweet and delicious meat :)
We were very lucky with the weather and got to enjoy weeks of hot and sunny days, and we were very happy to spend most of our time in my sister's beautiful home and garden. Finding trips out that would cater to all of the ages in our group of seven was a little bit challenging, so staying at home, letting the kids run around and play together, while we caught up and chatted away was one of the best options for all of us.
Don't worry though, we did do a few fun things, like going to the Annapolis Valley to pick blueberries. I have never seen nor tasted such big and sweet blueberries in my life and we spent a glorious morning between the bushes, picking a huge boxful to take home.
On our way home, we stopped at the gorgeous Gaspereau Valley Fibres Farm Wool Shop. This little gem of a shop is stocked to the rafters with all natural fibres, plenty of them from Canada and some even spun right there on site from the fleeces of the animals on display on the farm surrounding the shop.
My mum and I had a leisurely browse around the shop while the rest of the family had a look around the farm. The friendly and helpful staff was happy for us to squish and fondle the yarn to our hearts content as we desperately tried to come to a decision on which yarn to buy.
It was without a doubt one of the most amazing yarn shops I have ever had the pleasure of visiting and I dearly hope that I will have the opportunity to go there again some day.
We also had a great day walking around the stunning Shubenacadie wildlife park, where we encountered some of Canada's beautiful creatures. The kids were able to run around, feeding the peacocks and ducks while my parents marvelled at seeing moose, mountain lions and wolves for the very first time.
Of course we did make several trips to the shops too, I couldn't go home before I stopped by Michael's first and as always I had to stock up on all of the wonderful choc-chips and other baking paraphernalia that can only be found on that side of the pond.
This visit may have been heart-wrenchingly short and even though I now miss my family even more than before, I wouldn't exchange it for all of the money in the world.
