Canada, Independence and Arthur

This new digger goes with Linden everywhere

I have to say, this first week of July was a doozy:  Canada Day, Independence Day, and a good old fashioned hurricane. Unsurprisingly, Canada Day came and went on the Cape with very little pomp and circumstance, though I did send both kids to their respective schools wearing Canada Day shirts (compliments of my mother), and bearing Canadian flags (also compliments of my mother). Juniper was too shy to do much other than timidly mention why she had brought the flag in, but Linden boisterously waved the flag around as soon as he got to his classroom, and launched into a rousing rendition of "Happy Father's Day to You" (sung to the tune of Happy Birthday).  Clearly the significance of the day was lost on him, but at least Clark and all the other hard-working dads in the world got a shout-out.

Last year I got a nice picture of Juniper and Linden in their Canada Day shirts.  This year I was lucky to snap this shot before the shirts were irreparably covered in mud.

As it so happens, Independence Day and Hurricane Arthur arrived on the Cape simultaneously.  We got hit with pretty strong wind and rains (enough to bring a tree down in our yard and lots of debris scattered about), but nothing compared to the East Coast of Canada!  I suspect I will have comparatively very few readers on this particular post today, as most of the people I know around the New Brunswick area are still without power, and will be for some days yet. 

Having Arthur hit us on the 4th, however, did mean that most of the Independence Day festivities were postponed around these parts.  I have to say, we all had a pretty fabulous day none-the-less.  A lovely breakfast at the Village Café, a play date in Oliver and Owen's inflatable pool, and a wonderful dinner at the Saitos' house to round it all off.  I even brought a "patriotic" salad - greens, topped with an outside ring of strawberries and beets, and middle ring of feta, and an inner ring of blueberries.  Red, white, blue, and delicious!  We ended up singing songs around the piano, only to find out that a "classic" American tune (called, appropriately, "America" or "My Country, 'Tis of Thee") is none other than "God Save the Queen", with a whole new set of very patriotic American lyrics. Clark and I had a quiet snicker about that, and offered a rendition of the original.

Best part of the hurricane for Linden? Getting to hold his own umbrella on the way to dinner.

 Other than the one day (and mostly evening) of stormy weather, the rest of the week was beautiful. One of the highlights was when Juniper and I took an afternoon and biked into Falmouth for the Farmer's Market, a big library book fair, and some open studio time at the Clay Center. The only thing that made that afternoon even better than it already sounds is that Juniper biked the WHOLE way there, on her own bike.  That was not a small feat - it was over 2 miles of biking. She completely freaking rocked it, and felt pretty awesome about herself when we got there.  Then, on the weekend, we all biked into Woods Hole for a carnival, and she insisted on biking on her own bike again.  We went pretty slowly, but she did both the way there AND the way back.  Pretty amazing!

Check out that look of satisfaction!

 Last night was the perfect end to a great week - I packed a supper, and we took off to the beach for an evening picnic and swim. Homemade bagels, cream cheese and smoked salmon, followed by fresh fruit and yogurt for dessert.  A-maz-ing.  It turned out to be pretty windy and wavy at that point, but we were undeterred.  That was actually my first beach swim of the season, and I can't believe I waited so long! We have discovered that the key to success for doing the beach thing in Falmouth is to hang out on the rocky portion.  That way, we don't have to contend with all that bothersome sand (seriously - sand in everything!), or the hoards of people. Glorious!

Showing off the bagels and smoked salmon

Excited to hop in the water!

Trying to warm up afterwards.

Here's to hoping everyone weathered Arthur safely without too much distress or destruction, and (especially to my NB friends and family), that you have power up and running soon!