school's out...

Low Tide, Five Islands

As of last Friday morning, school is now officially done for the summer around here!

What is literally the first thing they did when they got home from their last day of school? Take their unused school supplies, and play school. Here, Juniper helps Linden read, by writing down all the words Linden is having trouble with, to review after reading the book.

 Seeing as the last day of school corresponded with the Canada Day long weekend, we decided to celebrate in style.  Here's the recap!

1. Lunenburg

Yes, yes.  We go to Lunenburg a lot.  The draw, you see, is pretty big.  UNESCO World Heritage site, the Bluenose, and - oh yeah - Zsofi and family live there.  But on Saturday (ie, Canada Day), the draw was even bigger, as Zsofi's sister Agi and her family were visiting!  We haven't seen the Kureks in AGES.  

The girls pick flowers to decorate the picnic table.  Juniper is in outfit #5 of the day, clearly channeling her inner Red Riding Hood

Linden manned the fire pit from beginning to end, and was very pleased with the task

The kids are so grown up! (l-r: Linden, Simon, Juniper, Sylvie, Noni, Eva)

(for context, here is one of the last times we saw the Kureks)

Beautiful sisters!

The whole gang

 2. Economy Falls:
Sunday was a bit of write-off... we had arrived home VERY late from Lunenburg, and therefore everyone was tired and grumpy the next day.  Plus, it was rainy and foggy.  BUT, on Monday (ie, yesterday), we rallied, and took off for Economy/Five Islands to do some hiking and exploring.  Clark had originally envisioned a camping trip, but we scaled it back to a day trip instead.  It was amazing!

Hiking down to the falls

Goof ball

The steepest part of the trail has stairs, thank goodness (though these are painful to climb back up at the end!)

We made it down!

Chatting and eating lunch before donning swimsuits.

Having made it to a rock in the middle of the river

Climbing a huge boulder at the base of the falls

Posing with the waterfall

Drying off and warming up post-exploration

Trying (mostly in vain) to recreate this photo from SEVEN years ago:

Look at that little Juniper!

Checking out the falls from the top

3. Five Islands

After the Economy Falls adventure, we headed off for Five Islands, which is a Provincial Park, nestled in the Bay of Fundy.  Truly, this area of the world is a spectacular spot to see - almost like being on a different planet, in some respects.  I took loads and LOADS of pictures - all of which, I'm sure, were completely fabulous.  Unfortunately, the setting switch had gotten bumped when I turned on the camera, and all my pictures were therefore completely and utterly ruined.  RUINED.  I cried a little when I realized what had happened, as it was only discovered at the very tail end of the adventure.  But.... Clark took a few with his phone, and there are a couple from the end.  So all is not completely lost.  We'll just have to go back.

The tide was out when we arrived, meaning there was a seemingly never-ending expanse of pure mud to play in.  

Looking for crabs in the seaweed

Mr. Mud

Not-super-successful group shot at the very end

Looking for fossils as we leave

Alrighty - I'm going to post this, and then get to work!  Clark took the day off today to extend the weekend just a wee bit firther, and we've got some work to do around this place (in particular, placing my concrete leaf stones in the garden.  Pictures to follow next week, I'm sure!)