Thanksgiving with the Tan Man

About a week before Thanksgiving my friend Paul made a spontaneous decision to come to Nova Scotia for a visit!! He was here for a week and it was great to show him around to some of my favorite places and introduce him to some of my favorite people :)

Of course, the first stop was to Peggy's Cove where we stayed for a few hours, both of us doing work or reading on our own corner of Peggy's rocks :) I just love sitting and 'BE'ing there, listening to the waves crash and the spray catch the sunlight... mmm, nothing better, really... hopefully Paul caught a bit of that awe and appreciation that afternoon... actually, I'm pretty sure he did cause he asked if we could go back sometime, but we never got too --next visit Paul ;)

Another day we went on a hike with a bunch of people, to Cape Split, in the Valley (where all the apples and exciting things grow). Jordan and Julia both were there -they know Paul from when they lived in Edmonton, along with Ally, Kristen, & and Luke -it was a fun day. It felt like a pretty long hike before we finally got out to the cape... but eventually we could all collapse in the grass and wind to relax and enjoy the amazing view (pictures never do things like this justice!) The cliffs here are just crazy... if you ever fell, you'd just die -happy thought huh? It was a really peaceful afternoon, and from here we went for some fish and chips -all part of the experience!

Paul and I had multiple expeditions out to find the perfect leaves... unfortunately we had a really warm Fall here and our leaves all turned at least 2 weeks later than normal, meaning that Paul wasn't here at their peek -bummer. Anyway, I have a few pics of some nice leaves... you'll just have to use your imagination a little bit (those of you not from out here!)

And what would be a trip to NS to visit me without a stop in at camp!! Malagash is probably the thing that means the most to me (besides people) so I was really glad I could show Paul around. Of course, he HAD to get a picture at the anchor- it's tradition :) We also went for a walk down at the beach and sloshed through the water to get out to the sandbar (cold, wet jeans on a windy day? no problem :P)

I love this last picture ... I didn't even realize, but Paul pointed out that this street in my subdivision is his first name (his Chinese name) - Howe Tan! I tried to tell him that I had it specially put in for his visit but he didn't believe me :P It was fun to have you here Paul and great to show you some of my life back at home -Thanks for comin' to 'lil ol' Nova Scoter :)

Apples, Apples, Apples

At long last!! -I am FINALLY home for the Fall (the true, red, orange & yellow fall!) so that I can pick apples... my FAVORITE thing to do in Nova Scotia in the Fall :D For as long as I can remember, either our family or the youth group would go to the valley for Apple Picking... the orchards always have free apple cider for you and you fill up your big clear plastic bags with either 5 or 10 lbs of MacIntosh, Gravenstine, or Cortland apples -and of course, you can eat as many as you'd like while you are picking... my absolute favorite are the Cortlands... mmm :)

This year, my first apple picking was with mom and dad... we also got pumpkins too -we spend the whole day in the valley which was really nice -I'd forgotten how beautiful it is down there...
We got lots of fresh veggies, stopped for curd at the cheese factory, ate fish and chips at a little fishing cove -it was an awesome day!

The next time I went apple picking, it was Jenn's Birthday, and a bunch of us went. I don't have a picture of it, but I was attacked by a ladder at one point, then a big apple fight began -dude... those really hurt when they connect with you!! :) (you can't really see it, but in that picture there are a few apples flying through the air!)

It's so nice to be home, doing the things that I've missed for so long, with the people that I've missed for so long :) I am enjoying Nova Scotia... just in case you couldn't tell...

Another Cousin Wedding

ON September 1 my cousin Jessica got married... hard to believe that we are all 'technically' old enough to be getting married, like all of our parents did at this age! Woof! But, before I show you pictures of that, I have this AWESOME one of my Nanny... doing her hair in the kitchen before the wedding... The very best part is that she is knitting a stocking. Now it's important for you to understand the significance... Nanny has knit ALL of her 4 children and their spouses (3) and ALL of the grandchildren (10) one of these stockings... and now, in the last year and a 1/2 she has been knitting stockings for the new generation of in-laws (now 3)!! Awe :)

Another thing is that there are a bunch of new windmills on our cape. Right now there are 11, but eventually, they are going to put up 51!! It's smart though... PEI is one of the windiest places on earth! They are sorta pretty and sorta ugly all at the same time -but they are HUGE!

Anyway, Jess and Mitchell's wedding day was fun! We had all of us cousins in attendance except for Janna (this picture is missing all the Ellis girls cause they were in the wedding party and hadn't yet made their appearance! Speaking of appearances, here is Jess right after her's! She and Mitchell were listening to the special music. I think Jess was just gorgeous that day (well, everyday!) but seriously she was a beautiful bride! Mitchell looked pretty proud of her :) It was a great wedding, with only one glitch (Mitchell's grampa wasn't feeling so good... there was a bit of an intermission -which I think I might schedule into my wedding down the road, just enough of a breather to realize "oh dang! I'm getting married right now!" and take it all in :D)

We got to take a whole Ellis Family Photo, which was great -again, only missing Janna. Dad was doing pop-a-wheelies with Pappy's wheelchair -I think he only found it funny for the fist 2 :P

After the wedding, while the wedding party was doing pictures, the fam all went back to the farm for a lobster lunch :) mmm... It was Krista's first time having Lobster -not too sure what she thought of it, she said she liked it, but I imagine it will be something that grows on her over time! But it was yummy for the rest of us -Pappy enjoyed himself, of course... awe... look at him, I love this man.

Then we were off to the reception in Summerside... speeches, dancing, cake, laughing, gifts, people, corny jokes, good food, and of course, the same almond butter crunch candy that all of our mothers have made forever -it is now the official "favor" at all cousin weddings to date :) I made all of us 'remaining' single cousins make a pact that there would be no more weddings in our family for another 2 years minimum!! -we've had 3 in a year and a 1/2 -woof!!

Congratulations You Two!! :) Mitchell, Welcome to our crazy and dysfunctional family :) Now bring on the great grandchildren, right Jess?? ;)

Happy Birthday Julia!!

In August a bunch of us were really sneaky and came up with a marvelous plan to kidnap julia and get her all the way to Peggy's Cove for a surprise Birthday party for her, of course, without her knowing it...

I was supposed to get her there, which is tricky cause I'm not always the best liar! But, we'd hung out the night before and were planning on going to Peggy's the next morning -the only problem was that we'd stayed up until 2 am and I had to get her to our destination by 10:30!! I was so worried that she's suspect something was up cause I am NO early riser and for us to be there on time would mean we'd get like 5-6 hours of sleep only... hummmmm. So, I made up some crazy excuse why we shouldn't sleep in but get to Peggy's asap in the morning.... "the summer is almost over julia and we have to beat all the tourists or the place will be packed!!" Ridiculous... I was SO sure she saw straight through me!

But she bought it!!! We were late, but we got there and she was SO surprised to see everyone waiting for her on a blanket on the rocks! I was perfect :D

We had an awesome breakfast just sitting on the rocks... random people (tourists) were taking our pictures as if we were part of the scenery, like the ocean or the lighthouse! We laughed a lot, toasted Julia with some sparkling apple cider saying all the things we loved about her (at which point I accidentally dumped my glass of juice in my lap so it looked like I peed my pants- great! :P) Anyway, it was an awesome morning, Julia was surprised and all was well in the world :) Love you Jules, Happy Birthday!