Oh you mean like this?

Picture it, a beautiful summer evening, you’re with your family on a beautiful warm beach having a photo session with a photographer. The sun is setting and the sky looks as though an artist has used it as their canvas.

While others are having their picture taken you are walking through the edge of the water. Your kids are close by playing and walking in the water as well looking for hermit crabs and shells. You hear your wife say to your daughter, what are you doing, you can’t be taking pictures with your phone over the water like that.

You turn to look and see that the scene should be captured in a picture. You reach into your pocket to pull out your phone and oops. You look down and in the clear water you can clearly see the WordPress logo on your case staring back up at you. Quickly you pick it up and turn it off, but instantly you know it’s over. You look to your wife and daughter and say or else this could happen and show them the phone dripping with salt water.

On the way home you stop and pick up rice and put the phone in to dry it out. Knowing full well that might work if it were fresh water that might stand a chance.

Coming Home

This morning we wanted to hit the road early as Ella had dance class at 4:00pm so we wanted to make it back in time for her to not miss that. So the goal was to hit the road by 8:00am so we could have a bit of fun on the way home.

The day before I decided I wanted to take the opportunity to run along the path in Moncton’s Riverfront Park so I made sure I got up lots early and got in 5k there. The sun was rising in front of me, while the moon was still setting behind. There wasn’t another person around until I made it back to my car and someone came and started on the path.

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Right before we left home I could feel I was coming down with a cold, thanks Tiff. It’s been zapping my energy level, but it hasn’t mattered a lot because I’ve spent a fair amount of time laying on a beach the past few days. This mornings run however didn’t feel very good. I had a few coughing fits along the way and had to walk a few times.

We were still able to get going right at 8:00 so we headed to Pictou which is close to where I grew up for the most part. It’s on the same shore as the beaches we’ve been on and we stopped at Caribou beach this morning. The water wasn’t nearly as warm as the other two beaches we were at in New Brunswick, but we got in anyway.

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Any trip to Pictou County though just isn’t complete with at least one slice of Pizza. Pictou County Pizza is the best pizza there is. Some might argue that, but they would be wrong. Even Jen hadn’t liked it before, but today she tried the best there is from Acropole right in Pictou and I think she has been converted. I’ve been doing really good about eating healthy and proper portion sizes, but I couldn’t pass this up.

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It’s so good that UPS now will ship it across Canada. If you want some more info about it The Local Travelers Gillian and Drew wrote about it and even did a video series to find the best pizza in the county.

While we ate our pizza we walked along the Pictou waterfront before we hopped back in the car and made it home in just enough time to get Ella changed and back in the car to get to dance.

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Even with my cold this has been one of the best weekends I can remember in a long time. The weather was perfect, the beaches beautiful, and the company with me is the best in the world!

 

Another Fun Moncton Day

We had another fun day in Moncton today. If their winters didn’t seem to be at least as bad as ours if not worse I’d consider moving here at some point. I mean I was born in Moncton so it would sort of like be coming home.

We did a bit of back to school shopping first thing this morning, but then we were able to enjoy the rest of the day. We went to Centennial Park and to their “beach” they have there. It is a pool with sand brought in around it. The kids really enjoyed it. On the way out we stopped at the splash pad they have there as well. As long as they are wet that’s all that matters.

This evening we went back to the beach. We had a photography session booked with a friend of ours on Parlee Beach. It was a perfect evening for being on the beach and I think we are going to end up with some awesome family pictures.

We’re already looking at booking another weekend getaway here even if it might not be until next summer.

Moncton Long Weekend

This weekend Jen ended up having a long weekend thanks to August 3rd being a civic holiday. She doesn’t get a lot of days off aside from a week or so in the summer and Christmas so we took advantage and decided to take a weekend getaway to Moncton New Brunswick. Moncton is only about three hours away from home so it’s not real far, but perfect for a weekend.

With my sister and her family we grabbed a AirBnB deal with two units in the same house right on the river. The cool thing is we can walk down to the river and look across to my Grandparents old home. It’s the place we used to come and stay whenever we visited.

We wanted to leave at a good time this morning, but I still managed to get a 5K run in before we left. I got home just as Jen was getting up so I quick got showered and we got things ready to go.

We made it here in time to have a picnic lunch in the park and the kids stretched their legs on the playground after the drive. The leg stretching did me good too. Then we were ready to check in so we stopped off long enough get people changed and put our cold stuff from the cooler into the fridge and headed to the beach.

Growing up on this same shore which is on the Northumerland Straight I knew the beaches were nice. The most famous is Parlee Beach but I don’t remember coming here at all. The beach we went to was in New Glasgow Nova Scotia callled Melberby Beach. The Northumberland Straight has some fairly warm waters because it is fairly short distance across to Prince Edward Island. Taking some advice though we went to Aboiteau Beach instead of Parlee because parking was cheaper and it is usually less crowded.

It ended up being really cheap because all the paid parking area was full so we had to park a little ways away in the free parking and walk down to the beach. It was pretty crowded but it was still beautiful and we were able to find a spot to sit no problem still.

We made arrangements to meet up with friends who came down from Northern New Brunswick to have a beach day with us. As soon as we walked onto the beach though Jen’s cousins were there with their kids so we got to talk with them for a while too. Later on more friends came to spend some time with us who live really close to the beach. We had as many people on the beach with us here as we do when we arrange something at the beach at home. It was a great day!

Rest Day

This morning I was able to wake up early the way I like and I got out of bed to go for a run, but my legs and body were telling me otherwise. I was sore and cramped and I guess that makes sense, I pushed it hard for me this week.

I’m pleased with the progress I’ve made in July already getting back into running. I’m back up to 5K and each run was feeling stronger than the last, so today I gave myself a rest day. I guess that’s important to though.

We are getting ready to head away for a long weekend, I’m going to do my best to will myself out of bed in the morning and go running some of the time there too.

Here’s a look at what I’ve done so far this month. I’m still walking a bit during my 5K but it is getting less and less. Last run was only for about 30 seconds.

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Bluenosers by Choice

This is a neat campaign going on right now in Nova Scotia. Wesley Booth has started We Are NS a project looking to put Nova Scotia back on the map and into everyone’s mind. In his post Why Painting Your Nose Blue Matters he explains why he is doing what he is doing.

He’s starting today backpacking across Nova Scotia to hear and share positive stories about Nova Scotia. Here is a bit of an intro video that he recently posted as well.

For those of you not in the know, Bluenosers is a term used to refer to someone from Nova Scotia. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/bluenoser-makes-it-into-the-oxford-dictionary-1.1402642

 

Picking Raspberries

Last night we went out to pick some raspberries as a family. If you didn’t know I have a thing for raspberries. It isn’t even that they are my favourite, but they are delicious and the memories are great. This was even better as two of my Aunts were down visiting my Mom and they call came with us.

We only picked a few pints each and it didn’t take very long. It would have taken even less time if I hadn’t been doing the whole one for the basket, one for me trick. It wasn’t quite that bad, but I certainly taste tested some. It was my first time picking at Reimer Gardens but I think I’ll be back. They had a great setup and they do u-pick blueberries as well!

 

Thursday Morning Run

Early morning always used to be my favourite time to run, but the past while I’ve been having a hard time getting out of bed in the morning. This morning though I forced myself to get up and out the door. It made me happy, there are less people around, it’s cooler and I get to see views like that sunrise in the picture here.

This was the best run I’ve had in a while. Still a lot slower than I want to be but I only stopped to walk once for about 30 seconds, and just long enough to snap that picture. So far I’ve done 20k this week and my legs are feeling stronger. The weight is starting to come back off as well thanks to this and much improved eating again.

Wee Library and a Walk in the Rain

Last night Noah and I went out for a walk around Miners Marsh in Kentville while Jen took Ella to dance. It was overcast on the way down but dry. We weren’t very far into the walk before the rain started. Noah wasn’t thrilled about it, but we had a good time anyway.

When we happened across the family of Canadian Geese who we have been watching grow all year he was happy again. The stood in the path and didn’t seem to care that we were there. That is until we got too close and one of the parents started hissing at us. We had tried to give them space and make some noise to have them move off the path, but they were fine until we were basically right beside them.

The most exciting thing though was right at the entrance of the marsh a new Wee Library has been setup. Thanks to our great community and mostly Laura from Valley Family Fun for taking this on and getting it in place. I really need to get her on WordPress. I had seen pictures of these little libraries before and thought they were a great idea, but never even thought to try and get one setup. Thanks Laura!

Today I went back down and made my first contribution to the library. I had ended up with two copies of The Year Without Pants, so I thought I would bring a copy down for others to enjoy. Maybe someone local will pick it up, apply, and I’ll have a local coworker again!

New Frame Hung

The other day when I added the Automattic Creed to my wall I found another frame that wasn’t being used. There was also a spot on my office wall that it would go but I wasn’t sure what to put in it.

Last night I was I thought of something that I thought would look fairly neat. So I printed out a few logos and put them in the frame. My printer isn’t the best so it doesn’t do a great job but I think it looks pretty good.

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