We're Back!

To see the pictures in more detail, you can click on them!




After another gruelling road trip - this one spread out over two days but nowhere near less painful - and 10 days spent moving into our new home, we're back! You can see a few "Before & After" pictures of the new place in some older posts, but we worked extremely hard to get the Master Bedroom, Nursery and Playroom painted, set-up and completely ready. The den and the two upstairs bathrooms are also done, and our hired professional painter is finishing the downstairs by the end of next week so we can finally put all our furniture in its place.

We're thrilled with the results, which could not have been accomplished without the dedicated help of Ken (our realtor aka Painter Extraordinaire), Martin, Phil, Cindy and my parents. We were still putting up bedroom lamps at midnight the night before we left to pick up the babies in Shediac, but we got 'er done! There were some pretty major glitches along the way (no phone for four days, no stove for a week and a half, no electrician despite booking him in February, etc); I guess no move is without them.

In any case, we were anxious to see the babies again, although I can say the feeling wasn't mutual! They so enjoyed their time with Grammy, Aunt Pinie, Aunt Jane and a host of cottage neighbours that they cried when they saw us. Jane has some wonderful pictures of them splashing in the creek and in their Canada Day finery which she'll send to me so I can post a few here. We are so grateful for everyone's help in taking care of our brood. Although it was hard to leave them for 10 days, I knew they were in loving and capable hands. We also know the move simply could not have been done with three babies underfoot.

So, expect to see more of us again now that things are sorta back to normal. We can hardly wait to make use of our big, grassy back yard and the abundant raspberry and black currant bushes we have out there, as well as the rhubarb and strawberry patches. In fact, Edward is going to make a strawberry and rhubarb crisp for dessert tonight - my parents are bringing the main course. We get to try out our new stove, and I already used our huge new-to-us washer this afternoon. The dryer is the clothesline for the baby clothes for the moment. It's all looking up! It's good to be back.

More Pictures!

You can click on the individual pictures to "bigify" them!



Keith enjoying his bottle



Kith enjoying his blueberries courtesy of Grampy (is there a theme here? Keith loves food!)



The sea view from the cottage. We saw some wonderful sunsets from this window.

Before & After: Master Bedroom

This room took the most amount of work. We had to remove the thick, plush carpet (there was hardwood underneath), remove the wallpaper - which came off in tiny pieces of course - paint the walls and the blue trim (three coats!) and put up new curtains (thanks Martin!), a closet organizer and two wall lamps. There are also two new IKEA bookcases that I lined with paper remnants. The room is a little awkward for furniture placement because it is long and narrow, but I think we came up with a sensible layout. We're scouting for two used bed side tables/ small dressers to increase our storage space a little. The door beside the window in the second picture is our tiny but functional ensuite bathroom with a miniscule sink and a glass enclosed shower.

Before & After: Playroom

This is more of a "during" shot, as the room and trim was already painted by our realtor, Ken. As you can imagine, his help was invaluable, and he also painted a large part of the master bedroom and the nursery. I was really pleased at how well it all turned out, and we LOVE using this room already. To be able to leave toys on the floor to return to them later without tripping over each other, rocking chairs, babies and exersaucers is pretty amazing! I'm getting a few more wall coverings - I have my eye on a big Babar poster for beside the window... stay tuned.

Before & After: Nursery

In this room we: painted walls and trim, removed curtains, changed light and switch plates and set-up as close as possible to their original nursery. We were lucky to have help putting together the IKEA storage units (thanks Phil, Cindy and Martin!) - these and the ones in the playroom made 9 separate units to assemble!

Hello From Shediac!

A hot day at Point du Chene... the babies are all able to hold their own small bottles now and feed themselves (here they're guzzling water), but they still pefer being on a warm lap and gazing into someone's eyes :)

Keith took a great interest in Edward's beer. This was their second restaurant experience and they did very well, lasting an hour and a quarter until they decided they had enough - and wanted their dinner!

Just a quick word to say that were safely and comfortably ensconced in Percy's cottage at Point du Chene (aka the family "compound" at Parlee Beach). Our 12 hour overnight trip turned into a 16 hour slog that truly tested our mettle. We got stuck in Montreal traffic for two hours, the dog was violently carsick on several occasions (um, both ends...) and I think we shared 2 hours of sleep between the 3 adults in the car. The babies were as good as gold, and as their morning feed time rolled around, we had to detour to an Irving Big Stop so they could have their bottles. They did extremely well at the restaurant, and we were encouraged to repeat the experience a few days later at the local Wednesday night fish fry. So now we know we can dine out with the babies and survive the ordeal!!

The weather here has been quite cool and overcast, but we've loved our daily hour long walks in the salt air. We have tonnes of help, so Edward and I get to catch a break every now and again... and one of their neighbours has generously offered the use of her internet (we have no phone!) so we can reconnect if and when needed. To be honest, it's been great to take a break from the rest of the world. Next week, we're heading back to Ottawa to close on our new and old houses, so I may try to post again once we have reestablished ourselves in our new abode.

More Pictures!

Colin LOVES to stand on his own while holding onto the furniture. Here he is playing "Shipwreck" with Grammy.


Miss Evelyn wearing her Frenchy's dress as a shirt. Frenchy's is like Value Village, and going there to sort through the bins is a family tradition!