Mini Family Vacation

Well, there is another US citizen in the world today. We headed down to Halifax this week to report Mataya's birth and get her US passport. Our appointment was at 9:30 in the morning, so we decided to make a little family trip out of it and head down on Tuesday and stay in a hotel. As you can see, Mataya was excited about the trip...

 The trip down went pretty well. We have learned though that Mataya does not like her car seat as much as her brother did. So, we made a few more pit stops than we normally would, which was probably okay with a newly potty trained two year old.

We spent the night in a hotel that was right downtown and connected to the building the US consulate is in with the ped-way system, which as pretty awesome. We got settled, found some supper and then Joash and Wilbert checked out the pool and I put Mataya down for the night.

Joash was quite fond of the "logs" to sit on in our hotel lobby.

We also learned on this trip that sleep in the same room as our 2 year old is no fun. He talked and sang until about 11. Not so great for a boy who is normally in bed by 8. Thankfully, this did not seem to bother his sister, who slept straight through it all.

We got up and ready to go in the morning, had a really yummy breakfast at the restaurant in our hotel. The appointment went very smoothly. and we were out of there by 10. We then checked out of our hotel, packed the car up and then headed to The Discovery Center. It was lots of fun to see Joash "discover" so many things.

"There are four Joashs!"

 The seasonal exhibit is a bunch of touch tanks and tanks with underwater sea creatures. It was pretty cool over all.

After a few hours, we decided to head out, get some lunch, and head home.

Oh, the trip home.

Mataya was not very content in her car seat at all and there is only so much you can do for a crying baby from the front seat when you know she is fed and dry. So, we were all thankful when she fell asleep. Of course, it seemed like every time she did fall asleep, we would hit consturction or something that would slow us down and then wake her up. But, we all survived.

And then the battery light on our car came not. Not good. And of course were in the middle of no where between Truro and Amherst, Nova Scotia. So, we turned lots of things off and kept rolling. We found a small service station just off the highway in Oxford. He tested stuff for us and said we better try to get to the Canadian Tire in Amherst. So I prayed, while Wilbert drove. We pulled up to the Canadian Tire at 4:50. They wouldn't fix our car for us because they were about to close up the service bays, but they did have the part we needed. So Wilbert bought the new alternator, a cheap socket set and installed it himself in the Canadian parking lot.

Such a yucky situation, but so many things to be thankful for through it. I am thankful I have a husband who can fix our car. I am thankful that it didn't rain, even though it was threatening to. I am thankful that my kids were so amazing while we waited in the parking lot for two hours. I am thankful that I had packed lots of snacks, that Canadian Tire had their toddler play houses and slides out front and no one said anything about my son playing on them. I am thankful for the people who gave us a boost to get going again when we needed it. And I am thankful to be home again.

After getting back on the road, we still had to make a stop at a farm to check out a silage cart we were thinking about buying. So we didn't get home until 11, but the kids went to bed really quickly and easily and we were just glad to finally be home.