We are still here in Halifax. The place grows on you, especially when people here are so much fun. Here is a bunch of cool stuff we did with a lot of great people...
Simon and Wavey were very excited to learn that that Hallowe'en in the Cove is a big deal (and that they were not going to be trick-or-treating with their parents this Hallowe'en.) Together with their new friends, they enjoyed several Hallowe'en events, and of course, got tons of loot.
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| Attending Pumpkin Palooza at Sam's school |
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| Wavey's friend Nolwen |
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| Pumpkin Carving Party at Ben and Lana's before Hallowe'en |
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| Creative pumpkin juices flowing...everywhere |
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| Wavey carving before the power tools came out |
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| Spooky! |
We went out trick-or-treating with Seamus, Miranda and Sam. Thanks Lana, for helping out with your supply of costumes!
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| Seamus the Grim |
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| Miranda as Legolas |
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| Sam as Hummingbird Extraordinaire |
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| Lana...as an Old Bat |
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| Wavey the Good Witch from Purcell's Cove and Simon the Spy |
Cruising with kids means that you drop everything when there are kids around. Whether it is doing crafts, sailing dinghies, or just chilling out, Simon and Wavey are happy to have such great friends.
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| Simon and Seamus testing their homemade boat |
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| Crab catching under the boathouse |
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| Simon with friend Rowan messing around in boats |
Getting a sail made for our dinghy has been a huge deal, since we have been working at getting one made for months. We found Brad at Doyle Sails who whipped it up in a week.
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| Doyle Sail Loft |
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| Brad putting finishing touches on the dinghy sail |
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| John rigging up new sail |
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| Simon sailing in Harbour |
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| Seamus getting his dinghy rigged up |
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| Seamus heading out |
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| Simon and Seamus in Seamus' dinghy |
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| Dinghy sailing in Halifax Harbour in November! |
We were very fortunate that my sister Elizabeth and her family could travel from Fredericton, and join us for a weekend. Simon and Wavey were thrilled to see their cousins Adam and Julie and play with Julie's sons Nikolas and Oliver. We piled in at Susanne's for lots of cousin fun! We enjoyed lunch on Nahanni V and the kids had fun playing at the park.
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| Nikolas watching Simon, Wavey, and Adam finger knitting |
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| Simon and Oliver |
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| Nikolas and Elizabeth playing in the forward cabin |
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| Adam, Wavey and Julie |
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| Susanne with Oliver |
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| Wavey and Oliver |
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| John, Simon, and Susanne |
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| Wavey with Auntie Liz and Julie |
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| Cousins!! |
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| Cousins!! |
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| Sand castle heaven |
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| Baby time |
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| Kathryn with sisters Liz and Susanne |
A couple days later, we welcomed John's Dad Bob and his Stepmother Carol, who made the long journey from Ontario to visit. They were brave enough to stay with us on the boat for five days which made for lots of cosy visiting.
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| Simon's early birthday party in the boathouse |
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| Keeping warm by the wood stove with Grandma |
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| Washing dishes with Grandma |
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| Market Day |
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| Grandpa getting his morning brew |
During their stay, we decided to take a trip downtown Halifax in Nahanni V to visit the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic. We noticed it was much colder since the last time we did this two weeks ago!
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| Bob and Carol underway |
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| Simon at the helm |
When we arrived to the Museum, we saw that they were taking in the floating docks and pulling gangways out of the water for the winter. Someone told us where we could dock for the day. We noticed that there were no ladders to get up the wharf, but we managed to climb up as it was high tide. We left the boat and went onto the Museum for the afternoon. After closing the Museum near dusk, we went to the boat to find Nahanni V floating five feet down, at low tide. Quick-thinking Bob went to the Chebucto Pilot ahead of us on the dock, who lent our not-so-salty crew a ladder so we could climb down to the boat.
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| Nahanni V at low tide |
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| Climbing down the ladder to the dock |
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| Thanks, crew of the the Chebucto Pilot! |
It was very hard to say goodbye to Grandma and Grandpa. Thanks for all the fun and treats you brought us!!
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| Hanging in the Cove with Grandma and Grandpa |
We are very lucky that my sister Susanne (Auntie Susie) is currently off for a year and has been around so much in the last few weeks. She has opened her home to us and we have had lots of sleepovers, yummy meals, and warm showers!
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| Susanne with her awesome Shepherd's Pie |
Susanne has also whisked the kids away on many cool field trips, and has spent hours doing crafts and exploring Halifax. She invited them to sing in her choir, You Gotta Sing, which led to a gig a couple weeks ago. The choir was invited to sing with Coco Love Alcorn during her concert here in Halifax, and the kids were invited to join in as well. The concert was amazing and a big highlight of our stay here.
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| Meeting Coco Love Alcorn during the intermission |
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| Wavey cannot contain her joy after getting Coco's autograph |
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| Choir preparing to sing "The River" |
One Saturday afternoon, we explored the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21 with Auntie Susie. It was interesting to see photos of the Montrose, the ship our father and his family came to Canada on. We also watched a Remembrance Day play called, "Where Poppies Blow" which was compelling and very emotional.
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| Replica of what the assembly room looked like |
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| Photo of the RMS Montrose |
Our formal Bomeschool classes have not been very consistent in the last several weeks. We have fallen off our usual curriculum so we could prepare for our passage to Bermuda, and also learn more about history and events here in Halifax. We just finished reading a book in the Dear Canada series called "No Safe Harbour". It is a young girl's diary before, during and after the Halifax Explosion that happened in December 1917. Susanne brought the kids to some of the important sites related to the Explosion (including artifacts found in her home!) which helped to understand the significance this disaster had on the city.
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| Halifax Explosion Memorial Bell Tower at Fort Needham |
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| Simon on Bell Tower Memorial |
Susanne and the kids also journeyed to the Africville Museum to learn about the destruction of an entire community of African Canadians for city development in the 1960s.
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| Plaque at previous site of Africville |
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| Previous site of someone's home in the former community of Africville |
School days look very different as the months go on!
With living aboard, it looked like Simon and Wavey were going to miss out on our tradition of raking leaves this fall. This all changed when we were invited to lunch with George and Helen at Helen's place. Helen's grandson Riley arrived shortly after we did with the purpose of raking leaves and doing some clean-up in Helen's yard. Simon and Wavey jumped at the chance to help out and spent a the afternoon raking and dumping the leaves over the fence into the forest.
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| Wavey dumping leaves over the wall at Helen's |
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| Climbing over the wall |
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| Scaling down the wall to jump in the leaves in the forest below... |
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| ...where Simon is already buried in leaves |
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| The audience |
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| Raking with joy! |
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| George and Helen |
Over the past five weeks, we have watched the leaves turn colour, swirl around us and blanket the ground. As the last few leaves hang on, we are reminded that it is time to head out before the snow comes. While having a great time here, we have been working to get Nahanni V and ourselves ready for the passage ahead to Bermuda. At the moment we are working on last minute projects, provisioning and watching the weather.
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| Results of one provisioning trip to Costco! |
We expect to be ready to leave within the next week as long as we can get a good weather window. Hope the snow holds off here!
