Sissytown

16 June 2015

Charlottetown

As expected, the morning was overcast, so our plan was to go into Charlottetown for the majority of the day.  We also checked some of the pamphlets and the guidebook to see if there was anything we wanted to stop at en route.  Supposedly, Santa Land was open this morning, so  we went through North Rustico to check it out.  After completely passing it twice, we finally pulled into what had to be one of the sketchiest looking play lands ever.  Maybe just because it wasn’t actually open yet for the season, maybe not.  Either way, not a loss.

We then passed a little gouda specialty shop, so we stopped in.  The woman serving us gouda samples (everything from pesto to red chili to pizza flavored gouda) was wearing a chef coat from the Culinary Institute of Canada, so I asked her about it.  Turns out the CIC is located in Charlottetown, and is open for dinner reservations at this time of year.  Score.

Next stop, a toy store called the Toy Factory.  Sort of a ghetto play area outside, lots of toys (too many fantasy-themed ones) inside.  But they did have a wooden travel trailer toy which was pretty darn cute.  We let the girls play a little while before finishing the trip into town for the afternoon. 

The remainder of the drive was spent Googling and Yelping a place to eat – apparently it was PEI’s version of Restaurant Week, so several of the local establishments were featuring a three-course prix-fixe menu.  We ended up at one called Peak’s Quay down near the water.  Their special was an appetizer of steamed mussels, a main dish of St. Louis style ribs, (kind of strange for a Canadian seaside town nowhere near Missouri, but sure, why not), and a dessert of flourless chocolate cake… ding ding ding ding!  The mussels were the best I’ve ever had.  Ever.  And a huge portion for an appetizer included in a prix-fixe menu.  The ribs were also surprisingly delicious and cooked perfectly -- tender meat falling off the bone.  And then the cake.  I saw a photo of it (surprising, because I’d say it’s not usually served in places with photos of their desserts), and after my Yellow Cello find, I was really excited.  This looked nearly identical, and again was a four-chocolate blend.  It arrived while I took Sis to the potty, so Matt (who also got one with his meal) tried it first.  

“You’re going to be disappointed.”

“Is it cold?  Maybe they can warm it up for me. “

I tried a smidge of it before sending it off for a quick warming.  I’m so glad I sent it.  It was like a different cake when it came back, and everything I’d hoped it would be.  (Again, still not number one, but high on the list for sure).  I asked for the recipe, but apparently it’s ordered and not made in-house.  Which would be even better if I lived in Canada and could also order it from whatever bakery it was born at, but alas, I do not.  (How many cakes does that put me at for this trip, anyway?)

We walked around town and then through a little mall area, hoping Eloise would fall asleep after lunch, but she fought the nap.  One of the big attractions of the area is Cow’s Creamery – the ice cream factory for a famous Canadian ice cream chain that originated in Cavendish with just one flavor option at the time – vanilla.  We decided to do the tour, which is now self-guided and pretty brief, before sampling some of the ice cream.  I tried the vanilla, blueberry, strawberry, and apple crisp.  Apple crisp, hands down.  The same for Matt.  Sis got strawberry.  Eloise mooched off everyone.  It was good, but kind of overrated… it was no Mary Ann’s (Santa Cruz, CA).  Mary Ann’s is the best hard ice cream we’ve ever had, without question.  I mean, horchata ice cream.  Cow’s please…

Before the ice cream tour, we stopped at MacQueen’s Bike Shop in Charlottetown; I’d spoken with them last week about getting the bike trailer hitch part mailed to their store, and they agreed to it, and said they had a wheel for Matt’s mountain bike in stock.  In the meantime, however, when I finally got a hold of Baby Jogger after two mornings of Skype-calling while apparently their entire staff was in a meeting, (according to the message on their end), and a few poor-quality frustrating Skype calls, and ultimately finding out I needed to work with a Canadian distributer anyway because they don’t ship to Canada, I called the Canadian distributor, now on Friday afternoon.  Time was against me at this point, as it would have now cost $60 to ship it by Wednesday, and $112 by Tuesday (including the part, which I have a spare of back in NY anyway…).  We decided to just rent a bike trailer on PEI rather than wait on the piece, so for $20 we got a Burley Encore for 24 hours that had only been used once before, (on top of Matt’s $250 bike wheel.  Ugh.).

After Cow’s, we stopped at a few local stores, with a plan to just got have leftovers at the Casita, do baths and jammies, and then hope the girls fell asleep en route to Jurassic World at the drive-in theater in Brakley Beach.  Neither napped, however, and by 6:30pm, I didn’t think Eloise would last the car-ride back to the campground without passing out, thus ruining the Jurassic World plan shortly after, so we grabbed some food at Taco Boyz, and got the girls in their jammies after dinner.  Eloise fell asleep on the way to the theater, but Sis was still awake when we arrived.  After one more potty break (in the car), and some Jewel Lullaby on the car radio, (go-to sleep song for the girls), along with us telling her she probably should go to sleep because some scary dinosaurs were coming on, she finally fell asleep during the opening previews. 

Before the movie, we’d guessed at what percentage our success rate would probably be to make it through a drive-in Jurassic World (not a constant volume) movie with two sleeping girls in their car seats.  I estimated probably 30/70, 40/60 at best, hoping if anyone woke up it would be Eloise who wouldn’t know what was going on anyway.  We actually had 100% success!  Both girls slept the whole time!  Even through the on/off car engine, battery, and windshield wipers to clear and de-fog the windows (it rained on and off throughout the movie).  The movie itself was entertaining – obvi nothing will be as good as the first, but it was light years better than the 2^nd and 3^rd, but still could be improved upon in several areas, in our opinions.  There were a few things that were a little ridiculous and unnecessary, but overall definitely worth watching.  On a sidenote, it was the first movie wed been to in years.

Baby Gear Used Today: 

Charlottetown:  Baby Jogger City Mini GT Double

Taco Boyz:  My Little Seat.  Taco Boyz didn’t have any high chairs, and we didn’t bring the stroller in, so I used what was invaluable to me in Italy – My Little Seat.  It turns most chairs into a baby-holding device.  It doesn’t have a tray, but it folds super small and fits in my diaper bag.  She then just ate off the plate on the chair between her legs or at the edge of the table.  (In Italy I even used it inside of some of their high chairs, as they didn’t have a between-the-leg strap, and had a large slip-through opening where the legs went). 

Anne's Land

15 June 2015

Anne’s Land (Cavendish)

Our campground was literally next door to Green Gables, our fist stop of the day.  The weather warmed up when we got there, so I changed the girls into more field-frolicking-friendly attire, for photos, obvs.  It was still a slight bit chilly, but I would have regretted not doing it.  When in Rome…

The house and grounds were very picturesque and not too crowded at all.  There were also two trails on the premises, Lover’s Lane and the Haunted Woods, but ghosts were not the problem today – the mosquitoes were unbearable.  Initially we’d hoped it was a campground issue, but even Green Gables was overtaken with them, to the point where we passed on some of the trails.  Our kid-friendly eco-friendly organic bug spray wasn’t handling them well at all.  We decided to leave and go somewhere else, which turned out to be a food mart for some DEET kid-friendly bug spray, (which we never ended up using), and then Avonlea Village. 

Avonlea Village is a small, fabricated old-tymey town with restaurants and stores, and the church that Lucy Maud Montgomery (author of Anne of Green Gables) grew up worshipping at (moved from its original location).  In the real summer they also have games and shows, including Anne of Green Gables: The Musical.  Today, all but two restaurants were still under construction, as were some of the stores.  We grabbed some lunch at the Baked Potato, a little place that dresses potatoes up in a number of different ways – mine with Butter Chicken, Matt’s with spicy pork, the girls’ with a meaty poutine.  (Fun fact: PEI supplies 25% of Canadian potatoes).

Anne of Green Gables is so celebrated here, that Canada even distinguished parts of the area as National Park lands.  We spent the afternoon at the beach part of the National Park in Cavendish.  The girls played in the sand for a bit, stacking some of the red clay rocks that are pretty evenly spread across the beach.  After that we went for a long walk on the beach, (even longer for 3-year-old-legs), while Eloise took a snoozey on my back.  We cut in between two dunes to find a little trail among the tall grass to a saltwater lake that fills and empties with the changing tides.  The water on our feet was warmer than expected, and apparently the waters in the Gulf of St. Lawrence are some of the warmest north of the Carolinas, due to how shallow the water is.  After crossing the tide stream back to the shoreline, we found several silvery fish flopping around, and Dada picked one up to show Sis and see if she wanted to touch it, but she didn’t.  (She pet one a fisherman caught in “Anbucket” last summer). 

Today was especially great, because for the first time this entire trip, I don’t think we even put five miles on the odometer.  Or however many kilometers that is.  After the beach, we took the girls to Grandpa’s Old Tyme Photos, where we spent way too much money on one hard copy (and no digital copies) photo of the girl people dressed like the timeframe of Anne of Green Gables.

We once again got ready for the pool and trekked over, only to find the water was frigid, so we took the girls to the giant trampoline bubble playground thing instead, which was already overcapacity in gnats.  They loved it though.  We ordered some pizzas for dinner, and toyed with the idea of catching a sunset west of Cavendish, but a 3-year-old mega-meltdown and a 1-year-old sleepy girl changed those plans.

Baby Gear Used Today:

Green Gables and Avonlea:  The City Mini GT Double.  It handled the trails (the parts we braved the mosquitoes for) greatly, and navigated the shops and restaurants of Avonlea village just as well.  I even fit a generic stroller mosquito net over the entire thing after leaving Green Gables.

The Beach:  ErgoBaby Sport.  Eloise slept on my back for our walk on the beach (she gets so excited when I put her in the “mommy ride.”  I was able to keep her face out of the sun by using the snapping sunshade too.

"Just when you think you've seen everything..."

14 June 2015

Off to Prince Edward Island

After debating a trip with the Casita into Halifax for lunch at the Farmer’s Market and a little more shopping, we decided to better-use Eloise’s car nap to continue on toward Prince Edward Island – our next destination.  We’d spent the morning packing up and bathing people, so by the time we hit the road, she was ready for her morning nap.  It was definitely a good choice, as the nap lasted quite a long time.  We stopped for gas and a potty break just before the bridge to PEI.  Sis used the Boon Casita potty, but I decided to go in and be a big girl at the gas station.  When I got to the restroom, it was occupied and locked.  I waited outside for less than a minute before I heard the door open and a guy (around our age, maybe younger now, ugh)  came out.  As I walked toward the door, he said, with a blushing smile on his face, “she’s still in there.”  An older man nearby said to me, “just when you think you’ve seen everything…”  I decided to go use the potty in the Casita instead.

The PEI bridge was under construction, and we decided to stay on the North part of the island, known as Anne’s Land, so it was still an hour in the car once we got to the causeway.  We were able to see a good bit of the island on the way, with its rolling grass-covered hills juxtaposed on patches of deep red dirt.  I have to say though, I was pretty disappointed when we got to Cavendish (where Green Gables is located) and there was a Ripley’s Believe-It-Or-Not (along with several other amusement park-ish attractions). 

After checking out a few campgrounds, none of which were oceanfront and one of which was extremely spread out, we just ended up at a KOA – we were able to get a spot near the bathroom, they had a big playground and pool, and the wifi there actually worked.  With a plan to grab some food in town, we set out, only to find that the spot we set up in was reserved for the summer, meaning we had to break down and move over one spot.  We changed plans to grill at the campsite so we could have the food cooking while we broke down and re-set up the Casita.  We grabbed some steaks and firewood.  After dinner and once the girls were in bed, Matty and I roasted some marshmallows over the campfire in the light night sky (the sun sets really late up in these parts).

Baby Gear Used Today:

Pretty much just the Fischer Price travel folding high chair and the Boon potty.  And still the carseats and Peapod.  Sorry, sort of boring…

Ain't No Halifax Girl

13 June 2015

Halifax, Nova Scotia

We had a slow-moving cloudy morning before making it to the Citadel of Halifax by noon for the cannon firing.   We were way-off in thinking that we almost missed the only reenactment of the day – this place was one constant reenactment.  There were people marching around in multiple kinds of uniforms and kilts, carrying everything from weapons to pipes and drums.  (And, interestingly, the musicians were also the best-dressed soldiers back in the day).  There was even an exhibit that allowed visitors to fire blanks out of actual old war rifles! 

After watching the changing-of-the-guard, we left the Citadel to grab lunch in downtown Halifax.  Turns out we finally found a legit Scottish pub – The Loose Cannon – where Matt finally got his haggis.  I ordered the bangers and mash for myself, and the girls had fish & chips again.  Only they mostly just eat the chips part… and whatever’s on my plate. 

We walked around town after lunch and did a little consignment shopping on Vintage Row before strolling through the public gardens.  The gardens were prettier than I expected, and also much busier – it was prom night for three local high schools, and apparently this is the place to go for photos.  It made for some good people-watching, fashion-critiquing, and conversation.  Sissy liked all the ball gowns too. 

On our way to dinner, we stopped in a little square with some live music where the girls danced around with some other kids their age.  We had dinner at a place called Salty’s on the waterfront, (we were literally out on the dock), but the food wasn’t anything special, as expected.  It was pretty much just a tourist trap with a great location.  The food was mediocre and the effort to keep the girls happy in such a crowded outdoor venue wasn’t worth the squeeze.  We’ve really benefitted by having most restaurants being largely empty, allowing them to shake some of their sillies out.  Also, with the time change, it was still pretty late in the evening for them to be out.  Knowing this has been our trend, we put them in jammies for the car-ride home, and little E was passed out before we got back to the Casita.

Gear used today:

The Citadel:  Both the City Mini GT Double and the Ergo.  The Citadel grounds are covered in loose gravel, and it put the GT tires to work getting up the gravel ramp to the roof level.  I don’t think the regular City Mini tires would have handled it nearly as well, if at all.  (The only other stroller I saw there was a jogger, which obvi would have been fine too).  Eloise went in the Ergo when we did the Army museum part of things for her nap - we were able to fit the stroller through the handicap-accessible doors on one side of the building, but we decided to leave it parked for the interior rooms, as it wouldn’t have fit through the archways upstairs anyway.

Downtown Halifax:  Just the City Mini GT Double.  We even left Eloise in there to eat lunch at the Scottish pub, since we ate al fresco and they had no high chairs.  When we got to dinner, she sat in a real high chair and we left the stroller near the hostess desk.

Car Potty:  I’ve forgotten to mention this in previous posts!  Our Fisher Price folding car and travel potty has been nothing short of fabulous.  We’ve (and I mean that in the plural – mommy and Sis are on the same bladder sched.) used it in the tailgate, the front seat, the Casita, (though we also brought along her Boon potty as a more permanent Casita commode), and it even has a seat cover detachment that can be used on public toilets too (though I haven’t done that yet with it).  It uses plastic bags that you can just dispose of when you’re done, and then the potty itself folds up and fits under a seat.  Highly-recommended space-saving car potty.