Tales From the Minivan

Well the focus over the past month has really shifted to getting the house in order and less traveling. Knowing that our time with everyone home together would be ending soon, we decided to take a spontaneous last minute trip to Maine.

Wednesday afternoon while enjoying a sunny afternoon out on our deck with Andrew’s parents, Andrew brought up taking a drive down to Maine, as his mom was also on vacation. She liked the idea, so I quickly jumped online and checked out www.roomsaver.com and found a great deal in Bangor, Maine. I love this website for getting great deals in walk-in rates. So by 5pm, we had the van all loaded up and we ready to hit the road! We made a quick stop for some fast food once we crossed the border. Here’s Mackenzie and Finn getting ready to load back into the minivan on our way to Bangor.

We had no trouble using the RoomSaver rate at the hotel, but I had also printed off a few more of their coupons in case we didn’t get into our first choice. We enjoy the Ramada as they have an indoor pool that the kids love. This is usually where we stay while in Bangor and at $69/night it’s a good deal!

The next morning we all slept in, I keep joking with everyone that the whole summer we’ve been on Pacific time as we’ve all gone to bed so late and slept in every morning. We decided a big breakfast was in our so we decided that Andrew’s parents would really enjoy:

Next was a quick trip to my favorite of all department stores Target! I like the whole shopping experience there and I also like that they are an environmentally conscious company, read about Target’s Environmental Philospohy . I picked up another cube storage unit and the fabric drawers as well as some Method Cleaning Products I have been trying these and I’m very happy with them. They are an environmentally friendly cleaning products to use in our home. I was happy to find a larger variety of these products that I’ve not been able to find locally and at a better price!

After our shopping excursion it was a pit stop back at the hotels pool for a refreshing dip and some time to unwind for the kids. The boys have been loving they new wetsuit style swimsuits that have flotation aids built into them. Liam is getting more confident trying to swim on his own, it’s lots of fun to watch.

Next was a visit to something I always remembered from my childhood and a Bangor Landmark, the Paul Bunyan Statue.

A little history of the Paul Bunyon Statue, this specific statue of Paul Bunyon is reputed to be the largest in the word of him. He is a symbol of the great era in the late 1800’s when Bangor was “acclaimed” to be the Lumber Capital of the World. This legendary woodsman stands 31 feet tall and it weighs 3700 pounds and over looks the Penobscot River that used to be filled with sailing vessels shipping lumber all over the world. Ironically it looks as though he may not be able to see the river as there’s a huge new piece of construction being developed right across the street that will block his view. I just had to get a photo of that!

Our next day was cut short as we wanted to get back home for Andrew’s brother’s arrival. He was travelling from Nova Scotia with his boys for the weekend. They are both six months younger than Liam and Ciaran, so there’s never a dull moment when we get all of the cousins together.

So have you been wondering where the minivan is? After a very exhausting trip we decided to stick close to home over the past month. Here’s a little of what we’ve been up to since our adventures in the minivan have slowed down…

We’ve been working on getting the house organized and decluttered and finishing some projects that we’ve wanted to complete for a while. Having a husband home for the summer has been hard work!

After arriving home we decided that the timing was right to have a new back deck built. This old one had seen better days and we spend a lot of time in our back yard so why not enjoy it? A friend of ours lent out has carpenter to us and a week later we went from this:

to this:

I’m loving it! I think he did a great job, and it was exactly how I envisioned it to look! We got lucky and got a great deal on patio furniture that was being cleared out too!

We’ve also been spending a lot of time at our local favorite beach, Mispec Beach. It’s a place where the kids can run around, play in the sand and have a great time. I don’t actually swim when we go to the beach as it’s located right on the Bay of Fundy. Believe it or not that water only changes 5 degrees in temperature from summer to winter. AS you can see by the looks on the boys faces, it’s shockingly cold!

My favorite time to go is definitely low tide, or while the tide is going out. I find that the cooler air from the cold water also goes out with the tide. The other plus is that the beach expands so much from high to low tide. For those of you not familiar, the Bay of Fundy actually has the highest tides in the world and can differ up to 40 feet from high to low!

Here’s a few of my favourite photos:

We’ve also been spending sometime out at my father’s pool. Both Liam and Ciaran have really taken an interest in being more independent in the pool this year. Ciaran has decided he doesn’t need us to hold him anymore! Check out this video of him swimming with his little tube swimsuit on!

Click here to see video of Ciaran!

The other thing we’ve wanted to accomplish is getting the house organized and decluttered before Andrew goes back to work. I’ve finally put together the shelving units that I bought months ago! I’m hoping by giving everyone one a designated colour that when I find things that belong to them, I’ll put them in each of their cubes. I’m hoping this will be a good solution for hats and mitts this winter.

We’ve also been moving out and donating clothing that we haven’t worn or the kids have outgrown. It’s a work in progress and is slowly coming together.

So that’s about all that’s been happening, we plan to load up the minivan again soon, for another adventure so stay tuned!