Part 3 of Grand Manan trip

Album 2 of Grand Manan trip
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=72390&l=44c31&id=635725920

Album 3 of Grand Manan trip
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=72604&l=f8aa0&id=635725920

To continue with some stories . . .

Danita and Leroy have a dog named Gracie, when I was calling her name one day, Logan repeated me kind of and tried to say “Gracie”. Gracie had puppies 6 weeks ago and the puppy that is left is called Jack, so I call him “Jack, Jack” like from the Incredibles; today Logan was trying to repeat me in saying that too. Jack liked to nip at things, especially Logan’s hands, I got Logan to say “no ack, ack”.

In the mornings I usually tried to get Logan out of the house. He would wake at about 6am (5am Eastern Standard Time, what my body was used to) and not go back to sleep until nap time. So I would be up then and feed him breakfast, then try to get him out of the house so he wouldn’t be in the way while everyone in the house got ready for work and school. Jaymin started 8th grade on Monday (Sept 2). In the pictures (see link above) you can see all the places we went. I told a lot of the story in the captions for the pictures.

I think Logan had a reaction to the black berries, I realized it half way into our stay on Grand Manan, he had a really bad rash and he didn’t have it when we got here, and it is getting better. I thought I could give him berries at 18 months. We saw his doctor today for a well visit and she wasn’t concerned.

We left on the 2nd ferry on Friday Sept 6, it takes 1 ½ hrs to get to the mainland on the ferry. This time I had a plan of what to do with Logan while we were on the old ferry, same one we were going to Grand Manan. On the way over to Grand Manan we both were tired and the old boat is not as easy to keep an active toddler happy, there are lots of things to get into and bump your head on and step over . . . lots of dangers. This time I put him in the backpack and went outside, he was happy with that most times, he ran around inside and stared at people. When we were outside we saw porpoises (cold water dolphins basically), and then half way the captain came on the speaker and said there was a basking shark we could see on the side of the boat, we only saw the fin, but I hadn’t even seen that before. When we were almost to the mainland I saw a finback whale also.

Logan did well with the drive. We stopped almost every hour, so it went kind of slow, but it went well. We got to my friends house in Bowdoin, Maine at 6pm; we had left Danita’s at 8:30am which is 7:30am Eastern Standard Time, so we had traveled 10 ½ hrs that day. When we got to Eric and Dawn’s I was welcomed by a houseful, it was great, Dawn had contacted a friend I knew in the area that I had meant to try and get together with, but forgot in the rush of the last minute trip. So it was great to see everyone, 6 kids and 5 adults (including Logan and I). Logan started to fall apart about 45 mins after we got there, so he went to bed well and slept in the next morning. I know Dawn and Eric from His Mansion Ministries, so it brought back fond memories as we sat around the supper table.

We left Eric and Dawn’s at 8:30am on Saturday and got home at 1:30pm, I was really trying to beat the hurricane/tropical storm. The storm didn’t hit until about 8pm, mostly through the night, we slept right through it b/c we were so tired.

While we were driving I would try my best to not stop if I could help Logan by just handing him something when he was fussy. Since he is rear facing I would put things on his head so he could reach them. I started doing this with Walmart brand ritz crackers. I had a hard time opening the sleeve of crackers, I tried and tried to pull it open as I was driving, I made one good yank and the whole sleeve flew up into the air, I had crackers on the dashboard, near the speedometer, in the storage area on the door, at my feet, in my shoes, but I kept driving. We were on Route 9 (Airline) at that time. I found some that were sanitary and would put them on his head one at a time and he would laugh as they would fall, then he’d be happy eating them. He was putting them in between his toes and waving them around, working on his toe grasping talent, like his Daddy. When supper time rolled around we had stopped about 20 mins before, so I didn’t want to stop again, so I opened a can of carrots (it had a pull tab) and put them one by one on his head. When we got to Eric and Dawn’s in Bowdoin, Maine his hair was crispy from the carrot juice, but he was happily fed, just tired.

We crossed the border in to the US with no problem, except the spider that wanted to crawl in right when I rolled down my window to talk to the crossing guard.

When we stopped at the Irving in Calais, Maine we met a woman from Old Saybrook, CT (20 mins away from us). She saw my CT license plate and asked where I was from. They had gone way up north in New Brunswick and were going home (intentionally) on the long route (on route 1).

It was great to be on Grand Manan, I think Logan had a great time playing in the wonderful sandbars. I was much more relaxed while there; life is laid back on the island, I love it. I can come to a complete stop at a stop sign and not have someone beep their horn at me b/c I am in their way (as I obey the traffic laws). If you drive fast on the island it is usually thought of as rude. I was tailgated by someone while on the island, that is a first (that I can remember at least) in the 30 years I have been going to Grand Manan. I don’t have the thought in the back of my head that I have to worry about someone harming us, at home I have to keep the front door locked, car doors locked, have Logan with me at all times so no one will call the Dept of Child Services for something they think I should have done. I could go places with Logan and not worry about weird people harming us. It was nice to feel free from these daily concerns that are so much a part of my life down here, I didn’t realize how they weigh me down. I have to pray about how to deal with safety in a way that doesn’t stress me out.

I had Logan try dulse (a seaweed harvested on Grand Manan that is eaten like chips, it’s an acquired taste), he didn’t seem to like it, not surprised.

Brian did a lot of work on the kitchen, he pulled down the smoke filled wood paneling in ½ the kitchen and put up sheet rock. It was a lot of work for him to tape and sand to make it the walls smooth, he did a great job. My job now is to clean b/c there is sheetrock dust all over the house. Brian put a light in our closet, which I have wanted for years. He put a ceiling fan in the kitchen, rewired our bedroom so I now have an outlet near my side of the bed, he had his brother-in-law come over to put a shelving unit from the kitchen in Logan’s room to make the closet more organized. He missed us, but had fun being a bachelor for a week; he said he had fun doing all the work on the house. We are enjoying being together as a family again. I really like having the web cam as a way for us to see each other live, reminds me of the old tv cartoon show the Jetsons.