Crazy Eights…

Since this is my 88th post, I am focussing on the number “8” today:

1. Jim and I started going out on May 8, 2008.  It seems like we’ve known each other forever!

Jim and I - Winter 2009 in our yard...

2. My birthday is July 17th – 1  + 7 = 8.  I am one of eight cousins on my mom’s side of the family.  I moved to Canada when I was eight years old.

3. We have lived in “our” house for one year and 8 months.  We still love it as much as the day we moved in on November 29, 2008…

Our house (not our vehicle)...

4. Anna celebrated her 16th birthday on Tuesday, which is divisible by 8 (16, not Tuesday).  She was born (eight days late) in the eighth month of 1994, and weighed 10 lbs., 8 1/2 oz. (no epidural – OUCH!).  That baby grew to be 5′8” tall.

My Sweet 16 Girl: Anna...

 

5. Our new living room furniture was also delivered on Tuesday.  There were 8 pieces: couch, loveseat, chair, ottoman, recliner, coffee table, and two end tables.  There is now seating for 8 people in our living room (if somebody sits on the ottoman).  It was about 8 seconds after the delivery guys left that we discovered the 8 cm. (about 3 inches for the Americans) rip in the top corner of the couch (they came and exchanged the couch the next day).

This is our new furniture (we got different tables though)...

6. When I came to the bookstore yesterday, there were 8 boxes of books waiting to be put away (I did five of them).  There were also five boxes of books to evaluate – it was basically junk – I kept only 8 books out of the whole bunch!

7. We got home from getting groceries just after 8 p.m. last night (we spent $80-something at Superstore).  I noticed that I now have 8 sunflowers open in the garden.  I left Jim and the kids to put the groceries away, and rushed outside to pick blueberries.  When I first went out, there was an 8-point buck standing in our field (that’s only the second time I’ve seen a buck out there).  There were a couple of does too.  In the front field, a flock of Canada geese were feasting on bugs stirred up by the recent haying activity.  I picked the blueberries, which took an hour…it’s a minor miracle that I didn’t spill them as I swatted at the approximately 800 bugs which insisted on flying up my back and down my pants!

This guy is like the buck I saw...

8. Proposition 8 was defeated in California yesterday!  Jim and I and our many gay friends are all very happy about that…gay marriage has been legal in Canada for several years (it was legal in 8 out of 10 provinces and in 1 of 3 territories from court decisions beginning in 2003 until July 20, 2005, when the Civil Marriage Act legalized same-sex marriages nationwide).  It’s about time the U.S. stepped into the 21st century!  My friend, Nancy, wrote her blog post about that today: http://nancygedney.wordpress.com/2010/08/04/hooray-prop-8-is-dead/

Gay Pride Flag...

Day-Trippin’ and Hope…well, She Got Muddy…

Yesterday, Jim and I took the girls on a day trip to Moncton (Devin opted out).  Jim’s week of holidays was winding down, and we wanted to take the kids somewhere.   We had picked up a free family pass to Hopewell Rocks in Alma when we were in St. Martins last month – this was the perfect opportunity to use it.  Hope and Anna had never been there, and it had been years since Jim and I had visited it.  The girls also wanted to go to Magic Mountain, a water theme park in Moncton…

Magic Mountain...

We left our house about 9:30 (not bad since we’d planned to be gone by 9)…our cooler was packed with bottled water (partially frozen), egg salad and cold cut sandwiches.  We also took cookies, granola bars, and the rest of the cherry muffins (Jim even had one in the car).  After making several stops for Hope to pee, we finally arrived at Magic Mountain about 11:15 a.m.  Hope had just gotten a new cellphone for her birthday, but had to be convinced to leave it in the car (on a pee break in Sussex, she texted Brianna “I’m on the toilet!”).  We dropped off the girls, reminded them to apply sunscreen, told them we’d come back for lunch at 1, and headed for the furniture stores.

Hope's new phone is like this one, except it's purple...

We definitely noticed a difference in the stores in Moncton…most of the sales people left us alone (although there were a couple of exceptions to that).   The sales people in Saint John were much more attentive (and friendlier)…to the point of annoyance sometimes!  I saw a beautiful old-style secretary desk at one place (which would have been perfect for my “Room of My Own” https://writerwoman61.wordpress.com/2010/07/13/janes-homework-assignment-a-room-of-my-own/, but not so perfect for our living room).  Ditto for the Victorian-style sofa…

The secretary desk was something like this one...

We found a couple of nice used wing chairs for only $100 each, but the arms were quite worn.  We saw the same sectional set we’ve been contemplating, for $400 more (same chain store, different city – they must know that people have more money in Moncton).  One liquidation store’s stock was almost completely leather…I hate leather furniture!  Before we knew it, it was time to meet the girls for lunch.

This couch wouldn't look right in our old farmhouse...

We made our way back to the park, but the girls weren’t at the appointed meeting place…parking was a nightmare…we ended up straddling the curb near the entrance until we saw them.  We drove down to the Boardwalk at the park, and ate our lunch at one of the picnic tables there.  I had my mouth all set for a “beaver tail” until I heard the price…$6.25…yikes!  They were $3 when I left Moncton 13 years ago…the girls got ice cream, which was much more reasonably-priced!  After lunch, we took them back to Magic Mountain, and headed towards town.  Still no luck with furniture…everything was either really expensive, or incredibly boring!

Unfortunately, this delicious-looking Beaver Tail didn't find its way into my mouth...

We’d arranged to pick the girls up at 3…we retrieved them, wet and sunburned, and started for Hopewell Cape.  Low tide was at 5:15, which is the only time you can walk down on the beach by the Rocks.  We got there just after 4, and started down the trail from the Interpretation Centre.  After walking several hundred yards, and going down a few hundred steps, we made it to our destination.

Brianna and Hope posing next to the rocks...

The "Flower Pot Rocks" Hopewell Rocks is famous for...

One of the park rangers showed us some sculptures which had been made by carefully balancing small rocks on top of each other.

Ranger rearranging some rocks...

Hope was wearing flip-flops, and had great fun getting as muddy as she possibly could.

They say that mud is good for your skin...Hope's going to have the softest toes around...

Hope's muddy calves...

Jim and Anna took several photos while we were there (these are Anna’s).  After about an hour, everybody was tired and hot…Jim said he’d spring for the shuttle to take us back to the Interpretation Centre (we still had to climb the stairs, though).  We had to wait what seemed like forever for Hope to get her feet washed off at the “washing station.”  Finally, we were on the “shuttle,” which was really just a big golf cart, and headed back to the parking lot.

Anna took this one of her and Brianna on the back of the shuttle...that's Jim's head between them...

Everybody was hungry…we drove back to Moncton and stopped at Mike’s Restaurant, a chain we like, but no longer have in Saint John.  We ate until we were stuffed (no room for dessert)!  Hope’s cellphone vibrated, she jumped at the very same time the waitress came: “I’m sorry, did I scare you?” she asked.

“No,” said Hope.  “My cellphone just went off.”

We gave the waitress a big tip…

Mike's Logo...ours in Saint John has been closed for a few years...

We stopped in Sussex for ice cream on the way home, and popped into Walmart to look at shelving.  Since we have a Walmart in Saint John, we decided to wait and pick it up here.

We finally arrived home about 9:30…I went right to bed, and was snoring within minutes of my head hitting the pillow.

Vacations can be exhausting…