Early start for this crew!

Bailey knew something was up

We moved the kids from the house to the moho, and they slept as we drove.

Just waiting on RV2

There they are! Bart, Heather and her kids are driving out with us.

Convoy!

One hour into the trip, and the voltmeter on the moho started to sag. Managed to limp it to the beautiful town of Bassano, AB.

After some diagnoses it turns out the Alternator decided to pack it in. Managed to get a hold of the mechanic Bill at Franklin’s Integra Tire who hooked me up with Bassano Auto Parts. While I searched out parts, the family went for breakfast at the Bassano Roadside Grill Truck Stop.

We were lucky to find the part for same day out of Calgary, so with a 4.5 hour delay, the crew decided to head on forward to Brooks for a day at the park/pool while I wait her.

I went for brunch and did some work.

Waiting...

Waiting...

Family is back from the pool just after I was given the news that the vendor forgot to include our part in their shipment. It would now be tomorrow morning. After some strategizing and a few phone calls, we now have some family friends on their way to us with the part we need. We decided that Bart and Heather proceed to Weyburn and we will catch up. Going for a nap.

Making the most of the Bassano experience. Note the time...

The storm that hit Calgary is now upon us. It rains sideways here 💦

Literally sideways!

Through the dark clouds appears two beautiful angels with a new alternator!

To see acts of kindness like this is what community was built on. Our hearts are full.

Only to find out that the vendor sent the right box, wrong part 😥 Thanks Pete and Audrey for your love and support ❤️

And day 1 is a wrap... We dealt with some adversity, but stuck to our values. And guess what!?! We get to do it all again tomorrow! Looking forward to a new day... because the score always starts back at 0-0.

Time for some Harry Potter.

Travel Summary for July 18, 2019

Calgary to Bassano - 142 kms

As per google maps we would have been smarter to walk than drive.

Stay tuned for more!

One great thing about camping in a truck stop is that it usually includes a gas station. Gas stations have coffee.

I went into the gas station to grab a coffee, and just as I turned around to pay, the seasoned man that runs the store said, “just the coffee?” I said yes. He said “it’s on me” and smiled. I held back a tear, thanked him and walked out.

We’re “stuck” at a truck stop on day 2, and \240I’m not even 22 minutes into my day and I have already felt two moments of gratitude. Today is going to be a great day!

I walked my routine path over to the parts store. Gerard was already on the phone calling on the part when I walked in. For a moment by the look on his face I wondered if he was thinking “shit it’s this guy again” so I simply smiled and said good morning. His demeanor changed instantly. Now I am sitting on my usual stool reading an owners manual on the worlds next best flashlight and listening to am radio overhead.

I am told they are working on getting the warehouse on the phone. So I decided to take a walk back to the moho location to thank the owner of the mechanical shop for letting me park there. While I was walking I realized that across from our truck stop oasis was a cemetery. I chose to walk through it, not around it.

As I walked through the cemetery, I felt humble. Here I am dealing with a bunch of problems that are hampering our holiday schedule, yet I am among many here that no longer have to worry about anything at all. Maybe that’s it. Maybe this is why I am here. Because i have heard and often say that life is short, don’t sweat the small stuff, live like you are dying, and so on. I then came upon this gravestone.

It reads “A LIFE OF DEEDS, NOT OF YEARS” LOVE FOREVER. My immediate thought is that this person lived a short life. Nope. Born 1925, Died 2017.

There’s 86,400 seconds in each day. This person lived over 2.9 million seconds of them. So a life of deeds applied to a mindset that every second counts means that we can choose to change how we react to what happens to us instantly.

It will be 2 years on Monday that my sister’s husband Chris passed away. I am sad that I cannot physically be there for her this time, yet I know she knows I am thinking of her. Always. Today’s walk through the cemetery was something I needed to do. Now I will get back to living this life of deeds, not of years.

UPDATE

Audrey DeKlerk took the old alternator in to the warehouse of horrors. She had them match the new one to the old one and found the right one. Bless her heart!

She then drove it to Chestermere where she met up with Rob DeKlerk and family, who are now on their way here.

Landon and I went back to the parts store to have a small safety meeting, where then they loaded Landon up with suckers AND the worlds best flashlight! We then headed back to await the coveted part for the moho.

Heluva good day! Thanks to Rob deklerk and his Father in-law, \240we got our new alternator.

Landon helped install it!

Got the right numbers. Thanks to Jeff, Peter, Audrey and Rob for helping us get back on the road. We are so blessed by \240and Grateful for our village. Thanks mom and Dad Houweling for the offer to use of their motorhome if ours deemed non-driveable.

On the road again!

Next stop Moose Jaw!

Haha

Playing war with Landon

Tayah says it’s a dolphin

Krista says this is her new spot while we drive

Shotgun Selfie

Guess what that is?

It’s not snow

It’s salt!

Made it to Moose Jaw! Fuelling up on coffee before the next stretch

And it is Krista’s (first ever) time to drive the moho!

She did awesome!

And then, Krista races a train!

And she wins! But the kids didn’t even notice.

They’re affixed on the Wii

Playing Mario Kart

We made a stop in Estavan

And grabbed some more coffee and kept on truckin’. We took a detour and saw some cool old buildings. This is a Yoga studio in an old church!

on our way to the border.

Open pit coal mine with a machine that uses that huge bucket

Crossing the border in Portal was a breeze.

The guard was super enthused with our set-up and even came in to inspect. As he looked for things like highjackers and drugs, he chatted it up with the kids for awhile. Landon asked about his gun and taser. The guard loved it. Tayah sat nervously quiet.. He asked her what we call our motorhome and Jordie replied “The rolling turd”. Never saw a guard laugh so hard. He loved the list Alicia made for the cargo trailer contents. She said she “saw it on Border Security”. The guy was beaming! We passed his inspection lol

With our gas tank filled up, the final stretch for today was to end up in Fargo by 4:30 am. Crushed it! Krista finished of the last 65 miles of this stretch!

Flying J - Fargo, North Dakota

Summary for July 19th, 2019

Bassano AB to Fargo ND - 1402 kms (12.7 hours)

Good job Houwelings!

Now for some sleep 😴

23 minutes later 🙄

Maybe a car wash next?

Now we are off to Union, IL. Bart, Heather and family are headed there too, with them planning on stopping at the Niagra Caves. There is a good chance we might catch up to them there!

Kids are disappointed that we won’t make the caves, yet they all agreed that this was a small sacrifice to give up for us to get back on schedule. Such troopers! ❤️

Every town here looks the same with their trees and cool little water towers.

In the moho, we had all kinds of stuff going on...

MARIO cart inspired idea. Kids wanted to throw it out the window and see if it would spin out a car lol.

In her element

It was straight from bed to shotgun. PJ day all day long!

Until momma kicked him out lol. Ain’t she purdy?

UNO!

And then Landon said he was too hot so he came and sat up front.

Again, PJ day all day!

Some slept...

And then played.

And then we caught up to the Amazon Prime truck. The kids were ecstatic!

Best of all, the moho ran like a top.

And we made it no less than two hours later than originally planned in the beginning! We are rockstars!

RE-United we stand! Staying at the north Chicago KOA. Great place with some fireworks and a rain storm. It’s currently 30 degrees and muggy. So grateful to be here!

Summary for July 20, 2019

Fargo, North Dakota to Chicago, Illinois

954kms (8.9 hours)

To date...

We are having a relaxing morning with coffee

and conversation.

Heather took all of the kids to the pool.

I am doing some minor repairs back at our site.

The panel got a little hot last night from all the air conditioning that was occuring 🥶

It’s all good now.

But the step motor apparently didn’t like the rain we drove thru in Saskatchewan. 🌧

That will need some work yet.

We are now packing up for Chicago

Kids played some games before we leave

Tayah misses Bailey, so this kind lady came over to let her pet him.

Had a big dump,

And then we left. Had a new guest in our moho to Chicago!

Had to deal with the stressful country drive.

Luckily we had an hour to chill in the Chicago rush hour.

So some took a nap. 😴

Finally got to our destination. This is the Chicago Marshalling yard. It’s the closest place to downtown that you can camp at, and comes with four security guards, lots of asphalt for the kids to bike on and free burning barrels.

Bart and I unload the cargo trailer so that the kids can burn off some energy.

Kept them busy...

For a couple of laps...

And then dinner.

Pasta Night!

Such a beautiful human.

We were going to bike around for a bit but the night got late so we decided to have a fire instead. Plans of what to do tomorrow still waver, but all of it sounds pretty awesome!

We passed on the burning barrel and went with a classy propane fire tonight.

Da Bro’s.

This is what I call “Roughing it, Urban Style” 😀

Enjoying a fire with the adults as the kiddos have a movie night in the moho (you can see the screen in the window of our moho top left)

Landon got a new dirt bike. He’s pretty proud of it!

Aerial view of our party.

Summary for July 21, 2019

Chicago (north) KOA to Chicago Marshall Yards

96.4kms (2.14 hours)

Our theme for the day... READY. SET. ROCK!

The RV2 crew (Bart, Heather, Logan, Trenton, and Brooklyn) left on their day’s adventure.

So we watched Spencer for the morning. We are leaving soon on our adventure so he’ll be hanging out on his own until they return.

Took a ride over to 31st Beach.

Shores of Lake Michigan. Downtown Chicago in the background.

Jordie and Landon scheming.

Kids said it smells kind of like the ocean

Landon made a dirt bike track

We locked up the bikes and trailer and drove 30 mins over to Kevin and Michelle’s place in Brookfield. Staying here for the night.

They lent us their zoo pass!

Brookfield Zoo

Ran into some of our Canadian friends!

The Swamp

An Albino Alligator

My most favorite part of the zoo...

The monkey exhibit

And giraffes

Kevin on the smoker, making us dinner!

Lots of smoked meat

Some hide and seek...

Worm searching...

And then movie night!

Spider-Man. Into the Spider-verse.

It was a huge hit for all

Summary for June 22, 2019

Chicago marshaling yard to Kevin & Michelle’s (Brookfield, IL)

29kms (32 mins)

Boys convinced Kevin to give up the WiFi password so they could play video games lol

They let us use their shower, and their laundry facilities!

Decided to go for a walk with wifey

Very quiet neighborhood. Very cool houses!

Found a local barber named Dan. Got a trim.

Kids hung out in the Moho for awhile. Krista gave them all instructions on what to do to get things cleaned up in there. They nailed it!

Krista and Michelle went to the airport to pick up Barb.

We’re Playing UNO. ”It’s a little warm” says the kid in a sweater and sweat pants (Jordie) so he went and got an umbrella to cool down.

Lunch with friends ❤️

Saying our goodbyes...

And loading into RV1, we headed back to basecamp for the afternoon adventures.

Walked across our asphalt abode.

Caught an Uber to Millenium park.

Some crazy cool things to see

Tayah found her maple leaf!

Then to go see “the bean”

My Posse

A whole restaurant about Nutella

Oh how I miss RadioShack

Jordie got a kick out of holding the Trump tower

River Walk

Part of an old submarine

Next we went to the Navy Pier

Tayah found her happy place

Krista found her happy place, Chicago Popcorn

And then Chicago Deep Dish Pizza... yummo!

Kids enjoyed a ride or two...

Bart and I enjoyed a beer or two 🍻

Good times had by all today!

Onward and upward!

Caught an Uber ride home.

And reminisced about the awesome day!

Chicago was a hit! Highly recommended. Tomorrow, we point our units towards New York.

Took the munchkins out for one more bike ride.

Landon chose the skate park as his destination today. Not surprised 😉

Now to pack up for our trip further east.

I have to get all of this...

And this...

Into this...

Nailed it!

Goodbye Marshalling Yards, and good bye Chicago! It was a blast!

Had this cutie riding shotgun, keeping me company.

Didn’t last long tho 😴

Amish country

We parked.

We walked.

If you’re ever in Shipshewana, ID, go to JoJo’s and grab a pretzel.

Yummo!

Cool little shops

Buggies has wipers, mirrors, license plates and brakes.

That’s our Jordie, tired, hot and in a hoodie.

On our way to Ohio, we took the back roads. Farm after farm with the silo, red (or white) barn. Worth the extra 35 mins.

We reflect often!

Lake Erie is near.

Not the Lake Erie I remember 🤭

Sent the kids to the pool while we set up camp.

Our home for the night

Kids went out and partied...

While we hung out at home...

I love this girl 😍

And today is a wrap!

Goodnight!!!

Summary for June 24, 2019

Chicago, IL to Sandusky, OH

305 miles (4 hrs, 45 mins)

Trip to date...

Good morning walk! It’s already +22 out.

Nice quiet bay

Packing up again. It’s a simple routine by now. Well, for most of us it is 🤣

The kids named our RV’s.

RV1 (a.k.a Rolling Turd) and RV2 (Rubber Ducky)

Quick Walmart stop.

One on each shoulder. Which one is the devil and which one is the angel? I’m gonna leave that one alone lol

Just passing Cleaveland

Where the heck is Bart going?!?

To be continued...

Beautiful drive!

Until we hit construction 🙄

Stopped just in time I guess

Trucks behind us lined up for miles

Stopped on the bridge

Pennsylvania’s Quochahalla

That’s the first time Bart has passed me since we broke down lol.

No wonder he passed me, look at his speed! (Haha, just joking Wendy. My Speedo is broken)

Some slept

Some stared

Some drank my Frappachino

And played games

Bartonsville is the turnoff to today’s campground.

Took a cool little highway

For awhile

And found this place. Sweet find Heather!

Kids didn’t take long to schmooze the host for a ride to the park!

Our setup for tonight!

Summary for June 25th, 2019

Sandusky, OH to Stroudsburg, PA

429 miles (7 hours, 21 mins)

New York tomorrow baby!

Did some laundry too.

Haha. I wonder what’s in Buttzville

My roadie 😍

Entering New Jersey

GPS took us for a ride... Traffic gets a little tighter downtown.

Found our park. Right on the marina, across from Manhattan.

Bart’s on the left, we’re on the right and Lady Liberty is off in the distance.

Making plans for our afternoon. Had a cold one too.

Tayah trying to cool off in the A/C 🥶

Bart trying to cool off in the shade 😎

Told the kids that this is how they move your motorhome if you don’t pay your camp fees. The look on their face 😳

Gearing up for our afternoon adventure! Shorts, shades and sunscreen.

Off to NYC!

Getting a tutorial on how to use the subway

Figuring out what train to take in the subway

Almost lost Bart in the subway

Waiting for the Train, and the momma giving Landon heck for crossing the yellow line 😉

Sitting in time out is fun!

Kids first ever subway train

Headed to Ground Zero.

That gap is where tower one used to sit.

Tower one Memorial

Freedom tower

Tower 2 memorial

We then walked down Grandview to the ferry terminal.

Some beautiful buildings

Boarding the Staton Island Ferry

Manhatten

Lady meets Lady

Dude meets Lady too

30 minute ferry ride to the Island

Good times

Dinner consisted of fries, seafood and spring rolls. Couple cold ones too

Landon requesting his dance song from the DJ

Dance party on the patio in front of 80 people. Except for Tayah who stayed inside the restaurant. Jordie asked me for my hat and proceeded to busk with it lol!

Dairy Queen blizzards for all.

On route back to camp

Sun setting as we went

Beautiful view of the New York Harbour. It’s one of the largest natural harbors in the world. It’s huge!

Manhatten again

Subway is almost routine now. (Not)

Wanted to go to Uptown and the Bronx but wifey said no

Some street art

World Trade Center

Sisters

We’re done for the day.

Summary for July 26th, 2019

Stroughsburg, PA to Jersey City, New Jersey

80 miles (1 hour, 32 minutes)

Woke them up to head to The Museum. Kids have been talking about this for some time now.

Leaving camp

Waiting for a train...

Some cool stations

Some cool people

Walking from one station to another

Wait. Wait. Wait.

Penn Station

Waiting for another train

The number 1 takes us to the Museum and Central Park

Downtown and Brooklyn!

And we arrived. Some excited kiddos right here!

Strong boy

Earth room

Jordie finally found a virtual reality booth. He is good to go home now lol.

Georgeous building

Lunch in the shade

Good looking peeps!

Round 2 of the museum!

Mammals exhibit

King Cobra. Snakes was Pake’s favorite part of the zoo.

Komodo dragon

Amazing architecture

That was cool!

Now over to Central Park (right across the street)

To find the water park

Found it!

Great way for the kiddos to cool off

Big rock formations in the park

We couldn’t figure out who ate all of the chips lol

And Pake bought us all snow cones!

Leaving Central Park. On our way to Times Square. We decided to Uber it

Alicia rode up front with Kevin our driver

Headed down Broadway and 7th

Times Square

NYPD

And the Avengers (although one of the kids noted that it’s not the real Spider-Man, he’s a little overweight 😂)

Then they took off their masks and wanted money for taking the picture. Gave them $2 and the kids saw what friendly neighborhood Spider-Man looks like angry lmao.

Pano

What is Tayah looking at?!?!

The M&M store!

Bite me

Tayah’s selfie

We then took the train home. Kids (and adults) did awesome! One more day of chaos to go.

Celebrating our right to sit and have a bevy! Good night!

And some Fireworks to boot!

On the roof of the RV

I’d say it was a great day!

Pake read us a story about the Brooklyn Bridge. Pretty amazing story.

Here’s another version of this story

http://roeblingplay.com/history.html

We then departed for the ferry that will take us to the Brooklyn Bridge

A nice walk down the New Jersey streets

We arrived at the ferry to find out that it does not run in Sundays

So we walked back to the campground. Our niece Brooklyn was upset cause she wanted to see “her” Bridge.

So we took the motorhome!!!!

Saw TLC “Cake Boss” Carlos’ bake shop in Hoboken. Tayah and Heather were excited about that.

Heading to the tunnel

Apparently RV’s are not allowed in the Holland Tunnel, so instead of going back home...

We took the Lincoln tunnel!

Under the Hudson River and into Manhatten

And found Brooklyn her bridge!

Parking proved to be a challenge with a 30 foot bus tho

Tight squeeze!

Took us an hour to find a spot to parallel park the moho.. but we did it!

We parked at the base of the bridge

Brooklyn Bridge!

Tayah. In the background is the Manhatten Bridge, Extell towers and Empire State Building

Landon and Trenton too

Brooklyn got her charactuer done on her bridge

She was beaming.

Got to watch a huge group of bikes ride across the bridge as a fundraiser for the fight against cancer.

And then went back to the RV

As we headed home we came across the old abandoned metro tracks that they made into a garden path

Back through the tunnel

And arrived home where Bart had dinner ready for us! Butter Chicken and rice with asparagus!

We froze up the A/C so the kids did the next best thing... 😂

Took some showers

And then put on a movie

I love that they sleep in each morning. Means we are working them hard!

Boys turn to do dishes

Girls got the moho ready for travel

See ya later New Jersey!

Took a detour thru to the George Washington Bridge because if an accident on our planned route. 9 lanes merge into 3. We had fun fitting in. Had a smart car take their mirror off on our left rear and he kept on driving. Got him better than he got me lol.

On the bridge, Looking south to NYC

We then found out that the average height of the bridges on this route were less than 12 feet 😳😳. After an intense 32 miles of hogging the center line so we would fit thru we were on our way.

And then we hit construction.

Stopped in at an antique place in Middlefield, Connecticut. Spend an hour and a half checking out some really cool stuff! Spencer hung out in the a/c chilled RV2.

We then stopped in at a Walmart for groceries

Bart and I hung out while the ladies shopped

The heat in the parking lot proved to be a challenge. With generators running we carried on.

Yeah, it was hot!

Cruising

Into Massachusetts

I like this guys thinking

Passing Boston

Stopped in Reading, Massachusetts for the crew to take a break.

Walked over to a a kids ply place to burn them out

They had a blast!

Being it’s 9 pm we decided to

Call it a day and stay in the cozy WalMart campground

Settled right in while dinners being made

They have nice lawns, but sadly no services. Our chef Bart on the grill.

What a guy lol!

Dinner time!

Summary for July 29, 2019

Jersey City, NJ to Reading, MA

226 miles (4 hours, 2 mins)

A quick hello to Spencer and a good bye to Walmart

Portland, Maine

Stopper in at the Portland Head Lighthouse

Facing east

Spencer was happy to see grass lol

Kids garden

A short walk to the shore

Beautiful place

Tayah

Landon and Trenton

Tayah

Jordie

Landon and Krista

Kids dipped their feet

Call ur mom! We can all use this reminder!

Jordie loves the old ruins and exploring

Old power plant

Back to the moho

Stopped in at Holy Donut. All made from Maine mashed potatoes no lie.

They’re THAT good!

Portland Maine is beautiful. Krista said we need to go back with out the kids and go pub crawling.

Jordie’s kind of humor. He made me take a picture

Old cobblestone streets everywhere

Then we bikes back, loaded up the gear and crew to find a beach

Saw some epic houses along the way

We drove down to the park, but had to drop everyone off and park a half mile up the road cause there was no parking.

So Bart and I did just that! And then walked down to the beach

Bart finally got a chance to cool off

Finished off the day with a bbq.

And some cart wheels

What a beautiful day!

We drove another 30 mins to Gardiner to sleep at a truck stop. Good times!

Summary for July 30th, 2019

Reading, MA to Gardiner, MA

147 miles (2 hours, 18 minutes)

Doing some quick RV repairs. Bart had a vacuum line crack so his dash vents weren’t working. Got her all patched up!

Girls made sandwiches. We had a ton of meat that we couldn’t take across the border, so they made me a meat sandwich!

Counting the receipts

Watching a movie

Playing games

Got into some serious hills in North East Maine...

Had to take our time cause things were getting a little hot 🔥

Reached the summit and things cooled down

Rolled into the border with no wait. Border guard was super chill. Reminded me that you’re only allowed 24 beer (I had 30) but he let me off the hook. He asked if we had any plant or animal based products (less the children lol) and I said no. Luckily we also had no mace or marajuana this time and so he passed us thru!

New Brunswick!

Merging onto the Trans-Canada. Haven’t seen it since Moose Jaw

Found ourselves a nice little cozy campsite. Got here just in time cause the place filled up fast! Must be a popular place to be!

Set up camp and started dinner

Time for some R&R

And some fettechini Alfredo and sausage

And then we raided the truckers showers

And made good use of the facilities

Then it is back to the moho for PJ’s and a movie.

You can put a clothesline anywhere! They’re so handy!

Reading time, and Tayah is writing her journal

And a whiskey by the fire for these two truckers

Summary for July 31, 2019

West Gardiner, MA USA to Moncton, NB Canada

550 kms (5 hours, 51 mins)

$25 per family to enter the park. That’s Canadian dollars, so like $8 USD which is a steal!

Hopewells Rocks Stairwell. 101 steps down to the beach

Tayah is in there somewhere

Lovers arch.

Apple Rock

Castle cove

Elephant Rock

Same amount of steps back to the top

Tide down and tide up

There were some good looking ladies there too!

Kids played at the park

They have instructions in the washroom about how to use the toilet. Remember folks, common sense is not common at all!

Jordie punched a tree

And said goodbye (for 4 days until PEI) to RV2, Bart and family amd headed off to Nova Scotia

We then plugged in the address for a new friend of ours that I met at my last client meeting in Toronto. She said that we had to come visit them when we’re here... so we did!

The GPS took us the back way.. which was beautiful!

Came up on an accident happen 15 seconds before we showed up. People were running to it from a home nearby, airbag smoke was still in the air and coolant was still leaking. Everyone was ok from what we could see.

Since we were on a blind corner we stayed and helped direct traffic. Took about 20 mins for the RCMP to show up.

A Toyota pick up t-boned this Nissan Versa

After talking to the cops for a bit we went on another 6 minutes to our destination.

Chateau Tingley!

Tayah found her happy place

And so did the boys

Tayahs new friend would not leave her side

At all

Great day spent with great friends!

Life is guud!

Girls had their own bed to sleep in here. They both slept in

Moho cleaning day!

So the kids went to work. Boys did dishes with no complaints and girls are doing laundry

It’s time says Jordan

Pool time!

This doggie is warming up to me I think

And she loves Tayah of course.

Left this guy in the house so the boys don’t get attacked in the pool lol

Connie who works for Enterprise used to work in Calgary, and when I called her for a rental she said let’s do lunch!

We then got invited to hang out at a cabin on the lake close to our friends place.

Followed Jamie and Melanie (on their dirt bike)

Georgeous!

Kids are having it rough

And a lobster dinner to boot! Landon was enthralled!

Pontoon ride across the lake

Nathan McKinnon’s house (NHL hockey player)

And he lives beside Sindey Crosby’s place (seen here)

We then went a little late into the night

Home and into bed! How will we ever top today!?!

Melanie drove me to Halifax to pick up our rental. We needed a set of wheels to cruise around here and PEI. Got to Enterprise only to find out my license had expired on my birthday 😳

They said because they know me they will let it slide and sent me on my way in a new Tahoe!

Stopped in at Fraserway RV to pick up the parts for Bart’s pooper.

Landon got a new dirt bike. He is pumped

We then loaded up the family and our new friends and headed in our daily adventure

I think Gracie is warming up to me

Landon made it 30 mins into the drive

Peggy’s Cove

Tayah loves the gift shops

Kids found an old pay phone that still works. They were blown away by it lol

Seen this and thought Mom and Dad would like it

We then went to Jamie’s parents house for drinks and appy’s

And then back home for a cozy fire, tunes and conversations

Such an incredible couple these people are ❤️

Love these peeps! We talked about today’s events and decided we’d head over to their family’s place for a visit, which was about 1.5 hours away. Since we couldn’t fit 8 people in one car...

We took the moho!

Gracie was thrilled!!!

To the left... Oak Island, where they film the show. We went right.

Indian Point on Mahone Bay, NS.

Their relatives live right on the bay. This is their house, built in 1876!!!

And they own the Boat shop down the road where they build and restore boats. It was amazing!

It’s a drive on beach but we would have high-centered going in which would have made a few locals upset I’m sure.

So we improvised

Found us a spot

Beach was cool, water was cold, but the fog burned off and it was good to go swimming.

Jamie helped Landon make a dirt bike track

He was in his element

Us boys made some sand sculptures

We then headed home, had pizza and vegged out.

Tayah and Melanie did some baking

While Landon and Jamie watched Freestyle Motocross

It’s going to be tough leaving our new friends tomorrow. Such beautiful people with such beautiful souls. They have a place in our hearts for sure ❤️

It was hard to say good bye to them. Even the doggies got hugs.

Launa even tried to sneak into the car to come with us lol!

With grateful (and somewhat sad) hearts we said goodbye to Melanie, Jamie, Athan, Launa and Gracie carried on.

They gave us a momentum that just so happens to reflect all of us 😀

And chased us down the road to bring the things we forgot at their house ❤️

A quick stop in Truro for groceries.

And in Pictou to dump our pooper and get propane.

We got to the ferry on time and waited about 45 minutes to get on.

So Jordie kept track of them in CB

While Landon hung out the window

Jordie filming our near death experience 🤣

Tight fit among the trucks. This ferry holds 220 vehicles!

Heading to the top deck

Found the girls

Facing PEI

Alicia the photo-bomber

Spotted the first PEI lighthouse. Kids asked all about the red soil too

Back down to the Moho

Jordie said follow the poopers dad!

Souris PEI

Got to Krista’s Uncle Barry’s place on Snake road about 15 mins past Souris

Topped up on water and spent the night hanging out with Bart and Wendy and Uncle Gary and Aunt Rose.

Took a dirt road to the beach

And hauled all of stuff over the burm

To one of the most beautiful beaches you’ll ever see.

Little Harbour Beach

Kids dig a hole to bury themselves

literally...

Water was cold and so was the beer 🍻

Tayah our beach bum

I love this human

Boys were in the sand all day

Bart and Wendy went swimming

So did Drew, who challenged Bart and Gary to a streaking contest...

They accepted his challenge

This is my Brother-in-law. We always know there was something about him lol

Jordie wanted to be shark man

We packed up and headed home for dinner. This is what retired men do when they barbecue apparently

Bart did some work while we had coffee in Gary’s moho

And the kids enjoyed a morning movie

We then did an island tour (east side)

Kids found a spider eating a horsefly

We watched a boat being pulled out

Stopped in at the cemetery that Krista’s distant family was buried.

I found this incredible poem on a tombstone

Got back to camp to have some R&R. Jodie playing the IPad

Happy Hour!

And a fire to finish the evening 🔥

While the family got ready for the beach. Our sweet Tayah makes lunches every day.

Loaded up

Daily walk over the sand bar

The kids love it here, digging and carving sand

The wind was heavy making some sweet waves

Andrew out kite-boarding

I love this human ❤️

Jordie facilitates a sand sculpture contest. This was Alicia’s entry

And mine

Alicia won. She celebrated by going boogie boarding

The old folks showed up eventually

Landon was up to his neck in fun

Tayah made a poop emoji

And Jordie made a toilet. Seeing a theme develop here...

The sand is incredible here at Little Harbor.

And it gets in every crevasse it can. Rinsed the boys off before they showered in the Moho.

Had a lobster fest with the family

And finished the day with songs and conversation. Wendy playing the guitar

And Uncle Gary played some tunes too

We did some home improvements

And then headed to the beach for a change

Landon is pretty proud of his new skim board that our friend Jamie gave him

Told Landon to go fly a kite

And before we headed home asked the boys to go rinse out their trunks

So they did just that lol

There was even a full moon out today

We then had a butter-chicken dinner and watched a movie

And finished off with a fire 🔥

Laundry day

Lots of laundry

We loaded up to explore a new beach. Loving the red dirt road

By far our most favorite beach to date

It’s Saturday, and the fishermen play. Their out there pulling a tube. Awesome!

Tayah won the sand carving contest 💩

Wendy loving her lobster 🦞

The storm we watched roll in on the beach started to arrive at the cabin

It came in fast

And rained/hailed a lot in a little time

Got the bathroom vanity project done thanks to Bart

The storm subsided and left a beautiful view

So we headed over to Wendy’s cousin Susie’s place

Clear skies after the storm

Another red dirt road!

And a bunch of great people

They had a small contraption to chase away the mosquitos. Made out of thin wall 4” tubing and a trap door. Smolders and smokes them away. I want one.

Played some washers

And loved inside for food and fellowship

The rare yet beautiful smile of Alicia Houweling 😍

Out came the accordion and guitars. Buddy can play a mean accordion!

Kids were troopers

Another beautiful day here on PEI!

Landon’s morning routine

Tayah and Brooklyn made muffins

And then we headed to the beach.

It was a little chillier than normal

And the wind was so strong it blew sand at us, so Tayah got creative

The wind wa a perfect for kite boarding, so Andrew was in his glory. He’s getting pretty good at it too!

He was out there for more than an hour and seemed to be thirsty, so I helped him out by handing him a beer

We then decided to head home since there was a storm rolling in

Uncle Gary bought everyone drum sticks

And Great-Grandma Mac, Buddy and some other family joined us for happy hour.

It was then time for dinner. We fed the kids and left them at home base, and us adults headed out for dinner to Clam Diggers

Great looking group of people!

We endulged in today’s catch 🦞🦐🦀🍷

We made the most of the day regardless of the weather! It was a great day to be alive!

Took the scenic route. House after house we enjoyed the different styles, design and history of these places.

Beautiful farms too

Made it to Shining Waters Waterpark and Amusement Park

Boys hit the slides before we could even sunscreen them

Krista and I had to play too

We then walked the grounds, exploring all of the different games and attractions they had there

The tilted house

And farm animals

Jordie was mesmerized by the chickens. Watch this video and you’ll see

Great day to ride in a pumpkin with your mom

And your uncle lol

Guess which one Jordie was in and which one Uncle Andrew was in 🤢🤮

Roller Coaster time!

And some sailing

We then all went out for dinner.

And headed home.

For some laundry washing and R&R

While the kiddos relaxed and played together

And the teenager chilled out doing her artwork

We took a trip with everyone to see some MacDonald history

Visited the old church and nearby cemetery where generations of MacDonald and Peters family have been laid to rest. Kids got to see where the grave of their great, great grandparents.

And the church was unlocked so we went in

The old homestead and a 1960’s Impala

Uncle Gary showing the kids family pictures

We then took the kids clam digging at Rollo Bay

They did awesome!

Shucking the clams for tomorrow’s soup

And we then sat down for a meal of haddock, mussels and scallops... yum!

Finished off the day with a fire

While the kids play LEGO

I had to do some work and Alicia wanted to come hang out with me. She got breakfast out of the deal

And of course some WiFi

We then headed to the beach.

Landon’s dirt bike track

The DeJong’s (friends from church) were on the island so they came and hung out with us for the afternoon.

Jodie’s Imperial Walker

Beautiful day!