Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo

A couple of weeks ago my boss mentioned that he had some tickets for the Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo to give away and asked if I was interested. J and I have been to the Tattoo a couple times and have always really enjoyed ourselves. I was able to get four tickets for the show on Saturday afternoon so J and I decided to take my parents.

 

We had a delicious lunch at new restaurant downtown (try the lobster mac and cheese if you're ever at The Foggy Goggle) and then headed to the Metro Centre for the show.

 

The Tattoo is... Well, hard to explain for starters! It features all kinds of military bands and different display teams. (According to Wikipedia it's inspired by "military tattoos" but I don't really know what they are so that's not particularly helpful.) It happens every summer in Halifax and features performers from around the world. The majority of the performances are military based (there's also a strong RCMP prescence) but some are civillian performers. There are dancers, acrobats, bands, historic re-enactments... All kinds of different performances.

 

If you're ever in Halifax during the first week of July it's definitely something I recommend checking out!

 

The opening.



A tribute to three RCMP officers recently killed in the line of duty. (I bawled.)

 

This little guys came from Denmark. They were fantastic!

This was the best performance of the night. So much precision!

These two pictures are from a tribute to soldiers killed in Afghanistan. (I cried again...)

I love highland dancing. I hope some day I have a daughter who's interested in trying.

 

The muscles on this boys... Whoa.

Everybody marches back in for the finale. It's awesome to watch.

Sorry for all the pictures, I just couldn't narrow it down anymore!

Have a fantastic Tuesday. :-)

Favourite Vacation Snap Shots

I've been trying to figure out how much I want to post about my vacation. Part of me wants to share every little detail, and every single picture. Part of me doesn't want to share anything because they're my memories. I've decided to compromise with myself and I'm sharing five of my favourite pictures from the week so far. (A lot of them are portrait orientation, so this post is going to look a million miles long.)

The first one is J and I on the wharf in Lunenburg. I know I've already shared this one, but it's my favourite picture of the two of us from this week. It was the first real day of our vacation and we were so happy to be spending the day together, just us. I really love the colours too, Lunenburg is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a National Historic Site so the downtown core looks like you stepped back in time.

This second picture is Daisy and I at Taylor Head Provincial Park. Not the most flattering picture of me but I love the clouds and the waves rolling in. Earlier that day J tried pulling Daisy down towards the water but she didn't want anything to do with it. Midway through the afternoon she was loving the waves and the wet sand. There's something about walking along the beach that just makes me really happy.

This is J's sister, Rachel and her boyfriend, Jesse at Grand Pre National Historic Site. These two are absolutely precious. I love that they're not actually looking at me in this picture. J was taking a picture using Rachel's camera at the same time so that's where they're looking. I don't actually know Rachel very well, she moved to Florida for university the year before J and I got married. She's come home at Christmas, but it's such a busy time of year that it makes it hard to really spend time talking to people. This week we've spent a fair bit of time with Rachel and Jesse and I've really enjoyed it.

This is J's brother, David and his fiancee, Tracey. They obviously had no idea I was taking this picture. I just looked over and there they were. I love the scenery in the background. We've been spending a bit more time with these two lately and I love it. They're a lot like J and I in some ways. Tracey is a few years older than David, they met at work, and she's the chatty one while he's the listener. J is six years older than David so it's only been recently that he's seen him as someone to hang out with as opposed to just being his little brother.

I love the self-timer on my camera! My camera is propped up on a sun dial (of all things!) on the grounds of Grand Pre National Historic Site. The six of us had a great day together yesterday. We went to the zoo, had a picnic, visited Grand Pre, and checked out a local coffee roastery. Family is very important to J and I and I love that we were able to spend some time with his family during our vacation. (Not gonna lie, I also loved that we were able to spend some time together just the two of us!)

Hope everyone has had a great week, and I apologize for not commenting as much as usual! I should be back on track next week.

Grateful Heart Monday

Today what I am most grateful for is vacation. I know that it sounds kind of silly, but I love being able to take a week off and recharge my batteries. J and I can't really afford to travel, so we've decided to spend some time exploring Nova Scotia.



J and I out whale watching in Lunenburg earlier today.

I'm also grateful for living so close to the ocean - there is nothing like the small of the salt in the air! And I'm so grateful that J and I were both able to find good jobs here in Nova Scotia so that we don't have to move out west like so many others. J would definitely make more money in another province, but with both of our families here it's just not worth it to us. We'd rather pick away at our debt slowly and be able to spend time with the people we love. There's nothing wrong with packing up and moving away, it just wasn't the right choice for us.

What are you grateful for today?

Wild, Wild Life

We were really disappointed when we saw the weather forecast for today earlier this week. We were hoping for a day like Saturday, which was absolutely gorgeous. Warm (but not too hot) and sunny. Unfortunately today's forecast was pretty bleak. Cloudy with a 60% chance of showers all day. And cold. Boo. We've been wanting to go to the zoo with David (J's younger brother) and Tracey (David's fiance) since it opened Easter Weekend. We all ended up with today off but with the weather forecast we weren't sure we wanted to drive all that way.

At the last minute we decided to head to the Shubenacadie Wildlife Park and I'm really glad we did. The weather was warmer than we expected and it didn't rain at all. It was so nice that we even stopped for ice cream on the way home. It was a great way to end our long weekend.

There are peacocks everywhere!
 

We found a couple of love-birds roaming around. ;-)
 

Canada Geese and their babies!
 

He was so cute! He did a couple turns, just like Daisy, before settling down.
 

Posing with my new friend the Artic Wolf.
 

I love raccoons. I know they're basically pests, but I just think they're super cute.
 

David and Tracey checking out the otters. They look so graceful in the water, but so awkward on land.
 

Of course we had to pose with the bear!

 I loved having three days off in a row this weekend. J and I really enjoyed the time together and it was so nice not having to set an alarm. Hope you enjoyed your weekend, especially those of you in Canada celebrating Victoria Day!

An Afternoon by the Atlantic

This weekend is a long weekend here in Canada, and two small miracles happened. One, the weather yesterday was absolutely amazing and two, I'm off! I'm off for three whole days and I couldn't be  more excited. J and I have been really busy with work the past couple weeks and haven't had a lot of time to spend together so having three days off together is just what we needed. After writing about how much I loved the Seaside Adjunct and how perfect our day was there the first time we were there we decided that's where we would take Daisy.

The weather was absolutely perfect, and it was just as beautiful as I remembered. We spent a couple of hours roaming the beach and climbing the rocks. I took a ton of pictures, though I don't think any of them actually do the area justice. We basically had the place to ourselves which made for an extra peaceful afternoon.

Daisy absolutely loved it. I really wish we could let her off-leash but with a beagle who wasn't trained as a puppy it's just not something we want to try. She still enjoyed all the smells and all the new places to explore. She didn't seem to be overly fond of the waves though!

We saw seals too. Lots and lots of them. I love getting to see wildlife when we're out on our adventures.

The best part of the day was just that we got to totally relax. I left my cellphone in the car and we spent a couple hours just talking, laughing and catching up. I really think that's crucial to making a marriage work.

Daisy was exhausted by the time we were on our way home and actually slept most of the drive home.

It was pretty much the perfect Saturday. Hope you had a great Saturday too!

My Summer Bucket List

There are a lot of things that I would like to do this summer, but most weeks the only day J and I have off together is Sunday and Sunday is an extremely busy day for us.  My number one goal for the summer is to make time for J, and make time for my friends and family. Even with my work schedule I think I'll be able to cross most of these items off my list before the end of the summer.

The List;

1.) Visit some animals! I absolutely love the zoo and we have a few options that can easily be done as a day trip. We can visit the Oaklawn Farm Zoo, the Shubenacadie Wildlife Park, or The Moncton Zoo.

At the Magnetic Hill Zoo waaay back in 2007.

2.) Go to the beach. I love the ocean, but I'm not really a beach lover. We have some beautiful beaches in Nova Scotia though and it seems like a shame not to spend at least one afternoon laying on the sand reading and playing in the Atlantic Ocean.

3.) Have a picnic. I love picnics, I don't know why. We usually have at least one every summer and I'm hoping that we'll continue the tradition this year.

4.) Have some friends over and roast marshmallows. We bought a little fire pit shortly after we moved into our house but we rarely use it. And any time we've had a fire it's just been the two of us. It's romantic and everything, but s'mores are a lot of effort for just two people!

Roasting marshmallows last summer!

5.) Read 5 books I've never read.

6.) Eat downtown on a patio. There are so many restaurants in downtown Halifax that set up patios for the summer and I want to take advantage this year. I love the people watching aspect, plus food just tastes better outside.

7.) Try two new restaurants. We get a free "Halifax" magazine delivered to the store I work at and I grabbed it to read on my break the other day. It had articles about a couple great sounding restaurants. Too often J and I will go out to eat just because neither of us feel like cooking and we'll end up grabbing fast food or at a chain restaurant like Boston Pizza but I'd rather use our "eating out" budget to try out one of the restaurants I read about even if it means eating out less.

8.) Go camping. If I worked a Monday to Friday job and had every weekend off I think we'd probably buy a little trailer and go camping a bunch of times during the summer. I don't work Monday to Friday though, so it's not really worth it to buy a trailer. We do have a tent though, and we love camping. I want to make sure we fit it in this year. (Last year we went to an amazing park right on the ocean. It was an amazing weekend.)

Camping at Kejimkujik National Park a couple summers ago.

9.) Visit another province. New Brunswick and PEI are both do-able as a daytrip and there's lots to see and do in both provinces. (If we hit New Brunswick I'd love to eat at the restaurant Jesse from  Top Chef Canada works at!)

10.) Check out two museums. There are so many museums around here, we have a really rich history. My dad was a history teacher for years and I'm pretty sure he dragged my brother and I to every museum around when we were kids. I haven't been to most of them in years though and I think it would be kind of fun to go back and see them as an adult.

Anything exciting on your summer bucket list? Anything you think I'm missing?

xo,
Sara

A Very Good Friday

Whenever I have a "bonus" day off I like to make sure I take advantage. The store was closed today and so was J's work. J's brother (David) and his fiancée (Tracey) both work for Sobeys too so we thought it might be nice to do something with them since days that all four of us are off are super rare. 

We ended up deciding to visit one of our favourite parks, Long Lake. And instead of it being just the four of us two of Tracey's sisters came and of course we brought Daisy. :-) Long Lake is one of our favourites for a few reasons. It's beautiful to start with. It's close to home too, it's only about a twenty minute drive.  But once you're in the park you can't tell how close you are to the city. It's also one of the least developed parks in the area. The trails are a little more rugged and not marked well, so you really feel like you're exploring.  After our hike we headed back to our place to play a game and then have a barbeque for supper.

Other than deciding we were  going to do something today, we didn't make any plans until lunch time today. Usually I'm all about planning things in advance,  but it was nice to play things by ear for a change.

Hope your weekend got off to a great start!

xo,
Sara

A Walk in the Park

I don't get a lot of Saturdays off. Most of the time it's not a big deal. I like having my day off to myself through the week. I can do house cleaning, try new recipes, run errands, or spend the entire day on the couch with a book. Basically, I can do whatever I feel like doing and that's a nice feeling. Sometimes working every Saturday sucks though, especially since J works Monday to Friday. We are both (usually) off on Sundays but it's such a busy day with church and family dinners that we don't get a lot of "us" time. So, when I do get a Saturday off we like to do something.

Now that it's officially spring I got it into my head that I wanted to start taking Daisy and going back to some of our favourite parks for walking and hiking. I was pretty disappointed when I woke up yesterday morning to grey skies and heavy looking clouds. We made ourselves a big breakfast and lounged around on the couch catching up on some TV for the morning but around lunch time noticed that the rain seemed to have stopped. It was still grey, and not exactly warm, but we decided to throw Daisy in the car and head out anyways.

We chose to head out to Sandford Fleming Park even though there are places we like closer. One of our first "dates" was a walk there, it's also where J proposed and where we had our wedding pictures taken. I think maybe we were feeling a bit nostalgic. (It's also one of the first places we took Daisy after we adopted her.) They're in the process of doing some restoration to the park like paving the walkways and replacing the retaining walls, I can't wait to see it when it's finished. Usually when we're there it's packed with people and other dogs but it was pretty quiet today because of the weather. I think I liked it better that way, and I know Daisy did. :-)

Hope that you had a great Saturday, no matter what the weather was like!

xo,
Sara