St. Andrews By-The-Sea

 We have been in Fredericton for a couple of days now. It is a beautiful city! We are staying in the same chain of hotel as we did in Miramichi called Lakeview. They are pretty decent hotels so I can't complain. The continental breakfast here in Fredericton has more variety which is definitely a bonus! I just wish we could have had a giant sized room like the one we got in Miramichi. But Fredericton has way more to do! You win some, you lose some.

Today I decided to venture out with the kids to a place called St. Andrews By-The-Sea. I had actually never heard of it before last night. I have been in touch with some long time family friends (they are actually my brother-in-law Jon's family) who live out here in New Brunswick and we have been trying to find a time when we could get together. They were planning on going to St. Andrews so I thought I would go and meet up with them.

The kiddos and I left on our 2 hour drive at around lunch. The kids all napped on the way so they were well rested for our little adventure. We had a while before the Pennys were going to be able to meet us so I drove around the town to see what there was to see. It is definitely a cute little town by the ocean. On our drive we came across this fantastic playground so we had to stop and play a while!

The kids had so much fun that they didn't want to leave! But our fun was interrupted by Jensen's need to go #2... So we left to find a bathroom.

We used the bathroom at the Visitor's Information Center which was convenient as we were able to get some information on some interesting things to do while we were in town. I'm so glad we stopped because I would have never noticed the "Block House" which is where we spend most of the day! The sad news is that while we were at the VIC I got a phone call from the Penny family letting me know that they would not be able to make out to meet us. I was disappointed so say the least but at least we got out of the hotel room!

Anyways...

The block house was built in 1812 to be used as a watch tower and a defense tower. The soldiers would sit and watch the waters for any boats that were approaching as they were afraid of an attack from the US via the sea. It was so crazy to me that you can see Maine right across the sea. I knew it was close, I just didn't realize it was THAT close.

 We got to tour the inside of the blockhouse. It was really tiny. I wouldn't love to be the soldiers that had to stay there. Especially over the long, cold winters.

The View from the upstairs of the Block House

 

And of course the kiddos had to get a closer look at the cannons. They are pretty cool.

 

When the excitement of the cannons was over with we decided to walk out to the sea. The tide was out so we could walk out quite a ways and the kiddos were able to find lots of seashells and enjoy the sand and water!

 It was so much fun playing in the ocean. It was hard to get the kiddos to get out of the water! The tide was starting to come in and I was amazed at how quickly it was happening! I was somehow able to convince the kids that it was time to move on. It was no easy feat. Carter left kicking and screaming...

I didn't want to get the kiddos into the SUV until they were a little drier - we weren't exactly dressed for swimming - so they decided to roll down the large berms outside the block house. What better way to get dry?

Carter attempted to roll down too but he couldn't quite figure it out.

 After some rolling and some walking around the nearby park to get dry, we got back into the car to find someplace to eat. We finally settled on a little restaurant that said "family dining" on the window. It wasn't all that kid friendly so I'm not all that sure what their definition of "family" is. There was no kids menu (therefore no kids pricing) and it turned out to be one very expensive meal especially considering what we ordered! Oh well. Overall, it was a good day! All 3 kids are sound asleep in their beds gearing up for another adventure tomorrow!