Our Last Hurrah

In New Brunswick anyway.

We have been made to feel very welcome in the ward here in Saint John. I feel like I have made some wonderful friends. I was even invited into a facebook group for the Saint John Ward playgroup. So, this being our last week in Saint John, I decided that I would initiate a gathering at New River Beach with whomever from the fb group wanted to come. It worked out that we decided to go yesterday (Wednesday) for the afternoon. It was a gorgeous, hot, sunny day and about 4 families (including us) came. We played in the water and on the sand, chatted and snacked, and watched the tide come in at a rapid pace. I still can't get over how fast and how far the tide comes in. Aubrey even got really brave and played in the waves! The damper of the afternoon was when a dead seal was brought in with the tide. Some teenage boys helped speed up the process (as in, they brought it all the way in to the beach, right where we were sitting which was a little traumatizing for some of the kids). I have never seen a seal in real life. I would have preferred to see it alive and barking though. And not so stinky. Ugh. That seemed to be the cue to leave and 2 of the families we came with left. We stayed and the Woodruff family stayed so we played at the playground while we waited for the tide to go back out. We were only planning on staying for an hour or 2 more, but we ended up staying until 8 o'clock that evening! That's past my kids bedtime! And it is a half hour drive back to our apartment! It was so worth it though. Jacquie (Mrs. Woodruff) is definitely a kindred spirit. It's too bad that we figured that out right before we were leaving! We chatted the day away and time flew by. Jacquie's daughter, Madelin (10) and Aubrey played together pretty much the whole time and Madelin even took care of Carter for me for a good portion of the the afternoon. He loves her. Sometimes I think I should adopt a ten-year-old. Victor (3) and Jensen hit it off and played and played without a single fight. It was seriously a wonderful day and it was so hard to say goodbye. Just a couple of days ago the kids and I were dying for moving day to come, now they don't want to leave at all because of our new found friends.

Aubrey and Madelin

Jensen's new best bud, Victor

Jensen really didn't want to be in a picture so I chased him down and took one anyway!

 So now it's only 3 more sleeps until we head out on our long drive home. My sister and her kids, the visitors that were going to come, are no longer coming. That was bummer news but the good news is that we are going to go visit them in Boston on our way home! We are also going to stop in Detroit to visit Chris' brother Darcy and his family. I haven't met their newest addition yet so I am so excited for that. In Between Boston and Detroit we are going to stop in Palmyra as Chris and the kids have never been before and it is on our way! We are actually heading to my parents cabin for the September long weekend before we head all the way home. And then Aubrey starts school. Crazy. So now it's time for me to start packing and I probably won't be heard from for a couple of weeks! Pray for us! We're gonna need it.