Thinking about our new kitchen

I'm loving the open shelving, butcher block counters, ubiquitous subway tiles, stainless steel. I'm also loving the idea of having a huge mirror in the kitchen to make up for lack of windows.

(All images from google image searching "open shelving kitchen light cabinets" a while ago)

Black Lives Matter

Tonight I am feeling absolutely sick about the news of the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile. I don't have a lot of words to share. I thought this post was really good.

More long weekend pics

(Cohen and Jon at the Memorial Ceremony on Canada Day) 

(At the beach) 

(Checking out more Terra Nova stuff)

Here in Newfoundland, July 1st is not just Canada Day. We also remember the hundreds of NL soldiers who died on the battlefield in France 100 years ago. This was the first year that we went to the ceremony, and I was really surprised to hear the details, like how lots of the almost 700 soldiers who died were really only kids, and most of them had next to no experience. Also, the fact that Newfoundland was it's own country back then, not a part of Canada. I usually find listening to war history honestly pretty difficult. But at the ceremony we attended, they instead did dramatic readings of the actual letters that a few of the soldiers who died had sent home days before the battle. Amazing. Also, it was hot, maybe 25 degrees here, and three cadets on parade fainted during the hour-long ceremony. 

After the ceremony, we went to the Canada Day festivities, which included a magician (Cohen was interested for maybe 2 minutes), bouncy castle (Cohen=not interested), and temporary tattoos (loved it). We also did a little beach time at the lake, and of course, the partly successful camping trip. Such a good weekend. We are getting down to our last few weeks in NL, which is CRAZY. I currently have my replacement at work shadowing me, and I just registered Cohen for preschool in Oromocto for the fall. It's all happening.

Our first attempted camping trip with an almost three-year-old

So we attempted our first family camping trip this weekend! Jon and I were really into camping before Cohen, and have been talking about camping again since Cohen was born. When Cohen was really little, we waited for warm weather, which never came, but now that Cohen is almost three, we thought it would be a perfect time to try it out for one night. 

(at the touch tank in Terra Nova)

(loves the taxidermy)

(driving to our campsite)

(relaxing at the campsite)

We got to the site in the late afternoon, and set up and made beans and rice for supper on our camp stove. Cohen loved all that. Later we had popcorn over the fire, roasted marshmallows and hot dogs, the usual camping stuff. And then around 9 pm it was time for our exhausted little toddler to go to bed. We all cuddled into our tent with our fancy sleeping bags and lots of books. And our little guy was not having it. He refused to stay in his sleeping bag (it was pretty cold! 11 degrees), and informed us that he would not be sleeping tonight. So after trying for a bit longer, we packed up and headed home. J and I still consider our first camping trip a success. Cohen had the best time. We'll try again soon when the weather warms up a bit. 

This weekend...

We had the first truly hot weekend of the year, and we made the most of it for sure. My friend and I decided to go to the gluten-free fair in town, which I honestly thought would be about seven people milling around a conference room at a hotel. I was so wrong. More like 500 people stuck in a conference room at a hotel. You could not even move in there. Gluten-free is taking over. My friend has a mild gluten allergy that makes her face break out when she eats it, and Cohen, of course, is allergic to wheat in the face rash way as well. I think a lot of the people there had celiac disease. For various reasons, lots of people are interested in avoiding gluten. 

Cohen and I were so not interested in being in the packed room, even if it meant free samples. So we chilled in the hotel lobby, eating snacks from our freebie bag that they handed out at the door. We ended up spending a few bucks on gluten-free marshmallows, macarons, butter tarts. I totally realize that marshmallows are inherently gluten-free, but I don't care, I just love homemade marshmallows.

 (Snacking on freebies)

We then went to Bannerman Park for a picnic and a few hours at the huge awesome park they have there. I swear they were having a good time. Mickey and Minnie made an appearance at the park for some type of celebratory event, and these guys were thrilled. Cohen prefers to observe from a comfortable 20 feet away, while his friend was cool with shaking hands with Mickey for a picture.

I watched Cohen and his friend run around our picnic blanket for probably an hour, chasing each other, laughing. Cohen had the hugest smile on his face, and it just made me so happy. When Cohen is happy, I am happy. Motherhood truth.

(typical facial expressions)

After we had enough sun, we headed to the Chapters, then back on the road with cold Starbucks beverages. Our little guys were so good! It helped that my friend drove, and her car is decked out with dvd players. Cohen was definitely in heaven watching Ice Age on the two-hour drive to town.

On Sunday, we headed to our local campground to hang out at the beach on the lake. Dude loved destroying sandcastles as Jon made them, and throwing sand into the water.

 (Eating a popsicle, relaxing on the beach)

Such a good weekend. So tired, so much sun. I think maybe, maybe I can put away our winter gear. We only have a few weekends left in Newfoundland, so we are trying to make them count. Camping at Terra Nova, hiking around Clarenville, watching Jon run the Tely 10, hanging out with friends we probably won't see for a while.