There Is Nothing A Little Salt Water Can’t Cure

As some of you know, the kids and I have spent the past three weeks enjoying some much needed time at home in Nova Scotia and it was a wonderful trip! Last visit, the kids so kindly shared hand foot mouth disease for 10 of our 15 day stay. Boy, that was a delight! We had a few bad tummies from gorging on blueberries and gummy worms but otherwise, they were great.

In typical Danielle fashion, I had weekly lists of our outings each day and where we were gonna eat. One can not simply go home and forget to eat a lobster roll! On rainy days, we headed to the mall and spent hours running around the indoor playground. Brooklynn discovered a love of bike riding and ball pits while Lincoln spent every moment possible in the swing begging to go higher.

On the nicer days, we certainly kept busy. The kids rode a horse, ran from alpaca poop and fed goats and reindeer at the zoo. Chased the chickens and smothered a cat at the petting farm. Threw rocks into the Bay of Fundy on Tuesday and fed the birds on the Halifax Harbour on Wednesday. They took their first ferry ride, ate their first lobster roll and played in the exact same playground Dave and I played at 25 years ago. They drove bumper boats, flew in airplanes and rode the big truck roller coaster all by themselves at Upper Clements Park. In just 5 days, they went from being terrified of water to kicking their way around the pool chasing rings and even dunking their heads under water on purpose.

We had a ball! The sun was shining and the food kept rolling our way. But the very best part of our trip were those quiet moments. The split second when I looked up and saw the kids cuddled on Nanny’s lap watching TV without a care in the world. When they refused to go to bed without a hug and kiss from Poppy or the goofy way Lincoln says “Antee Ahneen” each time she smiled at him. The time I sat back and watched as they laughed hysterically while covering Uncle Ron’s face in princess stickers. I melted every time GranNan and GranPop walked through the door and the kids ran to them with big smiles and warm hugs.

Never once, not for a single second were the kids unsure of what it felt like to be loved. These two tiny humans who often bring me such frustration and make my days incredibly long were saturated with all the love they could ever need even when mommy just couldn’t find it in herself.