You have probably played this game before but these are unique to experiences that we have had since we left Utah in June of 2018. You get one point for every line that you have not experienced. Like golf, the lowest score wins. Leave your score in the comments and a short story about your craziest experience related to the list.
Never have I ever.... 1. Bought a crab pot to go crabbing 2. Pet a baby tiger, lion, and/or cheetah 3. Made eye contact with a grey whale 4. Had a chickadee land on my hand or head 5. Built a shelter in the woods 6. Sold my house, most worldly goods, and moved to another country 7. Slept in a mini van for 3 straight months 8. Ate bear 9. Walked among the Saguaro Cactus 10. Been within 10 feet of a wild bear 11. Been in 3 provinces within 40 mins 12. Built an ice igloo in the middle of a town square 13. Been approached by a wild shark 14. Drank beer with an Orca (Killer Whale) 15. Went ice skating on a driveway or parking lot (in actual ice skates) 16. Stood in line for more then 25 minutes for a doughnut 17. Ate a "bird's nest" 18. Walked on the ocean floor 19. Have made maple candy on fresh snow 20. Have won free doughnuts in "roll up the rim to win" 21. Have seen a two headed cow skeleton 22. Made an outdoor ice sun-catcher 23. Been hit by a deer while driving 24. Waited over 7 hours at a hospital for a very minor concern 25. Drove across the longest bridge over frozen water 26. Took a porcupine for a walk on a sled 27. Had the magical experience of being present for the birth of a grandchild 28. Had a visit from Flat Stanley 29. Known what a fishing weir is 30. Cut your own Christmas tree from your property 31. Participated in Dinovember (this was our third year in a row!) 32. Made an edible snow person 33. Stacked 3 cords of wood for your winter heat 34. Had partridge berry jam 35. Snuggled with an emu 36. Ate lobster in Maine 37. Experienced fall colours in Acadia National park 38. Travelled across the US with Buddha on your dashboard 39. Seen the Hope Diamond 40. Stargazed with the secret service 40. Met a 4 star general 41. Watched the VP fly in and out of his home 42.Touched writings from Galileo and Plato 43. Been smiled at by a whale shark 44. Played chase with a Beluga whale 45. Gone beach combing on a Florida beach in the nude 46. Walked in the footsteps of Marten Luther King Jr. on the freedom walk 47. Scratched the head of a Texas Long Horn 48. Been to a slave market 49. Done grave rubbings on a great grandparent's stone 50. Picked cotton
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This easy to make pocket bear was sparked by a group I joined in January that focused on expanding your outdoor time as a family. It is a group of people, all over the world, who recognize the value of outdoor time and support each other with ideas and inspiration for activities to do as adults and with children. Although this is something we always strive to include in our lives, it is nice to see this movement growing and see some of the things other families are doing to participate. As part of that, the idea of Adventure Bear came along. It is a small, hand-stitched, personalized felt bear that fits in your child's pocket that they can take on adventures wherever they go. I found it to be an amazing idea for those kids who sometimes have a hard time spending expended periods of time outdoors. This bear can help by giving them a partner in crime and make them accountable for ensuring that their bear has a fantastic time. Dylan loved hers so much that we made one for Carver and Bridger and sent them in the mail for Valentines Day! Below is the pattern for creating the bear as well as the Facebook movement if you would like to join:
Facebook group Adventure Bear Pattern I felt as though this needed its own post for many reasons. When we decided to make the leap and start a new life out here in eastern Canada one thing that we wondered was how easily we would make friends. Dylan started school just a few days before Christmas holiday, so she really had not met many kids before the school Christmas party. It was at the Christmas party that a sweet woman came up and introduced herself to us, helped us figure out how the party was to work and then introduced us to a couple of other families at that party. About 2 weeks later, it was one of the women's birthdays and they invited me to join them for a trivia night at the local Brewery. From that effortless beginning, friendships began that I could not be more grateful for. To be able to have a group of women who I can be myself with, bounce ideas off of, share excitement with and spend quality time with is invaluable. For Easter, one of the "gang", Nina, offered to host a mom and kids breakfast at her home. She is so incredibly creative and has expressed how much she enjoys having people over and feeding them. Well, for this party, she went above and beyond. First of all, she planned and prepared an incredible meal for 13 kids aging in range from 2 months - 8 years-old and their six moms. On top of that, she went all out with the decorations and the activities to keep the kids entertained. On the day of the party it was raining off and on the entire morning. Although a little wet, we did have the egg hunt outdoors while the rain slowed slightly and the kids had a BLAST. The day could not have been more lovely. The kids all got along so well, and truly enjoyed each other's company and all of the special extras of the morning. And the moms all got to sit to a meal, around a table, and share smiles and stories. I can't express how blessed I feel to have found this incredible group of women to spend time with and support each other in this crazy road of motherhood and life.
Our first Easter at the Little Yellow House on the Hill!
For well over a decade, the Bollder family tradition on Easter has been for all of us to spend it in the desert. The Easter bunny leaves the kids a basket full of treasures outside their tents and then the adults (usually Auntie Rachel and occasionally other chosen family) hide plastic eggs, filled with treats among the red rocks. So, what will be our new Easter tradition here in Nova Scotia? I don't know that we figured that out this year, but we did have a fantastic Easter here at the Little Yellow House on the Hill. In the days leading up to Easter we.... 1. Dyed eggs with natural food dyes (see a separate post for instructions) 2. Went to an Easter celebration at one of our meet up groups 3. Made felt eggs to stuff and hide to avoid having to buy loads of plastic (see separate post for instructions) 4. Visited the bakery to get all of their Easter treat bake goods 5. Attended the town Easter egg hunt 6. Spent a very lovely morning with friends for a lovely mom and kids breakfast at Nina's house 7. Had a visit from an Easter bunny at school 8. Woke to Dylan's Easter basket full, followed by an egg hunt around the property 9. Bunny pancakes for breakfast 10. Helped friends move on Easter Sunday and received a lovely Easter gift from friends. When, for the past 19 years you have lived thousands of miles from your family, and you now only live 2 hours apart, you take every opportunity to spend time together. Sugar Moon Farms is a commercial maple syrup farm that is about 15 minutes north of Truro, which is just over an hour from Laurie in Halifax and us in Parrsboro, the perfect halfway spot. Plus, they offer a fantastic pancake breakfast topped off with delicious maple treat coffees. The farm backs onto some beautiful hiking trails, so we were able to combine breakfast with a short nature walk. Sugar Moon Farm is a very popular restaurant in the spring so we arrived as it was opening. The farm is located at the end of a gravel road, lined in blueberry fields and consists of the restaurant, shop that sells a large variety of maple products, a sugar shack that offers maple candy, and a full boil house where the syrup is made. They offer a guided tour of the production facility so that "city folk" can experience how syrup is made. We were seated at a family style farm table in front of a large fireplace and of course Dylan chose to be sandwiched between Aunt Laurie and Uncle Spike. After enjoying a fantastic breakfast we decided to take advantage of the hiking trails on the property. Unfortunately, we didn't make it far as the trail was still covered in snow and ice but it was lovely to get out, even for just a half of a mile. Spring in Nova Scotia has brought some lovely experiences, and this one will be one of the most memorable for a very long time. Photos for the day are presented by the one and only mini photographer who got a hold of the camera and went wild. Last year was the first year we attempted to dye our eggs using natural dyes and they turned out OK. This year we wanted to try a different method to see if we could get more vibrant colors - and it worked. I think the key was to use a good amount of vinegar, and soaking overnight.
Here are the steps we took to dye our egg... How to Make Boiled Easter Egg Dyes
An added version would be to wrap a natural object (flower or leaf) around the egg after it is boiled, and then put pantyhose material around it and pull it secure so that it holds the object in place on the egg. Tie the pantyhose tight on the top (as if you are are closing a bag). Then place it in the jar of the colored water over night. As most of you know, our little family tries to make strides to live a more sustainable, less wasteful life. Our Easter tradition has always been to spend it camping in the desert as a family. The Easter bunny always seems to find us and leave a basket of goodies outside of the tent for each of the kids. We then have a huge egg hunt, in which the parents hide plastic eggs all over the area and the kids fill their baskets. Now that we are living in Nova Scotia, we are switching up our traditions slightly. As we don't have any of our belongings yet (they are still in storage in Colorado), we didn't want to buy more plastic so I found a pattern to make felt eggs to fill and hide. They were quite easy to make but were quite time consuming. Knowing that they will be used year after year does help justify the time it took to make them. If I had my sewing machine here, I probably could have made them much quicker - but hand stitching did take a good amount of time. I do love the fact that they will stack and pack away much smaller than all of the plastic ones we have in storage.
Carolyn As the snow has melted and driving conditions have improved, we have been itching to get out and do some more exploring. Although, spring in the Maritimes brings with it a whole new exciting set of driving conditions... potholes, washed out roads, and MUD. We have begun a few driving exploration trips and had to abort them as we were worried we would get stuck. Not today though! We have been wanting to head over to Moncton, New Brunswick for a while now and today was the day.
Ultimately, it is only another 30 minutes past the bigger town we visit for our larger shopping trips... so only about an hour and a half from home - closer then Halifax even. Being spring, things were still pretty quiet on the tourist front but we did drive down the river to visit the Hopewell Rocks and iconic Bay of Fundy destination. The drive out to the rocks took about 40 minutes from Moncton and was on a lovely, meandering road that followed the river to the open bay. Although the area is "closed" and there were quite a few signs warning that if we do go down to the beach we are doing so at our own risk, we decided it was worth it. We actually spoke to 3 locals, one of whom worked for the visitor's center and mentioned we were allowed to go down. Normally, I am a rule follower and would not have gone but the locals made us feel more confident. I do have to say that I am very glad we did as the rocks are just beautiful, and we had them all to ourselves. I can imagine how busy it gets there in the summer, so to have the beach to ourselves was quite a treat. We were cautious of getting too close to the cliff, with it being spring, the danger of rock fall would be even higher. As we wandered back towards the car we looked back at one of the rocks and discovered it looked very much like a face which always makes me smile as I feel as though it is a guardian for the area. After speaking to a lovely gentleman who lived up the road we know that we want to come visit in the summer to explore that shore and travel further south to the fishing villages, Fundy National Park, and Cape Enrage. After spending a good month and a half getting the house, and ourselves prepared for the winter season we decided it was time to do some exploring in our area. On a very cold, but sunny, January day we packed up Reddy the Van and drove the coastline to explore the beaches, lighthouse, and communities between Parrsboro and Advocate Harbour. Many of the establishments were closed for the winter but the sheer natural beauty of the area was mind-blowing. We spent time in Spencer's Island walking the beach and poking around the river. And then on to Advocate, stopping at the only store open to talk to some of the locals. It was a lovely day to poke around and look at the properties and things that are offered in that area.
We had to make a run into Halifax for the night to drop off our fur nephew and run a couple of errands so we took the opportunity to check out the Discovery Centre on the waterfront of Halifax. This amazing 40,000 square foot, hands-on, interactive STEAM science centre opened its door in February of 2017 It houses 4 permanent galleries and a 6000 square foot roving exhibit hall which housed a Ripley's Believe it or Not display while we were there. The centre also houses a cafe on the children's floor which allows you to grab a cup of coffee while you allow the kids to run amok.
Each floor as a myriad of hands-on, interactive exhibits that create an environment of exploration for all ages. My sister Laurie, Will, and I found ourselves trying out just as many of the exhibits as Dylan. A few of the favourites that stick out were the wall of visual illusions, the amazing interactive wall depicting the water cycle, and the flight simulator which allowed you to fly over the Halifax region. The centre seemed like a compilation of a traditional children's museum and science centre as it really had something for everyone. We decided to take advantage of their rural membership (an offering I have never seen offered elsewhere) and we can now visit as much as we would like for a whole year. |
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April 2019
AuthorCarolyn and Will Bollwerk share their adventures with their 5 year-old daughter, Dylan. |