After fifteen years, I seem to have retained my waitressing skills. I am not nostalgic though. It really is hard work. I made my first tips even though I was only busing tables. And before my shift, we all sat down to eat fresh mussels (from right here in the Cardigan River) and salad and hot buns. Ghis and I are not adventurous seafood eaters, but we ate them all up.

Morgane and our hosts’ daughter came to the restaurant to eat dinner. M was shocked to see that I was waitressing. Shocked and proud in a way. And when she saw Ghis serving ice cream cones at the internet cafe, she kept telling the customers, “Do you know who that is? That’s my dad!” In the morning she said that we were making money for our trip so we could keep travelling, so she understands. She says she will lose all her teeth if we need her to!

Yesterday morning, she was happy to find five loonies under her pillow. Everyone seems to think the tooth fairy is overly generous, but what can you really buy, even for five bucks?

Today I think I’ll just be relieving Ghis at the internet cafe. He’s fixing a couple of computers, downloading new programs. We are also going to organize “The World’s Smallest Library.”

If you want to see where we are, you can check out the website:

http://www.cardiganlobstersuppers.com/index.html

I can hardly believe it. The adventurous part of our trip is beginning. We decided to come to PEI today and so we are starting our first woofing (wwoof.ca) sojourn. We got tired of the soggy campground in Shediac where the neighbours liked to sing until one in the morning.

On the way, we had to stop in Charlottetown and see a dentist. He removed Morgane’s top front tooth – the one that was hanging by a thread and the reason why she refused to talk or close her mouth. Now that it’s out, she is one happy camper. The tooth fairy comes tonight.

We have a great little waterfront apartment for our stay here in Cardigan, Prince Edward Island. Already I like this island a lot. But it will be a bit of a shock tomorrow to start working. Ghis is going to start in the internet cafe and I’ll be serving lobster in the restaurant! Morgane is going to a nature camp next week and has already made friends with our hosts’ little girl. Carmanah is very happy. She had a salmon tail for dinner.

I’m happy to have a fridge (soooo happy) and a beautiful mosquito-free view from our kitchen table.

Yesterday we came to Shediac and parked our tents in the provincial park campground. I was so excited to get to Parlee Beach, supposedly the warmest swimming beach north of Virginia.

We walked down the road to the beach and Morgane wanted to stop at the park. “No,” I told her. “You have to see the beach.” Once she saw it, she agreed. Sand everywhere, lifeguards sitting on towers, small playful waves, and people everywhere.

It was so sunny that we bought a beach umbrella (the first time in my life I really needed one). We lay on the beach and played in the sand and swam all day long. When we got hungry, we picked up sandwiches and popsicles at the canteen.

I’m glad we took advantage of the weather. Last night it rained. We basically left the campsite this morning and spent the day in Moncton. We went to the laundromat, saw the movie “Up” and rode the roller coaster at Crystal Palace. I also saw a kid puke while running through a crowd and then saw people slip and slide and fall into it. Blech!

We are packing up and leaving Moncton. Everyone is having a good wash in the bath, taking advantage of the hotel room. I’m a bit worried about the rain to come.

I’m also doing a little reviewing work – our first on-the-road job! Just 3-4 hours or so. Starting to really look forward to PEI.

Today went by really fast. We got up and went to eat our complementary continental breakfast and ran into the friends Ghis and M met at the swimming pool. We had a great time hanging out and talked about dropping in on them in Nova Scotia later on. They have a nice project they could use help with – building a stone wall and patio. Morgane had a great time swimming with their little girl.

Then we walked to the market just in time to hear a band perform. We had sausages in buns and cupcakes for dessert and Morgane got her face painted. Then we came back and napped, woke up, went to the park, ate fish and chips, went bowling and came back to the hotel. We’re sure the fish and chips were greasy enough to make us sick later tonight! At bowling, we had to keep our own score which was a challenge. Ghis wore the largest shoes they had (size 15) which is a tradition of his. If you’re going to wear clown shoes, why not wear clown shoes?

Tomorrow, maybe the beach at Shediac?

We are lucky with the weather. It’s only rained when we are in the tent (at night) or in the car. Now we are urban again which is good. After we walked from our hotel to a vegetarian restaurant, it started hailing! It paused long enough to let us walk home and now it’s pouring again. Who knows what the morning will bring.

We are planning on spending a few days here. We are tired of packing and unpacking every day and would like to have a home base. Maybe we’ll go to the Bay of Fundy or the beach at Shediac. Tomorrow though we are going to get fresh food at the farmer’s market (walking distance from our hotel). We also have a heated outdoor pool to take advantage of. Ghis and Morgane went to look at it and M came back soaking wet (in all her clothes!).

One thing we missed in the more remote regions was a good selection of fresh food.

I feel lazy this morning. It rained during the night and the mosquitoes are not going away. Morgane and I are in the tent (with our wifi!).

We are generally tired of camping and walking on beaches, so we will probably go into Moncton and be a bit urban. There’s also a great beach at Shediac with warm water for swimming and not too many jellyfish (apparently). We are wondering if we should begin our woofing a bit early.