On all the beaches, we’ve seen these purple   jellyfish washed up on shore. Morgane, very interested, kept throwing rocks on them and poking them with sticks. I am afraid that everywhere we want to swim, we’ll see jellyfish in the water. I heard a story from a friend who once got one up his bathing suit shorts in Virginia and only noticed when he went to the bathroom. He had to run down the street to the Dairy Queen since vinegar was supposed to be the best way to remove them. Yuck! Now he wears a tight bathing suit under his regular suit. I can’t imagine what I’m going to wear.

We are all getting tired of the morning and evening mosquitoes we endured on the Acadian Peninsula. I didn’t think there would be mosquitoes right on the beach, but there are. Now we’ve found a campsite further south (Cap Lumiere) and it seems like it will be the same.

We thought about abandoning the camping and going to Moncton, but it turns out there’s an ACDC concert there tonight and ALL the accomodations are full. Good grief.

Anyway, we like the fact that this campsite has wireless internet so we can catch up. We’re sitting in a little gazebo. Morgane is watching a movie and some boys are playing a board game beside me. There is a lighthouse across the street and beaches with dunes that you can walk 8 km on.
We are all tired, but we’ll survive one more night of mosquitoes and I will finally get to do the laundry here.

We have our first glimpse of Prince Edward Island from here – we can see the wind turbines. We’ll be there by the 15th to start woofing and we are looking forward to having a roof over our heads!

Time is going so quickly and internet access is hard to find lately, but I will try to catch up. It’s now the end of our fifth day.

We left Quebec via Matapedia and crossed into New Brunswick. We found a camping site in Dalhousie as it was getting dark, but it was a very well-lit type of site, to put it mildy.
In the morning, we woke up to seagulls screaming. Morgane and I kept busy and waited until 10:30 when the fabulous indoor pool would open. We got in and went down the waterslide and Morgane tried the Tarzan swing. Then I noticed that they were turning the lights off and we were the only ones there. Turns out it was 12pm and the pool was closing. We had forgotten about the one-hour time change.

After that, we drove along the beautiful coast all the way to the Acadian peninsula. Ghis told me that the Acadians are proud and display a lot of flags, but that’s a big understatement right now. In two days, a big Acadian festival is starting celebrating 400 years. Everything here is striped, blue, red and white with a yellow star in the blue strips. It’s not tacky because it’s not a tourism scheme. The local people are really that proud. Everyone was out mowing their lawns in preparation for this weekend.

More later… my computer battery is dying. 🙁

We woke up and Morgane made us her famous scrambled eggs. It wasn’t raining anymore and it was hot and humid. Morgane and I went to the central camping hub and played mini-golf. She got mixed up and tried using the club like she was playing pool. Finally, we each got one hole-in-one.

Ghis met us and we went for a wonderful, cool swim. There was a slide that Morgane used at least 30 times! Then we hit the road hoping to get to Les Mechins where Ghis’s highschool friends, Dino and Rachel, have a chalet.

We made it by our estimated arrival time: 5pm. It had been 8 years since our last visit to their private beach. Back then, they stayed in his parents’ chalet. Now they have their own. They are still working on finishing the inside – even as I write this!

Morgane immediately became friends with the little girl staying next door (all the chalets there belong to members of their family). We have hardly seen her since. First, she got taken on a tour of the beach and the rocks. Then she spent the night sleeping in a camping trailer with her friend. Since then, the two of them have been down by the beach catching tiny shrimp and putting them in buckets.

We are planning on leaving shortly and heading to New Brunswick, but we may or may not. It’s so beautiful here.

We didn’t leave Drummondville until 5 o’clock Saturday, but we were so happy to be finished packing. After more goodbyes, we drove along small roads, not ready to commit to the highway. I contemplated the year in front of us.

We stopped at a rest stop a ways past Quebec City and we cooked our first dinner – canned beans, basmati rice and creamed corn. It felt good to be cooking outside, even if it was on the side of a highway. Morgane is old enough to take Carmanah for a little walk and help carry things.

We drove on until it got dark and then started looking for our first campsite. The St. Lawrence River was wide by now and we spotted a four-star campsite on the water. It was full. Ten minutes later, we found one with a few places left. It was HUGE and Morgane fell in love with it immediately – there was a park and a pool and mini golf and street lights and the bathroom near our campsite had just been opened that day (no spiders!).

Ghis and I went to sleep looking at the stars through the mesh panel on the ceiling of our tent. We woke up when it started to rain and flipped the fly over the tent. Then we remembered that Carmanah was out in the rain, too. Ghis put her in the car and so ended Day 1 of our trip.

We’ve spent the last two days here visiting with Ghis’s family and trying to pack our car for the trip. We are planning on leaving tomorrow… morning or maybe later.

Maybe we are crazy to think we can fit all we need for a year in a small Kia hatchback. Now we are faced with a few hard decisions as to what we can fit. We have our camping stuff, our clothes, a small cooler that plugs in, a few games, Morgane’s homeschool work and that’s about it.

Today Morgane got sick, so we hope she’ll be better tomorrow. We don’t need to start our trip with vomit in the car!

Carmanah (our dog) has been keeping her eye on us. She’s afraid we might leave without her, but we won’t.

This morning, we visited the Drummondville public market and it was fabulous. I remember going there when I was new to Quebec, how friendly everyone was. We are hoping to get most of our food during our trip from markets and local producers. Yum.

Tomorrow we’ll finish the last of our packing and maybe trade in our car for a van! Just kidding about the second part.

Together again! Morgane and I flew into Montreal last night and Ghis picked us up and brought us to a hotel for the night. It was a great suite – so big it had two hallways! It was nice to be in our home (little red car) again.

In the morning, we all had appointments at the osteopath. Then we drove past our old place in Westmount while running a couple of errands.

Now we are one hour east of Montreal, in Drummondville visiting with Ghis’s family. In fact, tonight we are all sleeping in the airstream!

I am kind of excited and kind of repelled by the thought. I’d like to hear rain falling on the roof, but it’s also kind of cramped and disorganized in there at the moment and Morgane is convinced there are spiders. I’ll let you know how it goes tomorrow.

I’m sitting in the Morgane Cafe (my daughter’s namesake). No internet in the airstream. I’m really contemplating the trip now since we’re leaving in two days.

Before we go, I have to sort through my stuff from Vancouver and decide what to bring. We also need to find some kind of foamie that is not too big but that we’ll be comfortable sleeping on. We have a small cooler to buy – one that plugs into the car.

Ghis already bought some camping chairs and mosquito nets that go over our heads. Tomorrow he’s bringing in the car for a checkup. We have a lot of stuff organized to homeschool Morgane in English and in French.

The osteo said Ghis should not lift anything heavy for the next three days, so I’ll be the one packing the boxes on top of the car. Under Ghis’s guidance, of course!

He is scared of how many clothes I might want to bring. I am distrustful of how little he is bringing. In the end, the size of our storage boxes will decide what comes or stays.

We had a break from the heat this morning in a friend’s pool. Gord got a work-out tossing the girls in the air. Angelica, the lightest, got the most air.

Tonight we had a goodbye dinner at White Spot with my parents and Jen and family. A last legendary burger and taste of fresh blueberry pie for me and a last pirate pack for Morgane.

I’m pretty much all packed. Tomorrow morning we are heading to the airport. Tomorrrow night we’ll be in Montreal, a complete family again. After a couple of days to say our goodbyes, our journey will begin.

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeek! (40% excitement, 35% panic, 15% curiosity, 10% joy)

Lance, our friend (and professional firefighter), announces that the bacon is done. Unfortunately, the BBQ is also on fire. He asks Jen if she has something to put it out with. He arrives back downstairs in time to see Gord “maybe-it’s-not-a-good-idea-to-BBQ-bacon” Stokes battling the fire. Black clouds of smoke billow out of the BBQ. All five kids line up along the upper railing to watch. Lance closes the BBQ lid and sprays water on the remaining flames. We are safe.

All afternoon, we lounge around, sweat dripping from our foreheads. It’s hot like a Montreal summer. Nobody feels like moving. Occasionally, a breeze crosses the deck and we all sigh with relief.

Morgane and I are both out of sorts lately and it’s hard to say who started it first. I say she never stops complaining and she says I forget to use nice words with her. I think it’s because of the upcoming changes in our lives.

Today I left her with grandma and walked in the forest. I visited Lynn Canyon and my favourite spot where the water is jade green. I was happy to see the spot again, but didn’t stay long on account of the number of tourists.

Today we didn’t really do anything else except bake cupcakes and hang out. I watched a movie; Morgane watch Magic School Bus.

Tonight there was a thunderstorm that lasted ages with lots of lightning – more like a Montreal storm really. It seems like the weather is reflecting our inner turmoil (That sounds so cheesy!). Looking forward to spending time with friends tomorrow.

Only two more days in Vancouver. Ghis has arranged a hotel for when we arrive in Montreal. Thanks to skype, we still recognize each other.