Five Brown Kids

On the way home we stopped in New Brunswick to meet some new family from the Martin side. And got a whole history lesson in the process.  The original family is from a small community just outside of Saint John, New Brunswick called Willow Grove. A few family members still live nearby - most moved to Toronto and Montreal long, long ago for job opportunities.  Short article here on Willow Grove.  Stop right now and read.  I remember learning about these small black communities in high school but it never occurred to me that I would be a descendent of one.  I just had no idea.  We met Marsha (my dad's first cousin) at her house for supper Sunday eve.  Valerie flew down from Ontario to hang out too.  They got to meet my kids! And we had a lovely time visiting.  Marsha had a wonderful collection of family photos. And I am still dying over these pictures I saw.  First the original house in Willow Grove.  It is now torn down... My great ...

Made cafe rio burritos for everyone with Taye's famous pico.  So many cousins playing chess.... More train bridge jumping when I decided it was time to just do it! More chess and some uno.  A few coffee shop trips. Saying goodbye... 

Carrie scheduled us all to go river rafting in the Bay of Fundy - home of the highest tides in the whole world.  We played in the mud first and then the tidal bore rolled in and the following waves were totally insane.  Up an 8 foot wave and then drop down and then back up. Crazy!  The boat of teenage cousins were all living their best lives.  I wanted to vomit.  Taye spent the day out fishing with Mitch in Liverpool Harbour.  The happened upon a whole school of mackerel and had Taye's dream day just plucking fish right out of the water.  With Nana's advice he cooked up a whole batch later that eve.  Really tasty!

We took family pictures out at Hunts Point. So much fun! 

Jumping off the rope at Nickerson Pond everyday.  Out at Western Head Lighthouse for exploring.  Saw a big seal! More exploring out a Port Joli beach. Grandpa set up some tin can targets in the back yard and all week long kids were practicing pellet gun shooting.  And a few trips to the Kwik Way for big ice cream cones. 

We managed to get all the Ripples home to Nova Scotia for the same summer week! Zoe and her two kids joined (my only Ripple cousin) so we had 10 adults and 17 kids.  (Four rental houses plus Gramps camp)  We ate together 3 meals a day. Mom planned everything but every family had an assigned meal to cook. We hit up all my favorite spots! Beach Meadows beach.  Rand and Taye went fishing on Nickerson pond.  Spaghetti of course.  We ate cake and sang happy birthday to Nana, Clare and John.  The cousins played together so nicely. And lots of competitive four square and chess. Jumping off train bridge at Summerville Beach  Lots of working in the shop too…  Walk through Cosby’s garden center  Another bike around western head