Can't talk... doing important baby stuff.

Elliott's a lot more entertained by this activity mat than he used to be.  It's a welcome relief for us, and it's a lot of fun to just sit and watch him spaz out, punching and kicking everything, haha.

Elliott's Right Hook

Wait for it...

Elliott and His Bumbo Chair

Every so often, we sit Elliott down in his Bumbo chair to see if he likes it.  He's often content for about 5 mins or so, until he begins slouching.  

Eventually he'll be big enough not to flop over in it every time he sits.

Grand Manan (Part 2)

4:30am, Devon woke up and headed down to the mysterious Dark Harbour to photograph the waters there while the rest of the family was still sleeping.  It was dark indeed, and cold.. but worth it.

At around 7:00am, he wandered back to the North Head harbour to watch the fishermen leave for the morning's catch.

A few hours later, after making breakfast and getting everyone up and out, we explored the amazingly rugged village of Seal Cove.

Later in the afternoon, Devon and Aunt Marilyn walked down to the Hole in the Wall, on the North Head.  The hike was short, but rough.  With the ugly afternoon sunlight making a mess of things, Devon decided to return near 11:00pm, to photograph the Hole under the stars.  Unfortunately, it was cloudy and the best he could do was photograph under the lights of the nearby town.

The next day, we spent the afternoon casually wandering about, exploring a bird sanctuary and enjoying some local eats before catching the 3:30pm ferry back to the mainland.  The strange island you see is the Southern Wolf Island, stretched in a bizarre way through a mirage-like effect called Fata Morgana.

Aunt Marilyn and Elliott

Here's some more cute pictures of Aunt Marilyn and Elliott:

Grand Manan Island (Part 1)

Adventure was calling, so we FINALLY answered.  After over 4 years of dreaming we finally set foot properly on Grand Manan Island.  This island is approx 25km long from point to point, and if full of rugged character.  High cliffs, turbulent weather and beautifully rough fishing villages await.

Tuesday afternoon, we caught the 1.5 hour ferry, in the crazy thick fog.

Elliott was an excellent little traveller!  He did well on the ferry, despite his furrowed brow.

The cliffs of Grand Manan eventually appeared!

Our accommodation while on the island was a pleasant little yurt thingy at the Castalia Marsh Retreat, with a wall of windows overlooking the marsh, where birds were birding it up all over the place.

Katherine and Elliott enjoy the afternoon, overlooking the marsh.

At the Swallow Tail Lighthouse

Aunt Marilyn joined us on the Island adventure and had some serious fun times with Elliott!

Elliott on his Mat!

Elliott is starting to enjoy his play mat more and more!  He's even began reaching for some of the objects.  He still only lasts about 10 minutes or so on the mat before he gets bored, haha.

An Afternoon Stroll, and MURDER

We took a stroll down the train bridge path in Oromocto.  It was interesting to see how high the water was along the Lincoln Road bridge.

Elliott is wearing Daniel's old hat from when he was a baby.

The water is normally low enough for us to walk the path below the bridge.

Garter Snakes were out all over the path, probably to avoid the flooding and get some much-loved sun.  Our dog Garth was really curious and excited to see the snakes.  We let him approach one.  After a few moments of hesitation, edging closer, he grabbed one in a flash and immediately started flailing his head left and right, completely destroying the snake and flinging parts of it all over the place.  It was instantly horrific.  With smears of red in his fur to testify, Garth is definitely a murderer.

We also saw a few turtles enjoying the sun.  We didn't let Garth approach them.  We learned our lesson.

Smashing Birthday!

May 5th... how did we celebrate Devon's Birthday?  By smashing the inside of a house!  Steve's place is being renovated, so we had the honour of destroying hundred year old walls with hammers, crowbars and saws!  Unfortunately, we didn't find any gold hidden in the walls.

Steve's cute and quirky home is the left half of this yellow building.

After some hard work, it was time to visit the Freak Lunchbox and die of sugar overdose.

Walking the streets of Saint John with the little Elliott!

2 Months Old!

Elliott is now two months old!

Elliott is almost able to support his body while sitting upright.  With a slight slouch, he's almost ready to sit in the Bumbo chair!

Whoops!  ..let's just clean that up.

Lounging on the hammock with Opa!  Elliott LOVES Opa.  We've been blessed to be given the opportunity to go out on a date, since Elliott has started taking a bottle.  Opa's been a terrific babysitter!

Floods, Flying, Family and Funny Stuff!

In the middle of our crazy spring flooding, Opa came to see Elliott, who immediately fell in love with Opa.  This year's flood is quite significant and the water level is much higher than I've seen in the past 4 years.  A lot of people are stranded and quite a few roads are closed.

The Mactaquac Dam has all of it's gates open and the rushing water is amazing to see and hear.

Seriously...

This past week, Devon went on a flight test with a student to Grand Manan.  It was nice to get up in the air again!  The student passed, which made it even better.

We recently learned that Elliott loves to put his head upside down and look around!  Now that his neck is a lot stronger, he's starting to move his head, and well, pretty much his all of everything around like crazy.  He's squirm city for realz.

A recent breakthrough we've seen is that Elliott discovered his hands!  He occasionally reaches out and bats at things, and his hands often open and grasp at things that touch him.  It's pretty neat.

Opa and Elliott became best buds almost immediately.

Elliott likes to look at the monkey hanging from his car seat handle. :D