To say the the summer of 2011 was eventful is an understatement. Looking back through the masses of photos I took was a real eye opener. It was fun to reminisce about the fun that that we had, the places we visited and the people we met. There's some sadness mixed in too. We left great friends in Yellowknife. No amount of persuading seemed to convince anyone else to move with us. Part of being a RCMP family means that we will move, that we will have to say "good-bye" but it also means that there is a chance, a great chance, that we will be neighbors again someday.
Living in the North brings you close to people quickly. There is less hustle and bustle than there is in the South. Most people do not have family close that they can visit often, so essentially friends become your second family. We have been fortunate to form close friendships with people that we will always consider family. People that we love and miss, and are forever indebted to for the love that they have shown our son. We'll never say "good-bye" we much prefer to say "see you later" and naturally there's almost a secret handshake, that "later" will involve being in a community in the Southern part of Canada.
You can imagine my surprise when one morning in early July I opened my email to find a message from a friend in Nova Scotia asking if it was my son in their newspaper. I had no idea, but I knew it could be a possibility because we had taken the once in a lifetime opportunity to see the new Duchess of Cambridge and her husband Prince William. Since we're all close now, I like to just call them Will & Kate. What I expected to be a rainy day visit where if we were lucky I'd catch a glimpse of Will & Kate turned into a beautiful sunny day where we sat a few rows back from the Royal couple during their public gathering in Yellowknife. N was entertained by the drum dancers and throat singers and all the people in their fancy hats and I was star struck at the realization that Will & Kate were RIGHT there.
After the initial email my Dad called, sounding every bit the proud Grandad that he is, saying the N was in the paper. N is now famous in NS. Well with our family and friends. I know this picture is on many fridges in Elmsdale and Middleton.
We were in Yellowknife until mid-July so we tried to soak in as much as we could. It was hot at the end of June. There were many days that it was in the high 20's and a few days it hit 30. So we packed the bags and headed to the beach. Oh the fun that we had.
So hot that we even filled up the kiddy pool that until this summer had been for Morley, our English Mastiff. Morley can't swim, he literally sinks to the bottom because his head is sooooo big and heavy. So kiddie pool it was. Now that Nathan is home we gave the pool a good scrubbing and thought he'd have fun in it. Nope. It was too cold and Morley wasn't willing to share "his" pool. So it quickly turned back into Morley's pool and he continued trying to catch the fish painted on the bottom. It was soon dumped because it also turned into a mosquito pit.
This is a picture of a day that we had dreamed of for a long time. This was Adoption Day. N had come home many months before this but on the day this picture was taken all the paperwork had been signed. It was nice to have everything "official".
Cameron River Falls is about 40 minutes out of Yellowknife. You have to drive down a dirt "highway" which is the Ingram Trail. This is the same road that all the Ice Road Truckers drive down to access the ice road to the diamond mines. During the winter months this road is primarily used by convoys of trucks and a few home owners. During the summer months this road is taken over by people who want to take in all the nature they can. This is the road to campgrounds, a day park, fishing lakes and Cameron Falls. If we had been thinking, we would have taken a picture of the falls, but since we came across this shiny new bridge we took our family shot here instead. Who can pass up a nice new shiny bridge?
Up in Paulatuk. Off to the dump we go. I wasn't kidding when I said in an earlier post that I like to hang out at the dump. Look at all the treasure you can find there. I mean I found a tractor in Paulatuk.
I took this picture on our first trip down to the river. I love it. I've since titled this picture.
Mounties on the Tundra
Every Saturday or Sunday we go 4-wheeling. Most trips are to the river. One day we decided to switch it up a bit. I've heard of a place that is said to look just like Mexico. The water is suppose to be aqua blue and sand is fine and white. Or so it's said. I still don't know because we never made it. One of the 4-wheelers got bogged. 4 wheel drive would have been better than 2. Oh well, all part of memories. We still have not made it to Mexico, but we will.
This is a truly Northern picture. These little white cotton flowers where everywhere at the end of July. I've since learned that they were used as wicks in days gone by. They can also make 2 year olds squeal if they are tickled with them. In the background of the photo you can see muktuk hanging. It is a local delicacy. I haven't tried it myself, but depending with who you talk to it can either taste like firm tofu (which the person loved) or a pink eraser.....
I've never seen as many rainbows as I have since moving here. They are fairly common. This was first time I've ever seen a double rainbow. Does that mean there are two pots of gold????
For about 2 weeks this summer there was a flurry of activity out on the water. Between the boats and the float planes there always seemed to be activity on bay. Watching a float plane take off in front of your house never gets old.
So there we have it. The summer of 2011. I missed lots of things I"m sure. Somethings it's better not to have pictures of. Going away parties, get togethers that we didn't classify as going away events....but we all knew, tearful good-byes and s**w on the mountain tops.
Lots of things change in a year. I'm anxious to see what the summer of 2012 recap looks like, but I am thankful for all the memories of 2011.
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