Day 1 Off to a Good Start

As planned, we left Nova Scotia today and began our 75 day North American Tour.  It was a long day of travel in the car but we all coped very well.  We laughed, played car games, and took several stretch breaks.  Max and Simon also worked on their school lessons for the day.

We had a wonderful lunch with our friends the Holts.  Thanks for the break!

And we stopped at the World's Longest Covered Bridge in Hartland, New Brunswick.

As expected, there were a few things we forgot but mostly Lisa's "systems" worked well.  We are relaxing now and thankful that we are not camping (Br-r-r-r).

Final Preparations

In less than 12 hours (yikes!) we begin our journey across Canada and the United States.  We have modified our itinerary several times in recent days.  We have packed and labeled containers.  We have built shelves for the Odyssey and removed the back seats.  We have had the Odyssey tuned up.  We have printed coupons and confirmations.  We are almost ready.  But ready or not, at 6 a.m. tomorrow morning it all begins. Our final preparations for the trip have made for an interesting and varied day, depending on our personalities......

Max worked diligently to finish the latest Redwall book so he could return it to the Library before leaving in the morning.

Grammie made a last lunch to celebrate the last day of "school" at her house.

Grandad and the boys went to the cranberry bog "just to have a look around" (since the boys will miss the Nova Scotia cranberry season this year).  The "look" turned into 15 litres of cranberries.  It is going to be a stellar year so we know what Grandad will be doing while we are gone!

Nana prepared a delicious turkey dinner.  Simon helped peel and cut the vegetables. 

The whole family came for supper and had a farewell evening together.

Lisa put the "systems" in place in the Odyssey and Tim stuffed the roof top carrier with camping gear.




 Ready!  Set!  Go!!

PS. Watch for the moochie monkey.  He will appear on every post and may be hiding!  Maybe you missed him already....

The Countdown Is On

In just 8 days we will begin our journey.  This map shows the route that we plan to take.  Each star represents an attraction or a person that we hope to see.

First Day of School

This week, Max and Simon began a new and interesting school year.  In anticipation of being on the road for a couple of months this fall, we have decided to give home-schooling a try.  The boys are using the Switched-on-Schoolhouse curriculum by Alpha Omega Publishing.  It is a nice continuation of the work they were doing in Kenya and is completely CD ROM based so that we do not need access to Internet.  The esteemed Dr. Dad will provide assistance and enrichment activities as needed.

We have even practiced doing school while being on the road.  So far no-one gets motion sickness and with the help of a couple of pillows we will help alleviate any strained muscles.

 In this time before we leave, the boys bike to school each morning at Grammie Chute's house.  They have lunch with Grammie and then complete studies in the afternoon.  Afternoon activities include things like Cooking with Nana or Wood Shop with Grandad.  The first woodworking project was a race car which they ran on a wooden track in the back yard.  So far, Uncle Todd's Cub Car is the winner hands down.

Blast Off!

We have started preparations for our North American Tour!  The biggest news is that we have a date to blast off!  We will leave Nova Scotia on September 15, 2010.  Stay tuned.