Bluenose Marathon 2012

What a weekend! This was our fourth year participating in the ScotiaBank Bluenose Marathon (fifth for Evan) which takes place in Halifax each year on the long weekend in May. By all accounts, this was the best weather we’ve ever had! Last year was freezing, and 2010 was sunny, but cooler.  In 2009, we had drizzle along the whole course.

This year, because we are bogged down in renovations, we made a flying trip down-and-back from Truro to run in the Bluenose. The boys chose not to participate in the youth run this year and just ran the timed 5k. We had made arrangements to have a sleepover with D’Arcy’s parents at their condo. We had stayed there last year, but they were away on a cruise, so this was the first time our kids had a sleepover with their McDonah grandparents.

We left the house mid-afternoon, and picked up our race kits at the Halifax Metro Centre. We LOVED this year’s purple “I RUN THIS TOWN” race shirts! We explored the expo a bit, then went to Woozles Book Store to pick up the 2013 set of “Battle of the Books” books for the Elementary School.  We stopped at the grocery store so we could pick up some safe snacks to send to the race in the morning with Olivia. (She has peanut/treenut/egg/soy allergies.) As I was walking down one of the aisles, I did a double take as I recognized one of my best friends from high-school, whom I had not seen in about 12 years! We had a great time catching up!

We arrived at D’Arcy’s parents’ place at suppertime and got settled in. Grandma had made a wonderful, safe, roast-pork dinner, and two of D’Arcy’s sisters & a niece joined us for awhile. After supper, we chatted and got ready for the race, making pom-poms for the girls, signing up for race alerts, and filling out the medical information on our bibs – just in case.

We had an early night, and I should have taken some photos of the unconventional sleeping arrangements – Olivia in a sleeping bag under the dining room table, Alex on an easy chair in the den, and Sarah & Evan in the living room. He was sleeping on the couch, and she was in a sleeping bag on the floor beside him. When I went in to check on them, I found Sarah asleep, with her leg up on the couch and her foot touching Evan’s – just to make sure he was there!

We were registered for the 5k this year, as none of us has been training seriously. D’Arcy had hopes of running the half marathon this year, but injured a muscle in his leg back in March and has been having trouble running. We had breakfast and walked up to the start of the race. Sarah & Olivia stayed with D’Arcy’s parents while they waited for Aunt Erin to pick them up to take them to their “Cheer station”.

We walked up to the start and warmed up with the marathon runners, who started their race ten minutes before we did. Evan grabbed a clapper to run with. We made sure that we knew where to meet after it was over and we were off! Evan shot away from us right away while Alex ran with us for over a kilometre. We told him he could run ahead if he wanted to, so he did. I was pleased with how good the run felt, especially considering the little bit of training I’d done. (To be clear, although I haven’t been consistently ”running”, I do walk, and am usually on the move. We don’t spend much time sitting around so it isn’t that I’m totally out of shape…) D’Arcy & I ran together until we got to Citadel Hill. I knew I couldn’t run up that hill, so walked it quickly. I have asthma, and could feel my breathing getting quite tight. D’Arcy waited for me at the top, and stayed with me until my wheezing subsided and I was running again.

One of my favourite things about the new course was running Citadel Hill. Although it was a daunting task to run up, the views were beautiful, and seeing the route lined with Highlanders in full costume, high-fiving runners as they passed by,  had this tourism junkie a bit emotional! Nice touch!!

I joked with a man who had stopped to walk, asking if he thought we’d be disqualified if we rolled down the hill instead of running it? He giggled and I smiled. Once the Citadel was conquered, the race was almost over.  As we ran down the hill past Centennial Pool to the finish, I spotted the 21km sign for the half-marathoners. I quipped to the girl running beside me, “21k, so that’s why I feel like this! We’re not doing so bad!” She laughed. The feeling of camaraderie along the route is something really special. I really appreciated the people lining the streets, cheering the runners on! Two of my favourite signs were, “Run like you stole something!” and “Way to Go Random Stranger!”

I was fading by the time I got to that slight incline that leads to the finish, but pushed through. I heard D’Arcy & Evan cheering for me and spotted them at the line. We found Alex waiting by the medals for us, and we went into the Metro Centre. Evan was nowhere to be found, but we weren’t too concerned. We got some chocolate milk and a cookie, and chatted with some other runners. We looked up our finish times, and although none of us had a personal best, we were all pleased with our times:

Evan MCDONAH, Truro, 391/2002, Time 0:28:38.8, Pace 5:44, Category M 15 and Under 58/100, Gender 221/574

Alexander MCDONAH, Truro, 604/2002, Time 0:31:05.2, Pace 6:14, Category M 15 and Under 68/100, Gender 290/574

D’Arcy MCDONAH, Truro, 696/2002, Time 0:31:55.7, Pace 6:24, Category M 40 – 49 61/119, Gender 318/574

Anne MCDONAH,  Truro, 759/2002, Time 0:32:42.8, Pace 6:33, Category F 30 – 39 108/406, Gender 423/1417

After a half an hour with no sign of Evan, we started to get slightly worried. After 45 minutes, we started looking for him. Surprisingly, D’Arcy was more worried than I was. I knew that Evan knew where we were supposed to meet, and reminded myself that he had gone to Brazil without us! It turned out that he hadn’t realized that Alex had crossed the finish earlier, so he was still outside, waiting to cheer his brother on at the end! When it became apparent that the 5k runners were winding down, he came in and found us!

D’Arcy & Alex had massages, and then we walked to the Cheer Station for the marathoners to meet up with Erin, Sarah & Olivia. We stayed there until lunch time, cheering the runners on, passing out jelly beans, oranges, and wet sponges. It was a lot of fun!!

We went back to Grandma & Grandpa’s for lunch, then packed up and came home. I was exhausted and had a hard time keeping my eyes open, but went to sleep with a smile on my face.

It was a great weekend and a family “tradition” we plan to continue!

Grandpa, smiling at 7am, despite being invaded for the weekend!

Bluenose 2012 – runners & cheerleaders at 7am!

Just before the 5k start

Waiting for the race to begin!

Sarah, passing out jelly-beans to the half-marathon runners

D’Arcy & Olivia cheer on the marathon runners

The Halifax Running Club Cheer Station – handing out oranges, jelly beans, and wet sponges

Fun at the Cheer Station, D’Arcy’s cousin, Lynn on the right

Alex & Olivia hand out sponges to runners

The Halifax Running Club Cheer Station

D’Arcy’s sister, Erin, cheering on the marathon runners

Chatting with D’Arcy’s brother, Brian, a course marshall.

Evan & Olivia refreshing & encouraging runners.

To see our full gallery of photos, please click here.

To see all Bluenose Marathon Finish Results, please click here.

We’re Reducing our Ecological Footprint!

First of all – great news!! We’ve made it to the Top 3 Bed & Breakfasts in the Truro & District Chamber of Commerce’s  ”Best of Colchester” awards. Congratulations to Eagle’s Landing B&B and Mrs. O’Leary’s B&B who join us – we’ll find out the winner at dinner on June 7th. Thank you to everyone who took the time to vote for us – we are so grateful!!

Renovations are going well. We are slightly behind schedule, but I’m still holding out hope that we will be finished by Wednesday at the latest, as planned. We received the written report of our energy audit in the mail this week. A lot of it is somewhat difficult to understand (for me – D’Arcy the Science teacher understands the abbreviations and measurements) but I do get the gist of the important information:

• The blower door test produces a standardized measure of the air tightness of a home, and provides a number which represents the number of times all of the air inside your home would be replaced with outside air in a one-hour period if the wind were blowing at about 56kph (35mph).  Ideally, the air in your home should be replaced with outside air once every three hours. Our home replaces our inside air with outside air 9.11 times PER HOUR!!  No wonder we rarely get colds or flus!! Lots of fresh air here!
• The Equivalent Leakage Area (sq.in) is a theoretical measurement of all the air-leakage areas in a home. The report says to “Think of it as a single hole through a wall equivalent to the area of all the gaps and air leakage places in your home. (For reference, an 8″ diameter hole would have an area of 50 square inches.) Our home’s ELA? 801.9 square inches!! That’s the equivalent of a 5.5 square foot hole in the side of our home. Or, if you’re visual like I am, it would be the same as having no glass in our den window:

Thank you for the visual D’Arcy – you’re a great teacher!

So, as you can see, we really did have our work cut out for us. Last Thursday & Friday, MJM Energy came and blew 800 cubic feet of cellulose insulation into the sloped walls of our upper floor where there had been none.  The guys were fantastic - flexible, accommodating, and understanding of working around our guests.  The insulation was blown in from the exterior of our home as we are getting our roof re-done as well, so it was easier all around.

We had a very small window of opportunity without bookings to get this work completed. The workers have all been teasing me because I have everybody lined up just so, with little room for error and no time for rain! We officially closed our B&B to guests on Sunday night, and first thing Monday morning, phase 2 began.

D’Arcy had spent Mother’s Day weekend preparing the basement to be insulated. This meant that everything had to be moved 4ft away from the walls, some walls had to be opened up and some ceiling had to come down. D’Arcy called me from school on Friday at lunch and said, “As long as we’re going to be moving everything anyway, why not have a yard sale – tomorrow?” So we did. As an aside, our girls had their first lemonade/iced tea/coffee stand at the yard sale and raised over $50 for the new Truro Hospital!

The entire content of our basement, pushed into one pile. (Please don’t mind the mess!)

The stone walls of our basement foundation before.

Chad, from MJM Energy arrived first thing Monday morning and blew on a closed-cell polyurethane foam directly to the entire foundation and up into the headers, then covered it with a fire-retardant coating. It looks kind of space age down there now, but luckily I don’t have to go down into the basement too often!

An example of what the foam looks like now.

Meanwhile, upstairs, Gordon & Chris from Apple B Contracting had started shingle-ing the South side of the roof (our backyard). What a job they had cut out for them due to the slopes & height of our roof. We chose slate gray shingles, not to be confused with gray slate shingles! I had wanted to put on a slate roof, but due to its size, was told “NO”… These shingles, however, offer a lifetime warranty, so I’m glad that we like them! It took from Monday until Wednesday to get the South side of the roof done, but they had to cut around two windows, work in the L-shaped corner, and deal with the staging. We figured that section probably amounted to 1/3 of the roof. They moved around to the front of the house on Thursday & Friday, and I think the neighbours were happy to finally be able to see what, exactly, was happening.

They have been doing a fantastic job and we are really pleased! They are accommodating and pleasant to work with. They understand that we are on a tight timeline and work from 8am – dark each day. We had a small glitch in the front, when they discovered that some of the roof’s boards were rotten, so they replaced those.

On Friday, Mark & Kevin from Advanced Solutions arrived to install our solar hot-water panels! So exciting. We’ve been told that these panels will provide up to 75% of our domestic hot water (showers, laundry, dishwasher) during the course of a year. And you can just imagine – we use a LOT of hot water between our family and the B&B!!

It was great fun to watch them lift the panels onto the roof.

The boom truck gets ready to lift the panels up to the roof. Each panel weighs approximately 100lbs.

Ready to go…

On the way up…

Grab it! Good view of what the old roof looked like!

Maneuvering the solar panel safely onto the roof.

The solar panels in their final resting place on the South roof, over our Minuet room. (And isn’t that new roof pretty?!)

They have run most of the piping through the house (D’Arcy knocked out the closet wall in the Serenade room to make it a bit easier for them.) They’ll be back on Monday to get it all hooked into the hot water system. D’Arcy spent last night putting the gyproc  back up in the closet and I have the rest of the room torn apart to get it house cleaned. The Serenade room also had developed a cracked bedroom and bathroom window over the years, so we’ve taken the opportunity of replacing the glass in those windows while the staging is up!  D’Arcy is outside doing that as I type.

Especially lots of fresh air in here at the moment!

Inside, I’ve been getting lots of housecleaning and organizing accomplished, while my dad has been helping me out doing some painting. The boys have been put in charge of yard work, so it’s a real family affair. I’m happy to report that things have been generally going as smoothly as possible and we are happy to know that through these renovations we are reducing our Ecological Footprint in a BIG way!! They can’t help but make a difference!

We’re been disappointed to have to turn away a number of rooms this week, but look forward to re-opening on Wednesday with a refreshed look!

Have a great long weekend – I’d better get back to work!

17th Annual Recognition of Excellence Certification Dinner (Photos)

I joined the Board of the Tourism Industry Association of Nova Scotia (TIANS) four years ago. Each year, my favorite event to attend has been the Nova Scotia Tourism Human Resource Council’s (NSTHRC) Annual Recognition of Excellence Certification Dinner. This year was extra special, as I received National Certification as a Tourism Trainer.

One of the reasons I love this evening so much is because many of the front-line tourism ambassadors in the province are able to attend. This year, 195 individuals were recognized for achieving certification in the following occupations: Food & Beverage Manager, Front Desk Agent, Guest Service Attendant, Heritage Interpreter, Housekeeping Room Attendant, Reservation Sales Agent, Sales Manager, Supervisor, Taxicab Limousine Driver, Tourism Visitor Information Counselor, and Tourism Trainer.

A few fun facts:

• Nova Scotia has more Nationally Certified Tourism Professionals than any other province in the Canada
• Nova Scotia has over 1,000 Nationally Certified Taxicab Limousine Driver
• Nova Scotia is the only province which invests to ensure 100% of their Tourism Visitor Information Counselors in the provincial Visitor Information Centres are nationally certified!
• Twelve Nova Scotian employers were recognized this year as having over 60% staff with national certifications!

To receive my certification, I was required to have completed a certain number of hours training people to be tourism professionals. These were attained through my Tourism Management Faculty position at the Nova Scotia Community College during the past two years. Then, in late March I had a classroom evaluation. This involved Lisa, manager of the NSTHRC,  actually coming into my classroom and observing me “in action” while I taught a class.  I then wrote a two hour exam, and completed a case study.

The dinner was held this year at Casino Nova Scotia in Halifax. Since Halifax is only a one hour drive from the Belgravia, D’Arcy & I hopped in the car after school and made our way there. There was a reception for the first hour, where we mingled with other recipients and tourism professionals, and then we were treated to a wonderful dinner. Yum! The food and service at Casino Nova Scotia were fantastic! The menu was as follows:

Appetizer – Spinach Salad – baby spinach served with mandarin orange segments, topped with toasted almonds and dressed with ponzu vinaigrette.

Entree – Stuffed Chicken with goat cheese and sun-dried tomato and a peach coulis – served with Chef’s Potatoes and Vegetable

Dessert – Peach Cobbler – baked in brown sugar and ginger

Wine – Jost Vineyards Seyval Blanc & Prima Rosa

There was a musical performance to signal the beginning of the evening with photos of Nova Scotia flashing in the background. No matter how many times I watch a presentation like that, I get chills! There were speeches before the dinner by the Glenn Squires, chair of the NSTHRC, and the Hon. Percy Paris, Minister of Economic and Rural Development and Tourism. Bhreagh MacDonald, Cabot Links Resort (receiving certification as a Tourism Supervisor), spoke of what receiving certification means to her. Garrett Gloade, from the Glooscap Heritage Centre (receiving his certification as a Heritage Interpreter) performed a blessing.

After dinner, the certifications were handed out by Minister Paris, Wendy Swedlove of the Canadian Tourism Human Resource Council, and Glenn Squires. There was much cheering and clapping! I was the last of the individuals to receive my certification, as I was the only person receiving Tourism Trainer recognition this year. Lisa (NSTHRC) gave me a touching introduction. It was a fabulous evening and I was extremely proud to be part of it.

The following are some photos that D’Arcy was able to take for me. There was a professional photographer there as well, so hopefully I will receive some of those at some point too.

With Garrett Gloade, Certified Heritage Interpreter

A little bit embarrassed by all the nice things Lisa was saying about me as I was called up to receive my certification.

Joking with the Minister as the presentation was made.

Hon. Percy Paris, Anne McDonah, Wendy Swedlove, Glenn Squires

Joyce Mingo, receiving Property Recognition on behalf of the Glooscap Heritage Centre.

With my generous MLA, Lenore Zann, who came to support both Garrett & myself. She brought me a certificate of congratulations – thank you Lenore!

With Danny Bartlett, Chair of TIANS

With my biggest supporter!

Dannty Bartlett, Chair of TIANS, Anne McDonah, Belgravia Bed & Breakfast, Darlene Grant Fiander, President of TIANS/NSTHRC

With Lisa Dahr, Manager NSTHRC

Some of the TIANS/NSTHRC team – Lisa Dahr, Kieu Lam, Anne McDonah, Lyndsay Leedham, Darlene Grant Fiander. How lucky the Tourism Industry is to have these women among its champions!!

I cannot thank the TIANS/NSTHRC team enough for their support and encouragement through this process! I look forward to using my certification to encourage and support the amazing people who work the front lines of the Tourism Industry, impressing our visitors and building our beloved Nova Scotia brand.

Spring has Sprung

Although we will still have some frosty nights during the next month, we are happy to report that there are some sure signs of Spring at the Belgravia Bed & Breakfast in Truro, Nova Scotia:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

St. Paddy’s Day at the Belgravia (with some photos from Brazil)

Before he left for Brazil, we had asked Evan if he wanted to curl in a bonspiel taking place in the Annapolis Valley this weekend. I was a bit surprised when his response was, ‘But that’s St. Patrick’s Day. Aren’t we doing something?” Our last name, McDonah, is Irish, and D’Arcy’s father’s family came from Killarney, in County Clare, Ireland. Each year, we usually get together with family and friends (and some years, guests!) and host a Guinness inspired meal. I didn’t realize this had become an event the family looks forward to so much.

When I asked for menu suggestions, they came up with burgers. “Patties” for St. Paddy’s! We invited my parents and I made lamb burgers and sweet potato buns. They were really good – the recipe came from Canadian Living and can be found by clicking here: Sweet Potato Rolls. We also barbequed potatoes, carrots & onions, and my mom had brought a salad. I cooked mushrooms & red onions in Guinness to top the burgers. For dessert, we had shamrock shaped cookies and mint-chocolate-chip ice cream while watching a slide show of Evan’s photos from Brazil. There was coffee & Bailey’s for the adults. We ended the evening playing a short version of Pictionary.

I leave you with a few of our favorite photos from Evan’s trip:

First glimpses of Brazil

Evan's Brazilian families - we love them!

The beach in Santos

View of Santos from Monte Serrat

Evan and Scott at City Hall

They made the paper!

Learning to surf

Surfing!

A view of the rain forest, taken from the home of Jean Piaget's Principal's mother.

Endless beach

Rainforest

Ruins in the rainforest

Homecoming

We’re so happy to have Evan back home from his adventure of a lifetime. He had an absolutely fabulous time and was willing to tell us stories and show us photos until close to midnight last night, despite his 36 hour travel day. (Delayed flights…)

The flight from Sao Paulo had been delayed, causing them to miss their connecting flight from Toronto to Halifax. We had been tracking the flight online and realized that 15 minutes between when their flight landed and their next flight departed would not be enough time to clear customs and get to the next gate. We sat around for a few minutes, figuring someone would contact us, and sure enough, it wasn’t very long before Evan called. Smart kid used our toll-free number… Another benefit of growing up in a B&B! They were booked on another flight, but their new scheduled arrival time was 4:01 p.m.

I went to school, Alex went to space camp, and we made plans to leave for the airport shortly after two. The weather was terrible, so in some ways we were happy to have the delay, so that our trip to Halifax Stanfield Airport wouldn’t be as stressful.

We watched the airlines all day and although many flights were delayed because of the snow, his wasn’t. The flight from Toronto to Halifax is only 1h45m, so as soon as we saw that the flight had departed from the gate in Toronto, we began our 45 minute drive to the airport.

When we arrived, we met up with my parents, who needed to come and see their grandson for themselves as well! We all went upstairs to the runway observatory and actually watched Evan’s plane land. We all waved frantically, and he admitted on the way home that he saw us! (It helped that his flight’s gate was right under the observatory window!) As they were setting up the jetway, we rushed back downstairs to the arrivals area to greet him.

Evan's flight, arriving from Toronto. He's in the window, two ahead of the middle exit door!

Hi Evan!!

Olivia couldn't help herself, she ran right through the "no entry" signs to greet her biggest brother!

The much anticipated hug for mom! (Don't know if it was much anticipate for him, but it sure was for me!!!)

And a much anticipate hug for "Ginna" (see above!)

A much awaited hug for Dad...

Our family is together again!

We came home and the girls showed off the sign they had made him.

Welcome Home Evan!

We had a great supper, he gave us thoughtful gifts, and then we downloaded his photos and heard stories. Olivia couldn’t help herself – she arrived back downstairs after bedtime just to make sure that Evan was really home and to have one last snuggle.

Bliss!

Surfing and Soccer

Friday’s update arrived in this morning’s email, courtesy of Erin:

“In the morning we went to a fruit market that was really long there was tons of different fruits you could try and there was also fish, clothes, and other stuff you could buy it was really cool to see all the different fruits they had. Then we went to a water treatment place it was really gross… Then we went surfing, that was like the best thing ever for that whole day!!! all 4 of us managed to stand up for atleast 25 seconds, after that we had a bbq at alexanders place that was really good also!!!
Erin”

We were able to chat with Evan a couple of times this weekend and he proclaimed that surfing was AWESOME! He even intends to take it up back here in Nova Scotia. We do actually, have beaches in Nova Scotia that are known for their surfing conditions, however the water here is much chillier, I’m sure, than the water in Brazil!

Evan continues having a wonderful time! On Saturday, they had gone shopping at a mall, but he thought they were going to the beach, so left his money at home! On Sunday, he traveled into Sao Paulo with his host family to see Sao Paulo play Football (Soccer) against the Portuguesa Team. Sao Paulo is the largest city in the Southern Hemisphere, one of the largest cities in the world, with a population of 20,000,000. It’s hard for us to wrap our heads around the size of a city that houses two-thirds of the population of Canada! The football stadium itself holds 80,000 people, but there were “only” 18,000 there for yesterday’s game. Evan said it was hot when they first got there, but then there was a rain shower, so they got soaked! Sao Paulo won the game 2-1.

I was thrilled today when Francisco shared some photos:

Gabriel, JV & Evan outside the Sao Paulo Football Stadium

They arrived early and toured the stadium before the game was to begin.

The stadium seats 80,000 people!

Fans arriving - only 18,000!

The Sao Paulo team enters the stadium.

The Sao Paulo mascot

A Bumpy Road to the Rainforest

Not a long report today, as we didn’t really get a chance to connect with Evan yesterday. The daily email this morning comes from Irene:

“Hello everyone, Yesterday, we went to a rainforest and then we went to the soccer museum. The village in the rainforest we went to is called Paranapiacaba.  Bumbiest road ever before you get there. Irene”

Evan sounds happy – he posted a status update on Facebook this morning which said, “Churros are so good! Now I get to go surfing today!”

One of the chaperones, Jennifer, posted some photos, which were great to see!

Irene, Erin, Evan & Scott

 

Evan, wearing his Jean Piaget uniform

The Canadians at the Santos Football (Soccer) Stadium!

The group somewhere in Brazil (no caption with this one!)

 

 

Meeting Brazilian 10 Time National Surf Champion

Yesterday’s update is not very long. We spoke with Evan last night only long enough for him to say goodnight. He was tired, thirsty & cranky. The morning email of yesterday’s events comes via Scott, the other boy on the trip: Someone sends an email home each morning with news…

The group with 10 time Brazilian National Surf Champion Picuruta Salazar

“hi everyone, yesterday we went to a surf museum where we met a famous 10 times champion surfer who was very nice to stop and take pictures with us. we learned a bit about the history of surfing in santos and got some amazing pictures of the ocean and landscape. afterwards we left back to the school and participated in a english class. i got a cool picture with pele´s statue during a walk around santos. we also tried coconut water from a fresh coconut and got to watch how they prepared it with a large machette.
 
having fun, scott”

 

Butterflies, Peanuts, a Ferry, a Barbeque & Surfing

By all accounts, Evan is having a wonderful time in Brazil! I asked him to jot down a few notes each day so that I could share his activities with those who are interested.  The following is what I received: (the boy does not share his mother’s gift of gab – everything is to the point!)

• March 1st, 2012.
•  Flight to Toronto and Sao Paulo delayed
•  Butterflies
•  March 2nd, 2012.
•  Land in Sao Paulo at 11 – 11:30 local time
•  3 hr bus ride in 33C heat
•  Caught up with everyone
•  Relaxed
•  Went to the club
•  March 3rd, 2012.
•  Went to the beach
•  Boogey Boarded
•  Paddleball
•  Peanuts
•  Guaranana
•  Swam
•  Relaxed
•  Pastel (awesome)
•  Cresting
•  Ferry ride
•  Playstation with JV, Caio and Gabriel
•  March 4th, 2012.
•  Canoeing
•  Stand Surfing
•  The Beach
•  JV, Caio, Gabriel, Caroline, Scott and Bruno
•  BBQ at Caios house
•  Playstation with Caio, JV, Gabriel, Caroline, two other people
•  Gift giving
•  hubairos (a drink – was added after)

We’ve Skyped with him each day. On Saturday, his first full day, he spent the day at the beach. The temperature was 36*C so that was probably the perfect place to be! He had been boogy boarding and playing with friends and JV’s dad. His only complaint was a headache which was probably a combination of heat & dehydration. I mentioned that his cheeks were looking a bit pink from the sun and he replied that JV’s dad had put 100SPF sunscreen on his face. I didn’t even know that sunscreen came in numbers that high! We are so grateful that JV’s dad shared the following photos with us:

Evan, JV & Gabriel catch a wave

Evan "boogey boarding"

 

Caio, Gabriel, Evan & JV on the ferry from Santos to Guaruja, Brazil

The boys play "beach tennis" in the water at Guaruja Beach.

Based on these photos, I can’t help but wonder what 13-year-old boy wouldn’t be having fun?!

On Sunday, he was up early and went canoeing which he reported was “awesome”! (His father is now dreaming of father-son canoe trips in D’Arcy’s homemade canoe this summer…)

We had a message at suppertime that the families of Caio, Gabriel & JV (as well as one other boy who Evan hadn’t known before) were all at Caio’s home for a barbeque and would we be able to skype with them? We all ran upstairs to the computer and it was obvious that Evan is being well looked after! It did this worrying mom’s heart good, and I have to admit, I shed a few (okay – more than a few!) tears of relief & happiness!

Caio’s sister posted the following photo, taken at the barbeque:

Evan's Brazilian family(s). No wonder he's so happy - they look like a fun group!!

We thanked Caio’s & JV’s families for taking such good care of Evan and for welcoming him so openly with love & friendship. JV’s father has good English and the others do their best. Evan has been communicating with a lot of sign language, I think!

Being away from his sister, he has been eating peanuts and other tree-nuts and has been enjoying them! He’s tried a new fruit, grown in Brazil, which he really liked, and raved about the pastries that he’s had. It sounds like he may come home with a few extra pounds at the rate he’s trying new things!

Last night Evan gave Caio & JV’s families the gifts we had sent from Canada: a photo book of Nova Scotia, 1L jug of maple syrup, blueberry jam, peanut butter, Nova Scotia fridge magnets, and – at the boys’ request – Kraft Dinner, gum & Cadbury mini eggs! He had been waiting to get the family all together at the same time.

Last night was to be an early night as they all had to be at school for 7:30 this morning. I woke up this morning to find a message from Evan, asking where his travel alarm clock had been packed – whoops! Hope he woke up in time and didn’t make the boys late… The school day there runs from 7:30a.m. – 12:50p.m., which I would assume is because of the heat. I’m looking forward to skyping with Evan tonight to hear about his morning bike ride, and time at school. They were scheduled to have some Portuegese lessons and attend one of the High School English classes. I’ll be interested to hear what the Jean Piaget school is like from his perspective!

It is definitely a relief to know that he is having such a wonderful trip so far and hasn’t felt lonely at all. I struggle with finding a balance between wanting to Skype with him to hear about what he is doing, but also wanting to give him space and independence. Actually “seeing” him interact with his new family put many of my fears at ease, and the photos they’ve sent have brought a huge smile to my face. I can’t wait to hear about today’s adventures!!

* By the way, Evan has somehow “pocket-locked” his iPod touch and doesn’t know the code to unlock it! Any helpful suggestions on how to unlock it without access to his iTunes are welcomed!