Thanksgiving in New Brunswick

Our friend Leah invited us up to her parents house for Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, their parents were on holiday, so chaos reigned supreme.

Leah, chillin' on the deck.

Her sisters, Lesley and Amy.

Their parents house was absolutely stunning - two stories, hard wood floors, a fireplace, and large floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the sea. It was set right on a small cliff, looking out on to a fairly protected inlet with several islands. On the property was also a small beach and a little forest... the place was, in a word, spectacular.

What was also spectacular was the craziness of the three sisters. We had a ton of fun, walking along the beach, going sea-kayaking, trying to hold on to Leah as she tried to kill us on her quad bike, setting off fireworks, and most importantly... eating! We had an awesome Thanksgiving dinner, complete with 'tofurkey' for Elli.

We also spent a fair portion of the weekend playing 45's, a card game reminiscent of Euchre. 45's is apparently a very Maritime game, and these guys have developed a whole suite of extra rules around it, for example: every team has to have a wacky name (examples from the weekend: Chewbot, Destructicorn, Executive Decision, Diagnosis: Win, and many more); bidding too high on a particular trick means you are designated the 'MaGarnacle' and are forced to wear the MaGarnacle hat until you have proven your un-MaGarnacle-ness with a successful bid; in all there was a three page document describing the rules and winning conditions for the three-day tournament.

Me in the MaGarnacle hat. Yes, it actually says 'MaGarnacle' on it.

Elli ended up the overall winner, and received a '45s Champion'
sash. I told you they were crazy.

Amy also took us whale watching on the Sunday which was awesome. There was a chill breeze but the sun was shining, pretty much perfect watchin' weather. We saw lots of seals, a Minke Whale, and a gorgeous Humpback who we followed around for hours in awe... she even did a 'tail flick' a couple of times.

The Humpback, whose name was 'Moustache'.

It was Leah's birthday on the Monday, so we had birthday cake the morning after Thanksgiving dinner! It was a great weekend and it was pretty depressing to make the hour-and-a-half drive to the airport, fly an hour to Montreal, wait in Montreal airport for four hours, and make the half-hour flight back to Ottawa. (stupid Air Canada.)