Fort Louisbourg

 A highlight of the trip to Cape Breton had to be the day we spent at Fort Louisbourg, an 18th century fortress that spanned the French-British struggle for supremacy in North America.  It was well fortified from the water,

(although they probably should have had some bigger artillery men)

 but not so much from overland.  It was leveled twice in its functional period, and has now been partially rebuilt as a living museum where we spent a fantastic day learning more about that period of history and how it played out in this area of Canada.

I know, we homeschoolers have strange ideas about what constitutes a fun vacation...

We entered at the gate where we were told to leave our "Canon" outside.

View of the waterfront of the fortress

cookie break--thanks Nan!

This fife and drum corps marched around the fortress several times in the afternoon, and sounded remarkably good!  I love these back-in-time visits, where we get a (very) little idea of what life was like.  I often wonder what it would have been like to live at this time period.  Life must have been very difficult--at least for many people the struggle to survive was all encompassing, yet I wonder if in some ways it wasn't a simpler time as well?  

Vacation Boot Camp

 Our first outing in Cape Breton was to the Highland National Park up in the northern part of the island.  We were vacationing with friends and all of us brought bicycles, so we decided to take a ride in the park.  Some of us probably envisioned a quiet leisurely ride on a nice shaded level road with breaks along the way to enjoy the views, or have lunch, or an ice cream...  some of us, I might add, had never vacationed with my husband before.

I've actually recommended our vacations as fitness programs in the past.  

This particular road seemed to be uphill both ways.  I always thought that was a silly cliche, but now that I've actually experienced it, I have more respect.  Our breaks were less to admire the views, and more to check pulses and let our hearts settle back into our chests...

Rick, of course, remained cool throughout.

 Gus was a trouper.  At six years old, he biked  the entire 13 km of hills.  I have to say though, he did get a bit warm--as evidenced by the hairdo.

Rachel grinning and bearing it!

Lydia turning an alarming shade of red as she does under exertion.

Moriah, as quietly determined as ever.

              And at the end of the road, we didn't find a restaurant for lunch, or an ice cream stand, but this  waterfall to cool the feet, and shade to rest in, and that seemed like reward enough.

Rachel and her good friend E. relaxing at the waterfall.

And with the promise of finding food and ice cream Somewhere, the kids all turned around and did the hills again.

Cape Breton

The only place I know to see signs in Gaelic besides Scotland, (at least I assume there are Gaelic signs there) is Nova Scotia.  We just spent a week in Cape Breton vacationing with family and friends, and enjoyed many things, not the least of which were views like these:

This is the Cabot Trail which winds along the coastline for 300 kms with views like this all the way.

Pretty Stunning.

The reason for the destination-- if more than the views is necessary-- was that Zac was enrolled at St. Ann'sGaelic College of the Arts for a week of bagpipe school.  While our week was filled with vacation, his was filled with lessons and band practices, but then again, that IS vacation to him, so it all worked out.  Here's a video to leave you with a taste of his week.  More on the vacation-for-the-rest-of-us in a later post.

Conjunction Mal-Function

For the fifth and final time, I'm almost through with this book.  (Note the tattered edges)   As with several other school items this year, we're dragging it on through July, but that's not to say we aren't having a good time with it.
Gus is working his way through the phonics and the stories, but the best part of the book so far (to him) has been the conjunctions.

Yes, conjunctions.

Well, one conjunction in particular...

every time he reads the word "but" to me, he goes into paroxysms of laughter, falling to the floor pointing to his own conjunction and repeating the word "but".  I haven't had the heart to tell him about homonyms yet...