Mini Road Trip - Saint John

As I sit writing this it sounds like it is raining. It is making me smile. The sun is shining beautifully through my window warming my cheeks and the snow is rapidly melting tricking my ears into thinking it is raining. I'm not getting too excited yet though...there is still two feet of snow in my front yard and the snow mountain my husband made from shovelling the driveway is still over my head. But, if I squint my eyes really tightly and look outside I can imagine it is almost spring.

Last week I had spring break from school. But, since I attend school in a different province from my kids...they have spring break this week. I wanted to have at least one day off together to do something fun - so I pulled them out of school one day last week and we took a mini road trip to Saint John, New Brunswick.

It has been so long since we have had a road trip together! (We currently have two exchange students living with us, which brings our family number up to eight and we do not have a vehicle that seats eight. But, there was a day last week where one of our students was on a ski trip and so the rest of us jumped at the chance to take off for the day).

I also had a food photography assignment for school and Saint John has a really cool, old market. Also, our favourite missionary had been recently transferred to Saint John and we all missed him already and wanted to see him. So it was a win-win-win-win kind of a day. We started our day with lunch at Billy's...

Billy's was a restaurant that gave me a free lunch when I was a travel agent visiting Saint John for the first time in 1998...

I remembered it being really good and since it was still there I thought it must be okay... our family has been sampling fish and chips all over the maritimes and I find it a good way to make an equal comparison between local restaurants.

This one was pretty good...not the best...but also quite far from the worst. I think we all enjoyed our lunch.

We had a good visit with Elder D - aside from the usual crowd control we had to do with the boys. With all the good-byes my boys have had to make over the past few years it was good to see someone they had just said good-bye to - reminding them that good-byes aren't always permanent. At the end of lunch the owner asked if they wanted to hold a lobster...and really what's cooler than holding a lobster.

After lunch we headed into the market so I could work on my food photography skills...

I've heard that photography like writing takes ten years to become professional...I still have a few to go...but I like the practice.

The market is still in winter mode and is really a glorified grocery store this time of year as far as food goes...

But, everything was still really beautiful and I had fun rushing around taking pictures - yes, rushing - remember I had five kids with me!

We ended our day with a visit to the Saint John museum - we had a lot of fun looking at (and playing a little) with the exhibits. We love museums and haven't been able to visit one for awhile so it was really fun being able to spend a few hours there.

We all had a really fun day although it left us all craving a longer road trip. My daughter keeps asking when we are moving west again...

I still haven't completely finished unpacking from this move!

I know I have a few things left to accomplish here...but who knows where life will take us - it's one big adventure.