Playing Tourist...

I often take for granted my beautiful country because I am usually wrapped up in my never ending to-do list. Sometimes though, I get to experience it through other's eyes and it make me appreciate it so much more. Yesterday, my cousin who is visiting from GA, spent the afternoon with me and Aidan and we 'played tourist with her'. She did most of the touristy stuff with her mother last week but they hadn't made it up to our end of the Island before her mom flew back to the US on Friday.

Aidan picked her up from my parent's house after the Queen's Birthday Parade rehearsal and I had the house in pretty good shape - I had done 3 loads of laundry and even used the special cleaner on the stainless steel appliances. We first took the dogs for a quick walk up to the Heydon Chapel. The dogs loved her and spent most of the time walking with her (we were old news...). We then headed to Dockyard for lunch and a little exploring. We ate at Freeport Garden and it was a nice relaxed atmosphere and a change of pace from the pub. We then headed to the Clocktower Mall. I purchased a few summer dresses from the Turkish shop and we competed with the cruise ship visitors to see what was in the various shops. We then headed to the Maritime Museum.

First stop was the dolphins. There have been 2 or 3 babies born since last summer (I believe) so we watched them swim about with their mothers and saw some of the other dolphins practicing various tricks. They're so curious. There were a number of visitors getting ready to get into the water to 'interact' with them and the dolphins kept coming out to the water to see what was going on with the people on the dock! we then went up to Commissioner's House and the Hall of History. Commissioner's House is still my favorite place in Dockyard and it is even more fascinating due to the 400 years of history mural. I see something new every time I visit. The colours are so rich!

Once we finished visiting the museum, we walked through the Crafts Market and then went to get some ice cream from the Hagen Daas shop. Then it was off to get ready to go kayaking. We cleaned off the kayak- it had been in storage since last August and the 3 of us went on the 2 man kayak. It wasn't too bad. Aidan was a little cramped at first but we stopped a few times to make it more comfortable for him. I paddled 1/2 of the way - good arm workout - and switched places with him to let him paddle back while my cousin sat up front. Aidan saw a sea turtle but we were so busy paddling that we didn't get to see it. It was so good to be on the water - I love it and always feel that I should be out on it more when I go boating. Sadly, we had to head in after 90 minutes since we had to go to dinner at Aidan's parent's house.

My cousing is going to stay with us fromThursday - Sunday and then she'll fly back to GA on the Monday. I'm looking forward to playing tourist again. We're going to take the bikes out next weekend and perhaps even walk on the South Shore from Warwick Long Bay to Horseshoe Bay - that should be fun if it isn't too hot...