Hail, Hail, the Gang's (Almost) All Here!

It’s Wednesday, June 21, 2023. Our epic 40^th anniversary trip is half over, and let me tell you, the first half has been wonderful! After a trip to Westpoint Lighthouse and some shopping in Summerside, we arrived at our second rental here on PEI at about 4:30 pm on Saturday, June 17. This place is set in a beautiful location, although that location was surrounded by rain, wind, and cool temperatures for the first few days we were there. The house itself is spacious and comfortable. The one drawback has been that the internet keeps cutting out. We’re hoping to get that problem addressed today.

Westpoint Lighthouse

Joseph, David, Laura, Andrew, Elle, and Liam arrived late in the day on Saturday. Their second flight was delayed because their plane was late from its previous flight (due to weather) and so it had to make a quick turn-around while they waited. Then they arrived in Charlottetown to a super long line at the car rental place. I had originally thought they might be here at the rental by 7:00 but instead it was after 10:00. The kids were sleeping and were put straight to bed. The adults were starving and devoured the supper I had kept warm for over three hours. After meals and greetings, everyone went to bed. Our PEI vacation together really began on Sunday.

The weather outside was frightful on Sunday, but we didn’t really intend to go anywhere anyway. Sunday was Father’s Day and our actual anniversary, a big day – but the most we did to celebrate was just hang out together. We also video chatted with Em and Rilla. Eric was resting. We got to hear the full story of the travel day the rest of the family had. We got to explore the house we would be staying in for the week. Many games were played, including an afternoon game of Euchre, which Andrew and David won over R.J. and Joe in a close match. David, Andrew, Elle, and I made it down to the shore during a break in the rain. The wind was still fierce, though! It was delightful to see Elle experiencing the ocean for the first time. Sunday was our tenth day on the road and by far the loudest and craziest. I love that. The internet had been out when we arrived, and even our Cable Guy David couldn’t fix it, so we called our landlord. Finally sometime in the late afternoon, we had internet. The world was a brighter place!

The weather on Monday wasn’t really any better. It didn’t rain much, but the temperatures were in the 40s and the winds were still blowing hard. One thing we had to do was a grocery run, so early morning was spent figuring out a menu for the week and then putting together a grocery list. Laura, Liam, and I made a run to Kensington for groceries. Liam resisted being in the cart for all he was worth, but he still made friends in every aisle with his loud "Hiiiii!" and huge smile. In the afternoon, we decided to go into Cavendish to do some souvenir shopping. Joseph found a few things and the rest of us froze as we went from store to store. Even in the cold, though, we had to treat the family to their first taste of Cow’s ice cream. That was yummy! We returned to the rental and warmed up. This had been the day we were supposed to do family pictures, but we bumped those to the next day because of the weather.

 

Tuesday dawned with some promise of warmer weather. According to the local forecasts, this was supposed to be the transition day. It was still plenty windy, but not AS windy as before. It was still plenty cool but not AS cool as before. It was still plenty cloudy but not AS cloudy as before. And as the day went on, those conditions all continued to improve. During the day, we made a couple of trips down to the shore. At lunch time, Laura and Andrew went on a little lunch date to Summerside. They picked up a few extra groceries that we missed the first time around and had a good time out, just the two of them, while the rest of us watched the kiddos. More games were played, of course! The major event of the day was our picture-taking extravaganza, which was scheduled for 7:00 in the evening. How we were blessed with having a Rochester, MN photographer take our pictures on PEI is a story worthy of some space of its own.

Back in January, I had messaged Jen Elder, a professional photographer friend, to ask her for some advice on family pictures. I wondered if it would be worth it to hire a professional photographer to take our pictures on PEI since we knew Em and Eric would not be there. What's a family picture without the whole family? Jen recommended to go ahead and hire a local professional photographer to take pictures on the trip but then create a photo collage on the wall to include pictures of Em & Eric as well. I liked that idea but hadn't gotten around to checking out PEI photographers. Out of the blue, I got a message from Jen in late March. She was working on a trip of her own to PEI, with her aunt. She messaged me a few times asking our dates for the trip and where we would be staying. She wanted to make it work that she could be the one taking pictures for us while we are here. Well, she did it! She coordinated her trip to coincide with ours! I think that's incredible. Jen came out last night to take our pictures. We postponed from Monday night, when the weather was positively freezing. Yesterday’s weather was windy all day long but much better, temperature-wise. By the evening, the wind miraculously died down and the temperature was pleasant. Maybe Jen has some magic-photographer-powers or something. We had a beautiful night for our pictures! Jen was amazing, as I knew she would be. She spent so much time with us, working to get pictures in this beautiful setting. I can’t wait to see them, as I know they will be treasures. I also can’t begin to thank her. My one regret is I have no pictures of her taking pictures. It is a wonderful memory from this trip. I do, however, have a picture of Em and Eric from home.

We haven't had professional pictures taken in eons, except at Em's and Laura's weddings. Typically, we just do self-timer shots to include the whole family. A treasure such as pictures in this location, 2000 miles from home, has to cost money – there is no way around that. Now here's the other part of the story that gives me chills. I didn't budget for pictures on the trip. I was determined to make it work, but still, EVERYTHING is costing more these days, especially in the world of travel. Meanwhile, I had my travel agent friend Amy Glandon book the plane tickets for the kids' trip to PEI. Everything was confirmed, and I had splurged on an extra fee (x 4 flights each, x 6 people) so they could all sit together....but none of the charges for the tickets came through on our credit card. After the better part of a week of waiting, I had Amy call and check on things just to be safe.  It turned out that the airline had charged (or tried to charge) her agent number, which isn't even the right length for a credit card number. They had to redo everything, one by one. What a mess! Then they put Amy on hold and didn’t come back, so she had to hang up and call a THIRD time. HOWEVER...the person Amy spoke with the third time around said the other agent was in error in adding a charge so everyone could sit together, as family units with small children get to travel together on Air Canada without an extra charge - so she removed that charge from the final bill. It’s always nice to save some money, but when I did the math and checked, the amount saved on the tickets was to the dollar the EXACT amount that the professional pictures cost. I love when I get to glimpse God's care for us in a tangible way. It still makes me smile!

I hope you are getting to glimpse God’s care for you in little and big ways, whether you are at home or on the road. His love for you is greater than you can possibly imagine. Hang on to that! I'll be back with more travel stories soon. For now, I will leave you with the sunset that wrapped up our Tuesday. It was magnificent!

Sunset pic taken from our back yard at the rental - a benediction to our beautiful day

Sunset through the "screen" porch on our rental