I was not spending my Easter Weekend alone by myself. So I took it upon myself to drive to my Aunt & Uncle’s place who I haven’t seen in years. If you’re wondering where my Boyfriend was at the time, he took a bike training trip down to California for 12 days and only got back last night (and I had to fetch him from the airport once again — I didn’t get lost though!).

On Friday morning I  got my backpack ready, and all of Alfie’s things, and we drove in my car with the ten pages of google maps printed ever so clearly in color, and highlighted certain landmarks when I passed by them.

Beautiful country roads. Didn’t smell like poop either.

I didn’t feel nervous at all driving all by myself, especially not knowing where I was going. I didn’t have a GPS, but those ten pages to get me to my Aunt & Uncles place were helping. The drive took about 2 hours or so and I made it into their city perfectly fine. With one minor error.

I diverted my cousins directions at the very end and ended up going too far North and then looping back down, which was probably 20 minutes or so.

I made it to their city completely fine. Looking for the side street off one of the main roads. I passed right by it and ended up coming to a fork in the road. One road said another city, the right side didn’t say much. So I took it, lol.

My cousin mentioned that I’d be passing by an OPP (Ontario police) station, and sure enough I did. I thought it was pretty large for a station though, my cousin must’ve meant an OPP school or something. Silly her, not knowing what she’s talking about living up there for 20+ years. I was entering a small narrow street with a brown house on the side of the road. Sort of like, if you were entering in a National Park and had to pay a fee. You know those little window-houses things? Right? Nobody was there, so I kept on driving!

I was driving for an awfully long time, and looked at page 10 of my maps and couldn’t recognize any street names at this point. Eventually I made out the name on the water tower that was kilometers away, and noticed it said a different name than I was supposed to be in. Great.

I pull over, and call my cousin immediately. Long story short she tells me I’m past the city and to turn right around. But the thing is, I didn’t realize I was on a one way street and I couldn’t find one of the main roads to get back!

Sweet mother of pearl!! I was on a Military Defense Base and I was literally in the base itself. Apparently the general public, such as myself aren’t allowed in this Military Base, and that brown “house” I passed by was closed for the Easter Holidays, otherwise they would’ve pulled me over immediately and told me to turn around and all of this would’ve been solved so much easier. Damnit, I knew that “city” I was in seemed small. But there was even a Tim Hortons and everything in that city Military Base. Ugh. How confusing.

Clearly I found the way back to the main road but I was still doubting myself. I saw a Police SUV parked on the side of the road. I debated stopping at all or pulling in behind them. But then I was like “omg I better stop and ask.”

I swerved right in front of them (they were parked, remember. Not to worry!) and put my blinker on like I was turning right. But then I was like “Nah, I’m stopped. I should put on my four ways.” (I really hope they didn’t see me talking to myself). So I did just that.

It was 2ºC outside, so I decided to sprint the 300 meters to the police SUV. I slowed my sprint down into a light jog as soon as I realized there were two policemen in the SUV. I noticed the Policeman in the passenger seat smiling and looking at the driver then at me. Most likely laughing at me running towards them with my last page of the google maps. Alright. First impression gone wrong. Our little convo went exactly like this:

Me: So!  … … …(long pause)… I’m lost. *I then nod at them* (Notice I didn’t greet him, Oh hello dear Officer). Aw yeah, I’m calm-cool-and-collected.
Policeman(Military Police): Alright! So where are you headed?
Me: (Street names which I’m not going to type out to the public on my blog lol) with my arms flailing about how lost I was in the base for a good half hour and couldn’t find this main road which we were now parked on.
Military Policeman: He proceeds to give me directions…
Me:  *Thoughts running through my head* I start blushing because I realized they’re hunky and I stop making eye contact because I notice the Policeman’s huge ass arm tattoo and I’m sure they’re laughing on the inside at me racing to their car. OMG I have to make sure my hair isn’t getting wind-blown too much, I mean hello they’re cute. Gotta make a good first impression. They are cops afterall. Damn this city is just like Newfoundland. What’s with all the wind. Why is he talking so much? Just give me simple directions. It’s two degrees out here. Can I hop in the back seat and get them to escort me to my cousins? OMG they’d freak out. That would be SOO funny. I promise I’m paying attention to the policemen, the directions were just so long but so straight forward. I bet he was keeping me around to look at me ;)
Me: Sweet thanks guys! (Don’t you mean Officer, Nancy? What was I thinking lol)
Policemen: Alright, so make sure you see our Military Helicopter on your right when you’re driving out of the base (!!!!) parked on the lawn, and you’re on the right track.
Me: Thanks bye!!!

Then I walk slowly back to my car. No point in running again, even though it was bitter cold and windy. Still. So, of course I made it to my cousins place in one piece. The weekend was full of relaxing, meeting my 1st cousins daughters for the FIRST time.

I haven’t seen my relatives since 1996!

I know right. 16 years! I think it’s because I was always afraid to drive anywhere for fear of getting lost. Well, I’m used to getting lost so it’s not a huge issue. Just flag down a cop and ask him for directions. Easy enough right? If only it was that easy when I got lost in Mississauga at 6am.

I stayed with my Aunt & Uncle for the most part, and then during the day I went to my Cousin and her Boyfriend’s farm where my cousins two daughters also live (duh).

Holy massive farm! They have (I think I have this right): 100 acres.

Horses! A male and a female. The female (I forget her name) tilted her head for some treats!

This male Horse below, called BlackJack and it was moody/shy/afraid of me.

There are tons of cows (19?). All of them… pregnant. By the one bull. Ha ha Oh my. Here I was hiding the Easter eggs on the farm, on Sunday for my cousins girls.

I think my favorite cow was the calf inside, the Jersey Cow. I loved its brown coloring with peach colored ears. Too bad it was afraid of me. I’m sensing a trend here.

My favorite has to be Jenny the Donkey. As soon as I saw this donkey I started laughing at it. I can’t believe my cousin owns a freaking DONKEY you guys. Bahhahaa! I laughed at the human name it was given, and asked why didn’t she just name it Sarah? My cousin said Jenny is the name for a female donkey, like Jack is a male Donkey. Now I know where the term Jack Ass comes from! Sheesh. Makes so much sense now.

Here is S (my cousins daughter) lifting up the lips of Jenny The Donkey and showing me her chompers. Looks like Jenny needs a teeth cleaning! The girls were trying to make her Hee-Haw for me all weekend. Sure enough, Jenny hee-hawed just minutes before I left the barn to drive back home on Sunday.

Baby bunnies were held. Either I can hypnotize them (seriously you can do that) or I was choking the bunny by holding it too tight. Either way it stayed still for photos, and it was still alive when I put it back in its cage. I have a thing of dropping my cousins animals. When I visited her back in 1996, she (didn’t have a farm) had a pet bunny and I dropped it on the stairs. I made sure to hold this little fella for dear life. Oh memories.Here’s its brother. This one was a wiggler. Uh oh.

OH MY GOD. The GOATS! I held a baby goat and the Momma was totally cool with it. Look at us!!! I’m laughing hysterically here. City girl, holding a freaking baby goat and it’s just baa-ing so quietly, and not fighting to get out of my arms. Holy mother.

Hey cool Momma goat!

I even got a chance to walk the Miniature Horse, named Timbit. This little fella was super cute and I even ran with it by my side.

My cousin asked if I wanted a ride ON the mini horse. I can’t say no to that! I squealed a few times in fear which in turn scared Timbit and made him jump a few times.

AAAHHH HAHAHAHA. I’m riding a mini horse.My legs are grazing the ground. hahahaha. You’re a good sport Timbit.

Of course, you can’t forget the barn cats at the barn. There’s three of them. I’m not the hugest fan of cats, but one cat in particular stood out to me. I didn’t snap a photo of her, but I got a photo of her on a mug. Blacky, the one-eyed cat. Omg so strange.

My cousin recently got a Great Pyrenees (basically a White Newfoundland dog) to watch over the house when it gets older. Alfie was most definitely the Alpha Male of the entire weekend. This was as close as we could get the two dogs together. Shawney the puppy on the right was terrified of my Pom.

Here’s Shawney “cuddling” in my lap. Monster sized puppy.

We took Shawney for a walk down the road to my cousins neighbors place (which I’m not a fan of since I was told I was clueless. Ahem. Another story for another day) but here’s my cousin lifting up the pup since she couldn’t make it the entire way. Don’t I look like my cousin? Kinda? Yeah? Our Mother’s are sisters. :) Her daughters think we look-alike. Here they are below:

Before I left to pack up my things at the end of the weekend at my Aunt & Uncles, I needed one more photo. Of my cousins two sweet little girls with no other than… THE DONKEY hahahaha (I’m sorry. I just can’t stop laughing).

I had such a great time over the weekend. Swapping stories like “remember when your brother made me lift up a rock and I got covered in ants?” or “Remember when you made me do this?” with my cousin and tons of laughing at our childhood antics. I was always a beggar, asking my older cousin if I could have her toys, clothes or anything else I liked.

I’m definitely not waiting another 16 years for another visit. I do have a good excuse though. I didn’t move to Ontario until 2006, and then I didn’t own a car til late 2009. Plus, driving in Newfoundland is so much easier since we only have one highway to follow. Getting into all this multiple highway business could get a city girl confused!

Not anymore! B’ys I’ll be up again before you know it! :) Miss you all, already.

I even left with a few souvenirs from my trip. One being this key chain I purchased at the market. A grain of rice with my name on it! He was giving out free samples, I cherished mine. Til I dropped it on the ground seconds later. Then I decided to purchase one for myself.