Sometimes, when you’re on a major road trip like ours, you just have to rest and do nothing. Today was one of those days, and I had some major catching up to do with the learning observations for Ethan. Luckily, there was a Starbucks just up the street from the Walmart we stayed at.
Video to come!
Morning
The plan for today was to have breakfast at Costco. Yes, hot dogs and poutine were on the menu, but we came to our senses and had some eggs with potatoes, instead. We did have some waffles that were more like donuts because of how sweet they were, but that was the extent of the unhealthy breakfast options.
There was even a massive flock of seagulls over the Walmart parking lot telling us not to have Costco for breakfast.
Since the weather wasn’t too nice, and since I had fallen a bit behind with these blog posts, we decided that Starbucks would be the best place to spend the rest of the morning.
These blog posts are not just recaps of our travels, but they also serve as learning observations for Ethan and are submitted to his Learning Consultant (a BC certified teacher) every week. We only have to write one report for the entire week, but daily blogging helps us, actually, me, remember what happened each day. It’s better than trying to recall an entire week’s worth of happenings.
When we got to Starbucks, Ethan had to finish up some math and English work before he was allowed to come into Starbucks and use his computer.
Afternoon
By the time he came into Starbucks, it was after twelve. I had settled into a nice rhythm of writing and posting but it was nice to have some company.
Ethan has been really into making videos to teach French, so he was busy working on his latest offering. The screen on my old MacBook Air isn’t looking too pretty, so I’m quite impressed by what he’s been able to do, in spite of the circumstances with the laptop.
And here’s a link to the video he made, and I’ll post it here, too. He uses Google translate to find the words, and also for how to pronounce the words in French.
Ethan was also very happy to get a new subscriber to his YouTube Channel, so he made a video to say thanks.
And because he’s been learning to use the Mac, he made a video to teach people some Mac shortcuts.
With all our work finally done, we went to Costco for a very late lunch. So yes, we did eventually make it to Costco for some food.
After eating, we did a bit of shopping and Ethan wanted to try on a new toque. We need some warmer socks, as it can be a bit chilly out here in St. John’s. But we can’t find socks and clothing made with mostly cotton. A lot of things are acrylic or polyester based, so we’ll keep searching.
And I got to try a much too loud fleece jacket. I’m hoping to replace the jacket I left in Sudbury(?), as I loved that jacket and because it’s kind of cold without it. But I’ll just put on more layers for now.
Evening
We left Costco and went for a drive to see the end of the Trans Canada Highway. For some odd reason, there is no official marker for the end of the highway. There should be something like Mile 0 in Victoria, so that people like us can take goofy photos with it and have proof that we actually made it to the end of the Trans Canada. Anyway…
After that short drive, we went to Walmart to find warm socks. Costco’s were ok but we didn’t need a 12 pack of socks. When we were leaving, we received a text from Simon, Ethan’s best friend’s dad. Eldon was wondering if Ethan could join him for Halloween, but we’re a little too far to make it back in time.
But Ethan ended up talking on the phone with Eldon for about 30 minutes, catching up on what’s been happening, and telling Eldon about his blog and latest videos.
Now we needed to find something for dinner, so we went to our new favourite grocery store, Sobeys. They have some great deals at night time, so we picked up another cold plate for 50% off, along with some craw fish and cod cheeks to round out our Newfoundland dinner menu.
Dong Eun made a fantastic cod cheek and veggie soup, and fried up a few cheeks, too. They tasted like other fish cheeks, I’ve had, but just bigger. The cold plate was awesome again. The craw fish were ok, I guess. They kind of tasted like a mix between lobster and shrimp, while also leaving my fingers smelling like craw fish, even after scrubbing with baking soda.
After dinner, Dong Eun let Ethan know that he could use his Kindle again. His privilege had been revoked for nearly a week, as we wanted him to pay attention to his behaviour and remember to do his chores. He’s been good since and we’re proud of him for always trying to do things better every day.
He immediately dove into the sixth Harry Potter book, and I’m sure he’ll have the Kindle glued to his hands until he finishes book six and seven.
So that was our relaxing day in St. John’s. No cops came, either, so it was especially relaxing. Tomorrow, we’ll try to get up to Signal Hill and visit downtown St. John’s, too.
If you’re just reading this blog for the first time, we are a family of three traveling across Canada (and likely beyond) in a 1994 VW Westfalia camper van called Juju Jr. Our son Ethan, age 9, is unschooling and so we want him to learn from being on the road and traveling. So he’s also now a roadschooler and we are documenting the trip and his learning on this blog.
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