New Year's Eve in Halifax

After a couple of days in New Brunswick, we were headed to Halifax, for a New Year's Eve party at the apartment of Marie and Lynn. The party was fabulous, including a trivia contest which we won, earning us the fabulous top prize of a ShamWow (they're made in Germany, you know). We got to see lots of friends from Halifax too, and Béla seemed to have a good time too. Alas, we neglected to take a single picture at the party itself.

The next day Jer's dad called, to ask if we were planning on driving back early (we'd hoped to spend a couple of days), as a giant winter storm was en route to New Brunswick. Jer's sister Marlène had come with us, and had to be back at work in Moncton on Monday, so she got a ride back with Marie's cousin Veronica, while we opted to wait it out, and hope the storm wasn't too bad.

On the 1st we headed with Marie and Lynn down the road to Rishad and Anjulee's new place, where we had a look around, and hung out for a little while.

At this point we were all pretty hungry, in a slightly hung-over sleep deprived way (despite the excellent brunch they put out for us that morning), so we went out for fantastic Chinese food on Quinpool. In this picture it looks like I'm the only one eating, but it's just because everyone else had finished that course and left me some while I was feeding Béla (who's sleeping under that receiving blanket in front of me).

We decided to rent some movies and have a quiet night in at Rishad's place, so while some people went to get some videos, Jer and I headed back, to minimize the time that Béla was out in the blizzard. Yup, Paul was right, it was a pretty good storm, and I'm glad we weren't driving that day.

Upon getting back to Rishad's, I found that Béla was rather enjoying my new sweater (a Christmas gift from Jeremi), as the front pocket made for convenient handles for him while in the carrier. It was pretty cute.

We all stayed over at Rishad's to avoid walking home in all the snow, and headed out the next morning (Saturday) to the weekly market. We were a bit late getting there, and some of the vendors were still on Christmas break (alas, no sweet sushi rolls), but it was still good to go down there. We picked up some nice root vegetables for a big winter stew for that evening, and then headed to the Henry House, a nearby pub, for the afternoon. This was a bar where we'd ended up the first Saturday after the giant blizzard when we lived in Halifax (aka White Juan), as it was one of the only things open after we'd hiked across town in the mistaken hope that the market might be open, and we'd had great fun drinking away the afternoon while playing cards. This afternoon was a much tamer version of that, with somewhat less drinking and considerably more eating, and definitely more baby.

Not to worry, he napped fine on the pub bench while I played cards.

The next day was Sunday, and we'd considered driving back that day, but the storm was pretty much just rotating over New Brunswick still, so we ended up staying until Monday morning, when we finally headed back. It was great to see everyone, and we much appreciated the hospitality during our extended visit! Here's Béla, all packed up for the trip home, in one of his two Team Canada Olympic outfits. (He got one in red from my parents, and one in black from Aunt Connie and Uncle Ray out in Vancouver. He's so well kitted out now for cheering on our athletes from afar!)