That evening they stayed at Blow Me Down Provincial Park on Humber Arm, and after dinner they took a bike ride down to the beach.
Jude and Grace just relaxed...
..as Bonnie and Jamie played with the pups....
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After leaving Rose Blanche, the family travelled up the Trans Canada to Corner Brook, and then out to Bottle Cove on the far western end of Humber Arm...   They took a boat out into the cove...        Next morning we woke to fog and light rain in the coastal town of Rose Blanche. It was too foggy to explore the village, but we did stop at the roadside model of their famous lighthouse.       Bonnie found the fog-soaked dandelions fascinating....  Next morning found the family lined up in North Sydney to board the ferry to Newfoundland. Bonnie couldn't believe how many vehicles there were lined up to board....  The Marine Atlantic ferries to Newfoundland are almost the size of a cruise ship. They can take up to 1,000 passengers, 570 cars, or 190 transport trucks, but usually some combination of both.  Once on board Bonnie and Jamie went up to one of the upper decks to look around.  They checked out the life boats...  ...and looked at the other ships in the harbour..  Once the ship left port and hit open water, it was enveloped in a dense fog, and they couldn't see anything for the entire 6 1/2 hour voyage. And with the ship foghorn sounding at one minute intervals the entire way, it was a lot quieter inside.
The next morning found Jude's family at Peggy's Cove,  one of the most scenic spots on the entire east coast.   Bonnie and Jamie headed down to the village with its famous picture postcard views...            Jude and Grace and their kids were on the way to catch the ferry to Newfoundland, and made a side trip to visit the World Heritage Site of Lunenburg, on the Atlantic coast in Nova Scotia. They stopped for a little break along the waterfront  ...with a view of the town across the harbour.   Grace and Jamie were enjoying an ice cream...  While Jude checked the map.  But Bonnie was too excited and couldn't wait to go into town on the waterfront and see the famous Bluenose schooner, which is featured on the dime.   "'Can we go see the Bluenose now?"  "Yes, as soon as Jamie and your Mom finish their ice cream."  But unfortunately it was extremely busy in town, and there were no parking places left, so Bonnie didn't get to see the schooner up close.
My three Ruby Red kids visited Burntcoat Head on the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia.    The Bay of Fundy has the highest tides in the world, with the water levels rising and dropping over 18 metres every six hours. When the kids arrived, the tide was out, exposing the ocean floor all the way to the island and beyond.  But Alex and Sara weren't content to just look from shore, and climbed down off of the rocks...
and ventured out on the ocean floor...   They had to be careful where they walked. Bare rocks and sand were okay to walk on, but mud was slippery and could be deep, so had to be avoided.  And they had to watch out for the barnacles and snails...
  It seemed amazing that in just a few hours this entire area would be deep under water.  After leaving their friends, the dragons continued on to the Maritimes with Avery and Emily in the hot air balloon. They decided to take a little break at Burntcoat Head on the Bay of Fundy.  The Bay of Fundy has the highest tides in the world, with the water levels rising and dropping over 18 metres every six hours. When the dragons arrived, the tide was out, exposing the ocean floor all the way to the island...  'Wow, that's some tide!" exclaimed Saphira.   There were people walking out on the ocean floor....  ...and they had to be careful not to step on the barnacles, snails, and other sea life in the tide pools.
But it would be a long walk for the children, and she didn't want them stuck out there when the tide came back in,  so Saphira insisted they all stay near the shore...  ...and watch the tide come back in from a safe distance.   It's been a month now since we returned from our month long trip out east to Newfoundland, and it's finally time to start sharing photos from our trip. It was June 13th, and we were headed east to catch a ferry to Newfoundland. Since we had to pass through Montreal to get to the Maritimes, we had arranged to meet up with some friends. It was a lovely day so we got together in the park outside their building. It was the very first time any of them had met in person, so everyone insisted on a group photo. There was Jude and Grace with their children Bonnie and Jamie, and the entire dragon family, together with, from the left: Poppy, Ben, Willow, Holly (aka Buttercup), Ginger, and their puppy Biscuit.  Their new friends had seen plenty of photos of the dragons before, but had never met one in person. Poppy was drawn to Nuri right away...  But Ben was a little apprehensive...  Avery and Emily loved their friend's puppy, Biscuit....and asked if they could pet him....  Bonnie was still holding the map, after we'd gotten lost. Driving in Quebec can be a huge challenge thanks to all the really long place and road names, which are all in French, so by the time we've figured out what the signs say, we've already passed the exit. And we were a little confused as to which highway - 20 or 40 - was the Trans Canada Hwy (we took the wrong one). But we did eventually make it.  Little Emily came out to join the others,  but Grace and Jude had already gone into the RV to make lunch for everyone.  Little Emily wanted to know how it was possible for Avery and his sister Emily to go with the dragons on a flying adventure, so Winston brought the hot air balloon to show them, just as another new girl, Candy, arrived. Then Holly and Emily climbed into the basket with Nuri to check it out....  Meanwhile Ben and Scorch were becoming better acquainted.  And of course, they all wanted another group photo taken.  Everyone had a great time with their new friends, and they all agreed that they'd like to visit each other again some time.
I've almost finished two more evening gowns for my Fashion sized ladies. I need something easy (and mindless) to do these days, so continue to keep working on turning some of the old Value Village finds into 'simple' evening gowns using my new Elf Gown bodice pattern. These next two are being made from a gorgeous girl's party dress. It had a blue satin bodice, with a tulle skirt embellished with gold thread and soft blue roses. The dress bodice didn't provide enough fabric for the two doll dress bodices, so I used the lining for one, and found a close blue satin in my stash for the other.  The dress skirt had enough fabric for two doll dresses, but there were only 9 of the rose medallions partway up the original skirt, so one of the doll dresses will have five, while the other will have four. The skirts also needed some creative gathering so the blue rosettes wouldn't end up in 'the ditch', so I stitched large darts in the plain areas of the fabric between the rosettes in order to reduce the amount of fabric at the waist. I used a light gray thread to sew the darts so the stitching would be invisible.  The two gowns are pretty much done. Sarah is modelling the one with the five rose medallions..  And because I wanted to show that the pattern will fit all my Fashion sized ladies, I chose FID Bianca to model the second gown...  I've made one hair-clip, and still need to make a couple more to finish both ensembles...  ...and make one more of the narrower long gloves, since Bianca has slimmer arms and hands than Sarah. And then Rex can take his turn to dress up in the tuxedo to pose with his wife for some elegant photos.
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AuthorMartha Boers is an award-winning Canadian doll maker and costumer specializing in fantasy and historical-style costumes. Archives
June 2026
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