The Marmotiest Holiday of Them All

I love family outings and Steve's favorite holiday is Groundhog Day, so Saturday we took advantage of the fact that The Bairn wakes up early-early and drove to Shubenacadie to see the morning festivities with Shubenacadie Sam, Nova Scotia's own prognosticating groundhog.

You've never seen so many kids in snow pants.

Sam predicted more winter (no surprise) and then the wildlife park where he lives was open to the public for free.  On the one hand, free admission is a special treat, and on the other hand, it's February.  We stood in front of the empty bear enclosure saying, "So, when do they stop hibernating?"

We did see cougars, otters, and a fisher, all of which The Bairn called kitties.
 

And we did get pictures taken with the live-action groundhog.  I don't know if The Bairn was more stunned that he was asked to smile while hovering near a giant, thumbs-uping groundhog, or from the cold.  His poor pink cheeks!

We warmed up at the Shubie Sam breakfast at the Shubie Legion, where The Bairn ate my pancakes and half my eggs and toast and where he lost a sock, leading all the elderly in attendance to question him again and again about where it had gone.  (He didn't know.)