Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Cruisin' Canada

This year my husband had a lot
of "use it" or "lose it" vacation time.
We've taken three weeks of vacation this summer.

One of the weeks we scheduled while our son was at youth conference.
Which meant that Lincoln and I went off  by OURSELVES,
Alone,
Without kids,
Without relatives.

Weird.

but very nice.

We chose to go on a cruise up through Canada.
It started with our journey by Greyhound bus to   . . . . . . . 

Boston.

The Boston harbor.

A Boston church.

I honestly can't remember where this is!!!  Boston or Kennebunkport Maine.

Lincoln tried to anticipate what I'd wear so we'd be matchy matchy.
He was pretty good at it!!!!!
I believe this is Maine.

This is Maine.  A little shop that we stopped to have some
fresh blueberry pie. 
YUMMY!
I loved these tables made out of old stoves.

Most of the beaches on this trip were very rocky.

This is George Bush Sr.'s family compound.
There are quarters for the Secret Service also.
This is their summer home.
They were in residence and very highly liked in the community.
There are lots of storied about George Bush and mostly positive.


St. John's New Brunswick Canada.
There is a fun story about this rose.
When we got off the ship the ladies got a rose
and the men got a pin.
They have been giving out these pins and roses for 25 years.

One year, a cruise ship on the way to the Bahamas
encountered a storm and had to head north instead of south.
The ships captain called ahead to the port and stated 
that he had a ship load of people that were expecting
to be in the port of the Bahamas when they woke up in the morning
and they would be shocked to find themselves in St. John Canada.

The townspeople got together and decided how to make this port
special to these unsuspecting travelors.
It was also the first time a cruise ship had ever stopped there.
They decided to greet the tourists with roses and pins
and the towns people come out in groves to give tours of their town.

It was such a success that the cruiseline added them as an official port
and 25 years later they are still giving pins and roses 
to the first 100 or so tourists off the ship.

I think this was the most interesting stop of our trip.
It is a river that flows into the sea.
The tides are so high in Canada
(can be as high as 50 feet)
that when the tide rises the river actually changes direction
and flows inland.
It happens every 6 hours when the tides go in and out.

Lincoln, being matchy matchy!!!!!



We are in St. Martin New Brunswick here.
Looking out of a lighthouse.
It was a rainy, rainy day!

Me, descending BACKWARDS
down the lighthouse stairs.
Kinda scary with all the wet feet that had been traversing the stairs!

Out by some crab or lobster pots.

A covered bridge.
Our guide said she had never seen the tide so high 
as it was this day. 
 The water is almost up to the bridge.

Our ship couldn't leave port on time either due to "the tides." 
 It left a couple hours after the scheduled time.

OH MY GOSH!
this was soooooooo good!!!
I don't really even love lobster 
BUT
this seafood soup and lobster roll was 
TO DIE FOR!
The roll was especially baked the the lobster roll.
I've never seen one like it before.
The lobster roll had a kind of sweet coleslaw in it.
So good!

Rain, Rain, Go AWAY!!!

These large wooden carvings were everywhere in the town.

A jaw bone from a whale.

Sitting on a moose's lap!

The fog was so bad on the trip
that the ship had to blow it's fog horn every two minutes
DAY and NIGHT
at least two days and one night worth.
I was so happy we slept on the part of the ship 
opposite the fog horn!!!!!

Sydney, Nova Scotia
didn't take many pics!
We only took excursions on two of our stops.
Those two stops WERE the most interesting.
We also stopped in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
also with very few pictures . . . . . . sorry!


There were only two hammocks on the ship.
We would walk by them and hope they were free.
ONCE, we found it empty and got to relax in it.
This is truly what cruising is all about.
The relaxing.
well . . . . . . 
and the eating . . . . 
and the never ending ice cream . . . . . . 
AND the entertainment .. . . . . 
HA!

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

The first of the lasts

 I am starting to count the
 first 
of the lasts.

This was probably the LAST
summer swim season we will have with McKay.
Bitter/sweet.
He has had a good time swimming.
He loves it and he is good at it.
 Here is the team warming up at our home pool. 

It's been nice to have McKay's cousin Zane in summer swimming with him.
In High School swimming they compete AGAINST each other.
Zane is in the lane nearest the camera.


I tried to catch McKay's flip turn but only got his derriere!!!  

McKay at the starting block
in the green cap on the left hand side.

The first of the lasts . . . . . . . :(

Monday, August 19, 2013

DC fun

We are on vacation in Williamsburg, VA.
It is a rainy cool day,
and nothing we planned on doing here,
could be done on a rainy cool day.
So, we went clothes shopping
for all of us!
There is an awesome outlet mall here!

What a good time to blog.

This summer we went to two (yes two)
concerts on the lawn of the U.S. Capitol Building.
The memorial day concert and the 4th of July concert.
It is always fun to do this.
Just being on the lawn of the Capitol makes me feel so awe inspired.
I just can't believe we live here and I don't take it for granted.
This is McKay and I.

For the memorial day concert we invited our good friends the Sparks and their children to come along.
They were moving soon and hadn't been to a concert there 
and so it was good experience for all of us.
This is their 3 cute girls getting out of the sun under three umbrellas.
They all had sketching materials and were busy at work!

The Washington Memorial is once again enclosed in scaffolding
after the damage that was caused in the earthquake last year.

It is fun to see all the "big names" that are at these concerts.
Here you see Colin Powell,
the Washington National Symphony Orchestra
and the Air Force Singing Sergeants.
Actually these look like Army guys . . . . . 
but the Air Force was there!  
Halley's old voice teacher probably was there also.

One of my favorite parts of the concert is when they play all the "forces" anthems
and all the military personnel stands up to be recognized.
"Off we go......into the wild blue yonder . . . . . . . "


Barry Manilow was there.
He is old, but still good!
Again, I just couldn't believe I was hearing this live.
So FUN!
He sang a few of his most recognized songs.

Everyone was given a flag or two to wave!

John Williams.
Again, what a privilege to see him.
This man has written sooooooo many tunes we all recognize and love! 

Neil Diamond.
Sweet Caroline (singing)
They come to America (singing). . . . . . 
he sure knows how to work a crowd!
It was amazing to see the professionalism and magnetism of these old guys
compared to the American Idol stars they had sing.
(the newbies have much to learn!)

Our REAL goal was to see the 4th of July fireworks downtown in person.
BUT
because we decided it would be a great idea to see the concert
(which WAS a great idea)
this was the view we got of the fireworks.
The concert hadn't even ended when the fireworks started!
They were still pretty :)

Fun times!!!