Ah, the busy days....
Wednesday Chad's Nannie from Bar Harbour arrived for a visit. It is always so much fun and such a pleasure to have her stay with us. I really enjoy having her around. She arrived for Savanna's 1st birthday party on Saturday.
Thursday evening I had a music practice for the HARVEST JAZZ & BLUES FESTIVAL yeah, the choir is singing!! (announcement to come), anyway but before that Chad & I went down to the bus station to pick up his brother Doug, who also was coming in for Savanna's birthday party. I really like Doug, he's a "real" guy, you know, the kind who know's how it is and doesn't pretend it's any different. hes fun, great conversationalist, smart thinker, and "easy" person to have stay in your house. So we acidentally got the times mixed up for when he was going to arrive so we just sat on the back of the car freezing our toesies off and hanging out.
Little side note here. There was this couple who arrived after we did and pulled in next to us. He got out and helped his wife get the walker out of the back for her. She sat down on the walker and waited. Meanwhile a young, voluptous woman in her early twenties came storming off and starting totally telling off her mother about some non-existant express, meanwhile we're left just staring beside her. I can't believe she's ripping into her mother like that (firstly), secondly she has absolutly no shame whatsoever to do this with us sitting right there. People today, absolutly no respect. Grunt.
Anyway, we really enjoyed having Doug & Nannie in and Friday I made my friend Donna Knappe's amazing Spicy chicken penne for supper. Yumm, yum. The Billington clan came over to decorate for the big party and we had yummy din din. Thanks Donna for the dish it is delicish!
And Saturday morning dawns. We were ready for a party. Savanna was such a doll. I can't wait to get the pictures back. She certainly got a good grasp on opening gifts and she had a butt load! So many gifts for someone so little! The house was full of celebrants, somewhere around 20 I think, what a party! it was a full day. Savanna had a blast, I think, and got such lovely things too. I love baby clothes-they're so great and tiny!
Sunday was a full day of church. In the evening desperation called and I played piano in the band for the Street Invaders finale. How awesome an evening to hear how teens were challenged by God's word and the importance of sharing the hope Jesus offers. They all seemed to be assured in their own worth in Christ too, which is great. We will have to continue to pray that now that they head back to their homes, the truths they learned will remain a changing and challenging factor in their day to day lives.
Dawn Monday morning. Bright and early Chad & I arrived at the church to meet up with Joel & Anne Calabrese. Their flight back to Colorodo Springs flew out of Vermont so we had agreed to drive them down and bring their van back. We had a really great drive of laughs and great conversation, and of course a few naps along the way. It's amazing how much more comfortable driving for long distances can be in a vehicle built with some comfort! :)
We saw wild turkeys! just walking along the highway. I've never seen a wild turkey before, it was kind of neat, although they looked pretty skinny for dinner. Do people hunt WILD turkeys anymore? The neatest little town called Sharon, Vermont, captivated my attention along the road. Just a few houses, a tiny town, nestled in among the moutains, those rolling moutains, in a tiny valley. I'd never been to Vermont before, the mountains are stunning, in a different way then British Colombia. The moutains of Vermont roll at different depths and you can see many of them in, kind of like a pop up, 3-D book, all at the same time.
We stopped for the night in Shelburn, near the Burlington airport and went out to a lovely restaurant called the Tuscan Kitchen, with dangerous garlic....ah the danger of garlic.....ah the delights of garlic.....
We dropped the Calabreses off at the airport and hit the road yesturday morning stopping off in Kittery for lunch. Ahhh Kittery, an amazing experience. Unfortunatly, or perhaps fortunatly for our bank account, we didn't have much time in Kittery, but we did stop off at Carters, a favorite of mine. They have the most adorable baby clothes. We got a totally adorable outfit for each of our neices for Thanksgiving, I'll definilty have to get a picture some how and post it around the holiday.
Anyway, that's the catch up on everything, I must go and do someone productive today!
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Monday, August 21, 2006
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
Today
Today, I cleaned our blueberries from Monday's picking--28 cups! Not bad for under 2 hours of picking, I'd say, and that's just Chad & I. Sharon picked between 16-18 cups, Shelley the same, and I don't know what Mom & Dad got. So I froze them for now, I wonder what I should make.
I also got the house pretty tidy before we go away. Chad & I, and the staff of SSC are headed down to the Willow Creek Conferences on Leadership, in Moncton tomorrow morning, through Saturday. We'll return Saturday night after Kaitlyn's first birthday party! Hard to believe she officially turns One Year Old this coming Wednesday-what a year!
Check out Willow Creek if you get a moment:
http://www.willowcreek.com/events/leadership/
I also got the house pretty tidy before we go away. Chad & I, and the staff of SSC are headed down to the Willow Creek Conferences on Leadership, in Moncton tomorrow morning, through Saturday. We'll return Saturday night after Kaitlyn's first birthday party! Hard to believe she officially turns One Year Old this coming Wednesday-what a year!
Check out Willow Creek if you get a moment:
http://www.willowcreek.com/events/leadership/
The St. Stephen Chocolate Factory
Well, yesturday was great! Chad & I planned to meet Mom & Dad, Nanny & Grampy, April & Trevor, Angela & Kaitlyn in St. Stephen for a picnic and then we had booked a tour at the St. Stephen Chocolate Factory. It is Chocolate Fest in St. Stephen this week. We had tons of fun!
The tour was neat! We all had to line up with our hair nets (oh and for Chad, the beard net too) outside the factory. Even Kaitlyn had to wear one! We had to take off all jewlery too, I guess they don't want any diamond chocolate treats! Then they took us around throughout the factory showing us how pepermints, jellybeans and finally chocolate is made. I must admit to you that the smell of those machines mixing with candy and chocolate is not at all appealing!-gross! But I did manage at the end of the tour to fill my boots with chocolate. Unfortunatly because so many people are allergic to nuts, they didn't have many if any chocolate covered nuts out for sampling and they are my favorite! Kaitlyn was so interested in it all and got her first taste of chocolate cherry and a piece of black licorice that she absolutly loved to slobber up!
After the tour we drove downtown to the old factory which is now a museum and chocoliter, or chocolate store. Here, they had tons of chocolates to munch on as you went through, a chocolate history, chocolate carvings and movies on how the factory came into being, some of the initial employee's interviewed and more chocolate chocolate chocolate! By the time we left the museum we had all seen enough chocolate for, well, a little while :)
I went on the hunt for a charm for my bracelet, chocolate or St. Stephen, but was unsuccessful and then we all met to look at a gift shop, where Kaitlyn proceeded to fill her little feet and hands with splinters on the deck outside--yikes, they looked nasty. So, for the next hour or so we waited around while Mom tried to pry the splinters out of her little feet.
When Mom had done as much damage as she dare we went down to Pizza Delight for supper, where Kaitlyn proceeded to continue being the star of the show, showing us she would be 1 year old with her index finger, playing patty cake, cheering and giving applause--she is so much fun at this age!
After dinner, we walked up to Scoops, an icecream shop with a huge amount of falvors and most of us got an icecream, including Chad who also had to go next door and get some deep fried frenchfries.
All in all it was a great day, and as usual just so nice to hang out together and have some fun.
If you haven't been to the St. Stephen Chocolate Factory, you really should take a trip down during their one week Chocolate Fest. I don't know if tickets for this year are all sold out, but book it in your calandar and check it out--it's really econimical too! I'll post pictures once I have them developed!
http://www.chocolate-fest.ca/
http://www.chocolatemuseum.ca/
The tour was neat! We all had to line up with our hair nets (oh and for Chad, the beard net too) outside the factory. Even Kaitlyn had to wear one! We had to take off all jewlery too, I guess they don't want any diamond chocolate treats! Then they took us around throughout the factory showing us how pepermints, jellybeans and finally chocolate is made. I must admit to you that the smell of those machines mixing with candy and chocolate is not at all appealing!-gross! But I did manage at the end of the tour to fill my boots with chocolate. Unfortunatly because so many people are allergic to nuts, they didn't have many if any chocolate covered nuts out for sampling and they are my favorite! Kaitlyn was so interested in it all and got her first taste of chocolate cherry and a piece of black licorice that she absolutly loved to slobber up!
After the tour we drove downtown to the old factory which is now a museum and chocoliter, or chocolate store. Here, they had tons of chocolates to munch on as you went through, a chocolate history, chocolate carvings and movies on how the factory came into being, some of the initial employee's interviewed and more chocolate chocolate chocolate! By the time we left the museum we had all seen enough chocolate for, well, a little while :)
I went on the hunt for a charm for my bracelet, chocolate or St. Stephen, but was unsuccessful and then we all met to look at a gift shop, where Kaitlyn proceeded to fill her little feet and hands with splinters on the deck outside--yikes, they looked nasty. So, for the next hour or so we waited around while Mom tried to pry the splinters out of her little feet.
When Mom had done as much damage as she dare we went down to Pizza Delight for supper, where Kaitlyn proceeded to continue being the star of the show, showing us she would be 1 year old with her index finger, playing patty cake, cheering and giving applause--she is so much fun at this age!
After dinner, we walked up to Scoops, an icecream shop with a huge amount of falvors and most of us got an icecream, including Chad who also had to go next door and get some deep fried frenchfries.
All in all it was a great day, and as usual just so nice to hang out together and have some fun.
If you haven't been to the St. Stephen Chocolate Factory, you really should take a trip down during their one week Chocolate Fest. I don't know if tickets for this year are all sold out, but book it in your calandar and check it out--it's really econimical too! I'll post pictures once I have them developed!
http://www.chocolate-fest.ca/
http://www.chocolatemuseum.ca/
Monday, August 07, 2006
Blueberry picking
Today was a great day. Chad & I, Shelley, Sharon & Chad's Grammie, headed out around 9:30 this morning for my parents place in Churches Corner near Elgin NB (aka--the woods & mountains of now man's land New Brunswick). We arrived in time for lunch after I showed off the awesome Gordon Falls along the way. Mom had a great lunch made for us, subs and April had made chocolate chip cookies. Trevor & April, Mom & Dad, Angela & Kaitlyn were all there too. We ate up lunch and showed off Mom & Dad's digs and then headed up to the lookout for blueberries!
What a pile of them! Chad & I easily filled between 8 & 10 litres of blueberries in under 2 hours. Everyone did equally well--filling out boots. Because of the strong winds there were few bugs and the cloud cover made for a comfortable day out of the hot sun. It was great!
We returned home for some visiting and lassagna & blueberry cheesecake for dessert--yummy! Of course Kaitlyn was her usual doll-self, I love her so much! And hopefully I got a couple cute pictures of her. Angela had her pictures done for her birthday and I was thrilled to get copies for my wallet and coffee table at home. I love to show off the neices!
We returned home around 9pm, a little tired, but happy and tons of blueberries in tow!
A great Holiday Monday!
What a pile of them! Chad & I easily filled between 8 & 10 litres of blueberries in under 2 hours. Everyone did equally well--filling out boots. Because of the strong winds there were few bugs and the cloud cover made for a comfortable day out of the hot sun. It was great!
We returned home for some visiting and lassagna & blueberry cheesecake for dessert--yummy! Of course Kaitlyn was her usual doll-self, I love her so much! And hopefully I got a couple cute pictures of her. Angela had her pictures done for her birthday and I was thrilled to get copies for my wallet and coffee table at home. I love to show off the neices!
We returned home around 9pm, a little tired, but happy and tons of blueberries in tow!
A great Holiday Monday!
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
Shelley's vibrant hair
Ok, so it's mostly my fault.
Sunday night I was hanging out after church talking with Shelley when suddenly I noticed her hair had gone nearly completly GRAY! Keeping in mind that I'd done a home job on her hair a couple of time before and it turned out really well, I said "What are you doing tomorrow! We're dying your hair!"
So we met at the Superstore and picked out an auburn colour with blonde highlights. We had fun mixing the potions with the magic wands and applying it to her hair, but honestly, wow--it had a really interesting turn out! Lets just say VIBRANT hair colour--red,orange, blonde, Vibrant! I'm praying it will settle down a bit. At least Shelley's pretty easy going about it.....it will grow out..... Until the pictures come along.....
Sunday night I was hanging out after church talking with Shelley when suddenly I noticed her hair had gone nearly completly GRAY! Keeping in mind that I'd done a home job on her hair a couple of time before and it turned out really well, I said "What are you doing tomorrow! We're dying your hair!"
So we met at the Superstore and picked out an auburn colour with blonde highlights. We had fun mixing the potions with the magic wands and applying it to her hair, but honestly, wow--it had a really interesting turn out! Lets just say VIBRANT hair colour--red,orange, blonde, Vibrant! I'm praying it will settle down a bit. At least Shelley's pretty easy going about it.....it will grow out..... Until the pictures come along.....
Ahhhhhhh, the Spa!
Saturday, Amy booked me for the afternoon for a post-graduation suprise. She wouldn't tell me anything about it except that it was a suprise, I needed to dress for the weather (she hoped it was a nice day) and bring a flashlight. Needless to say I was very interested. When she picked me up she took me for icecream at Tingley's--always yum! And the for a roundabout drive in Fredericton asking me questions about my fitness level, saying she'd probably need to go for a shower after before work, etc. I was really interested, and kinda thought we must be going on a hike through some cave or something!
Anyway, the little nimrod was just playing with me, but brought me to Avalon Spa for an hour massage. This extra fun because we both went together! I didn't even know you could do that kind of thing in Fredericton! Anyway, we had an hour of absolute bliss! If only I could afford to do that on a regular basis! It was so wonderful and what a great gift!
Anyway, the little nimrod was just playing with me, but brought me to Avalon Spa for an hour massage. This extra fun because we both went together! I didn't even know you could do that kind of thing in Fredericton! Anyway, we had an hour of absolute bliss! If only I could afford to do that on a regular basis! It was so wonderful and what a great gift!
Another Dream Come True!
Now, as many of you would know, I have wanted a piano, or something with really great sound, full hammer action and full keyboard length ever since I moved out from home, nearly 9 years ago. How often I have longed for something to sit down to and express myself in a way I had come to love and find solice, but I was so unhappy with anything I might be able to afford in the keyboard range that I held off, believe that someday, I might be able to buy my own piano.
So this past weekend when a touring company came through Fredericton with a major piano sale, Chad & I decided it would make a fun date night to go up and dream a bit. When we got there, they had some amazing piano's, one German grand was so beautiful and one of the staff played it for us so beautifully. We dreamed a little and left. Always, after doing this, and trust me I've done it for years, leaving empty handed yet again has made me feel like a little part of me died again. I was a little sad when we left to say the least but I just knew there was no way we could afford a piano at this juncture in our lives. So we went for icecream! LOL!
While licking our cones Chad suggested we go to our local music distributor and friends shop "Tony's Music Box" and look around. When we got there Mike helped us look at some really great electric piano's, with good sound, full hammer action and full scale keyboard. He got us a few prices to mull over and then we found this baby.
Mike sat down to show us what it could do, and you'll never guess what he started playing...."Somewhere Over the Rainbow". I couldn't believe it and started laughing! I soon informed him that my mom used to sing that song to me when I was a little girl, and the first time Chad met me I was singing that song at a youth play, and the first movie we saw together it was playing in the soundtrac, and because of this we had decided to have me walk into it on our wedding day! It seemed ironic or something.
I didn't think we were seriously looking at keyboards Friday night, but Chad had other plans in mind. He asked me if I would be happy with this one (I thought he meant down the road) and I said, of course. Then he asked me if I wanted to take it home tonight. Laughing I said again "of course!"
"Ok Mike", he said, "lets do it!"
I couldn't believe it, I'm not sure I still can. But trust me, at 12 midnight when I called my parents in Moncton with the news and played them a piece over the phone, it truly was amazing, another dream come true!
So this past weekend when a touring company came through Fredericton with a major piano sale, Chad & I decided it would make a fun date night to go up and dream a bit. When we got there, they had some amazing piano's, one German grand was so beautiful and one of the staff played it for us so beautifully. We dreamed a little and left. Always, after doing this, and trust me I've done it for years, leaving empty handed yet again has made me feel like a little part of me died again. I was a little sad when we left to say the least but I just knew there was no way we could afford a piano at this juncture in our lives. So we went for icecream! LOL!
While licking our cones Chad suggested we go to our local music distributor and friends shop "Tony's Music Box" and look around. When we got there Mike helped us look at some really great electric piano's, with good sound, full hammer action and full scale keyboard. He got us a few prices to mull over and then we found this baby.
Mike sat down to show us what it could do, and you'll never guess what he started playing...."Somewhere Over the Rainbow". I couldn't believe it and started laughing! I soon informed him that my mom used to sing that song to me when I was a little girl, and the first time Chad met me I was singing that song at a youth play, and the first movie we saw together it was playing in the soundtrac, and because of this we had decided to have me walk into it on our wedding day! It seemed ironic or something.
I didn't think we were seriously looking at keyboards Friday night, but Chad had other plans in mind. He asked me if I would be happy with this one (I thought he meant down the road) and I said, of course. Then he asked me if I wanted to take it home tonight. Laughing I said again "of course!"
"Ok Mike", he said, "lets do it!"
I couldn't believe it, I'm not sure I still can. But trust me, at 12 midnight when I called my parents in Moncton with the news and played them a piece over the phone, it truly was amazing, another dream come true!
Thursday, July 27, 2006
FIRE!
Yeah, so it's true, yesturday I nearly set the house on fire. You know it really isn't an advantage when parents keep their kids out of the kitchen--grunt, I'm such a novice! So last week sometime Chad & I were looking for a quick lunch and he took two of our new potatoes and cooked them up in the microwave. I distinctly recall him saying he put them in for 15 min. So yesturday, quite hungry and wracking my brain for something to eat for lunch I took two little new potatoes, cleaned them off put holes in them and put them in the microwave for 15 min.
Most of you can guess what happened. At the same time I was doing laundry and then the phone rang. After answering the questions from the person who called I hung up and looked up over across the living room towards the loveseat where to my astonishment I saw big billows of smoke. "Oh my gosh! something's on fire behind the couch!" I thought to myself. When I jumped up, I suddenly noticed that the whole house was filled with black smoke! Running to the microwave I saw that all of that smoke was coming from it--billowing out the door. Quickly I opened the microwave, turned it off and observed my lunch. Two tiny black coals. I poked it with my fork and it fell apart, two empty coals.
Needless to say my lunch was ruined, my house smelled like someone had been smoking a chimney in it--all day, and I banned myself from using any household appliances for the remainder of the day. Now this morning I'm going to be making bannana bran chocolate chip muffins, I pray we'll do a better job.
Gotta get that Fire alarm checked too!
Most of you can guess what happened. At the same time I was doing laundry and then the phone rang. After answering the questions from the person who called I hung up and looked up over across the living room towards the loveseat where to my astonishment I saw big billows of smoke. "Oh my gosh! something's on fire behind the couch!" I thought to myself. When I jumped up, I suddenly noticed that the whole house was filled with black smoke! Running to the microwave I saw that all of that smoke was coming from it--billowing out the door. Quickly I opened the microwave, turned it off and observed my lunch. Two tiny black coals. I poked it with my fork and it fell apart, two empty coals.
Needless to say my lunch was ruined, my house smelled like someone had been smoking a chimney in it--all day, and I banned myself from using any household appliances for the remainder of the day. Now this morning I'm going to be making bannana bran chocolate chip muffins, I pray we'll do a better job.
Gotta get that Fire alarm checked too!
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
Our FIRST Anniversary!
Well, we've made it! Year one of being married! In some ways it is so hard to believe, I mean really, once you've been married for a bit it is really hard to remember what it was like not married. In some ways the year has flown by, in other ways it seems like we've been together forever-I don't mean that in a negative way either.
Being married to Chad is a blessing from God. He, is human like everyone else, but I know beyond a shadow of a doubt God planned us for each other. Chad's sense of humor, love for God, consideration, education--are all things that I love so much in him. We laugh so much in our house! It is so wonderful to "witness" each other's lives. That, of course, isn't to say we don't have our moments, marriage is hard, working with someone else on everything in your life takes work. But the laughs, the tears, the quiet walks together, the conversations, the silent moments holding hands--they make for a rich life, one I would not change for anything.
So you ask, what did we do on our anniversary? ;) Chad preached in our two morning services and then the church was gracious and gave Chad the evening off from church responsibilities. We came home and had a light lunch and a nap and then headed off to Suwanna Restaurant in St. John. This is an amazing Thai food restaruant where we actually had our first date just a little under 2 years ago. We hadn't been back so it was nice to reminice.
The drive down was much the same as our first date, wet and foggy. We arrived a little early for our reservation so we went and checked out the Reversing Falls which neither of us had seen before and then went to dinner. I have been inspired (Thai food does that to me!) We had this delicious Matussumen (not likely spelled right) which I just moan in pleasure over everytime I eat it, so I'm going to try to make it and Pad Thai, in the next week or so, I'll let you know how it turns out. So we talked, reminising on the good things that happened this past year, and savored our delicious food.
We arrived home, probably around 9pm. When I walked in the kitchen there was a bit present all wrapped up on the table, it hadn't been there when we left. Anyway, I said to Chad "What's this! I thought we'd decided against gifts!" Where we had such a lavish vacation we're trying to cut back a bit now. Anyway, he said to open it and when I did I was sooooooo estatic! It was our wedding album, the finished product, and I must say it is so absolutly beautiful, I would wait another year for it, but I'm glad I don't have to. I poured over it's pages several times, I wish you could all see it, it is truly a work of art. I guess that Mark Orienstein, our photographer FedEXed it to Chad on Friday so he would have it in time for our anniversary. Chad kept it a secreat without even looking at it first, wrapped it up and saved it for us on our 1st anniversary. How special it is! Anyway, with this to end the evening, we had a bit of our wedding cake top which I guess is traditional and called it a wonderful first year. I posted a couple pics to remind us of the day last year!
Being married to Chad is a blessing from God. He, is human like everyone else, but I know beyond a shadow of a doubt God planned us for each other. Chad's sense of humor, love for God, consideration, education--are all things that I love so much in him. We laugh so much in our house! It is so wonderful to "witness" each other's lives. That, of course, isn't to say we don't have our moments, marriage is hard, working with someone else on everything in your life takes work. But the laughs, the tears, the quiet walks together, the conversations, the silent moments holding hands--they make for a rich life, one I would not change for anything.So you ask, what did we do on our anniversary? ;) Chad preached in our two morning services and then the church was gracious and gave Chad the evening off from church responsibilities. We came home and had a light lunch and a nap and then headed off to Suwanna Restaurant in St. John. This is an amazing Thai food restaruant where we actually had our first date just a little under 2 years ago. We hadn't been back so it was nice to reminice.
The drive down was much the same as our first date, wet and foggy. We arrived a little early for our reservation so we went and checked out the Reversing Falls which neither of us had seen before and then went to dinner. I have been inspired (Thai food does that to me!) We had this delicious Matussumen (not likely spelled right) which I just moan in pleasure over everytime I eat it, so I'm going to try to make it and Pad Thai, in the next week or so, I'll let you know how it turns out. So we talked, reminising on the good things that happened this past year, and savored our delicious food.
We arrived home, probably around 9pm. When I walked in the kitchen there was a bit present all wrapped up on the table, it hadn't been there when we left. Anyway, I said to Chad "What's this! I thought we'd decided against gifts!" Where we had such a lavish vacation we're trying to cut back a bit now. Anyway, he said to open it and when I did I was sooooooo estatic! It was our wedding album, the finished product, and I must say it is so absolutly beautiful, I would wait another year for it, but I'm glad I don't have to. I poured over it's pages several times, I wish you could all see it, it is truly a work of art. I guess that Mark Orienstein, our photographer FedEXed it to Chad on Friday so he would have it in time for our anniversary. Chad kept it a secreat without even looking at it first, wrapped it up and saved it for us on our 1st anniversary. How special it is! Anyway, with this to end the evening, we had a bit of our wedding cake top which I guess is traditional and called it a wonderful first year. I posted a couple pics to remind us of the day last year!
Saturday, July 22, 2006
Savanna enjoys her presents!
When we returned home from all our travels we bought the girls a couple T-shirts from away and brought them over to them. Here Savanna is sooooo excited about her new presents. She's such a doll!
Youth Camp
Well I was back from NFLD, just 4 days and then off to Youth Camp to do the music. It is always such a privilege to be able to usher people into the pressence of God through musical worship to Him and then to watch youth, in this case, give parts of their lives, their hearts, and ultimatly be committed anew to Him, it is a privilege. This was certainly the case this week of camp week as well. God gave me a picture the first night of a puzzle, and how things each night would begin to click into place for the youth, one piece at a time. And I must say it proved true. Each night it was apparent they were giving more and more of themselves over to God's word, God's life for them-and the final night, they just would not be turned away. God ministered, and was obviously healing hearts and then there was such an atmosphere of celebration to follow. It was great!
I must admit though, I was happy to be home Friday. It'd been a long month and a half of runnning.
I must admit though, I was happy to be home Friday. It'd been a long month and a half of runnning.
Homeward Bound
Driving to cath the boat back home was a hard drive for me. We took the night ferry, leaving at midnight and arriving in North Sydney at 6am, we took this pic at 6am from our hotel site the night before we went over to NFLD. It really hit me, we had travelled so much and had a blast together, but it was over. I was happy to be headed home, but looking at the approching year, I was overwhelmed. So much had happened last year, we had found so little time for each other, from the moment we returned from our honeymooon it was a jump right back into the crazy swing of things. Tearfully I was trying to express this to Chad, I'm not sure he was getting what I was saying. I pray we find a way to learn to say "no" to some things and "yes" to our relationship this year. That aside, what an awesome vacation and a butt load of great memories! Hope you enjoyed the pics!
Gros Morne National Park Fjords
So our last day in NFLD, we decide to try again to go into the Fjords, and take the boat tour they offer. I only saw 1 moose way off in the distance and we made it just fine. It was totally worth it, the scenery was gorgeous! Of course these are glacial carved mountain clif things and they just jut up out of the lake. The boat tour takes you all throughout, they are breathtaking and make you feel so small and insignificant. To think that ice chipped away at this for years, carving a way through for itself--it's pretty awesome! Check out more on the NFLD Fjords here:http://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/national-parks/gros_morne.html
Chad & the Black Bear
Ok, I deliberatly left this story out until I came to the picture, just because it made more sense to tell it with the picture in your mind. The morning of the Seakayaking and Ms.Moose, while I was still sleeping in the tent, Chad got up and sat on a picnic bench overlooking the beach and ocean. Staring out at all the beauty he was having some quiet time when he heard a whistle and turned around to find the park ranger whistling at him while a black bear was running towards him. Immediatly he wished for his camera and then quickly wondered what to do, should he jump under the picnic table and have the bear claw him to pieces, throw himself off the cliff into the ocean and the rocky beach below?...not sure, he waited. What had happened was as the park ranger was doing his rounds and headed out of our campground, he gave a wave at a family cooking up a big breakfast in their campstie. The family waved back, but there was obvious alarm and uncertainty on their faces. As he pulled up to their site to see what was going on, the bear darted off their site and started running towards Chad. While the family was cooking up breakfast, the bear came out on their property. They managed to get the kids quickly and quietly into the car and then were wondering what to do when the ranger passed through. So this brings us back to Chad, for whatever reason, I figure Sharon was praying at the time, the bear vered off towards the woods at the last moment and ran to the shelter, knocked over a garbage can and began munching down. Cue me crawling out of the tent, "morning babe!"--oblivious. Reminds me of that commercial, I missed it all cleaning my glasses. I missed it all sleeping. Anyway, Chad filled me in on the events of the morning and we heard the garbage can being mulled around, followed byshots over in the distance. We figured they must be tranqualizing him. We started up our breakfast and the ranger came over. He asked us if we were leaving that night and we said, actually we had another night's stay. He told us how the bear didn't seem afraid of humans at all and that this was strange and really dangerous. Suposidly it was really rare to see a black bear around the area too.no They had shot at him with rubber bullets trying to tick him off and out of the area. Later, while we were finishing up breakfast they pulled in this massive bear trap with the word DANGER on the top of it. They watched us pretty closely when we went over to get Chad's picture taken with it and the sign. Crazy tourists! but as Chad always says "What a story!"
S.S.Ethie Shipwreck
On the way back to the campsite we come across this heritage site, and walk down to the beach where we found the reminents of the S.S.Ethie, a Ship that wrecked in December of 1919. The ice had become so thick it couldn't go forward and the crew, including a baby they put in a mailbag, had to run across the ice to shore. They all made it, but there extremites had sever frostbite. The baby was in great shape. Here, I'm sitting on a big peice of it on shore, you can see other remainders behind me. Check out the story here:http://www.pc.gc.ca/pn-np/nl/grosmorne/natcul/natcul10_E.asp
Ms. Moose & the Fjords
Here you can see, even after we got a good distance off the Ms. Moose was still patrolling the grounds. This is actually a beautiful picture, you can see the Fjords in the background. So close!
Ms. Moose & the boardwalk
We noticed that as long as we kept moving backwards she would stop and pose for us, but as soon as we stopped moving she would start towards us, snorting. Now Chad & I can both be a bit thick sometimes but her message seemed pretty clear, we weren't getting through today. When we got to the boardwalk we were both certain she would head off into the marsh and maybe we could pass by her, but no, quite not the case, she decided to continue to follow us over the boardwalk, we weren't getting in to the Fjords today. Chad kept stopping and saying "look babe, look babe" but what he hadn't noticed is that I was doubled over doing my best to keep walking back the path we'd come. Let's just put it this way, I'll save you the details, but it seems that the saying "had the crap scared out of you" had some roots in truth. No, my pants remained clean, but it was a close call!
Ms. Moose
So we finish our sea kayaking adventure around 2pm and have a late lunch and then decide we should drive up a little further into the park and take a little hike into the Fjords. It should take aproximatly an hour. We thought we'd do this before supper and then go back to the campsite for the evening. We head up to the Fjords hike and start in. It is quite beautiful and works it's way over some different terrain and a lot of marshlands, with a comfortable boardwalk trail through some of the really marshy parts. Rounding a bend into the wooded area suddenly I stop and gasp, unable to speak. Chad, oblivious continues on a bit and then stops and stares at me, then ahead and goes "Quick, get a picture!" There just 25 feet or so in front of us, is this massive Moose. I had never been that close to a moose, in the woods, by myself, with noone around and wasn't quite sure what to do. I did, with shaking hands, get a couple pictures of this moose but then she started walking towards us and snorting. Since there really wasn't any room for her to walk towards us, we started backing up slowly trying to put space between her and us.
Gros Morne
Here you can see Gros Morne in the distance, it's covered in cloud making it impossible to climb this day. Gros Morne means" large mountain standing alone," or more literally "great sombre."
waterfalls
The people who had gone out before us saw whales go under their kayak-what an awesome experience for them. We didn't seen anything that exciting but some beautiful scenery, tons of jelly fish, white and pink, and some tiny fish. But we had fun. Next time we'll take out singles though, driving a double and trying to get in sync is certainly not all it's cracked up to be. The guide was sweet, telling us we were better than most couples who just start fighting with each other when they get in a double, but it still was a chore, and there is the rudde that the back driver has to steer with, not fun to operate either. Oh well, we'll know for next time and we had a beautiful day!
Sea Kayaking
The next day was beautiful and we drove down to Rocky Point to go Seakyaking. Because Chad & I were basic novices we took out a double kyak and had a tour guide. Here we go!
Heidi & the penny whistle
Here I am, life of leisure, playing my penny whistle infront of the fire ad trying to dry out my sneakers and socks, see my socks drying on the stove rack there?
Chad reads
You might notice in the picture before this, in that beautiful sunset that the clouds look at little thick. Well, at 10:00pm while we were sitting out by the campfire it started to rain, ok pour. We rushed to our tent to call it a night and did it ever come down--and it didn't let up! it poured all night long--thank goodness for a good rainfly--and into the morning, so we decided to just stay in our tent. At noon the next day when it was still pouring rain we decided to come out and get some lunch and try to find a hot shower. Honestly one of the best showers of my life! Anyway, this first evening, after a day of downpour, the rain had taperd off a bit and we had supper in one of those open shelters with the stove. We brought our chairs, had spagetti and hotchocolate, read books, played our harmonica & penny whistle and just enjoyed being quiet and DRY!
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