Virginia Bound - 2011

In June, 2011, we went down to Virginia (just outside D.C.) to visit our friends B&Y. We took along my parents.

(can't find the photo of the layout)

Air and Space Museum

We stopped at the Hershey factory on the way back home.

When I bought this I thought it was several peanut butter cups. It wasn't until I brought it home, that I realized it was one big giant cup!

 

Princess Ruby

This is our cruise ship, the Princess Ruby.  The first time we've ever been on one of the Princess lines.  We liked it!

The photo we bought from the cruise line. I scanned it and added the name of the ship. 

Finally on the boat sipping a margarita. 

 The view of St. Martin from the boat as we set sail.

Hubby in the pool. 

Sorry....

Looks like I've done a VERY BAD job at keeping this blog up-to-date.  I'll try to remedy that.

Grand Turk - 2011

St. Thomas US Virgin Islands - 2011

View of our ship from up top.

 

Note: this layout was published in Canadian Scrapbooker Magazine (woohoo!)

 

Coral World - 2011

Coral Word - St. Thomas U.S. Virgin Islands

St. Martin - March 7-8

Since we had a full day in St. Martin we decided to rent a car but there weren't any available so we just walked up the road to the town. There was a marina and a market area so we shopped and walked around. We had a wonderful lunch and I got to practice my french (since we were on the french side). Later on, in the afternoon I had a nice refreshing swim in the pool.

Princess Cruise - March 6-13

We decided to take a cruise in March - only our second one. We would fly down to Fort Lauderdale and board the Ruby Princess for a week. It would be nice and relaxing, plus we wouldn't have to drive anywhere.

The Sunday morning of March 6th it was snowing hard so we set off for the airport with lots of time to get there. We arrived no problem and boarded our plane on time. Yay! But then we sat there, and sat there, and sat there..... They had to de-ice our plane plus several in front of us so we ended up being delayed about 3 hours. Which, OF COURSE, made us miss our connection in Philadelphia to Florida. The next plane they could get us on left Philly AFTER our ship left Florida, so that was no good. So what to do????

We called the Princess Cruise lines plus our insurance people (thank goodness we had taken out trip insurance). The Princess people suggested that we try to catch up with the next port-of-call - which was their private island (Princess Cays) in the Bahamas. We spent a lot of time talking to the airline people and they were VERY helpful but could only get us on a flight to the Bahamas the next day which would arrive five minutes AFTER our cruise ship left the islands.....so that was no good. The next port-of-call was St. Maartens/St. Martin so they got us on a plane there for the next day. Great! But that meant we had to get a hotel for that night in Philadelphia which was no problem as the airport gave us a discount coupon for that. BUT, we also had to get a hotel in St. Maartens/St. Martin for 3 nights until our ship showed up. I couldn't access the internet on my iPad for some reason NOR could I get through to CAA to book one! So we went off to the Philadelphia hotel and had dinner there and called my brother to let him know what was going on.

The next morning we were back in the airport and I had found a different CAA number to call but was on hold for half an hour waiting to talk to someone. When I finally did, I explained the circumstances and she found us a hotel. BUT, just as she was about to book it, I got cut off! So I had to phone back. I was worried because if I was hold AGAIN for half an hour we were in trouble since our flight LEFT in half an hour. Needless to say, I WAS STRESSED!!!!! This time, though, I was only on hold for 5 minutes and I got the same lady back so I didn't have to explain everything again and she booked the hotel. Phew!

We arrived in St. Maartens/St. Martin around suppertime and got a taxi to the hotel on the St. Martin side. We got a nice room with an ocean view. Ahhhhhhhh.....

Early morning Philly skyline from our hotel:


St. Maartens/St. Martins Sunset from our hotel:


Our hotel in St. Martin (our room is above the palm tree):

Cape Breton Nova Scotia - October 2010

I took my dad on a bus tour to Cape Breton as his 80th birthday gift. I have already posted photos on my scrapbooking blog, so you can see them here:
http://missgailly.blogspot.com/2010_12_01_archive.html

New Hampshire in the Fall - Oct 2010

We spent a few days in New Hampshire camping near North Conway. The fall colours were just spectacular!

Finger Lakes - July 2010

We took the Canada Day long weekend and camped in the Finger Lakes Region of New York.

Winterlude 2010

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

We decided to go and check out the Winterlude ice sculptures downtown this morning. The temperature wasn't TOO cold and I wore my new red Olympic mitts to keep my hands warm. I only got a few pictures before my camera's batteries died (and I didn't have any to replace them). This happened just as I was trying to get a photo of the two of us. DRAT! We did get to eat some yummy Beaver Tails and hot chocolate though.

This walrus was all made of plastic (including hundreds of plastic water bottles).


One of the ice sculptures:



There were all sorts of handknit objects covering a bunch of trees including this little creature perched on branch.

Snowy Virginia!

A quick trip to Virginia at the end of January to see our buds for a week. This is the first time we've seen snow in Virginia and we had it TWICE in one week! Still, it was nice to see our friends and do some shopping.

Mackenzie King Estates

On October 1st, I went with the Retiree Alumni group for a tour of the Mackenzie King Estates in the Gatineau Hills. Even though it was a cloudy day, the rain held off and we had a wonderful time exploring the grounds, eating a great lunch and catching up with old friends and ex-colleagues.

What a beautiful spot - I can't believe this is the first time I've been here!

Big Island - part 2

After snorkelling and on the way back to the hotel, Y and I spotted a local craft sale just up the road from our hotel, so the guys dropped us off. Wow – some wonderful crafts and Hawaiian products from local artisans!

Along the way, we also passed by Hawaii's very first church.



That night we decided to eat at the restaurant at our hotel because they had a special on. For $40 you got a meal for two that INCLUDED a bottle of wine! Great! Most of our meals so far had been a bit expensive (everything is expensive in Hawaii since they have to import most things in). We had a great meal and our server (Carolyn from the Philippines) was the sweetest lady.



Monday took us to Honoka’a which was half way to our destination and I got to shop at a scrapbooking store – YAY! They had some exclusive (to their store) Hawaiian papers and diecuts. I was a good girl and didn’t spend much money (or time) in this store.

From there it was off to the World Botanical Gardens and Umauma Falls. First you go to the falls and then to the rain forest and then to the gardens. ALL very nice but it was VERY hot that day.







Tuesday we decided to go to a local coffee farm and take a tour. It was a short tour (and free) but very informative. And of course, there was plenty of coffee to sample.




By this time it was getting close to lunch, so we asked our tour guide if there was somewhere close for a good lunch. She recommended “the Coffee Shack” for its home baked bread and desserts and its SPECTACULAR views. So we tried it out – WOW – she sure was right about the view!



The food was good too and we also had this little fellow come for a visit…..anyone want to buy some insurance? LOL!



We spent most of the afternoon on the patio – I tried a pina colada (hmmmm - it was ok but I like my margaritas better)….and then got ready for dinner. We heard good things about a place up the road at another hotel. One of their specials was ono (fish) stuffed with shrimp and covered with lobster sauce, so I tried that – ohhhhhhhh momma! Was it GOOD! We also had the NICEST server. What a doll! When I thanked her at the end of the meal and told her it was our last night in Hawaii, she gave me a big hug! What a sweetheart!



Our last day in Hawaii…..sigh….We didn’t have to check out until noon, so I spent the morning packing and catching up on some photos that I wanted to take of our hotel.





Four flights and almost a full day later, we finally arrived home. Tired but happy that we had SUCH a wonderful trip!

Big Island - part 1

I'm going to divide up this island into two parts since we stayed a full 6 days here....

It was nice to be settled at a place for a longer period of time. This hotel was quite nice. It has a fish pond, a luau on-site (more about this later), a restaurant, a patio/bar, a pool, and a lagoon. There were other restaurants (including Bumba Gumps – from the movie Forrest Gump) within walking distance plus stores and a farmer’s market. Our room had a microwave and a mini fridge to keep beer, pop and wine in it.

The day after arriving, we did some errands and laundry but didn’t roam too far. That night we were going to the Luau. They cook the pig right on site and there’s a huge buffet that included the pork, chicken, beef plus all sorts of other food. There was an open bar with mai tais already made up. DH even bought me a lei. BTW – those aren’t all MY drinks in front of me!



The show was really good as they did dances from all the different Polynesian cultures.






The following day was relaxing day for DH and I. B&Y wanted to drive up to the volcano and do some hiking. So we decided to have an R&R day. It was so nice to just sit on the patio and read. I could look out over the ocean and watch the waves and the boats. I also walked up to the farmer’s market up the street and bought some fresh pineapple (the guy even cut it up for me) and some small bananas (that had a slightly different flavour than we get at home). This little guy came for a visit while I was reading. And the flowers were in the farmer’s market.






Sunday took us off snorkelling again. THIS time I was prepared as I had bought one of those underwater/throw away cameras to take photos. It was a great place as it didn’t get too deep and there was a sheltered part with picnic tables where we could put our “stuff”. Again, there was LOTS of beautiful fish of all different colours BUT we didn’t see any turtles.



However, just after I came out after changing, Y came running over to say that there was a turtle right there at the shore! Cool – so I went over and took some photos. He didn’t pop his head of though but it was still really awesome to get that close to him (or her).



Unfortunately, I had forgotten to put sunscreen on and because my back was exposed while snorkelling it got the worst burn – OUCH! Stupid, stupid, stupid!