Sunday, August 28, 2016

Riviere Ste Anne Du Nord

The first thing we did in Canada
was go hike around a waterfall.

The Riviere Ste Anne.


There were two waterfalls in the area and we hiked both of them.
I was amazed by the trails and stairways
and zip lines and cope courses 
that were built around the waterfalls
to make them accessible to the public.
It was really cool.










Canada's infamous Poutine.
Cheese curds, french fries, chicken and gravy.
Pretty interesting!


Lincoln had fried chicken, french fries and gravy.


A great beginning to the week.

Saturday, August 27, 2016

O' Canada!

Usually when we go on vacation 
we try to take someone with us.
My parents,
Lincoln's mom,
Our kids,
my sister's family. . . .  

This time we went on vacation by ourselves.
It felt weird.
But it was nice.
A second honeymoon,
time to ourselves without considering others.
It was oh, so nice.

Lincoln usually likes to schedule things out,
get up early,
push to see, see, see.

This time we stayed up late,
slept as late as we could.
We still DID try to see, see, see though.
There wasn't even one day of down-time.

Canada hasn't really been on our list of places to go,
but through blogging and other resources,
we decided that we would like to go there.
We went to Quebec City.
French speaking.
Less than 2 percent of the population are native 
English speakers.

It is a law to be bilingual however.
So it was nice to be understood.
And to understand.

The traffic signs and other signs are strictly French though.
After a week of being there we could read quite a few words.
We couldn't say them though.
By the time we got a "bon jour" out of our mouths,
the french speaker automatically started speaking English.
We couldn't even pronounce that phrase correctly!

We were afraid (because we had heard) that
French speaking Canada was very rude.
We did not experience this.
Everyone was so kind, so friendly, so wonderful.

It was a little slice of Europe.
Very nice!  I'm glad we decided to take this trip.

We saw this sign just before going over the bridge into Canada.
Island State Park. 
I'd never heard of it.
Lincoln had.
1,000  Island Stake Park.
I wish we could have spent some time here!

The bridge into Canada,
through 1,000 Island State Park.


I googled this next picture. 
It is the same bridge in the above picture.
It shows a few of the Thousand Islands
in the State Park.


Once we were over the bridge,
the signs changed.
Notice the crown?


We saw our first Moose sign as well!
We didn't ever see a Moose though.
Kilometers instead of miles . . . . . . and some French!

On our way to Quebec City we went through Montreal.
Montreal's freeway literally looked like it was falling apart.
I was almost afraid to drive under the overpasses.
It looked like the cement was just falling in slices 
away from the structures. 
There wasn't any cement on the roads though.
It just looked scary.

Quebec!


This was our condo's living room.
It was so cute!
It looked brand spanking new.
It was fun to stay there.


We stayed 30 kilometers east of Quebec City.
Right below a ski resort. 
To the East and to the West of the resort were
a couple of waterfalls.
We went and hiked both waterfalls.
"chutes" in French.
That will be my next post.

On the way to the waterfall,
we stopped and took this picture of Lincoln.


and myself.
I can't remember if these carvings were wood,
or if they were cement made to look like carvings of wood.
I think it was the latter, but I can't remember.
The were cool, nonetheless.


More to come!

Monday, August 22, 2016

Halley's Visit

We were so excited for Halley to come and visit
with her girls, Ariana and Evelyn.
It was such a wonderful visit.
Halley is an awesome daughter.
I'm so glad my daughter is also my friend.
Her daughters are oh so precious,
and happy,
and soft,
and cuddly,
and cute,
and
and
and!!

Halley came out for her 10 year high school reunion.
She had a request though, 
that we spend a couple of days at the beach.
We needed a beach day or two!

We bought a couple of gifts for the girls . . . 


and pulled all the beach stuff out of storage . . . .


and after opening the presents . . . . . 


We headed to the beach.
We stayed at a place close to the beach.
That was quite honestly horrible!

This picture however is precious!


We are at breakfast.
Evie is a good little eater!

And Ariana sure put a dent into this stack of pancakes!

The restaurant had a section for kids.
They could walk around and no one cared.
Nice!




These girl's are so lucky to have such a good mommy!

The beach!








For as much as Ariana likes to move
she sure liked being buried in the sand.
She kept saying "again"! 
Halley buried her several times
and Ariana was soooooo still!




We took a ride on the "bus" down the boardwalk.




We walked the four miles back.
This is one of Ariana's favorite characters right now.
She was sooooo excited!
We saw Mickey Mouse too.


Pizza on the boardwalk.


and ice cream!


This girl knows how to run her electronics!
It's amazing what she can do!




Lincoln got to take time off work while Halley was here.
Cookies!



We played in the park.




A smiley baby! 

She's even cute when she is crying!
f


At Trudy's house we got to meet the chickens.




And spend time with great grandma.


And great grandpa!


And Great Aunt Trudy and Great Uncle Steve!
Evie loved Steve.


Ariana has no fear of the water.
She'd bob up and down,
under and out of the water.
Always with a big smile!



I miss these sweet babies!



Grandpa is their favorite!
He loves to play with them.






YAY!

I can't wait until the next visit.