More sights from Newfoundland

Brittney's friend, Bridgette, is visiting with us. She's from Ontario and this is her first trip to Newfoundland. Newfoundland is rich in history and played significant roles in many historical events. Today, we took her to visit just two of the many available sites.

First Stop --- Cape Spear....which is the most easterly point of land in North America

Whale Watching..... Click pictures to enlarge them








On to Signal Hill/Cabot Tower. It was here that the first trans Atlantic wireless radio transmission was received by Marconi in 1901 (more info here and here)

The Cabot Tower stands out for several kilometres in all directions and can be seen all across the city. We often comment it's Newfoundland's version of the CN Tower.





















Sign post showing distances to various world destinations...Spot where the Titanic went down....584 kms...

New Friends

We had the great opportunity to meet some new friends yesterday. Now, we've 'known' them for awhile.....through our blogs and our like-minded quests for life on the beautiful island of Newfoundland.

We've been following their journey as they prepared to do make a move, very similar to the one we did almost three years ago. They came from further away, so their trek was longer and they do have some distant connections to the island, but basically they had the same sort of thoughts we did.

They arrived a little while ago and have been busy settling in. Yesterday, they made the trip to this part of the island....and were able to stop in for a visit!

It was great to meet them in person! Their kids are very close in age to ours....and they all hung out in the basement, playing games, video games and such. We all walked back by the ocean and took a look at that (mainlanders....we're all fascinated by the ocean ;)). Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures (even though I put fresh batteries in it just before they came)...so I have none...but here is a link to Katie's blog post about their visit, along with some pictures she took both of this area, and some other places they visited while getting here. Click here

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

At the hotel getting ready to hit the pool (One of our boys loves, loves, loves to get his picture taken....the other one detests it. Betcha can't guess which is which lol...)






In the pool...



Leaving the boat and heading off to watch the fireworks





Finally....the fireworks.



There was supposed to be fireworks in different shapes....like smiley faces etc. The first few looked like normal fireworks....so we were using our imaginations here to 'see' shapes in the fireworks lol. Oh my.....what things we 'saw' lol The batteries to the camera died...so we didn't get too much of the show .... but a bit is better than nothing.



Happy New Year!!!

Wow.... it's hard to believe another year has gone by. Seems as if I was just getting used of it being 2008....and now it's gone. Time to get used of it being 2009.

We had a great New Year's Eve. We decided to get a hotel room at a hotel with a pool and a hot tub. When we lived in Ontario, we always spent 3 days at Niagara Falls during March Break. This is one thing the dc miss about Ontario, so we thought this would be a good time to do something similar. We did not tell the kids we were going. After they got up in the morning, we just told them, "Hurry up and get your breakfast. After that pack an overnight bag....put your bathing suit in and bring lots of warm clothes too...hat, mittens, scarves etc." They of course wanted to know where we were going, but Larry and I were tight-lipped.

We cleaned up from breakfast, packed our things and then van. I decided to check my emails one last time before heading out and there was one from a family we had recently met. They are from Michigan, USA, and have set out on a one-year sailing adventure (at least one year......they may decide to stay longer, depending on a few different things). They've sailed from Michigan to NL and are staying here for the winter. Next June, they are planning on heading to Greenland and hopefully through the Northwest Passage...if it is open. Wow! is all I can say.....what an amazing experience it will be for them. Anyway....I digress lol...but we received an email from them inviting us to come to their boat for awhile for some desserts and then we could all head over to watch the fireworks.

We had received some gift certificates for Christmas from Swiss Chalet, so we decided to go there for a late lunch first. After lunch, we headed off to the hotel. Larry and the three kids headed off to the pool and hot tub for the afternoon. (I stayed in the hotel room to rest....I'm still trying to get my health issues sorted out and I wanted to be as well rested as possible for the activities planned for later).

We eventually got Brittney out of the pool and dried off lol. She loves to swim and would stay there all day if she could. About 9:00 or so we headed off to the direction of the boat.

We found the boat and met up with them. We haven't been around too many boats....and I think that was kind of obvious lol. We boarded their boat and visited for awhile.....or should I say listened to Jake talk for awhile lol. We did manage to get a few words in around Jake's...but it was challenging at times. We enjoyed some great desserts together as well.

About 11:15, we all got bundled up and headed off to see the fireworks. It was a pretty walk....the snow all around as well as Christmas lights still up. Eventually the fireworks started....and we weren't disappointed in the display....it was a really good presentation.

After they were over, we headed back to the boat. We said our goodbyes and headed back to our hotel. Jake.was.wired.....I know...that is hard to believe....but you'll just have to take my word for it *wink wink*.

Eventually, we got everyone settled down and to sleep. It was a short night though....we had to be up in good time. We wanted to take advantage of the free breakfast offered by the hotel and Brittney and Jake also wanted to have one more (or 300) swim. As checkout time was 11:00 a.m., we needed to keep moving.

They all seemed to enjoy the night away. It was a nice break. We are home now though. Tomorrow we'll take the tree down, put the house back into order and get ready to face January.

Wishing everyone all the best for 2009!!!

And Still More Visitors.....

(Click pics to enlarge)







And they're off........

Larry's sister, niece and great nephew from the mainland came to visit us.

After not seeing them for a whole year, we really enjoyed their visit! It was a short one but a great one, nonetheless. As with any short visit, the risk of encountering only bad weather is higher. This was the case with this visit. Although it could have been worse (with high humidity or smog or tornado watches and warnings or severe thunderstorms and/or weather warnings that are quite prevalent in the part of Ontario we were from), it was bad enough. Even though it was cooler and cloudy and some drizzle, we managed to show them around our part of 'The Rock'. Things always look better in the sunshine but we still managed to look around a bit.

We visited Cape Spear (the most easterly point in North America)

We visited Middle Cove Beach.

We had 'a feed' of fresh Newfoundland Cod --- 'Fish and Chips'. Mmmmmm soooo good!

We spent an afternoon in St. John's visiting various shops.

We celebrated the three August birthdays.

We spent time chatting, catching up and being entertained by our two year old great nephew (he's so cute!).

The three days seemed to fly by and as quick as our visitors came....they were off again.

And of course....the day after they left....the weather turned nice again....sigh...

And they're off.... (click pics to enlarge)

(A little late with this post due to ongoing health issues....but hey....better late than never.....right??)

We said our goodbyes on Wednesday evening as they had to be away really early on Thursday morning. We're about 2 hours to the ferry and they had to be there for 6:00 a.m.....did I mention they had to leave early??

Our last night together was great. Dad and Marilyn took us out for dinner, followed by an evening of dominoes back at our place. Our friend Paul stopped in for a visit, a cup of tea and to say goodbye as well.

It was hard to say goodbye and we were all sad to see them go. Jake is so sensitive and he was extremely upset. He cried for the rest of the evening and then, as he quite often does when he's upset, he slept with us. The next day wasn't much different for him....still lots of tears.

It was a great visit though....we all enjoyed seeing them and are looking forward to their next visit...hmmmm......maybe Thanksgiving???

It's been a whirlwind of a visit

Helping Brittney sell ice water



Windy day at Cape Spear



Our backyard



Marilyn and Dad in our backyard


I haven't been blogging for a few days as we've been enjoying the grandparent's visit. And quite a few days it has been! I guess the best way to describe it would be while experiencing that 'east coast laid backness' (hmmmm....are those even words???), we've still managed to keep somewhat busy.

Some highlights have been:

~~Each kid has enjoyed their own special day and time with Grandma and Grandpa.

***Jake chose Swiss Chalet for his restaurant. They then enjoyed an unplanned tour of St. John's. We finished that night off by a visit to our friend's Paul and Joan.

***Next was Brittney's turn. She chose A & W for her restaurant. She then followed that with a trip to Frenchy's for a shopping spree. She got 2 t shirts, a pair of capris and flip flops .... all for $15.00.

***Tyler was next and he chose Jungle Jim's. They also went to a used book store where he found some old Archie Comics.

***Last but not least was our turn. Dad had wanted to check out where the ferry would be coming in, so the four of us went for a drive there. It was a pretty drive and Larry and I saw an area of NL we had not yet seen. On our way home Marilyn and Dad took us out for dinner to a little cafe here in Pouch Cove. It was a great afternoon!

Also during their time here, we took them to Cape Spear (which is the most easterly point in North America). It was really windy that day, but the whales were out in full force. We sat and watched them for a bit before heading to downtown St. John's for some shopping. We followed that by supper at Montana's.

We also took advantage of the free admission night to The Rooms. We've wanted to go there for some time, but have just never made it. A great way for (all of) us to learn more about Newfoundland, the way of life here (both past and present).

The nights are usually spent playing dominoes or cribbage with them.

Today, Marilyn and I are heading to a local artist's shop for a visit.

It's hard to believe their visit is drawing to a close...we've all enjoyed our visit with them so much!