All good cruises must come to an end!

 Our last cruise day was on Princess Cay and it proved to be a gorgeous day to play in the sun and sand and water.

Our next cruise begins on January 7--a twelve day cruise around the Hawaiian Islands and on to Tahiti. Stayed tuned for our cruise updates!

We got back to Ft. Lauderdale and Caryn and Brayden picked us up at the docks. Brayden's question: "Are we going to bake cookies today?" Yes sir, we sure are--a double batch of sugar cookies to cut out and decorate (of course there is the eating of dough and mouthfuls of colored sugar). But we ended up with some beautifully decorated cookies.

Antigua/St. Thomas

The sun was shining on beautiful Antigua (pronounced Antiga) and its 300 and some beaches, but we had to hit the shopping area first. Unfortunately the shopping area had none of the quaintness and charm of Old Quebec City and the taxi fare to a beach started at around $12 per person so we opted to catch the sun on the ship.






The view coming into St. Thomas is welcoming...to all three cruise ships in port and to the private “duck” planes flying in for “business.” Brayden would love to watch this plane land on the water!

Booze is cheap on St. Thomas so we prepared for the future. We’ve been to St. Thomas a couple of times so again we chose to darken our tans shiptop with the beautiful blue waters down below.

St. Lucia/Barbados

Our second port was St. Lucia and we decided to just
take a short walk around the shopping area and spend the day on board just lazing around a “not so busy pool” and watching a movie on the big outdoor screen.














Today we visited Barbados and took a taxi van ride around the island. Again our driver/tour guide was excellent and filled us in on information about the city, towns, and countryside.

 We passed some monkeys looking for some handouts of banana
 

and spent some time in the beautiful blue water on the white sand beach.

Caribbean Cruise--December

 How  does one spend a couple of weeks in December to avoid the traffic, malls, and stress of Christmas?

A wonderful 10 day cruise to the southern Caribbean on the 3000 passenger cruiseship Emerald Princess.

We left Ft. Lauderdale and spent the first two days at sea--just a little windy, slightly wavy, a little overcast and sometimes rainy. But we found plenty to keep us busy and we did spend some of our time outside.

Our first port was the beautiful island of St. Kitts. We took a tour around the island and learned much about its history,  culture, and geography.

Here the Atlantic Ocean is on the left and the Caribbean Sea is on the right.

Snow comes to Florida!!

Welcome to winter--in Florida! The snow is falling, the palms are green, and the temp is about 78 degrees. It can't get better than that!!

 ...And this is how they do it--truck in a load of block ice, block off a 10 x 40 feet section of the street, then crush and blow the "snow" to about a foot deep. Invite all the kids from Miami to come and play.

Brayden had collected the parts to make a snowman, so when their 10 minute time in the snow came, they made a snowman!!

Happy Holidays to Everyone!!

The end of November

 Saturdays are a "let's get together with Caryn and the boys" day. Jason has to work so we borrow his family.

 This Saturday we took the boys to the Fruit and Spice Park, a little agricultural park that grows and exhibits trees from around the world and then lets us taste the unique fruits.

 Rylan would prefer to play with the "choo choos" at Grampa's house. I love to hear him say "Gordon, Percy, Thom, and Hat" as he points to the characters in the books. Of course "crash!" is a favorite while playing trains.









Brayden loves to help Grampa with the cooking. Saturday's menu was breaded yellow-tail snapper and Brayden dredged every piece perfectly. Of course he did tell Grampa that he should have one of those tools that squeezes the lemons and turns them inside out! Where did he learn that?!

 Caryn stopped and picked up cafe con leche and Cuban sandwiches for lunch. The coffee was very good and the sandwiches were good, but not as good as the ones we made with Gilles and Francine almost a year ago.

Then she asked what that funny thing was I keep by the kitchen sink. I explained that it was a handmade dish washer--a gift from Francine and widely used by the Quebequois.

A good day to think about you, Francine and Gilles--we miss you!

November 30 is Macy's third birthday! We celebrated when we were in Minnesota a couple of weeks ago and had a great little party!

It's amazing to think she is three already, and what a little charmer she is! We love you, Macy. Many more happy, happy birthdays!!!

Back in Florida

 We are back in sunny, warm Florida--just in time, we heard there was snow and cold, cold weather in Minnesota after we left!!

Brayden wanted to make cookies, so we opted for some chocolate no bake cookies. Rylan thought they were just wonderful!!

We spent Thanksgiving at Caryn and Jason's with the boys and Jason's brother, Morgan, and girlfriend, Margie, and twin sister, Janine. The food was wonderful and the company was great. We have a lot to be thankful for!

Deer (Dear) Hunting in Minnesota

We're back in Minnesota for Deer Season and we always celebrate the three November 6th birthdays. Carol, Mitch and Mark make a wish and with little Max's help blow out the candles.

Addy all dressed and ready to go outside (love that hair)!

Macy invented a new game--Let's Play Santa! The kids go to bed and Santa comes and delivers presents. Great game--when I got to be the kid it meant a quiet rest for 10 minutes while the kids colored pictures to be my presents--the only quiet time in two weeks!!








The "hunt" was successful!! That means venison sausage is back on the menu!!

The rest of October

We weren't done with Chesapeake TT yet, so along with Keith and Marie we found a favorite restaurant from two years ago. Things have changed but we enjoyed the frog legs. They weren't bad but I bet yours are better Gilles and Francine!








We left Chesapeake and went to Alliance RV in Wildwood, FL for some easy repairs. Everything went well until we were ready to leave and the refrigerator wouldn't work. Guess the repair place is where to be when you have a problem. They checked it out and found the recall kit for the frig didn't work. So they bypassed the problem until they could clear the fix with Norcold and then replaced the recall kit.

We spent the next few days at Peace River and had a great time playing pickleball.

 So here we are on the Florida Keys for a week. Kind of a nice little spot 14 miles from Key West.

 We spent time with Marshal and Jan and their friends from Bradenton, Carlene and Ken, and Emily and Steve. We had a great party tiki hut at Marshal's spot where we could cook, eat, and hang out.

We spent some time in Key West at the Fantasy Festival and did some fun people watching. The Festival is known for its Halloween partying--costumes and body painting. This was one of my favorites--this outfit is painted on her body!!

 Some of the painting was a little more unique.

We did more than Key West. We did some fun wave running, entertained Maxine and George, friends staying at another camp, the guys went fishing one day, a little sight seeing, and some cooking. We had a great time!

TT Chesapeake and Hollywood, FL

 We had been at TT Chesapeake for a few days when I flew to Ft. Lauderdale to watch the boys for a few days while Caryn and Jason flew to LA for a friend's wedding. WE had a great time (even with all the rain)--we got out for a bike/stroller ride and a swim in the pool almost every day, we baked and decorated Halloween cookies, and we made it to the ocean beach for a 10 minute romp in the waves. I figured to get to the beach while it wasn't raining so with the packing up and driving and parking and unpacking (about 50 minutes), the 10 minutes we got to spend before the dark clouds and lightning came in and the lifeguard called everyone out of the water wasn't too bad. At least the boys enjoyed it!

I got back to Richmond, VA and the hour drive back to the park and was greeted by Keith and Marie. While I was gone they had arrived and Mitch was busy playing pickleball and having some good get togethers with them and Jim and Marlene, and Deb and Bob.

Marie had made traditional PA Chicken Pot Pie (with homemade flat noodles) for my return and the four of us enjoyed a great dinner and and evening of Fast Track.

A good time in Pennsylvania

 Our stay at Thousand Trails Hershey kept us close enough to many places to stay busy. Of course we had to visit Hershey's Chocolate World and the Hershey Museum.

 The Pennsylvania countryside is gorgeous with its rolling hills and varied fields. We meandered the two lane highways past golden cornfields and soybeans, stopping to visit a couple of wineries. At every intersection there are old towns with quaint big old houses dating from the late 1700s.

 We toured the Yuengling Brewery in Pottstown, PA founded in 1829 by a German immigrant. It is the oldest brewery in America (the second oldest is Shell Brewery in New Ulm, MN--guess we'll have to go there some day) and is a fifth generation family business.

 The tour is free and you have to wear closed toed shoes--hence a room full of shoes at the start of the tour! (We wore ours there).

 Up the hill to the old brewery which is still used and inside we were amazed at the mixture of old and new. The stained glass ceiling was put in years ago to lessen the sunlight in the brewing room. It was carefully removed when they updated some brewing equipment and carefully replaced.

We also went down into the hand dug caves where the beer was aged (altogether we walked up and down about 200 steps).

 It was quite the production!

One of the best things about the tour was going with Keith and Marie! Afterwards we all had a chance to taste the brew!! Yum!

Try Yuengling's Premium Light!!

Maine

We're here in Maine for a few days and took a city tour of Portland through the touristy wharf area, to the beautiful old homes, across the bridge, and out to the Atlantic. The seascape was rugged and beautiful and I really liked this quaint lighthouse.

We caught up with friends that had spent time in the Maritime Provinces while we were in Quebec, found a little lobster shack and Mitch cooked lobster and corn on the cob. It was so much fun to spend time with everyone.

Good Bye, Quebec

It's time to say "See you down the road" and leave our tour guides, weather forecasters, cooks, and traveling companions. We have had a wonderful trip and have enjoyed every moment of our time in Quebec. There was so much to see and do: the land was beautiful and the people friendly. We will come back again! Merci, merci, merci!!!

poutine -- $6.75
a cruise of Saguenay fjord -- $126
friends like Francine and Gilles -- priceless

A day at Marie and HPs

We took a drive east along the Saguenay River and out into the country--seven miles north of the St. Lawrence River as the crow flies--to visit Marie and HP.  We had a wonderful dinner (the Quebequois call the afternoon meal dinner) and then walked to neighbor Francis' red deer farm where Francis gave us a personal tour and a ton of information.















Francis, Marie, and HP smoked some trout they had caught in their lakes and we had a little tasting of trout fresh out of the smoker...

and some red deer pate and smoked red deer. What a treat!

We look forward to seeing Marie and HP when we get to Florida!

Brayden, this picture is just for you! On our way home we went by a military base and they had all these planes and helicopters sitting outside. I thought you would love to see them!

How we spend our spare time

Although we are on the go, we don't spend a lot of the twelve hour days running. Now we have time to relax and enjoy some Fast Track. Francine and I usually let the guys win most of the time!








In our travels we have found many US brand places--Home Depot, Subway, McDonalds, and of course you can recognize the Colonel of KFC fame. Or do I mean PFK fame?

We do not speak French, but we have learned a lot about the language. PFK is Kentucky Fried Chicken in French--Poulet Frit Kentucky. First of all the adjectives come after the noun and for some reason they do not pronounce a consonant if it is the last letter of the word. And if the chicken in this case were female the second word would be frite and then you would pronounce the t!

The other night we went out to dinner at St. Hubert (did you say Hubert?). I thought we were going someplace called St. Oobay until we got there--Francine (don't pronounce the first n) said they never say h and the rt at the end are both consonants so leave them off (they do twist their tongue around to get a little rattle at the end). Now I know how they talk so fast--they don't say all the letters! And they do things with their tongues (I mean talking) that they must have learned at a very young age. Francine, forgive me for the liberties I just took in telling these two tales. I have so appreciated your patience at trying to teach me about your language.