A short jaunt up a logging road

Last night Arianna asked to go for a walk along the river in a nearby park. I was game for it. Arianna managed to get her dad to agree to come along with us. It was a beautiful evening. The moosquitoes (as Jim calls them) thought so too. That could have made him walk a bit quicker though.

As we walked over this bridge we got to see a fish going after the insects on the river's surface. Unfortunately we didn't see the fish just the ripples he caused.

 

 Jim took Arianna and I on a little drive afterwards. He used to do this all the time and I love that he decided to give it another go.

This time he took us up this old logging road. I didn't know this but there is a hiking trail that is kept up with signage. We didn't go for a walk on the trail but he did keep going up the rough, dirt road past that. 8 km up. There is a lot of firewood to be found up there. All sorts of evidence that a lot of people go up there to get their winter's supply. Some even left chunks of good fallen trees up on the road! What are they thinking?

I have a slight fear of heights. This road put my adrenalin surging through my veins. I was scared that I was going to start hyperventilating. I kept my calm (as much as I could) and took deep, slow breaths. But oh the views were out of this world.

I asked Jim to take a picture from this drop off of the road. Here is the remarkable view but I have to admit that the picture just doesn't give it justice.

But oh what a view this is!

Jim was actually trying to see our house from this mountain. Anywhere we could have seen our house was blocked by forest. So needless to say we didn't see our home.

Jim loves mushrooms. He used to go with his mom to pick them in the fall. So he knows what he is looking for. I on the other hand don't. As we drove down the road he stopped suddenly exclaiming Shaggy Manes! I knew what that was. I have tried one or two. 

 They were on both sides of the road, we hit the jack pot! But as we began to pick them Jim noticed that they were past the tender non inky stage. How sad. But we did manage to get 4 of them.

One lone shaggy mane.

It was getting late by this point so off we went the rest of the way down the road 4km or so. It was almost dark by the time we got home. I had such a lovely time (other than the height thing). Does anyone else hunt wild mushrooms? I would love to hear about them.

Joanne

Finishing our trip to Florida

Our time in Florida was a wonderful 2 weeks. We rented once again the same villa in a private gated community. 

This is from a few years ago  I didn't see the need to take picture of the same place again. But it looks pretty much the same except the bushes and trees were a bit bigger. This villa is grand! Five bedrooms and one game room that we doubled up as a bedroom. We had use of the fully stocked kitchen, laundry room and a private pool that looked out over a lake with a island that doubled as an aviary. It is really a place we loved to come home to at the end of the day.

 

Our first day we went to Epcot. I loved it here as there are all these topiaries.

Here are Jim, Arianna and Payton (in the stroller we bought to get her around)

 

 

 For Joanne's birthday we all went to The Crown & Rose in Epcot. We had wonderful seats to see the nightly fireworks. They were amazing!

 

 

 Here is part of the show. Spectacular really and the seats we had were out of this world.

After our meal and the fireworks we headed off to enjoy some of the rides. Here are all of our group minus moi of course (always taking the pictures) It is the big release year for Oz.

 While in Animal Kingdom the girls had their faces painted. Arianna chose the tiger face ...

 And Payton chose Goofy! We were very surprised by this choice.

This was just a few high lights of our first week. The second week my Mom and second daughter Holly joined us for a wonderful time. 

We  went once again on the Boggy Creek Airboat Ride.

 Here is Joanne taking some pictures while making our way in the Everglades 

 Payton loved any moving craft. The airboat was not exception. Jim held onto her so she didn't land in the water with the alligators that would love her for a snack. And there were lots of them.

After the airboat ride we were all very hungry. Someone recommended the  

Catfish Place. 

They had all sort of interesting food there. Here is Jim with one of his food items. Frog leg but there was also alligator, turtle, catfish and probably something else. 

 That evening we went into 

Magic Kingdom 

to watch the fireworks above Cinderella's Castle and the Electric Parade. We waited on the sidewalk for the parade in the picture. 

 Mom, Holly,Arianna and I walked along the Tree of Life in Animal Kingdom to see It's Tough To Be A Bug. Payton didn't like it before so Jim stayed with her while we did this. Can you see the amazing animals in the tree?

 

 Payton I think loved this ride the best. It is in 

Animal Kingdom

Kali River Rapids was fun. We were soaked by the end of it all except Payton who chose to wear a poncho! She laughed at us and wanted to go "Again!". Jim humored her  5 more times!

 Another two people that joined our group at the villa were Jaime and her mom Janet (not in this picture) Jaime is the one in front on the left. We went to a restaurant called

Steak and Shake.

This is a place really worth going to for some good old fashioned meals but not the healthiest. I highly recommend this place if you are a meat and potato kind of person or love burgers.

   I was trying out my new camera and so I am pretty sure this picture was meant to be 3D. Cool effect really. Anyhow here are my mom (l) me and Holly (r) while we waited for the Nemo show. It is so worth seeing more than once. I believe this was in Animal Kingdom as well.

 Payton's absolute favorite is Tinkerbell. We waiting in line for 45 minutes to visit her. 

She was very happy to have another visit with this fairy. Her first visit was on the Fantasy.

Hollywood Studios

 While in Hollywood Studios we all went in to Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground. Arianna loved the ant that moved it's head a little and made some noise. Payton is terrified of insects of all kinds so we were so lucky to capture this picture of her there as well. She was very hesitant to near it at all.

 

In another part of the H.I.S.T.K. playground we found this huge dog nose that actually makes dog sniffing noises. Holly laughed with this one as much as I did.

Last day we went to Magic Kingdom

 Before we got on the ferry to the MK I got a picture of all three wearing their Mike t-shirts. Jim got his a few years ago and then my mom bought one for Payton and Arianna. Don't they look like a fun bunch?

On our way back home. In the airport we stopped for lunch. Payton was so sick. I had to carry her everywhere. While I sat she just slept. Poor girl. But this was the end of our trip.

Hope you enjoyed the little bit of our vacation because I know we surely did! 

It is late here tonight. We had such a long but wonderful day today. I will share that with you tomorrow. Stay tuned! More to come from my life.

 Joanne

 

 

 

 

 

Fantasy and WDW in March

I am managing to get this out today. Late as it is. 

This is a story about two Joanne's. 

Me and my bestest buddy Joanne. Yes we have the same name but also we share the same initials and birth month! Just over two years ago we went on our first Florida trip with our families and had such a wonderful time that we decided two years later we would do it again. 

 Here is a picture of us from March 2011 in the magic kingdom

 

This year we left once again for sunny Florida but this time we went on a cruise aboard the Disney Cruise ship Fantasy. One full week of being pampered and catered to. It was a first for us all. So excited too. We headed down to Spokane where we caught a flight to Denver then onto Orlando. We spend the night there near the airport and then we headed to the ship. 

 

This is at the hotel just before we left in our shuttle to the ship. The group is a little different than the first time we went south. Starting from the left is Brian, Joanne, Gwen (Joanne's mom) and Jim are in the back row. Then in the front are Arianna, Elizabeth, Alex and me holding our granddaughter Payton.  Two years you can see the difference in the kids.We look at those pictures now and see how much they have grown.

 

 Moments after we boarded the Fantasy. Here are Arianna, Jim and Payton.

 Joanne and her family sit right across from us. Yes we are amazed by the grand entryway.

 

We had four ports that the ship stopped at

1) Grand Cayman

 

Jim and I went to George Town,Grand Cayman on our own. The two girls stayed in the kids club. Here is Jim with one of the many pirate statues.

 

2) Costa Maya Mexico

 One of my bucket list items was to visit a Mayan ruin. As you can tell I am very happy to be here. This excursion was to Chochoben ruin. Our tour guide Phillipe was the best! He even serenaded us.

3) Cozumel Mexico

This excursion was a dune buggy tour of the island.

 

 The first thing we got to do was snorkeling. Payton and I stayed on shored and admired the fish there. But the rest of the group went out. Here is Arianna. She did very well and kept up with the guide Alan.

 Here are Jim, Arianna and Payton with our dune buggy. We were at the tequila tour. It was very interesting and good samples too.

 At the end of the tour, then sampling tequila, we carefully chose the tequila we wanted to take with us. . The Joannes and Gwen are with one of the owners of the place.

 We hopped back into our dune buggy and headed toward the west side of the island. Alan took us to the place where all the kids got a chance to hold a pet iguana.

 Then we crossed two highways (which are not what we are used to here in Canada) to get to this beautiful beach. It was deserted and we had such fun. Arianna, Elizabeth and Gwen enjoy the waves. After leaving the beach we headed to the southern tip of the island to a park where we got to see salt water crocodiles, needle nose fish, some more Mayan ruins and then to see a light house.

 The girls found quite a few hammocks. They took the time to relax and play on them. Elizabeth  really got the hang of it.

 This ended our tour and so we had pictures taken with our guide Alan. He was great and a really funny. The ladies were given permission to call him Sweetie :-)

 

4) Castaway Cay Disney's private island in the Bahamas

 We loved the beach on Castaway Cay. Here I am with Payton in the water. As you can tell we had a blast.

This is a very popular spot to have your picture taken with. I managed to get one of Payton here. Arianna was not in the mood to be in the picture. 

Now for the happenings on the ship.

Mean while on the ship we had pirate night. Arianna got to go into BBB for her make over. Joanne also dressed up for the occasion. 

 

 The ladies on formal night. 

 Jim and Arianna all decked out for the night. I loved this night.

One morning we got to sit at a round table that seated our group. Here is a picture of our little family dining in the Royal Court.

There were so many more memories from this cruise. I shall end the story here though. Tomorrow I will share our WDW adventures. 

Till then 

Joanne

 

May Flowers Bird Abode

Here we are and it is the beginning of June. It is hard to believe that winter has come and gone. I have been busy but didn't post a thing on here. Sorry for those who like to follow.

About a month ago I was watching a bird house being assemble on youtube. This lady has such a way with paper and her creations. She has two (and maybe the third is up as I type this) bird abode series. If any of you are interested her blog and youtube name is Follow the Paper Trail. She is fantastic and has a lot of wonderful ideas and patterns to share. So please head to  here
which is her youtube account. I am sure you will want to check her out.

Last weekend four of us went to a crop down near Coeur D'Alene at a camp called N Sid Sen. This camp is spectacular and the views are breath taking. We went to this same crop last May. I have already put my deposit on for next May! 


Here are two of the pictures of the bird abode I made While at  the weekend crop (not completely finished yet) however I am very happy with the results so far.

This is the front of the little house. The little bird is cut on my Cricut using SCAL2. I wish I could find where I got this from so I can give credit. The little blue flower is one from SVG cuts 3D flowers. It is an aster. I also cut some swirly filigree that is coming from the side and draping over the eye brow roof. The little picket fence at the bottom is a picket fence using CM border maker. 

Left side view. More of the 3D flowers by SVG Cuts using my SCAL2 and the Cricut. The pink flower is a cosmo, little blue one is a azalea and the yellow is a begonia. Another of the birds from who knows where. The bird is mounted on two layers of foam tape. I drew the eyes on by hand, a first time attempt for me. I also cut another one of the swirl/filigree which is under the flowers and bird. I hope to add more as I work and finish this project. There was a lot of taking off and rearranging on this project. 




I have been working on my yard a bit as well. About two years ago we had our little ditch along side the driveway dredged. I have worked on it but it was slow and tedious process as I was separating the rock from the soil. This year I didn't have to do that because I was moving it to a different part just for fill. I got it all moved over and then began cleaning out an area for our motorcycles (Jim's bike is named Fenchurch and I don't have a name for mine yet) It is almost done and then the rains hit. I don't go out in the rain as I hate being in it. Here is a few pictures of the clearing out area and where it is being moved to.

 There are a lot of rock as we live on a mountain side. This is pretty much cleared out now. But still some more to go. Maybe another two wheel barrow full. 

Above is a picture of where I am moving all this earth, rocks and twigs to. I have raised some of it about a foot and a half at this point. It is a lot of wheelbarrows full. I also have been using a dolly (things you move furniture with that have wheels) It works very well I might add. This is where we put our trailer for the winter months. Those are big boulders and cement pad that was hidden under our front lawn. And an old swing set that is past safety to be used now. Jim is setting up a level so that I can continue adding but making it level. The blue car on the right will be taken away soon by a very nice wrecking yard so I can eventually fill that area in as well. I know big plans!

 In May our fourth daughter Karina came home for a week. It was long over due and we were so happy to have her here!

 One special request she had was to have a ladies night again. A few years ago we had one and so another was so needed. It was smaller this time around though. I had sent out an invitation to our other three daughters via facebook. Of course none of them could come. Or so I thought! I was pleasantly surprised by our second daughter Holly who drove the 7 hours to get here! Here she is coming up the stairs and fully surprised me :-)

Now for the ladies night pictures. Karina is an aesthetician now and so worked some of her magic on some of the ladies there.

                                             Karina shaping her cousin Allyshia's eye brows

                                              Allyshia getting her lashes tinted

              What do you mean I have to keep eyes closed for 15 minutes!!!!!
                   And Auntie Rina having her eyelashes tinted as well 

Holly got to hold our little lady who is only 3 weeks old here. She is one precious girl!

I will continue tomorrow with our adventures. Next will be our trip to Florida/Grand Cayman/Mexico/Castaway Cay! Have a wonderful day everyone.

                                         Joanne