Gone Cruisin'

Since Kevin and Courtney wanted to - and successfully did - get married on a cruise ship, we were invited along to join them and experience a cruise for the first time.  I was initially reluctant to try out this new form of vacationing, but decided it would be best if I had a good attitude about the whole thing.  Even boarding the ship I was hesitant about how enjoyable it would be.  By the end of the cruise however, I was converted.  The staff, the food, the destination ports, the companions we traveled with - all made for a very enjoyable and memorable trip.  Even Tammy was civil most of the time!

Would I go on another cruise?  Just give me time to pack a bag!!

Since I had just days before injured my knee while playing hockey (Grade 2 MCL sprain/tear), this was going to be excellent therapy. Plus, it was still cold in Ontario.  It couldn't have come at a better time!

The Cruise 

We sailed out of Ft. Lauderdale on the Carnival Freedom ship.  We immediately went to a small jazz club lounge for the wedding ceremony and then all over the ship for pictures.  We were very minor celebrities around the ship during the trip.  The group of us - 22 in all - would bump into each other throughout the days and nights and catch up on all of the activities we'd been up to.

The weather for the 8 days was very good.  A couple of early morning sprinkles of rain was all the 'wet' that we had.  Clear or clear-and-cloudy was what we experienced every day.  The temperatures were between the mid-70's to mid-80's... perfect compared to the dumping of snow that was going on in our home province!

The cruise stopped in St. Maarten, St. Kitts, San Juan (Puerto Rico) and Grand Turk.  I could have spent a lot more time in Puerto Rico, but other than that it was nice to see the different islands.

Our ship - Carnival Freedom

On the top deck

The longest hallway...

St. Maarten, N.A.

We wandered around the small shopping district downtown for the morning then headed back to the boat to get some beach attire.  We took a taxi van to the famous Airport Beach, but opted for the quieter Mullett's Bay beach.  We had a crazy taxi ride back to the pier after the beach as one couple in the van was late returning to their ship and traffic was heavy.  We skirted security and drove right down the pier to deliver them to their ship's gangway.  We had received a quick tour of the back streets and alleys of Phillipsburg as she was taking every shortcut she knew!  I could go back there.

The welcome sign

A view on the pedestrian shopping strip

Making rum-filled coconut drinks on the beach.  I didn't try one - don't like coconut.

Runway on one side of the road; beach directly on the other side.

The beach at Mullett's Bay

The little mountains overlooking the marina just outside Phillipsburg

St. Kitts

After wandering through an artisan's alley I was drawn to the sound of pounding drums and singing.  I ran quickly hobbled down a small lane into the main street of downtown.  There was a parade of school kids singing and chanting.  It was apparently a celebration for the various schools' sports teams from the region.  It was pretty neat to see.

We had booked an excursion to go zip-lining in a small rain forest.  It was a great experience.  Sailing over and through the trees, with a view of the ocean at the bottom of the valley.  Excellent!

The entrance to St Kitts from the pier

Jealous of the St Kitts Electric Company's vehicle

A beat up old Land Rover for sale

The hills behind the town of Basseterre

local traffic

The Orange School on parade

Gates to the cricket grounds

Brown Pelicans

Getting geared up for the zipline

Set to go...

Tammy taking a unique approach to the zipline.  At least she wasn't pestering me!

San Juan, Puerto Rico

We walked through the old town to the two forts in San Juan.  It was scenic and educational.  The forts have slowly been restored to the current conditions.  We covered such a small area of San Juan - and the entire island of Puerto Rico - that it would have been nice to spend longer there to explore some of the rain forests, parks and beaches. The quaint narrow streets and colourful buildings had a great feel to them.
  

There is such a long history in this region (Caribbean); early European explorers, slave traders, wars and development.  There is so much we didn't get to see that I think a trip back here would be warranted. 

Old San Juan in the early morning light

Cannonball!

Looking from one fort to the other.  It wouldn't be the worst place
to be stationed.

The only tall buildings we saw on the cruise

Cute gardens and brightly painted houses

A larger group of us heading from one fort to the other

The girls with Don Collins - coffee roaster and coffee grinder of some reputation on the island.

Blue bricks were originally ballast in the galleons that sailed over.
They didn't need them on the trip back to Spain since the boats were loaded with gold.
They paved the streets with them instead.

The Grill of Glorious Bacon at Guy's Burger Joint on the ship.  Yes, that's all bacon!

Grand Turk

This was a pretty small and flat island.  We spent some time lounging in chairs on the beach until we had to get ready for our scheduled snorkeling trip.  We sailed on a large catamaran out to an anchoring spot and jumped into the water.  The water off the beach was brilliant turquoise blue, changing to deep blue in the deep.  It was clear to the ocean floor some 20' below.  There were so many fish!  Different species, colours and sizes.  I could have spent the afternoon floating and flippering (is that a word?) around watching all of the fish.  That might have been the highlight for me.   I desperately wished for a waterproof camera.  That would have been perfect.  I really wish I could share pictures of what that was like.

We were swimming on the edge of a continental shelf.  The depth dropped off like a cliff, literally.  It went from 20' of depth to somewhere around 7000' in an instant.  There was no bottom to the ocean, it seemed.  That's a lot of feet of water to drown in!

After snorkeling, we anchored off of the beautiful and secluded Governor's Beach and splashed around for a bit before having an impromptu dance to reggae music on the deck of the catamaran while heading back to the dock. 

In this picture you can see the drop off and where they had to carve out the
rock to allow the ships to get close enough to the island.

The beach, just waiting for cruisers to get off the ship.
Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville is just beyond the beach

A cruiser on the beach

Looks like this little dingy has had a tough life!  Practically useless.

Knocking critters out of the conch shell

Definitely not locals!

On the deck of the catamaran

Governor's Beach, near where we snorkeled, was a great spot to hang out for a bit.

Hey, I've seen this dingy somewhere before...  This is our life raft??
Note the structural zip-ties in the side of it.  

Reggae dance party on deck

The view from the top deck of the cruise ship.  You can definitely see
where the water gets deeper.

The Everglades

Since there was time to kill between leaving the ship and having to be at the airport to head home, we took a trip to the Florida Everglades, just south of Miami.  We loaded onto a big air boat and toured around a small corner of this unique area.  We saw some birds and a real live alligator!  There were loads of fish swimming around in the water, too.  I think a fishing trip to this area would be a bucket list item.

Twin 500 cu. in. Cadillac V-8 engines.  No mufflers

Vultures circling our air-boat.  Why?

The Reception

We drove down to Windsor the Friday after we got back to celebrate Kevin and Courtney's marriage with all the other friends and family who were unable to attend the ceremony down in Florida.  Our boys learned a little bit about dancing that night.  They aren't good, but they aren't shy!

Oh, one more thing...

We discovered a unique phenomenon among some people on and off the cruise ship.  (oh, you knew they weren't locals!)  Once traveling, they lost all sense of fashion.  Mixing stripes, plaids, tropical patterns of various styles, strange geometric shapes - didn't matter!  Anything goes.

We called it "Cruise Ship Camo", as it almost blended in with the over-the-top decor of the ship.  It became a game to get a picture of the offending person.  Even better if you could get one of our group members in the picture with them!  I'm missing a couple of pictures from other people, but this is a good sampling.

And here you go!          

(You're welcome.)

Not 'cruise ship camo', but an honorary pick.  White patent leather shoes, white socks,
white shorts, white hat... white legs!

Here's a nice monochromatic combination

What's this?  One of our own has fallen victim to this
phenomenon!

Oh, that's right - hold it out for us to see it better!  Note the bonus of including
AK and Tammy in the picture.

Mmmm, love me some tie-dyed!

Him - shorts and shirt.  Her - being together with him!  There's a lot of colour
for the eyes to take in.

Your's truly, beside a collision of tropical styles!
Photo credit to AK - thanks!

Cant fault this guy for anything.  That's straight up pimpin'!

This lady started the whole thing.  Not much can be said but "Wow."

Duck, Duck, Goose!

The end of summer has gone by us.  We are now getting ready to rake leaves, scrape frosty windshields and bundle up in warmer clothing.  Autumn is in full swing and we not-so-eagerly await the cold of winter.

Here's a nice picture to remind you of warm breezes, sunny skies and shorts & t-shirts!

Last of the sunny, warm weather

And now the fun stuff of the autumn and winter begin.  Hockey, indoor soccer, hunting, kid's programs at church, ballet...

Ballet!?!?   Seriously?  A bunch of 'the girls' are learning ballet.  For some unknown reason I'm not permitted to view the spectacle.  Christine says the instructor 'floats across the floor with grace and beauty'.  Christine also tells me that she herself looks like she's carrying a large potted plant doing the same moves!  I would pay money to see it.  That's probably why I'm not allowed to go there.  They should charge admission.

Hockey tryouts for LP

Brother KP is playing indoor soccer this winter.  BMO Centre is a great facility.

New skates for me.  I'm not convinced they make me faster...  They look and feel really good, though!

 Random Goings-On

Aiden in a large nest

Goldfish races at Courtney & Kevin's stag and doe event.  Okay - that was fun!

Half-Pint crashed into a chair while running around at the church.  He managed to split his head and leak a fair bit of blood onto the floor.  His Mom bravely took him to the hospital to get some repairs made.  Five stitches later he was as good as new.  The stitch count has started for another one in the family.

Leaking

Not leaking

The first raking job of the year.  Only 1/3 of the leaves were out of the trees!

One of the last fishing trips of the 2014.

I'm not sure what this is.  There's a wedgie going on there,  that's for sure!

BunHead as Mahna-Mahna of Sesame Street fame.

Hunting Season

Autumn is hunting season.  Deer are in season.  Waterfowl (duck and geese) are in season.  Even turkeys have a short season squished in there, too.

Goose hunting with Brother Bill, The Teacher and AK.

It's hard to get out for very long with all of the other activities and responsibilities of life going on but to hunt with a bunch of friends is good fun.  We've managed to get some geese and a duck.  I've seen a couple of deer within range but it was just too dark and risky to take a shot.  We'll keep putting in as much time as we can to get some more meat in the freezer.

The Teacher gets his first bird!

The view from the tree stand - minus the 4-legged prey.

Children of the Corn

AK and I have been able to bring some of the boys along for goose hunting.  We don't have to be perfectly still or deathly quiet, so it's perfect for fidgety lads.  We were able to hide in the edge of the standing corn field with decoys spread out in the stubble.  Half-Pint proved to be very effective as a duck retriever, too.  He's small enough to sneak through the corn and scoop up the birds.

Sunset over the fields

An early evening spent hunting waterfowl.

Goose!

Crop destruction by deer

Thanksgiving In Collingwood

This year we had a big Thanksgiving weekend away at a chalet just outside Blue Mountain near Collingwood.  Eighteen of us packed into the place and we all had beds to sleep in!  It was a great set-up with lots of living space and room for the kids to play, as well as an adequate kitchen and large eating area.  It also had an outdoor hot tub.  

We hiked through part of the Kolapore Highlands, stopped by an apple orchard and took the kids to a skateboard and bike park where they could ride over jumps and ramps.  We spent an afternoon at Blue Mountain and had fun zipping down the slide ride there.  Gavin (or Huggy as he prefers to be called) met a lovely young lady in line for the slide ride.  We had a hard time getting him away from her when it was his turn to get in a cart.

An old car back in the Highlands

Kids

Leaves on a stick.  Not found naturally occurring in nature in this manner - by Jack-Boy

Our chalet - home for the weekend

Huggy and the 'nice Russian girl' he met

ET airborne over a jump at the bike park

Pine Car Racers for the SCBC Grand Prix

The three boys made pine car racers for the Grand Prix at Stoney Creek again this year.  They spent a good amount of time drawing the shapes.  I cut the shapes out of the wood blocks and turned the boys loose in Poppa's workshop with the belt sander, drill press and sandpaper.  They shaped and smoothed the wood until they were happy with it.  Or, in the case of Half-Pint, until he was distracted by other things.

Nice clock frame around your neck, son.

LP making the final preparations to the body of his pine car racer.

Forget working on the car - playing in sawdust is way more fun.

 They painted their cars and the kitchen table.  They cleaned most of the paint off the table and themselves.  I helped them install the wheels and they were then ready to race.

I present to you The Slug, LP's dark grey F1-based car.  However, true to it's name, it was not fast.
Next was LP's second car, a white Porsche 911-styled body.  It looked very realisitc.  It even won a couple of heats.  I'm convinced it would have done better if there were a couple of turns in the track!

Brother KP's car was not a car.  It was called 'The Coffin'.  The shape was a dead give-away (sorry, that was a bad pun).  One design feature he really wanted was 'Speed Holes'.  Basically, large holes drilled straight through front to back, and on an angle front to back on the sides.  Apparently, Speed Holes don't make coffins very competitive on a short track.

Lastly, Half-Pint's car.  It was colourful - even the entire wheel was painted.  That also included the mounting holes.  Blobs of dried paint do not allow wheels to turn and roll smoothly.  It never won a race. In fact, the only car it beat all day was - - - The Slug!  Maybe next year we will discuss friction and coefficients of drag before we start painting.

Pinewood car creations - The Slug, a Porsche 911, The Coffin (with 'Speed Holes') and I'm not quite sure what Half-Pint's car is called.  Extra weights had to be added to them all on race day, as you can see.

Men's Algonquin Adventure

The men's group from church went to Whitefish Lake in Algonquin Park for a late September weekend adventure.  There was some canoeing, hiking and lots of eating.  There was some good discussion and challenges put forth, too.

The weather was the best the area had experienced all summer:  warm, cloudless skies, leaves in full autumn colour, no bugs... simply, PERFECT!!  

Here are a few pictures from the area.

A quick and hearty shore lunch

A couple of pictures from the lookout on a hiking trail

Amazing view.

Oh look, caught a lake trout!

How cool is this - a cold water baptism.

 Oh, one more thing...

A powerful drawing by Bruce MacKinnon of the Chronicle Herald in Halifax; in memory of Cpl. Cirillo.

Whether or not you consider the cowardly acts of a lone gunman to be a terrorist act or not, anyone that puts on a uniform for our country and loses their life while performing their duties, they are a hero.  Corporal Cirillo pledged his life for our country.  He just happened to have it called upon that day in Ottawa.  The same with WO Patrice Vincent.


RIP Corporal Nathan Cirillo and Warrant Officer Patrice Vincent.
Thanks to all our serving soldiers and veterans.