and finally...PEI!!!

The adventure continues! After leaving our family reunion, we headed to Prince Edward Island for a few days. Here I am welcoming you!
We drove across the Confederation Bridge....so cool! It's pretty long, takes close to 10 mins to cross, but a nice, easy way to get to the island. They should definitely consider building a bridge like this between Vancouver and Victoria....

Driving across the bridge

A nice scenic photo of some PEI landscape

Out for dinner one night, we discovered you could actually get beer in a jug this size! We opted to tone it down and just go for a pitcher instead...

We visited the parliament buildings in Charlottown...this is some room where they meet to talk about politics (i really know what i'm talking about, don't i?!!)

Ah yes....what PEI is famous for....Anne of Green Gables!

We walked through the house, and my brother discovered that the doorways are pretty short!

And here we are infront of the famous house

And my dad taking us for a carriage ride...lol

And then it's off to COWS, the makers of some well known ice cream...and let me tell you, it was DELISH! I had some coffee flavoured ice cream and it was sooooooo good!!!Chillin' with the cow...

Off to the beach! A nice lighthouse and some soft sand made this quite a pleasant outing!

My brother, running up the dunesAnd now I am at the top of the dunes looking down at my family...it's a pretty good distance, i'd say

This was our final night on PEI. We found this great lighthouse at a place called Pt. Prim and hung out there for quite a while to take some pictures....i made my family stay there until the sun went down so that we could see the sunset...it was amazing! i don't think these last photos need too much explanation, so enjoy!!

Well there you have it....the highlights from my trip out east. From PEI we took the ferry back to Nova Scotia for a couple of days and then I flew back to BC and real life began again...sigh...i love being on holidays...

New Brunswick

Welcome to part 2 of the trip - New Brunswick. You may be interested to know that New Brunswick did not have a very good welcome sign as we drove into the province. At the Info Center I enquired about this and they agreed that they should have a better "welcome to our province" sign. I was told that any comments or suggestions I had would be delievered to the Premier himself, so of course i wrote the Premier a little note. Here I am standing against the wall of the info center, showing you which province we're in:
Hopewell Rocks is known for its "Flowerpot Rocks" and at low tide you can go walk on the ocean floor. They ring a bell to let you know when you have to begin making your way to higher ground in order to not get swept away by the tides.

We stayed in a town called Sussex and they have some cool murals painted on the sides of buildings all around town. In this first picture, my dad and brother decided to be a part of the painting...imitating the father and son who are actually painted into the picture...kinda hard to tell who's real and who's painted unless you look for it!

Covered bridges...one of my favorite things about New Brunswick

don't get a fine....read the sign...lol!! This cracked me up!

After a few days of sightseeing it was off to enjoy the MAIN reason we actually went to the maritimes......TARR FAMILY REUNION!!!! The Tarr Family, my mom's paternal side, get together every so often to reunite. We got together 3 years ago (after a very long absence in "official" reunions, about 15ish years to be exact) and decided we needed to do this every 3 years, so this summer it was time again.

We stayed at the Fairmont Algonquin at St. Andrews-by-the-Sea

The first night we had a nice lobster feast down on the beach...see the lobsters preparing to meet their death....

The buffet spread
My cousins, Jennifer and Jamie

Me and my lobster...do you like my bib??!!
Our family reunions aren't complete without a croquet tournament. Here, my cousin Susan is helping her daughter - 2 year old Alaina - hit her shot

And of course, family pictures. This is the Alan Tarr side of the family (that's our branch)

And here are all the grandchildren, in chronological age

Good times were had by all!!! Our family reunions are a blast!!

Now off to PEI for some more adventures!!!!

NOVA SCOTIA

you've waited long and hard for some maritime pictures, so here is round one: let's start with Nova Scotia. We (meaning my family and I) began and ended our trip in Halifax. We spent a few days touring around various parts of Nova Scotia, before we made our way up to New Brunswick (NB will be the next posting)
Our first night in Halifax we went to a pub for dinner...beers all around!

Peggy's Cove is one of the most famous things in Nova Scotia. Here are some fishing boats in the village

And the famous lighthouse. It was quite foggy the day we were there (as you can tell) but it was still very beautiful, and there weren't too many people around

My brother, dad and I posing for a shot
hee hee....this sign cracked me up...no "deer crossing" signs for them...!!

Some boats in a harbour, a pretty classic east coast scene i think



This is Acadia University in Wolfville, NS. My grandma grew up in Wolfville and graduated from Acadia sometime in the 1940s, which is pretty cool considering not many women even went to University back then.

The maritimes are known for their red mud. Here, we're watching the tide come in, but you can sort of see a bit of the mud flats (beside the walkway) that remain when the tide has gone out

This is a tidal bore (i think that's how you spell it) which is a pretty cool phenomena. The crest of water you see is the result of the outflowing river water meeting (and being overtaken) by the inflowing rising tide

This is back in Halifax, up at the Citadel, a national historical site. It's a great big fortress that was built years ago to protect the city from intruders. Every day they shoot off the cannon at noon, so we stuck around to hear the loud BOOM!

The citadel is a wall within a wall within a wall and from the inside, when you peer over the edge down towards the city, it's a pretty big drop....so be careful, like this sign says...!!

And of course, some classic bag pipers

winnipeg...part 2

well the other reason i went to winnipeg was because my friend Anna was getting married. We have known each other since Grade 8 and i had the priviledge of being one of her bridesmaids! After a few days at the lake, Pam and i headed back into the city because i had "bridesmaid duties" to attend to and it worked out well because Pam spent the rest of the week visiting her various relatives that live in the Winnipeg area. I don't have a ton of pictures from the wedding, but here are a few:

update and more update

ok ok, summer holidays took priority over blogging...sorry, i'm very sorry. well now i have a whole lot of things to update you on, so be patient over the next few days as i post and post again!

So towards the end of July, my best friend Pam and I headed to Winnipeg for a week. The first part of the week was spend at my cabin near Kenora, Ontario. The weather was REALLY hot, so it was awesome to be at the lake. here are a few pics of our relaxing couple of days.

This is my cabin

I bet you didn't know that pam and i are synchronized swimmers, too. here we are sporting some of our best moves.

We headed into Kenora one day with my parents. what you need to know about Kenora is that it is famous for the big fish statue as you drive into town. His name is Husky the Musky.

Pam and I got up really early one morning and went canoeing because i wanted to shoot some pictures of the sunrise. The next couple of pics are from that morning.

This first pic is my new little experiment that i'm trying to master (which you will see appear in other photo collections to come) - taking pics using my sunglasses and their reflection.

sunrise

looking out over the lake before the sun even comes up (so...very...early...)

So there's a brief synopsis of our few days. I have more pictures posted on Facebook, so if you want, check out my page there.

sigh...

no matter how good my intentions are, i can never pull together some consistent posting on here! i read other blogs all the time, and then neglect my own....sigh...

Anyway, life is good!!! We're having a heat wave, which i'm loving (for the most part...wishing i was at the lake instead of here but whatevs) and I go on holidays in a week and a half!

To update you from a month ago: well as you clearly saw in my last post, I had finished writing my thesis. Two weeks later, I had to defend it, which was a whole other stressful experience in itself, but it went smashingly well and now it's all done!! I'm just finishing up one last online course (which hardly counts as a course at all, if you consider the effort i'm investing...lol) but really, in my mind, I should start signing "MA" after my name right now...lol

I also got my very first paycheck today!!!!! woo hooooooo!! For most of the summer, I will be covering holidays for various counselors at both the men's treatment center (where i did my practicum) and the affiliated women's treatment center. Last week i worked with the women, and this week i'm back with the men. Next week i take on the women again...and then i go on holidays! In august i will be with the men for about 3 weeks. It's great to be working, and actually making money doing something i enjoy!!

Like i said, I am about to go on holidays. I will be in Winnipeg for a week, spending a few days at the lake and then as a bridesmaid for a good friend. Then my family and I are spending 2 weeks on the east coast. We will be in New Brunswick for the long weekend (1st weekend in august) for a good old fashioned family reunion. This event will be a blast, let me tell you...our family knows how to have a good time! I will definitely post pics of the highly competitive events such as beach volleyball and croquet :) After the reunion, we will tour around Nova Scotia and PEI before flying back westerly. I am most excited!

So never fear, more posts shall follow, complete with pictures. Until then....happy sunshine!!