WE BOUGHT A MOTORYACHT
WE BOUGHT A MOTORYACHT
Yes, we will be boating again this Fall and Winter! We have bought a Jefferson Motoryacht and will share it all on our new blog. http://www.shannonandpaul.blogspot.ca/ Look forward to the Bahamas this winter once again!  
CANADIAN MAJESTIC MOUNTAINS
CANADIAN MAJESTIC MOUNTAINS
We so enjoyed Revelstoke, B.C. with its wonderful ski resort that we stayed at. Onward we travelled to Banff, Alberta. This is a gem about 1 1/2 hours west of Calgary right in the Rocky Mountains. This is a ski…
PICNIC AND GIANTS
PICNIC AND GIANTS
  Off we leave Sacramento for a leisurely drive through Napa (think.. WINE COUNTRY). We took a scenic route and off the beaten path to see vineyards and different wineries. Paul and I travel with a plug-in cooler and we…
VANCOUVER TO ONTARIO
VANCOUVER TO ONTARIO
Hello everyone! We flew to Vancouver Island Friday May 9th and spent time there with my parents…. a very special 80th birthday for my Dad. We brought along son, wife and 7 month old baby girl! It was so much…

ROAD TRIP OF A LIFETIME!

PAUL AND SHANNON’S TENTATIVE SCHEDULE

 

18th Feb Kissimee to Pensacola 2 nights
20 and 21 Feb New Orleans
22 and 23 Feb Lafayette, LA
24, 25, 26 Feb Corpus Christie TX
27th Lubbock Half way to Santa Fe
28 Feb, 1 March, 2 March Santa Fe, New Mexico White Sands National Monument southwest of Santa Fe
3, 4 March Sedona 6 hr drive from Santa Fe.. Tuscon or Pheonix?Grand Canyon from Sedona via Flagstaff on Hwy 89 is Cameron, good shopping and silver
5 and 6 March Grand Canyon 2 hr drive
7, 8, 9th March Las Vegas 4hrs from G.C.
10, 11 and 12th San Diego 5 hrs from Las Vegas
Thursday 13th March Carmel 7hrs from San DiegoOn coast to Carmel is Solvang, wine country.
14, 15, 16th San Francisco 2 hrs from CarmelTake a toll road through Pebble Beach, great place for pictures
17, 18, 19th Side trips to Napa and Sonoma
20th March Eureka California North of Eureka is the Redwood Trees, a side trip to see, stay in Crescent City?
21st March Portland Depoe Bay on way to Portland, whale watching even from shore, may be interesting to stay there
22, 23, 24 Seattle, WA
25th March To Vancouver!!
Then take ferry to Chemainus on Vancouver Island Spend time with my parents! Fly home from there and then fly back in May to pick up car.

Hello friends, family and followers….. we are going on the trip of our lifetime! We have no boat to worry about, no children to worry about and no parents to worry about. All is good! Please see above our tentative schedule, we sure could use advise on where/what to see and do, if you know of a special place we should go to, a special restaurant we should eat at or a place to avoid… please advise us. We sure appreciate anything as this is a trip we have never done before. We are flying to Vancouver Island in May for my Dad’s special birthday with our son Ben, wife Sam and baby Lucy, they will fly home but we will continue across Canada through the Rockies. Keep coming here for pictures!

Shannon Uncategorized

VISITED OTHER COUNTRIES

Here we are in sunny (and cool) Florida and there is much to see and do. Today we played tourist and visited many countries. How is that possible? Here in Orlando there is a theme park The Epcot Center. This is part of the Disney family and we are staying only 15 minutes away. So off we went with our sweaters and jackets this morning to this theme park. We have heard great stuff, how awesome it is, wear good walking shoes and visit The World Showcase. They have themes on nine different countries. Paul and I walked through Mexico, Norway, China, etc. This was a great sampling as we are planning to visit Europe in September.

Paul in China

Paul in China

Germany at Epcot Center, we plan to visit in September

Germany at Epcot Center, we plan to visit in September

 

Look I am in Italy now!

Look I am in Italy now!

Stopped and saw France too!

Stopped and saw France too!

We saw a beautiful 20 minute film on France, it felt like we were soaring over mountains, seascapes and cityscapes. Breathtaking. Hmmmm… I think we should add France to our list of countries to visit in the future.

Nope, I had my cellphone to call our boys, just wanted to be in the "tele" booth in the United Kingdom!

Nope, I had my cellphone to call our boys, just wanted to be in the “tele” booth in the United Kingdom!

We so enjoyed our adventure today, we did a few “rides” if you want to call them that. One we soared over breathtaking vistas in California. We then did a simulated NASA-style launch… we did the easy one! There were so many warnings on the fast one that we thought not.

We are enjoying being down here during this cold spell up north but it is cool down here too …. no pool time for us. We visited friends on the west coast of Florida and now in Orlando. We are heading to Cocoa Beach on Saturday, right on the beach.

EPCOT– Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow

Shannon Uncategorized

SNOWBIRDS

  1. SNOW-BIRD

    a noun

    a northerner who moves to a warmer southern state in the winter

     

    or a bird!

    We are Snowbirds this year! I remember long ago in my younger years I always associated “snowbirds” with older, retired people…. and guess what? We are now those people. Yikes.
    Paul and I don’t have a boat so we are trying to figure out what to do for the winter. We know what we do not want to do and that is stay in brrr cold Ontario for the winter. That leaves us to just go down to a southern state and keep warm. All these “snowbirds” help the Florida economy grow and prosper. We will rent a condo here then a condo there with a few stops in between. We don’t have a schedule, hmmmm this sounds so similar to a boater’s “schedule”. We are basically going to “wing it”. The great advantage is we don’t have to provision for 3 months in advance, we will have unlimited drinking water, electricity is plentiful, Paul will not bump his head in an engine room and the beaches and pools are always nearby. This will be an experience for us and we will keep you all posted as to how we are doing.
    In seriousness, I will post pages relevant to our travels, maybe some unique spots.
    For all you boaters and vacationers, Safe Travels to you all.
Shannon Uncategorized

DRASTIC WEATHER CHANGE

FROM THIS:

Enjoying sun, sand and surf

TO THIS IN ONTARIO!

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and

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This is what a winter wonderland looks like! Of course, if you ski and snowboard, this is a dream come true. Usually we do not have snow like this until after Christmas. The hills are open for business now.

Christmas is just days away and Paul asked me what I wanted for Christmas…. well I got my wish; our boys will be home for the holidays all the way from British Columbia. One son arrived last night at midnight and the other arrives next Friday morning. If they did not come…. it would have been the first Christmas without them. That time will come (later), but I am not ready. The boys are happy to be home to meet their niece for the first time. Our first grandchild was born in October.

You can see we will be having a Very Merry Christmas, we hope that where ever you are… your Christmas is very Merry also.

We travel to Florida next month and do some interesting road trips and excursions. So stay tuned.

“The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree: the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other” — Burton Hillis

 

 

Shannon Uncategorized

TWENTY ONE + TWENTY NINE YEARS EXPERIENCE

Paul and I went to Jamaica to celebrate my birthday. We met friends down there for a few days and had a wonderful time in the sun and sand. When celebrating a birthday, one always wants to be with friends, eat good food and have some great wild fun!

P1050096How does one decide which dessert to have after a Gala Night on the resort? Well, you don’t have to decide, have a few desserts! I say eat dessert first, live a little.

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This tree was awesome at the Couples Sans Souci Resort. We walked everyday to feed the turtles, talk to the tame parrots and sit under this tree.

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This lantern is outside our building at the resort. The vines enjoy it too and creep up on it every night.

We had such a wonderful nine days vacationing with friends and now we are back in Florida for a few more days. I get to be with some girlfriends before we head to snow in Ontario.

Prayer for turning 50:
God grant me the senility
to forget the people I never liked,
the good fortune to run

into the people I do,
and the eyesight to tell the difference.

Shannon Uncategorized

SPECTACULAR!

Friday we visited the Kennedy Space Center. This place is awesome! We were excited to see Atlantis there and it was worth the visit!

 

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This Is an “EXPERIENCE” museum trip, this is such a memorable experience for us. We got emotional as we experienced the Atlantis “show”. We are so happy we did this excursion and recommend this to everyone. Some people may have seen Kennedy Space Center before now, come back and see it again with Atlantis there.

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Saturn V

The American Eagle is an amazing creature. Near Kennedy Space Center is Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. This Island “hosts” many animals, birds and others on many acres of land. We passed an eagle’s nest that weighed over 300lbs! That is right! This has been a nest for the same couple for over 35 years, with 90 bald eagles’ babies. This nest seemed to be the highlight on the trip to see Saturn V from the Visitor’s Centre. We highly recommend this visit.

“THE SKY CALLS TO US”

Carl Sagan

Shannon Uncategorized

WALKING TOURIST IN SAVANNAH, GEORGIA

Beautiful!

Beautiful!

We have driven down here specifically to visit Savannah. We have heard about how beautiful this old city is and how wonderful it is to walk around. I took many unique pictures of this city and thought sharing this post visually may be best. It is wonderful staying right downtown and being able to walk outside from the lobby and continue walking. Our car is parked for a day or two as we exercise our legs.

Canadian Goose Peeking

Canadian Goose Peeking

A Very Unique Downspout

A Very Unique Downspout

Old Brickwork at the River

Old Brickwork at the River

Beautiful Wagon of Flowers

Beautiful Wagon of Flowers

Once upon a time there was a coastal bluff above a river that flowed steadily towards the Atlantic Ocean. In 1733, when General James Oglethorpe arrived on the scene, he not only built a colony in the name of England’s King George II, he also transformed the area into one of the world’s most beautiful cities. 

 

Shannon Uncategorized

I HELD AN ANGEL

I held an angel in my arms today,

A precious babe snuggled against my breast.

And my heart was overwhelmed with so much love,

As she lay contentedly at rest.

I watched her as she slept so soundly,

Gazed at her cherub face in sweet repose.

I marveled at her tiny features,

Like her perfect dainty ears and button nose.

I brushed my lips against her downy head,

Her skin like velvet to my touch.

I gave thanks to God above for His priceless blessing

Of this little angel girl I love so much.

The birth of our first grandchild has awakened,

A joy that my soul cannot contain.

From day one my heart’s been stolen by her,

But you won’t be hearing me complain!

–author unknown

lucy 1

Shannon Uncategorized

LEFTOVERS ARE IN OUR FRIDGE

We are officially “empty nesters”. Our last two sons moved out on the same day. What I mean by moving out is literally, moved out! When your child goes off to college or university somehow their room is still there for them on weekends and holidays. (psst, they really are not OUT yet). Our two last sons (ages 20 and 22) literally packed up a VW Jetta and a friend’s truck (he went too) with everything they value and drove across Canada …….. 4 provinces, to Beautiful British Columbia! When they left it was not a shock because they spoke of it for a year but when it literally happened well, as a mom, I was sad. I was happy too! Does that make sense? I want them to live their dreams but does it have to be both at the same time so so far away??? Thank goodness for cellphones, texting and skype. I am sure others can relate. The good news is: (a) when we have leftovers in the fridge, they are still there the next day, (b) the chocolate chips are still there for baking and (c) I love that we do not have work boots, shoes and various other footwear in the mudroom area and I must say my 12 pack of Diet Pepsi seems to last a very long time. Oh, how we love our children and gripe a bit when they are older but oh how we miss them terribly when they are gone so far away!

“Our children are only ever lent to us. We never know how long we will be able to keep them for. So kiss them, cuddle them, praise them & hold them tightly. But most of all……. tell them you love them…..”

 

Shannon Uncategorized