Tonight at youth group the kids dressed up in 80's attire. Hunter is the one is the denim jacket and my old Oakley shades that I wore in high school.
Many know I work for Carnival Corporation - The cruise travel company. Many don't know that they actually have 9 different cruise brands around the world (Carnival Cruise lines is only one of these brands) with over 100 cruise ships. This month I had to do an extended two week trip to research two ships in the Holland America brand which first had me going to the east coast of Canada followed by a second week on a different ship to Alaska out of Seattle. I traveled with my work colleague and from LA - Ryan Fiorentino.
Here are a few pic's from the trip out east.While we worked a lot, we did try to get off a little at the different ports. Since the cruise started out of Montreal QC, I was able to get together with a couple of old friends of mine - Roger Berthelot and Elise Lacoste who are first met and worked with at my first job out of university - Deloitte Consulting in Ottawa. (first pic l-r Daniel (Elise's fiance, Elise, Roger, me), second pic me, Roger, Ryan on Mount Royal overlooking Montreal)
We sailed out of Montreal on Saturday Sept 9. First stop was Quebec City on Sept 10. A beautiful city that felt like Europe. First picture is the world famous Chateau Frontenac. The pano shot from the deck of the ship is taken along the St. Laurence river North east of Quebec city.
Sep 11 had us in Prince Edward Island for the day. We took a few hours off to rent a car and drive around the center part of the island. We were on a quest for fresh PEI muscles and we found them at a little place on the north shore in the middle of the island in a town called new Glasgow. Picture below is on the south coast with PEI's famous red mud cliffs at Argyle shore Provincial Park.
Sept 12 had us calling on Sydney Nova Scotia. We were working most of the day but did get off for a 30 min walk around the harbor as the weather was simply spectacular. Warm sun with a cool breeze. Exactly what you want in an early fall day in September. Second picture is from the ship as we made our way east from Sydney with the water like glass.
Sept 13 had us landing in Halifax Nova Scotia. While the ship was sailing on to Bar Harbor Maine and then to Boston, Halifax was our exit point for this journey. Friday September 14 I was flying back to Seattle to catch the next ship so spend an afternoon exploring Halifax. Again - simply beautiful weather.
Picture list:
1. - coming into the port of Halifax in the morning.
2,3 - Halifax Public Gardens
4 - View from the Citadel (old fort built by the british)
5 - Guard on duty at the Citadel... no talking or interaction with this guy
6,7,8 - The Halifax public library - an amazing piece of architecture. Not the 'piece' jutting out and overhanging. The picture of me inside the library if a seat in the corner sticking furthest out where I spent some time relaxing.
9 - A beer at the Halifax Alehouse - established in 1717.
This is the first year that we have just one soccer player. Abbie is continuing with Irish dance and Hunter has decided to run cross country with middle school. That leaves Noah to play soccer. He still loves to play the game. He is a great player and it's always fun watching him play. Go Volcanoes!!
We have a 6th grader, a 4th grader, a 3rd grader and a kindergartener. Hard to believe!!!
The kids gave their teachers apples and carmel as a first day treat. Notice there are a lot of apples. Hunter started middle school so he has more than one teacher this year. 🍎
First day back! And this year Kelly is starting part time at the school so was also part of the back to school crew today.
We decided to get out of smokey Bend for the day and head up to East Lake. We have had so many fires in Oregon the last couple of weeks that the blue sky was something we have missed. We went up to the lake with our friends the Bercots. We had a fun day and didn't return home until bed time.
I thought I might to try and drive 'up' to get out of the smoke. I drove up to Newberry Crater south of Bend. I was smoky as I drove up but broke out of the smoke just as I neared the top and had great blue sky!
I did and 8 mile hike around the perimeter of Paulina Lake (1 of 2 lakes in the crater). It was great to get out after being cooped up in the house this whole week.
The pictures of me in the water are natural hot spring along the shore of the lake.
With all the fires burning in the southern part of the state, air quality is now hazardous. This is the view out our back window putting visibility at under half a mile. The second two picks show the smoke levels across the state. Looks like we will be inside watching movies and playing games on this Labor Day weekend before school starts.
Bend Oregon was very close to the 'Path of Totality' for the Aug 21, 2017 total eclipse of the sun that was crossing the entire United States. By staying home we would have seen 99+% coverage, but hey, we were less than 20 miles from being in the direct path. I thought it was worth it to brave whatever traffic issues there might be to see a complete 100% total eclipse. Everything I had read also indicated there was a BIG difference between partial and full. Kelly wasn't so sure, and when I was rousing everyone at 6 am to get ready to drive, she definitely wasn't sure.
So off we went! Left the house at 7 am, and took some back roads over to Prineville. There were lots of people out and set up to watch but no traffic issues... I had staked out a local park with a grassy field that might be a good place to go. No camping so day use only, and we got there and it was all clear! Great spot - big grassy area for the kids to play on until it was time. We road-tripped over with the Lovejoy's. Sue (Kelly's mom) was also visiting as was a friend of Abbie's - Aislyn.
While we were waiting for the event to start we cooked breakfast on the camp stove. Coffee, eggs, bacon and strawberries.
After breakfast we started getting geared up for the eclipse. You can see my elaborate contraption to take a photo with my Iphone utilizing a pair of the eclipse glasses as a solar filter.
Here are a few shots from my Iphone as the Sun moved through partial phase. As we got closer to totality the temperature dropped - probably 10 degrees.
Here is a video that shows how it went from light to dark.
We were in the path of Totality for about 1:07 seconds based on our location. It was so worth it to see the full coverage. Watching the moon fully blot out the sun through the eclipse glasses, and then being able to take the glasses off was probably one of the most amazing natural events I have ever witness. Everyone agreed it was amazing. All the wildlife was off kilter. No bird sounds and then they started flying around after it started getting light again.
Here are some shots that do a pretty good job of showing what we saw during totality and just as it started coming out. This has not filter or adjustments on it. Hunter actually used the camera and got the cool shots as the sun started coming around again!
Hard to believe this amazing, beautiful, sweet, fun loving girl is 8 today. Abbie doesn't like cake but loves donuts!!!! Donuts are what she got!
Abbie got her ears pierced for her birthday and she was over the moon excited about it. We had lunch down town with Aislyn, her big 10 year old girl friend. The girls had a fun afternoon walking in and out of shops with Lulu. The day ended with her daddy and brothers joining us for dinner at Red Robin, where Abbie got a hamburger and had happy birthday serenaded to her.
Great day for turing 8! We love you Abbie and you make our family and life so much better.
