Thanksgiving in the Carribean

We spent Thanksgiving on a Carribean cruise on a quasi family reunion. There were 14 of us in all and we had a great time. There were lots of things to do on the boat and of course food everywhere we looked. We stopped at Aruba, Curacao, St. Maartens, and St. Thomas. On one of our beach days an iguana (shown here) visited/terrorized us for about an hour. Another day, Maddie went swimming with dolphins (click here for photos).

Every day around 6pm we met up at a pub called the Duck and Dog for a drink or two before dinner. We corrupted many of the family members by teaching them to play roulette and had a wonderful and relaxing time. Click here to see more photos.

Stonehenge

We made a side trip from Bath to see Stonehenge. It was a suitably rainy, windy, grey day, but I did not feel any sense of magic or mystery like I thought I might. Once I started thinking about how the hell they got the stones here, the engineering involved with erecting them and the cool stuff about how they were positioned to line up with solstice sunrises and sunsets, it was pretty cool. Click here for some more photos. It probably would have been more fun if there were people dressed up in fairy costumes and stuff, but it was still a nice little side trip.

Bath, England

We spent a few days in Bath and had a great time. It is a beautiful little city on the river Avon (shown in the photo here). We visited the Roman baths and saw original pipes and stonework from over 2000 years ago. We also had tea at the Pump Room, wandered around to see the sites and enjoyed speaking and shopping in English. We also made a side trip to Stonehenge, Windsor Castle and London to see Wicked.  Click here for photos

We stayed at a bed and breakfast called Badminton Villa. Steve and Heather were awesome hosts and every morning they fed us a fantastic breakfast and then gave us great tips for planning the day ahead. Their dog Tilly was fun too (she likes to climb trees).

Autumn in Belgium

We have been enjoying the autumn weather in Belgium. We rode rail bikes (little railroad cars fitted with bicycle pedals), visited the Maradsous abbey, and spent some time in the forest. Click here for more photos. I hope winter holds off a little longer.

Last Minute Trip to Paris

At the last minute, I decided to go to Paris for the day to see Chad, ID and my aunt Geri. They were celebrating my aunt’s birthday and staying in a nice apartment in the Marais neighborhood. We sent to the Eiffel tower, had lunch in a street cafe, sat by the fountains at the Centre Pompidou, came back to the apartment for some wine and cheese and then had a great dinner at a restaurant called Chez Janou. The night ended with a wine-fueled call to Geri’s son Scott (Chad’s brother and my cousin). Click here to see pictures of the trip and a video of the phone call.

Maddie’s 9th Birthday

Maddie had her friends over for Twister, trampoline jumping, the blindfolded shoe game, charades and lots of fun on a beautiful day. We had tacos for dinner and of course an ice cream birthday cake. Click here for more photos.

Playing Outside

Maddie had lots of chances to play outside before school started. She took full advantage of the trampoline and invited her friends to play in the park down the street. Click here for more photos.

Mackinaw Island

The Windblown Look

Maddie and I met up with my high school friend Matt and his daughter Maggie and spent the day on Mackinaw Island. We took the ferry to the island in very thick fog that made the trip a little eerie. The fog didn’t stop the wind though (see photo insert).

There are no motor vehicles allowed on the island, so we took a horse drawn carriage for a tour. We had front row seats which seemed like a great idea until we realized that the horses are powered by “gas engines”.  Sarge, our trusty steed, had an explosion about every ten minutes and left some bigger souvenirs on the road too.

Gasping for air, we switched to tandem bikes and rode around the coast of the island.  We stopped to explore a cave, hike next to a stream, wade along the beach and make a stone sculpture.  And of course we had to get some fudge.

The island is famous for fudge and has 17 fudge shops to prove it.  We stopped once for ourselves and the fudge-makers gave us a free sample of the hot, gooey loaf that they were working on.  They dumped it right into our hands, but we didn’t mind.  Later, we were getting some more fudge to bring back as gifts and started chatting with the fudge-makers.  They told us that they can make about 1000 pounds of fudge on a busy day while flipping the hot fudge up off the marble to make cool designs in the air.  Before we left, they gave us a box of all the “crusts” that they can’t sell (about 3 pounds of fudge).  We munched on fudge the whole ferry ride back and then went to the swimming pool to work some of it off.

The girls (and boys) had a great time and we hope to make it an annual tradition.  Click here for more photos from the island.

Northern Michigan

View From Mimi and Papa B’s Pool

Maddie and I spent a week in Northern Michigan with my parents. this is where I grew up and I still think it is one of the prettiest areas I have visited. The photo shown is from the pool in my parent’s neighborhood. The area is somewhat famous for its sunsets too. Click here to see why.

I took some other photos from around town as we played putt-putt and had an early birthday party for Maddie. I also took a lot of photos of us playing in the pool. There was no lifeguard so we could jump and splash all we wanted.

The highlight of the trip was probably a day on Mackinaw Island. Click here for the details.

Charlotte and Atlanta

Maddie and the Wards and the Varsity

We set off for our annual US vacation about a week after Maddie’s school let out. We landed in Charlotte and spent time with family, went out with some of Steph’s high school friends, went to Katie’s 1st birthday party and spent a lot of time at the pool.

We went to Atlanta for a weekend to see the Stockfields and the McGaugheys (no they weren’t feuding 😉 We also got to spend the afternoon with our friends the Wards who had just moved back from Belgium. The photo shown here is from that Atlanta institution The Varsity. We got to see the aquarium too which was really cool.

On the last week of the trip, Maddie and I went to Michigan to see my parents. Click here for more photos from Charlotte and Atlanta.