Our Trip to St. John's, Newfoundland

Hi All,

Jeff and I are back from St. John's. We were there from Sunday to Thursday (yesterday) so we are pretty tired today. It was a great trip. The conference went very well and my paper seemed to go over well with the right people so that is always good. We also got to do some actual touristy stuff which I thought I would share with everyone (no pictures of the conference--I know you are all terribly disappointed, but try to contain your sadness!).

We arrived on Sunday and it was very warm and humid. We wandered around the downtown for a while (by the harbour and on Duckworth and Water which are the main streets through the downtown--Water is the oldest steet in North America). Words like "quaint" and "picturesque" kept popping up. It is very hilly and steep and the roads are all curvy--much like England (big shock considering when it was founded and by whom). We were pretty lazy that evening--another walk and dinner at the hotel which was nice.

Monday was a conference day so we didn't do much beyond that. We had wanted to go on a boat tour out to the ocean to see whales and icebergs but the weather on Tuesday (the only day we could go given the conference schedule) was too cold and the water turned choppy and the fog rolled in--so they cancelled (plus we are about a month too early for icebergs so there wouldn't have been much to see). Jason, a friend from Calgary who was also there for the conference, was disappointed as he had hoped to see the baby delivered on the high-seas by Newfie fishermen but it didn't happen. Instead, he decided to rent a car and we went sight-seeing. We went up to Signal Hill instead (which has the Cabot Citadel on it). It is very high up and a great vantage point from which to see the city. Here is a picture of me and Jeff with a fishing boat coming in in the background. You can see the fog/low-clouds behind our heads. It was very cold.

This is a close up of the fishing boat entering the narrows into the St. John's Harbour with the quaint and picturesque light-house village in the background (you can see how those words kept cropping up to describe things).

After Signal Hill, we decided to drive out to Cape Spear which is the eastern-most point of North America. As you can see from the pictures, it is incredibly cold and windy (at this point we were all glad not to be out on a boat). But, it was a pretty amazing view and we can now say that we have been as far east as the North American continent will allow.

There were also some WWII bunkers there that Jeff and Jason thought were really cool--I thought they looked pretty grim and it must have been a terrible duty to be manning a bunker on Cape Spear in January (though possibly still better than being deployed in France!). The last photo on this posting is the view from the bunker--pretty grim, even in May!

Following is another post with some more pictures to finish off our trip. All-in-all, a good time was had by all and Jeff and I were glad to get one last pre-baby trip in.

More Pics From St. John's

Here are some more pictures from our trip to St. John's.

This is me on Signal Hill on Tuesday--I am 35 Weeks here and definitely not able to "hide it" anymore. The next is the view of the harbour from Signal Hill. It was quite windy and chilly on Tuesday but the view was amazing.

These next two are the views from our hotel room on the last day. The top one shows "The Rooms" which is the name of the provincial museum and gallery--that is the beige and red-roofed building to the left of the grey church towers. Jeff and I walked up there on Thursday morning--it is all up-hill going there (down-hill on the way back) and is about 3km round-trip so it was a bit of a hike for a pregger-girl but it wasn't too bad. It was a beautiful day--sunny and warm so the walk was a nice way to end our trip.

The next is the view of the harbour from our room. It was really nice to be within walking distance of everything downtown and we got to see a lot of stuff.

This one is me being silly--I decided to take a profile shot of myself in the mirror on the last day. I am 35 Weeks and 2 days here and am pretty big, I think. Or, as Jeff says "Good Lord woman, you're as big as a house!".

So, that was our trip to "The Rock." It was a great trip and we had fun--now we will just sit home and wait for baby to arrive.

The Crib--It's All Coming Together

Hello Everyone,

Not much is new since we are back home. We have mainly been working on getting things done before Babelette arrives. We finally got the crib--I had a hormonal-stubborn moment and insisted on the cherry stain (which of course they didn't have in stock and didn't know when they were getting) so we had to wait a few days. But, we got the crib and mattress delivered and then set it up (mainly Jeff--I just helped a little). It was not terribly complicated but the pre-drilled holes don't always seem to match up the way you think they should. So, here are a couple of pictures of the crib with the mobiles from my shower and a little bear outfit from Gramma Lin (Jeff's Mom).

Other than that, the only new thing is that I either have a cold or am really allergic to something out here--since it is Spring, I am thinking allergies. A friend said that when she moved out here, she discovered that she is horribly allergic to Maple trees--which there aren't a lot of on the Prairies--so it is probably something like that. It is pretty sucky though. Oh well. It is nice out today so we are off for a walk.

Trip Home (April 30--Almost 32 Weeks)

Here are some photos from our recent trip home. It was great to see everyone again and I was so happy that my sister, Susan, was able to come out and see us.

Jeff and Alison--Almost 32 Weeks.
The extended clan--looking good!

Mom and her girls!

Shower Part 2

Here are some more photos from the Shower.

Here I am holding the wonderful Winnie the Pooh mobile.

These two are of me holding Lily who was such a cutie. I am 30 and 1/2 weeks at the shower so you can see my baby belly is growing steadily.

This rattle is from Arda--it was one of Lily's favourites and it has all sorts of different textures and sounds so it will entertain baby (and Jeff) for hours to come.


Winnie the Pooh Socks--we love Winnie the Pooh but I don't think we had told anyone that so all the themed items seem very serendipitous.









Again, thank you to everyone for the wonderful day and all the presents--baby will get a lot of use out of every item she/he received and Mom and Dad certainly appreciate everything. Stay tuned for pictures of items with baby in July!!

Baby Shower

On Friday, my friends from school threw a baby shower. It was wonderful to see everyone and to see how the babies have grown. Thank you to everyone who was there--and to those who were unable to come but were there in spirit. Here are some photos from the shower--I had a great time and I hope everyone else did too! I may have to put these up in more than one set as I seem able to only put 5 photos up on a posting.



This is me holding Lily and the sleeper set from Carolyn.




Here I am with the Winnie the Pooh bedtime book and the Winnie the Pooh in Latin that Nicole sent. These are great and will be read often to the baby.



Here we have cute little Lily and Sean--who seemed quite entranced with each other.





This is the beautiful blanket that Luisa made for baby--it is so soft and cuddly and I just know it will become a favourite.

Easter Snow!!

HAPPY EASTER!!!

Well, Easter Sunday arrived with a bang--we got about 25cm of snow overnight so we woke to a winter wonderland in April!! I think this is the most snow we have received all at once all year. As you can see from the photos, it is very snowy. It is also very windy (gusting in places between 90 & 120 kmh). Since everything is closed out here today, we are glad we set in provisions yesterday and don't have to leave the house.



This is the view of the houses from our dining room window--they were completely covered in snow when I took this photo this morning--at noon it is all starting to melt off.



This is the view of the park from our window--full of snow which people and their dogs seemed to be enjoying--it is hard to believe it was clear and green yesterday. As you can see from the next couple of images, the view from street level is pretty snowy too. The upside is that they actually clear the streets and sidewalks here. When we got out of the movie last night (we went and saw The Shooter with friends which was an entertaining but predictable film with some not-too-subtle commentary on the state of American democracy) the city had teams of snow plows out trying to keep ahead of the snow. But, it is still pretty warm even with all the snow and they spray salt--a lot of salt--so the roads are clear.



The view from the front of our building--I don't know if you can make out the swirling snow but it was pretty impressive to look at.



Other than the snow, not much is new. The baby is VERY kicky--little mister or missy is having quite the aerobic sessions and Jeff can see my belly jump from across the room which is entertaining for everyone concerned. All is well on that front and we don't really have much to report--we have been doing our prenatal classes and have our last two (labour and delivery) this week and next so we are looking forward to those. I have been feeling great and Jeff is planning all sorts of sessions where Daddy and Baby watch the Tour de France coverage together--here's hoping I don't go late and then he will have to choose between the Tour and the birth!

The only other new thing is that we finally got curtains for the living room and bedroom (we never bothered to get any when we moved in but the western sun in the afternoon can be pretty strong--obviously not today but it has been very sunny before this). I am sure that is terribly interesting to everyone so I have put up a photo.

That's all for now. Hope you are all having a great and relaxing Easter Sunday.