Last weekend's mini vacation

Isaac and I went on a tour of a Oahu last weekend as a little vacation to get away from Base. On Friday, we stayed at the Hale Koa, a military-only hotel. The hotel overlooks Waikiki Beach... more or less... depending on how much you pay for the room. More pics on that later. :)
On Sat., we drove around the south and east side of the island, stopping at the Bellows Air Force Station Beach for a short while to build a sand castle. Later, we continued driving up the east coast and around to the north. That night, we stayed at a nice little B&B (with no actual second B... but, you had the kitchen free to cook dinner in at night) located across from Sunset Beach. There were definitely some large waves there! We spent Sat. evening and Sunday morning watching the surfing pros and before heading back to Honolulu. It was a fun weekend over all and I think it was hard for Isaac to go back to work the following Monday. Who wouldn't rather be on the beach?
Here's a map of Oahu: (you have to zoom out a few click to see the whole island)

View Larger MapDriving DirectionsView Bird's Eye

And here is a short slideshow of the trip:

First photo of Hawaii...

Now, I realize I haven't even finished our summer trip yet. I will get to that too, but for starters, here's my first pic of Hawaii. We're on Oahu, just on the outskirts of Honolulu.


A view from our room

We're here until Dec. 11, so I should have some more pics for you later :) I'm off to explore...

Alright, the good news is that I'm still healthy and well... and ready to move on to Marsaille. The bad news is that Isaac took our new laptop with him to Texas so I am unable to finish our trip at this time. I do, however, intend to work on it when I'm in PEI on Thurs., so you if can wait til then, I'd be grateful.
I still love you all, and hope you still love me too :P
I'll bee seeing some of you soon!

Sorry...

I'm sorry to have put the vacation posts on hold without telling you. I've been soo busy with moving. Ahh! Anyway, my intention is to work on posting again tomorrow (Sat.). Looking forward to seeing some of you in a couple of weeks. Much love!!
~ M

Off to Paris we go

As promised, we're continuing our trip to Paris. There was some really beautiful scenery to be seen from the train, as always, and here is one of my favourite of those. It reminds me of a Cezanne or Monet. Love it!

Self portrait. Like my new camera?

Long train rides sure are tiring.

Isaac didn't get any of me sleeping because I had the camera on me most of the time on the train and he didn't want to wake me... which would have ruined the effect. hahaha.

But, sometimes we had good times on the trains too. :D

Finally! PARIS!!
A view from our hotel, through the wrought iron shutters.

And one more before it got too dark :D.

The plan once we got into Paris was to make reservations for a night train to San Sebastian. Try as we might though, there was still nothing available. So, on to plan B. We got Tickets to Marsailles, FR. Due to the lateness of the hour by that point, we didn't get to see much of the city. We stayed at a really nice hotel right across from the train station. That was definitely helpful since we had that 6am train to catch the next morning.
Next Stop: Marsailles.

The long awaited trip to Paris...well, Antwerp

I'm terribly sorry about the long layover. There was a holiday and craziness bringing work stuff home for a week, and on top of that, getting a start on packing up our apartment. Holy cow! Not that I'm trying to make excuses... au contrare, I'm just letting you know what else is going on in our lives since travelling. :)
Now, on to travels: I hope you're not too disappointed in this entry I had more pics of the way to Paris than I thought, so the trip to Paris over 2 posts. Paris itself may be slightly anticlimactic since we were only there for 1 night - long enough to catch a late dinner and some sleep before our train left at 6am the next morning. Before we got to Paris though, we went had lunch in Antwerp, BE.

Antwerp Central Station is such a gorgeous piece of architecture!
Obviously, my picture doesn't do it justice.

Exterior of Antwerp Central Station

A small portion of the city

Writing postcards on the train

We had a long wait in a small town in France on the way to Paris, so we stopped at a cafe for lunch, but they didn't have food, so we had an espresso instead.

At this point, we had been trying to arrange reservations on an overnight train to San Sebastian in Spain, but all the trains to Spain were solidly booked. We decided to wait and try again once we got into Paris.

After that ordeal, the espressos definitely helped to raise our spirits and revive us.
Tomorrow, I promise, we'll be in Paris! :)

Amsterdam, NL

Day 2: Since our previous night's accomodations were pretty lacking in comfort, we went to a travel info centre first thing in the morning to find something new. The lady that helped us was great and ended up getting us a really good deal on a hotel for that night. We went to that hotel to drop off our bags and enjoyed a relaxed lunch before heading out on a canal tour of Amsterdam.Here are some pics of what we saw from that as well as our stop at the Rijksmuseum.

This is what I always pictured when I thought of Amsterdam.

I love these houses. :)

Here is the Koninglijk Theatre where they host famous ballets, operas, plays, etc.

Here's my proof we were there. :) In the background you can see all of the scaffolding around the Rijksmuseum. Unfortunately most of the museum was not open to the public due to the renovations, but they had their "Masterpieces" on exhibit. It was great to be able to see them at least. Vermeer was my favourite.

And us, enjoying Amsterdam.

Tomorrow, we're on our way to Paris!

Alright. Time for a mini series...

I decided to forgo my laundry folding until tomorrow so that I can finally start posting again. I figured you would all appreciate that- and it's been waay overdue.
As many, if not all, of you know, Isaac and I were very recently on a trip abroad. We weren't sure what we were going to do up until the day we left. We got last minute (I mean 5 minutes before the office closed) Global Eurail Passes which allowed us to travel by train in any of the 20 participating countries. That, as it turned out, was a really good investment. So, without further ado, our trip...

Day 1:
We started out our journey by going to Andrew's Airforce Base in MD to catch a flight to Ramstein Airbase, Germany (DE). We flew on a C-17, complete with side-facing flip-down seats. Let's just say it was a long, cold flight, but it was an interesting experience for sure.

We left Andrew's AFB at 12 midnight and arrived at Ramstein AB around 2pm local time (at least, I think so... we didn't have a working clock at that point). From there, we took a taxi to Landstuhl, DE to catch a train to Amsterdam, NL.

We arrived in Amsterdam, NL around 11pm so I didn't take any pics at that time. I did take a couple on the train on the way though.

Next post: Amsterdam, NL

a day off...

Happy belated V-tines Day!
Since it's Presidents Day, Isaac and I both have a day off. He of course is studying and I'm been working on a cross stitch. Lately, I've been wanting to toss aside the cross stich and pic up another of my hobbies like knitting or cardmaking. I feel bad though knowing that someone is depending on me to finish the cross stitch. I'm also afraid that if I abandon it now, I'll leave on the back burner for a while and I guess it might be better in the long run to get it done and over with eh?
Last week we had unseasonably warm weather. It was nice to ditch the jas en sjaal for a few days. It's back to "winter" temps today though and I've heard rumors of snow (that usually means rain here). We'll see what happens, but after last week, I'm excited for Spring to come again.
Last night we had dinner at a friend's with some other couples and we played "Super Scrabble Deluxe". Now that's taking Scrabble to a whole new level! We had a great time together and we'll hopefully hang out again sometime.
I promised Isaac yesterday that I would make him some cinnamon rolls today- I guess now's as good a time as any. I just have to get myself away from the computer. I still want that recipe btw Tante Tetcy. :)
Hope you all have an excellent week!
Love,
~ M

My Grand Trip Abroad

Well.. grand yes, abroad- only in the sense that I left the US. I had a great trip... very uneventful, which, as I've discovered, is preferable. I really enjoyed being back in PEI and with my family. Sometimes one just needs family time, and since my birthday was coming up, it was the perfect excuse. My intention was to surprise my entire family- but that didn't last long since I realised I would need a way to get from Halifax to PEI. So, I told Mom and Dad. I also told Matt and Amanda since I wanted them to come too so that I could visit with them as well. Well, then Pete was in the room when I told Dad of the plan, and Rebecca had to be let in on the secret since it was odd that Mom and Dad would randomly decide to go to Halifax on a friday morning. And I realized then that it is very hard to keep secrets in my family. Oh well. I did manage to surprise Caleb and Damaris, both of whom seemed genuinely surprised. :)
I really enjoyed myself hanging out and chatting, and having fun times with everyone. I sure ate alot too (not that I'm malnourished here or anything). I ended my visit with a dessert party with homemade desserts and all of the relatives . That was fun... and yummy.
I was glad to get back to Isaac again though. He missed me alot I think. We've been back to business as usual here in the last week. Well... sort of. My work was cancelled from Tues.- Fri. because of ice on the driveway. Normally, that wouldn't be as much of an issue, but the driveway is a rather steep hill straight into the house that is our lab. Now that might end disasterously! I didn't complain though. I've had another bout of sinus infection and only today have started feeling better. My doctor says it is this area with its dry winter air. He assured me that one I move from this area, I won't have as much sinus trouble. Until then, I think I will get a vapouriser for our bedroom.

What!

How did 2 weeks just go by since I last posted? I feel like it was just yesterday. I must have been busier than I realized. I was also sick recently and therefore slept alot when I returned from work.
Now, I'm about halfway through my stay here in PEI. I'm having a great time and really enjoying everything. I was going to go see a movie with Maris and Caleb, but for a couple of reasons I'm not going to the theatre. Of course they're disappointed, but I'm trying to arrange a "date with Mary" here in the house. The idea is to make chicken nuggets and fries so that it's like we're at Wendys and pop, popcorn (or chips), and movie candy like we're at the movies. Enjoy all of this in the "Lodge" (a spare room with fireplace and t.v) which is set up with comfy seating. Hopefully the kids will have fun and not be sad that we didn't go to the theatre, and we can have some special memories.
I'm looking forward to it.

P.s. Yay for President Obama!

Boo on Rain!

Where is the snow that is tradionally associated with winter. People keep telling me wait until January hits, then you'll be sorry you asked for snow. Well. It's January... and nothing but rain- the nasty cold stuff that chills you to your bones. I suppose there's still a good portion of January left so I'd better give it a chance :).
3 days into the first week back after a wonderful holiday and work is going well. I got a paycheck yesterday and happily discovered that I actually had a full week (of the 10 days) of paid vacation. I was so surprised since we did get a little Christmas bonus already with the last paycheck. My boss is very generous, and he makes sure that he often tells us how much he appreciates our work. This is soo much better than Michaels.
These days, I've been washing an interesting collection of things. There are alot of broken medicinal bottles on site as one of the more recent occupants(recent being mid-late 1800's) was a doctor who likely had an office inside the house. Some of the bottles are plain, but some of them are very cool because they're pretty colours- amethyst, all shades of aqua, and cobalt and light blue. They would look so neat on a backlit display (once they're reassembled). Some others are cool because they have writing on them. My favourite (one from Monday's washings) so far is a small light-medium aqua bottle with the inscription: "CHAMBERLAIN'S COLIC CHOLERA AND DIARRHŒA REMEDY" "CHAMBERLAIN MED CO" "DES MOINES, IA. U.S.A."
It just amazes me how many quack medicines were out there, and that people actually thought they worked, granted, some probably did. I keep an artifact journal of the more interesting things- especially bottles with text. I scanned the page I made for this bottle, but Blogger isn't letting me upload it (I already resized it to 3.75MB, in case anyone is wondering...) I'll try again later... in the mean time, since I can't even upload a web pic, here's a link to a pic that I found to a bottle like mine... apparently it's being sold for $3... I'm not sure that's worth the shipping price.
well... it turns out that this link doesn't go directly to the pic, but if you're really curious, follow this link and scroll down to item # 1158 .
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.mattsoldhouse.com/MC/bottles/salepics/chamberlain.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.mattsoldhouse.com/MC/bottles/medicine.htm&usg=__ALvXrzjIMWE2N4Xl3EiN8AMzUKc=&h=480&w=360&sz=36&hl=en&start=2&um=1&tbnid=4cGS680vgE0_SM:&tbnh=129&tbnw=97&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dchamberlain%2527s%2Bcolic%2Bcholera%2Bdiarrhoea%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26rlz%3D1T4SUNA_enCA235CA235%26sa%3DG


Anyway, I've decided that I suppose it wouldn't be too hard to post one a week and if I can't think of anything to write, I can always write about an artifact :)
Hope you are all doing well. Love you!!
~ M

So this was Christmas:

I took a few pictures of the tree last night since we are taking it down later today. At least I have a couple of pics from Christmas 2008. We decided not to go overboard on cost this year so most of the ornaments are handmade. Besides that, I think it added a unique quality- simple, yet reflective of us. I enjoyed it while it lasted, but at least I don't have to remember to water the tree now.

Happy New Year everyone!
Well.. it's official. I'm ashamed of myself for not making the time to keep people updated.
It's a new year though. What better time to start afresh?
Christmas was great. Isaac and I both had a 10-day break. We spent alot of time with eachother (to make up for the 2-3 weeks before finals that I didn't see him) and also catching up with family and friends. My favourite thing about the christmas holidays is the time spent with loved ones. I love decorating so that things are gezellig too. :)
Unfortunately, I don't have any Christmas pics. No one in Isaac's family goes around with cameras like many in my family do- in fact, almost no one like to have their picture taken. It's kinda sad because I know down the road when they have families of their own, they'll look back and wish there was at least 1 or 2 pics to show their kids. Even though I've never been one for New Year's Resolutions, maybe I should make one this year. After all, after a few classes in college, I should know how to take pictures. :)

For Curt's birthday (my Father-in-Law) Isaac and I hosted a murder mystery dinner. It was such fun! It took place during the Roaring 20's and everyone (all of Isaac's family) dressed up for it and we stayed in character throughout the meal. It was a great success and we might have to do it again before too long.

New Years was very chill. The weather wasn't so great so we stayed at home and had John Lee over for a visit and to play some games.
Pretty soon our break will be over. I think Isaac is itching to get back to school. He's at the library today working on a paper. I guess I don't blame him. He and I are different in that way- I love breaks and relaxing but he feels much better accomplishing something. When Monday morning comes around though, I'm sure I'll be glad to be getting back to a routine.
We're taking down the tree tomorrow and putting away the decorations for another year. It's a little bit sad when that time comes. But, I always feel a little bit happy knowing that they'll be back out in a year. I think I'll make myself some hot chocolate and enjoy the last of my holiday. I love you all!!
~ Mary