We're Still Here!

Mercedes celebrated her 9th birthday with a Halloween cake and plenty of cousins.

The leaves have fallen and the coasting, snowman building and of course shovelling, has begun. The girls are loving the snow after 2 years without it.

We hope you are all well. Stay tuned...

Summer swimming with the Bluefins Swim Team

September Again. 2009

Another school year begins. We've decided to do things a little differently this time and actually 'home' school. At least mostly. We've got a house needing attention and turtles to look after.

However, we did start the year off with a little road schooling. We took a short trip with Grammy and Boppy to watch the whales and seals off Briar Island, Digby. We got a close-up view of humbacks next to the boat where the girls saw the eye of one. They were beautiful.

We made a side trip to Port Royal for a little history and got to try out the wooden shoes.

We hope everyone is well. We'll keep putting our favourite photos on this site for your viewing enjoyment!

Cheers,

the Cuthbertsons

New Brunswick Again! May 28, 2009

We've come full circle.

We began and ended our trip with a visit with Gavin and Kate in Fredericton As you can see a lot has happened for them since we last saw them!

Thanks for the entertainment Gavin. The science centre was good fun, but the bowling topped it.

Thanks for everything Gavin and Kate, it's always great to see you. We're so excited for you!

Tomorrow we go home.

Ontario

Ontario, the long and winding road. It took us 10 days to drive across this huge province. The weather was nice and the lakes are massive.

We picked up 2 pets along the way from Sault Ste. Marie. Their names are Sue and Marie. They're very cool box turtles that like to chase down their crickets and worms.

Lake Superior, Ontario

Bird's Hill Provincial Park, Manitoba

Recipe for Bannock

Handful of flour

Pinch of salt

Pinch of Baking powder

Tablespoon of lard

Mix this mixture with fingers until all the ingredients have combined. Add approximately half a cup of water, or enough to make the dough mixture a smooth consistency. Roll dough into a snake shape. Wrap dough around a stick covering the end, and cook over the fire for 5-10 minutes, or until golden brown. Enjoy!

It's very tasty with jam.

The Prairies

Llyodminster, Alberta: the Spencers!

We spent a few days camping out at our friends the Spencers. The weather was even warm enough for an afternoon of watersliding in the back yard. We had a great weekend, thanks so much Jeff, Jeaninne, Katie, Sabrina, and Evan! We ate tons of great food, the girls had a sleepover with Sabrina, we watched Katie at her track and field day as she kicked butt, and the girls got to try making their own custom-made Tim's doughnuts. Thanks for being such great hosts. I didn't get a good photo of the other members of your family, Digby, Piper and Nala, next time. Take a trip east so we can return the hospitality!

West Edmonton Mall

We spent the first week of May in Edmonton. We visited the mall, enjoying a day at the water park and another at GalaxyLand, the theme park. We also discovered excellent dim sum at the T&T Supermarket in the mall's China Town.

May 2

You know the kind of girl that likes everyone to know how old she is even though she's not 29 anymore, by displaying her age on top of her birthday cake and then putting the picture on her blog? Well, I'm that kind of girl, my name's Orinda.

If you don't watch 'My Name Is Earl', this will just be wierd to you.

Drumheller, Alberta: Royal Tyrrell Museum

April:

The Bad Lands, Alberta. Awesome dinosaur and other-evolutionary-history museum!

More Banff Photos...

Prairie Dogs - Banff

If you sit quietly and wait long enough by the holes in the ground...

Kevin looks like he's ready to play wack-a-mole.

Snow! April 26-27

It was freezing driving through the Rockies. Freezing yet beautiful. We were lucky to see as much wildlife as we did since we only stayed one night in Banff. We saw a mountain goat by the road, a coyote in a field, prairie dogs, and a herd of elk. The third photo is Lake Louise, while the other 2 are near the town of Banff.

More Porteau Cove, April

Trina, Teegan and Stella visited us one afternoon in Porteau Cove. We had a wonderful time on the beach collecting sea glass treasure and watching a seal in the waves. This was our last get together with the cousins before we began heading east towards the Rocky Mountains.

Porteau Cove, April

We spent a few nights at Porteau Cove provincial park, just north of Vancouver. Our site right at the beach was beautiful and peaceful. Hummingbirds were everywhere.

Visiting In Vancouver

We got a chance to visit with the wonderful Veino family and also my great friend Cheryl and her little guy Logan while we were in Vancouver.

Kelly, Rob (Jim's brother, remember Australia's cousin Jim?) and Hayden visited us at our bus one afternoon and then Hayden and Rob had another visit the next day while Trina and I caught up on some much-needed sister time. Hayden is in the first photo with the girls. We were hoping for a Veino family photo, next time. It was a family reunion when Jim joined us on skype from Australia, then later aunt Betty joined in from Nova Scotia thanks to Jim's skype prowess. Thanks for making the trip in Veino family, it was great to see you and to meet Hayden. We always appreciate your comments on the blog.

Cheryl and Logan also made the trip into the city. It was really cool to meet Logan. (He's in the 3rd photo with the girls). We also got to meet Libby their chocolate lab. As Cheryl said, isn't it great (wierd? cool?) that now our kids get to meet. We had a great play at Ambelside park where the activities involved the teeter totter, throwing rocks in the river, and thanks to Cheryl's preparedness with baby wipes, cleaning bird poop off the hands. It was great seeing you again Cheryl and meeting Logan. Maybe someday we can meet Ken. Keep on rockin' Logan!

Vancouver Aquarium, April, 15

Thanks Trina, Teegan, and Stella for joining us at the aquarium. We enjoyed visiting all the fishy critters with you. Remember the turtle that looked at Stella and Mercedes, and the waving baby beluga? How did that stick bug feel on your hand Teegan?

What a fun afternoon!

Pender Harbour, Easter Weekend

We spent the Easter weekend on the Sunshine Coast in Pender Harbour. The girls enjoyed the ferry ride up to Gibsons. Trina, Tony, Teegan and Stella's house is looking great and they're looking forward to being able to enjoy their property full-time.

We had a play on a nearby beach that Teegan and Stella call 'crab beach'. You can guess why. The girls had fun collecting little crabs in their buckets, then letting them go. Once the tide went out we found oodles of purple starfish, Stella is posed here examining the wiggling tentacles on the bottom of a helpless specimen.

The Dads took all the kids to nearby Sechelt where they bought a bag of gold fish each, releasing them into Teegan and Stella's pond later that day.

On Easter Sunday the Easter bunny found us once again. That afternoon, after a huge brunch, we spent a few hours playing at the Sechelt pool where you can zoom down a slide, swing on a rope, or float around a lazy river. A great way to minimize the chocolate damage.

Thanks for the hospitality you guys. We enjoyed your wildlife, and the animals on your property too!

April 9

Queen Elizabeth Park, Vancouver. We explored the tropical Bloedel Conservatory here. Thanks to Teegan and Stella for telling us to look out for Charlie the cockatoo, he did some great summersaults for us! Most flowers in the park were just starting to push up from the ground but the daffodils were out in full bloom.

Back To Canada, Farewell USA - April 5

We're back! We rolled across the border on April 5th into British Columbia and settled into the Capilano rv park in West Vancouver. We really enjoyed our

Kyra turned 10 on the 7th. Double Digits. She decorated her own cake as you can see, then with the help of Trina's graciously lent van we went to see 'Monsters vs Aliens' in 3D. That's a fun movie. We had a birthday dinner at Trina, Tony, Teegan and Stella's place complete with decorations, hats, and the always popular noisy party horns. Unfortunately none of our birthday dinner photos turned out, so just imagine it. Thanks for the party guys!

The Zoo, Portland, Oregon - April 2

I can't seem to get my pictures to show up in the correct order, they fell asleep after the zoo. We rented a car for a day while our bus was being serviced and had a great time parking wherever we wanted to and passing other vehicles on the highway!

We had great fun feeding the lorikeets and watching a baby elephant follow it's mom around.