August 09, 2013

10 000+ km Later

Our poor Trailblazer doesn't know what to think. We're usually a rather low mileage family, but over the past five weeks we drove 10 155 km (6 214 miles). We went from Newfoundland to Orlando, Florida and back home again, with stops in Nova Scotia both ways. Driving through New York and the Jersey Turnpike on the Sunday of the July 4th holiday weekend was my least favourite portion of the entire trip. Let's just say that in our small Newfoundland town there isn't a single traffic light and all the streets are a single lane in each direction. Not so in New York or on the Jersey Turnpike!

For our 20 nights in Florida, this was home.


  I know, we were really roughing it.

The pool in the backyard was wonderful. We swam almost every day, mostly in the mornings before hitting one of the many theme parks after lunch. Aiden and Zachary became quite proficient swimmers with all the practice.

Three Sandhill Cranes visited daily. Not knowing anything about family habits among cranes, we guessed it to be a family unit, with mama, papa and the baby, who didn't have the distinct red patch on the head.





These little geckos were everywhere. We loved watching them, especially the ones who climbed the mesh around the pool and puffed out the pouch under their chins.
 
Universal Orlando's The Hulk
We rode every roller coaster on Disney and Universal property, many of them multiple times and in the front row. It was a blast! By far my favourite was the Chinese Fireball side of Universal's Dragon Challenge. Aiden and Zach are tall enough for all the rides, but Nathan couldn't go on the big coasters, so his favourite was Expedition Everest at Disney's Animal Kingdom park. We rode that one 6 times in an hour, just before closing. We'd ride, then head right back to the entrance where there was no wait at all and just ride again.

We also spent 6 nights with my parents and 2 with my grandmother, during all of which I took 0 pictures. Mom is an avid photographer though, so the visit was well documented. The boys met, or were reintroduced to, lots of my extended family, though nowhere near all of them. Mom is from a family of 6 and Dad from a family of 13, so that means lots of aunts, uncles and cousins. It was great to see everyone again.

And yes, I did sew some of those many, many hexagons I basted before we left! I had 23 flowers finished before we left and now all 56 are done.
55 of the 56 - I had already started adding blue hexagons to one when I took this picture

I also added the blue ring around 12 of those flowers. That means I am almost 1/4 of the way through adding the blue ring (14 being the 1/4 mark).

We still have another few weeks before school starts again. Hopefully that means I'll have time for lots of stitching - probably with my machine, rather than by hand. I think I'll take a break from the hexagons. It is meant to be a long-term project after all!

I hope you've been enjoying your summer too.

2 comments:

  1. Wow! That's a lot of driving! We lived in FL for several years your pictures are bringing back memories. :)

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  2. That's quite the trip. Sounds like you had an awesome time. Love all those hexies.

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