Pirates of Penzance--July 2013

So Carlie's summer was all about theatre!  The weekend that we were gone to my nephew's wedding in NM, auditions were going on for Pirates of Penzance.  My boys were in NM with me so they missed the auditions but Carlie was staying with Savvy because she had already missed too many rehearsals with Girl's Camp.  So Savvy was auditioning so I let Carlie audition too.  And well, she' made it!

Her character in this show was "Edith" which made her the "head" daughter of the Major General.  She had lots of lines/singing solos/duets in this musical.  Such a FUNNY play by Gilbert and Sullivan in which the pirates fight with the Major General and the police but eventually gain favor in society's view and then gain permission to marry all of the daughters:) 

What made this most difficult was that show week was also the first week of school for Chandler and this affected only Carlie.  So being out late every night this week took it's toll on her as she caught a small cold.  So she missed 1 1/2 days of school during the first week of school as we struggled to keep her voice healthy enough to sing.  Every naturopathic remedy along with every kind of medicine I could safely give her kept her up and performing!  She was completely fine by the last day of performances.  Phew!!!  What a week!!! 

Carlie & Savvy--BEAUTIFUL daughters:)

Darian, Liam, LJ, Savvy, Cortlynn, & Carlie

Carlie, Savvy, Katie, Olivia, & Alyssa

Carlie and HER pirate she marries--Jacob

Carlie and the SUPER sweaty Kale who was the lead this show (Fred)

Carlie & the Pirate King (Dale)

The Major General (Liam) a.k.a "Daddy"

Carlie & Queen Victoria (Andrea)--who was the write AND director of Sleeping Beauty:)

Despite the sickness, Carlie had a great show and did an amazing job.  We are sure worn out but SUPER proud of this girl.  She wouldn't have wanted to do anything else this summer--it was a perfect summer to her:)

First Day of School 2013!!!

Monday, July 22nd marked the first day back to school for these Chandler kiddos!  Only 1 of my kids was excited to be back this year (Tatum) but oh well:)  Love 'em anyways:)

Tatum:  1st Grade with Mrs. Menaghan
Maxwell:  3rd Grade with Mrs. Bhatti
Ethan:  6th Grade with Ms. Doran
Carlie:  8th Grade

This was the best I could get from Max:)

My CTA kids--takes Jr. High girls longer to get ready:)

And here she is:)

Boston, MA (U.S.)

Our last stop:  Boston, MA!

So we got off the boat for the last time at 8 am Saturday morning.  So technically we could have caught a ride home to Phoenix, but I married a traveler:)  So we stayed an extra day to take in Boston:)

I had been here once before as a kid but I didn't do ANY of this cool stuff.  We headed out again to walk the entire downtown Boston on the "Freedom Trail."  

Boston being one of the older cities in the U.S. has a most interesting history--some good/some not soo good:)  But all cool nonetheless.  Like this place here is known as "King's Cross Church."  It was built right on top of a graveyard--part of the graveyard is still right next to it--only because the governor of Boston at the time would not allot land to the Presbyterians.  Apparently cemeteries are public property belonging to everyone so you can build right on top of one if need be:)  So of course this place is considered "haunted."  Not only is it built on top of graves, they did public punishments and executions here too!  Oooeee!!!

This marks the spot where the very first public school in the U.S. was.  Although the original building is no longer there, the school is STILL in existence--just in another area of Boston.  So it is of course the oldest public school of the U.S.

This marks the spot where the Boston Massacre occurred.

We went to Paul Revere's home in Boston.  Only part of the house has been preserved and it reminds Chris and I of the Weasley home (in Harry Potter) because it kinda sits a little crooked and doesn't look like it should be standing upright at all so magic MUST be holding it up:)  Very cool old rickety home.

We visited several old church buildings throughout Canada/Maine/Massachusetts and all of them had these really cool "boxed pews."  I remember the Kirtland Temple in Ohio having these as well.  I think they are a REALLY good idea--it sure would be helpful to couples with small children!  Just close us up in a box and we'll be fine:)

All of the churches had organs of course but the I am actually taking a picture of the angel statues around this organ here.  I found it interesting that these angel statues were stolen from "Privateers" (which are actually Pirates--cool!)

We visited several graveyards in Boston--they are all over the place!  But it was really cool to see where some of the most famous people in U.S. history were buried.

This is considered the most beautiful gravestone in all of Boston--not sure who it belongs to...

Samuel Adams--signer of the Declaration of Independence

More signers of the Declaration of Independence

Paul Revere--how COOL was he?!

So we ran ourselves ragged running all over Boston and seeing some of the coolest stuff.  We sure had a fabulous time and I am SOO glad that we took this opportunity to get away for a little while this summer--who knows when we'll do something like this again:)  But after 10 days we sure did miss our kiddos.  Chris had been in France for 10 days, came home for 2 days, and then we left for this trip which was also 10 days so he was REALLY missing the kids and home.  It was nice to come home to find that our kids missed us too:)  Happy 15 years--the HAPPIEST of my life!  I'd marry Chris all over again tomorrow!

Bar Harbor, Maine (U.S.)

So Prince Edward Island was my MOST favorite place but Bar Harbor, Maine comes in a close second!  Even though the people here talk funny--we pronounce our "R"s WAY better:)  If I were to spell how the easterners say this place, it would be "Baa Habaah."  They don't pronounce the "R" where they are supposed to and then they add "R"s where they are NOT.  For example, we went to Acadia National Park while we where here...a person from "Baa Habaah" would say we went to "ARcadia National Park."  Go figure:)

But our day here was absolutely PERFECT!  The weather was a perfect 67 degrees with a perfect slight breeze.  We stayed outside all day and ate "Whoopie Pies" under a tree in a park--doesn't get any better than that!!!  

View from Cadillac Mountain in Acadia Park--highest point of the harbor.

We thought about putting on offer in on this house for sale--haha:)

There was no port here in Bar Harbor so we had to take a smaller ferry boat into the town.  So here is our little boat parked out in the ocean for the day:)

I think I could have spent a week here (in the summer only:)  Absolutely beautiful!

Halifax, Nova Scotia (Cananda)

Next stop:  Halifax, Nova Scotia!

LOVED this place!!!  This was the first time we had "undesirable" weather.  The tour guides kept apologizing for the fog and light rain but I LOVED it!  When else do I ever get to experience weather/views like this?  

Our first stop was "Peggy's Cove."  This is a small fishing village--about 30 people currently live here.  The lighthouse here is apparently "the most photographed building in Canada."  I can definitely see why:

The fog was SUPER cool!  

This sign just cracked me up:)

Cool old phone booth--"Call Me Maybe!"  I just crack myself up:)

Awesome/unfinished carving depicting Canada's pilgrimage

Next stop was the Fairview Lawn Cemetery where 180 of the 1500 passengers of the Titanic were buried.  The are 2 other cemeteries nearby that have another 128 passengers buried.  So in all, 308 passengers where buried here in Canada.  The stories of the Titanic always fascinate me.

This lady died with her 4 children while traveling back home to her husband--hits home with me.

This next headstone had a very sad/interesting story.  Several victims of the Titanic were unidentified--there was no such thing as DNA testing back then.  So this 2 year old little boy was never claimed and so the surviving crew paid for this headstone to honor all of the children who died on the boat.  However, during the tragedy, the coroners/rescuers kept such detailed notes that they were able to identify this little boy (and several other victims) many years later.  This little boy was named Sidney Leslie and his parents perished as well.  As you can see, visitors leave little play toys for this boy daily.

After the tour, we headed into town to walk all over the place like we always do:)  There is the MOST beautiful "Public Gardens" in the center of this town.  In this garden are plants from all of the continents in the world (except for Antarctica:)

I want a tree like this in my backyard--SERIOUS shade:)

Absolutely stunning.  Puts Central Park in NY to shame in my opinion:)  We certainly enjoyed our time in Halifax even despite the "undesirable" weather:)  Would definitely come back here if the opportunity ever came again.

Sydney, Nova Scotia (Canada)

So of all the places we visited on our cruise, Sydney was my least favorite.  The town itself was at one time a booming metropolis but is now quite run-down and barely thriving.  But outside the city was absolutely beautiful!  We took another excursion out to Baddeck where we hiked the Baddeck Falls.    The town of Baddeck was fantastic!  We hiked 3 miles to the falls--which I was glad of the physical activity after all of the over-eating I had been doing:)  The hike was through "the oldest forest of the province."  Stunning views and once again, PERFECT weather:)

The roots on these trees were so cool!

Definitely not like Niagara Falls but beautiful nonetheless!  I was so glad that we were able to get out of the city a bit and see the beautiful scenery of this province (and get a little exercise:)

Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island (Canada)

Oh!  It was like Christmas morning for me when we arrived into the Prince Edward Island port!!!  I could NOT wait to get off the boat!!!  I had dreamed of coming here for a LONG time and the island was well worth the wait and effort!  BEAUTIFUL!!!  BREATH-TAKING!!! I WANNA MOVE HERE!!!

Beautiful shoreline!!!

They dye shirts with the red sand (just like in Hawaii:)

The author, Lucy Maude Montgomery, spent a lot of time in this house because it belonged to her aunt and uncle.  She actually lived not too far from here.  This island is definitely proud of Montgomery and her writings.  Millions of visitors come every year to see this place because of her books.  It was fun to learn about how her life paralleled her story of "Anne."

I'm HERE!  I'm HERE!  I'm HERE!!!

Green Gables

Again...I'M ACTUALLY HERE!!!

Oh yeah...Chris came too:)

WHY can't I have a garden like this in AZ?!

Here I am in the "Haunted Wood"

"Lover's Lane"  (Where Gilbert FINALLY professes his true love for Anne:)

Lucy M. Montgomery's Grave (with the red flowers)

After our excursion we were able to walk around Charlottetown.  LOVED this place too.  Very quaint town with a very low crime rate and a 0% murder rate (according to our tour guide:)

Charlottetown City Halld

Pretty little wedding chapel

This next picture is a little hard to tell what it is but cool nonetheless:)  This is a huge nest built by the "Ostrey" bird for their babies.  You can see this huge things all over Charlottetown.

I could have stayed here the rest of our trip.  I absolutely LOVE it here!  So picturesque and a perfect 66 degrees.  All the people here speak english but there is a definite accent/sound to Canadian english:) Chris and I used any "O-U-T" word we could think of JUST so we could say it like a Canadian.  "Oout and aboout on our boauut!"  The winters in Canada are long, bitter, and hard so I guess I'll just stay in AZ:)  Canada suffers through winters for the perfect summers and we in AZ suffer through summers for the perfect winters--go figure:)