Update Mania

I have updated the blog like a madwoman. I had so many photos from our drive and wanted to get them on here. Well, I have finally done it and am proud to say that I am all caught up. I think the posts go back a page or two. Anyway, I will have to be better in the future at putting things up as they happen.

Fourth of July is coming up and we are planning on heading down to my brother Jeff and his wife Emily's house. They have three adorable children. We are so excited and can't wait to see them. It is nice to be able to be this close to them. Hopefully, I will have lots of fun pictures.

As for the the Star Spangled layout of our blog, I was just in a patriotic mood, with the Fourth of July coming up and all. I love America and feel so grateful to be able to be a citizen and partake in the rights and blessings bestowed on our great land and country. We are truly blessed.

Morgan's Lobster

The last couple times we have gone to the grocery store, Morgan has wanted to buy some lobster. This last time, I couldn't resist. The lobster was 3.99 and he promised me he would cook it outside. Fish smell does not bode well with me.



Here he is about to put the two little guys on the grill. Bon Appetite!

The Parliament

The following pictures are of the Parliament building in downtown Ottawa. The Parliament covered a lot of area and it actually took us quite a while just to walk around some of it. There is a free tour, however, it is about 45 minutes long. One of these days we will go back and go on the tour.





In this last picture you see the Ottawa River and on the right is Quebec. Quebec and Ontario are just separated by this river. It is beautiful!

Ribfest and the Vegetarian Nightmare

We have been hearing a lot about this ribfest and everyone was saying we had to go. It was Saturday and we were already planning on heading downtown, so we thought we would stop and see what all the excitement was about.
The smell was intoxicating and we were still in the parking garage, on the 3rd level UNDERGROUND. When we got to the street where all the vendors were lined up, we decided we had to try some.
We stood in line and got the combo they called "Vegetarian's Nightmare". I had to laugh. We were able to try some ribs, chicken, and my personal favorite, a pulled pork sandwich.

The vendor we decided to try was actually from Albuquerque, New Mexico. They won this contest last year and supposedly were the best this year too. And after eating their food, I would have to agree, they win.


Morgan was in heaven. I haven't met a guy who doesn't love some good ribs every now and then!


And here is the pulled pork sandwich. The amount of food we got was insane. We were definitely both full.

Ottawa!

Well, we finally made it to Ottawa. We actually came in about a week ago, but I am a slacker and haven't updated the blog. We had a very good 36 hour drive and some wonderful adventures along that way. And even though we have only been here a week, we have had some crazy and wonderful experiences in our short time here. Those stories might have to wait for another day.

We are so grateful to be up here and for the wonderful people we have met so far. We will have a wonderful summer! I can't wait to be able to share all our neat experiences with all of you. I don't know if I will be able to do my stories justice, but hopefully they will be somewhat entertaining.

The Parkway!

We decided to go on a picnic on Sunday afternoon (our first official day in Ottawa) and we found this beautiful park. This is actually part of a massive set of biking/jogging trails. They have nature trails all over, but supposedly this one is the most impressive. Needless to say we had a wonderful picnic.

What a sign for a store!

So this was a real store. We pulled off for a quick fill-up and to stretch our legs a bit and after a minute or two of sitting there, we finally looked up and noticed the sign on this building. We laughed!

Palmyra

We were also able to stop in Palmyra at the Sacred Grove and Hill Cumorah. We were the only ones there and were able to enjoy complete silence and peace.

This is how I want to be buried!

Morgan, you better start saving your money!!



The story behind this picture is simple. We were walking around the most darling town (Niagara-On-The-Lake) and we were getting pretty warm in the sun. We saw a shaded cemetery and decided to walk through it. This cemetery was amazing. There were so many neat old headstones. And then we saw this. A very impressive tomb. The side showed some different details, but we didn't take too many pictures of it.

I love cemeteries, especially the old ones. Sorry you have to share in my fascination, but thanks for you interest anyway. Anyone else think old cemeteries are neat or do most people think they are creepy?

Niagara Falls in Panoramic View!

I am so grateful we were able to see such an impressive sight! By the way, we took this amazing panoramic picture ourselves! We have a great camera that has wonderful panoramic ability. I was pretty proud of this work of art!

Some of my favorite photos from our trip!

It's good to see some American Pride still out there!


This was the bridge to Canada at the Michigan port-of-entry! They are completely redoing the bridge, the construction was crazy, but I am glad we still got a chance to go over the really neat part of the bridge.


This was our first time seeing the Niagara Falls! How magnificent! Oh, and our room that night was on the 12th floor of this hotel with a direct view of the falls, we were so lucky.


The mist coming off the falls really felt nice. The first part of our drive was cold and rainy, but the last part was really hot and muggy, so it was nice to cool down by the falls.

What a beautiful bridge!

So, this was a sight along our drive. I couldn't resist taking a picture. It's not every day you see a bridge like this in the states! It is really a beautiful structure!

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

Morgan's dad had his birthday the other day and we had such a fun birthday party! All the grandkids just love grandpa and as you can tell from the picture, are usually as close to him as they can get (the kids also enjoy the part with the candles).
Happy Birthday MarDell! We love you!