St. Lucia 2013

Well we decided to try something new this year and head to the Caribbean for the month of February.
We found a location inSt.Lucia that caught our eye so we booked it and made our travel plans. We are staying in a private Villa in Rodney Bay , close to everything we need. The weather has been great we have been spending most days at Reduit Beach.

The Mexican Adventure.

Well neither Dianna or I have ever been to Mexico so after listening to our daughter Amanda and son-inlaw Jay talk about their stay at the Excellence Resort  in the Maya Rivera we decided to give it a go and see what it was like for ourselves.

So Easter Long weekend we headed out for a week stay in Mexico and I must say we were not disappointed in what we had been told. The resort and the staff were excellent and with 8 different restaurants to chose from we were never bored of the food.

The main square at Excellence Resort

Mille Spa - Excellence Resort

The Lazy River - relaxation at it's finest.

  

The grounds were beautiful and very well cared for. The resort only has a little over 400 rooms so the most you would have on site would be a little over 800 people and with the size of it you were never really crowded.

We met some great people around the Martini bar while deciding where to go for supper.

Great rooms SPA side Jr. suite.

Lazing along the river pool.

Not even alcohol...amazing!

The resort is located about 25 minutes from the airport in Cancun Mexico so you are right on the water.

Beach Shots

On the dock.





Beach Front at Excellence

Well it was a great relaxing trip and would highly recommended it. We tried to compare the Cruise we took to the Resort and it is impossible to really do. The Cruise we were much more active with exploring all the Islands while we just wanted to relax at the resort and that is what we did.

What a girl!.





Ottawa bound March 7th

Well with the great sales deals that Porter Airlines have been having we took advantage of it to go visit the kids and our new grandson before they left for Florida to visit Jay's parents.

Gram read him to sleep!



Ronyn 3 months

Amanda and Ronyn

Jay and Ronyn out for a walk in Florida

Playing while we can still catch him!




Lots of fun years ahead!!!!



Caribbean Trip Feb 12th 2012

Well after having a great Christmas and the arrival of Ronyn to our family we decided to treat ourselves to a little holiday. Since it has been years since we traveled on a cruise we decided to venture to the Southern Caribbean.

Fortunately we decided to go and spend the night at the Airport Hilton because of the early flight. That night there was an ice storm and it closed the 104 hwy which would have left us in a real panic if we had of waited till the morning.

Once on the plane the next morning the Captain announced there was a small technical problem, it seems the motors were frozen and the booster was also frozen so we were at the mercy of Air Canada to help boost the plane but they were doing theirs first. Once started things went smooth but we only just made our flight in Philadelphia to San Juan, Puerto Rico.

St.Thomas Island US Virgin Island

The Ship Victory

Morning Coffee topside - St.Thomas

Sapphire Beach - St. Thomas

Relaxing Sapphire Beach

Towel Art in the room.

Rum shots 10:00AM WOW

Barbados

The trip has been going great. When we arrived in Barbados it was raining lightly so we decided to take a cultural tour and visited a Rum Distillery and a Sugar Cane Plantation.

Next stop St.Lucia where we took a taxi to Pigeon Island an old Fort on the island with a great beach.

Pigeon Island

Swimming at Pigeon Island

Supper with new friends Francca and Kees

We were seated a great table with a Dutch couple and we had a great time throughout the crusie.

On to St.Kitts

St.Kitts

Off to St. Maarten

Orient Beach

Orient Beach

St.Maarten


San Juan , Puerto Rico

Christmas 2011

Well Christmas 2011 has been like no other. We were able to spend it with our new Grandson Ronyn Jonathan Conohan who came into the world on Dec 20th, 2011 at 10:14 am in Ottaw, Ont.

John, Ronyn and Amanda

Amanda and Jay are doing great and are going to make wonderful parents. We have been very fortunate to be able to be here and enjoy this time.

The Christmas Boy

Ronyn was in good company for December as his Dad was born on the 10th and his Aunt Melissa on the 26th. So here we are also celbrating today the birth of Melissa who turns 25 today.

Life does not get any better than this.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all.

Ward Falls Hike - Parrsboro area

Well lets see, Melissa arrived home from New Zealand the end of October so we get to enjoy her company for a couple of months before she heads back to Auckland where she will meet up with Tane and make their move to Australia.

So we decided that we would take some time on a sunny fall day and head down to the Parrsboro area and enjoy a hike out to Wards Falls. This is a hike that we have never done before so it was a nice change. 19 bridges to cross as you work your way up along the river bed to the falls but it is a nice hike and quite enjoyable.

Wards Fall Trail shot

Ward Falls Trail

Stream along Wards Fall

Melissa & John  at Wards Falls

Summer Holidays

Well summer has been slow in coming and the weather stinks to say the least. We have taken a couple of weeks off and decided to head out to Ottawa to visit Amanda and Jay. The new expectant parents are getting excited about the new arrival coming at xmas. It will be a big year.

Having arrived Thursday night we took Friday to rest and then Saturday we headed down to New York State for a little shopping and siteseeing. Everyone picked up the deals they wanted on Saturday and on Sunday we headed for Watkins Glen State Park to hike the Gorge and view the 19 waterfalls along the way.



Jay & Amanda



Into the Cave we go!

The hike was great going up the gorge and extremely interesting to see the different levels of rock and the way they are all layered. The power of water!

The start of the trail.

Watkins Glen