Quebec City--Je Me Souviens

The center of Quebec City at night and all lit up!
One of the ornate Catholic churches we visited. I think this one was the Basilica de Notre Dame?

A view of the town and the St. Lawrence River.
This is the Castle which is now a hotel where the Queen stays, as well as lots of other people with exorbitant amounts of money. All the other people are just hanging around the grounds taking pictures and pretending that they're staying there too.
There was a cable car service up to that bridge, but we opted to climb the forever steps to get there!

We were right on time for the mini-changing of the guard at the Citadelle in QC.
Happy 5 year anniversary to us:)
Cirque du Soleil put on a free show under a highway overpass in Quebec City! We learned that the founder of CdS was once a poor street performer from Montreal. Now he is a gazillionaire putting on amazing two-hour FREE shows for the public in QC--okay by me:)

Rob and Jennie Lee in front of her cafe. She introduced us to the soft serve they sell that has a surprisingly delicious maple syrup center--we're big fans!

Tip of the Hat, Wag of the Finger...(or chicken bone)

Uncle Rob and Henry
Yana and Markus
Yana suckin' on a chicken bone and lovin' it!
Elsa's fancy dance moves.
Backwards and on top of my head, no?
Ohhhh, this way?! Better.
Little Miss Sunshine, Sassy-pants--GO TEAM!

whiskey, wine and dairy tour

Our first stop was a very modest little whiskey distillery.

Distillery house cats pictured with a barrel of whiskey...hmm...
Oh boy, gettin' rowdy...and this is only the second stop!
Another humble tasting venue (tastings between lawn mowings? All in a days work.) Nonetheless, highly informative and palatable!
A vineyard full of unicorns, unicorn vineyard....vineyard unicorn--hey! hey!
A simple cure for the post wine tasting munchies is an old school dairy counter that serves up burgers and fries, cheesecake dipped in chocolate and frozen on a stick and my personal fave, the arctic swirl with a generous amount of m&ms:P

Yes, this is still New York.

The Travis-Childs, Sales-Bartenschlager, Arrasmith and Childs-Hawkinson families got together and had a most relaxing time in upstate New York this past weekend. Menu 'o fun included: Yard gaming (badminton anyone?), kayaking the Wallkill River, pool, eating, drinking and more eating of some amazingly tasty fare (compliments of our iron chef, Jeremy), wine and whiskey trail venturing, and, of course, charades.

Illinois, New York, North Carolina and Georgia--Family UNITE!!

Five ladies and one patient little gentlemen take the train into the city on a mission: the American Girl Museum!
the windy, watery city
Stroller gang of Chicago!
Picnic in the park in Geneva (pic. Jack, Nina and Papi)

Paige takes a trip to Vinalhaven, Maine for art's sake.

The weather when I first arrived to the island of Vinalhaven was dreary, foggy and rather hazy and dreamlike--sort of fitting, I guess, for an ole' fishin' village.
little red dinghy
A view of the foggy sea from a cliff on Lane's Island Preserve, which is an island off of the island of Vinalhaven.
Big dandelion wish...
View of the port from downtown Vinalhaven. Colorful lobster crates and buoys abound!
cinder block peony
Daisy's family's sheep--munching, munching...
"First man from away" won ribbon for funniest float in the 4th of July parade!
Lone light house juts out between a pink and periwinkle sky and sea.
And...blue sky and sunshine for the ferry ride back to the mainland--yeargh!