On Saturday, December 8th, we hosted our 3rd annual Gingerbread Houses and Christmas Carols evening (link to our 2010 and 2011 events here).
Beth and Juanita arrived first, and had pretty much completed the building and decorating of their gingerbread house before anyone else arrived!
Ready for visitors
Juanita and Beth
Juanita and Beth's creation
Munching on a Santa shortbread cookie
Soon Alana and Carla arrived, along with their visitors, Tyler and Bec, who were fresh off their flight from Australia and did well to stay awake all evening! The four of them built and decorated a gingerbread train.
Bec and Tyler
Alana and Carla
Train construction underway
The finished product, complete with Santa cookie driver!
Stuart, Rosanne, Aydin and Gemma also built a gingerbread house... and decorated it with whichever candies Aydin hadn't managed to eat!
Stuart, Rosanne and Aydin
Gemma
Quick, now, while Dad's distracted...
...Oops, sprung!
We were also joined by Gerard, Janelle, Claire and Julia for a potluck dinner after the gingerbread decorating. No photos of that; we were too busy eating delicious food!
Later, we sang a few Christmas carols. It was a fun and cozy evening of getting into the Christmas spirit!
On Thursday, November 22nd, we headed across the border to celebrate US Thanksgiving with Donna and Terry and assorted family and friends. This was our third Thanksgiving with them - they had also kindly included us in 2009 and 2010!
Some photos from before the feast...
Table settings
Team effort
Our lovely hosts with their granddaughter Etta
Kelly stirring the gravy
Thanksgiving dinner...
Scrumptious buffet
Eating for three
Customary whole-table photo
Decorating cookies the next day (Black Friday)...
Donna and Etta
Want some batter?
The 4-day weekend went by in a lovely blur of great company, delicious food, shopping trips, singalongs, pregnancy discussions, and lots of relaxation/ reading time. On Friday the guys did some firewood chopping and then went clay pigeon shooting at a nearby range, and that evening Angharad arrived to join in the festivities for the rest of the weekend. On Friday night, Kelly and Janae prepared a delicious seafood chowder for dinner, and on Saturday night Ben and I had our turn and made potato-leek-coconut-lime soup.
Some Sunday photos...
Janae, Etta and Kelly
Me (31 weeks) and Janae (35 weeks)
We headed back to Vancouver on Sunday afternoon, via Trader Joe's and Wee Ones Re-Runs in Bellingham. The latter is a fantastic kids' op shop/ thrift store... I think we've found a new place to add to our Bellingham to-do list every time we cross the border!
THANKS, Donna and Terry, for another wonderful Thanksgiving!
The weekend after we came back from Boston, we headed down to Bainbridge Island (just off Seattle, WA) for a concert by the band Eddyville on Saturday, October 13th. The guys in the band know many of our friends, and we had met the drummer, Darren, briefly a few years ago. The concert was "sponsored" by Glenn and Hazel, whom we have stayed with on Bainbridge Island a couple of times before (and did this time too).
We arrived early at the concert venue, a small art museum, and spent a while listening to rehearsals, buying two Eddyville CDs at the merchandise booth being manned by Eddyville's self-proclaimed "number one fan", band member Bruce's son Cameron, and sharing a crepe at a nearby cafe.
Eddyville rehearsing with guest violinist Sheldon;
L-R: Sheldon, Bruce, Dave, Jason, Darren
Sheldon
Sound guy/ former band member/ founder of Eddyville
Cameron manning the merchandise booth
Hazel with her granddaughter Kendra
Before the concert started, Glenn and Hazel's family had organised a barbecue dinner in the parking lot under the museum. We met a bunch of people we hadn't met before, including some of the other band members, and caught up with a few friends we had met before. After a yummy meal of burgers, softdrinks, chips, and homemade cookies, it was time to head back upstairs for the concert.
Well, the concert was absolutely fantastic! The music was a combination of Eddyville's original songs (the concert was actually a "CD release party" for their newest album, Pocket Aces) and covers of well-known songs - everything from the Beatles to Land Down Under. I'd describe Eddyville's music as primarily rock, with some folk and country thrown in. It was a thoroughly enjoyable show, complete with amusing on-stage banter and four different guest musicians/ singers joining in for various songs. It was obvious that the guys were really enjoying themselves, and they kept playing for as long as they could before the concert finally had to end.
Cameron introducing the band at the start of the concert
Dave
Darren
Bruce
Jason
Dave on trombone
Bruce, Dave, Jason
Here are a few videos of Eddyville performing their original songs from Pocket Aces. Below each video, the hyperlinked song title is a link to the album version of the song on their website. These three songs happen to be my favourite Eddyville songs. :)
And here they are performing a couple of covers...
As you can see, it was a great night! We'd definitely love to see them live again if we get another opportunity.
That night, we stayed at Glenn and Hazel's home, along with their daughter Sue, her hubby Brian, their daughters Kendra, Kayla and Kenzie, Glenn and Hazel's other daughter Jo, most of Eddyville, and a few others! We spent Sunday morning and lunch with them all and then headed back home via the Bainbridge-Seattle ferry, a 3 hour drive, and Trader Joe's. It was a great weekend!
Here are a couple of photos we took while at Glenn and Hazel's...
Towards the end of our week in Boston, we toured the USS Constitution. This is a "wooden-hulled, three-masted heavy frigate of the United States Navy", with an absolutely incredible history. The Constitution is the world's oldest commissioned naval vessel afloat. She was named by President George Washington, fought in the War of 1812 against Great Britain, and is affectionately nicknamed "Old Ironsides". How old is she, you ask? Only 215 years!
Retired from active service in 1881, she served as a receiving ship until designated a museum ship in 1907 and in 1934 she completed a three-year, 90-port tour of the nation. Constitution sailed under her own power for her 200th birthday in 1997, and again in August 2012, to commemorate the 200th anniversary of her victory over Guerriere.
Constitution's stated mission today is to promote understanding of the Navy’s role in war and peace through educational outreach, historic demonstration, and active participation in public events. As a fully commissioned US Navy ship, her crew of 60 officers and sailors participate in ceremonies, educational programs, and special events while keeping the ship open to visitors year round and providing free tours. The officers and crew are all active-duty US Navy personnel and the assignment is considered special duty in the Navy.(Wikipedia)
USS Constitution
After going through security and looking around the museum for a while, we joined a group tour of the Constitution given a US Navy sailor. He told us about the ship's history in wartime, and also provided lots of anecdotes about life on board the ship both in the past and in the present day.
Bilge pumps that pumped water onto the wooden floor
in order to stop it burning while they fired cannons
