CHRISTMAS 2008

We got to spend a lovely quite Christmas with our freinds in La Quinta California. We went for a walk one day and this was our view....a lot different than on Vancouver Island, where they have over 2 feet of snow in Qualicum.Bob and Sherri have a new addition to the family. This is Cooper. A constant source of entertainment and lots of love too.

The Lyle's treated us to a AWESOME Christmas eve dinner of 'qued lobster tails, twice stuffed baked potatoes and yummy salad. Oh and of course, lots of wine.

We had the opportunity to enjoy some time in the hot tub before dinner...Daniel lounging before hitting the tub.

And part of my family tradition for Christmas morning. We all pitched in and made Eggs Benny and had some yummy "sunshine mimosa" to wash it down with. (Sunshine Mimosa's: oj, champagne, and a splash of Grand Marnier. Very very smooth.) Sherri added a great touch to our morning libations...frozen cranberries. Kept them nice and cold and look so pretty. Just like her.

Thanks Sherry and Bob...

FINALLY UPDATING THIS SITE

Hello again,

I can't believe it has been over 6 months since I did any work here. And to my loyal followers, I apologize....

Well, I have been back in Canada for about that amount of time and have done a ton of stuff.

I have put togeather some of them for you.

Now they are not in any order of importance nor neccesarily in chronological order either...

I hope you enjoy

Shannon

MAUI, HAWAII

When I got back from Laguna Beach, I was lucky enough to have a invite from my freind Teresa to come visit her in Maui. And I was lucky enough to go.... We spent some time on the beach each day and about a hour walking each day as well. That being said, it is good because all we did otherwise was eat and visit and read and relax and have cocktail hours and play dice....This is at Nick's Seafood house
Where we had some great fish in bordeaux reduction sauce on mashed potatoes

My friends who live half and half in Nanoose Bay and Maui invited us for dinner at their house...Chris and Judith Aspol are great hosts. Man can that lady cook up a feast. And Chris knows just when to fill your glass.

Our PuPu platter of crustinis with goat cheese and tapanade and then dry cured beef with very good olive oil on top. Very nice Thank you Chris and JudithThe three of us after dinner. See her lovely orchids....
We headed over to Paia and did some poking around. There is a great grocery store that has organic foods and nice spices and fresh everything. Then lunch at the Paia fish market. I had fish and chips and the girls had a nice grilled fish dinner. Very busy and fresh fresh fresh

One of the lovely beaches we got to hang out at.....

The view from Humuhumunukanukaopakawea (the restaruant). We had made early dinner reservations to watch the sunset but the clouds stole it from us. Our dinner was awesome and we had a great time anyways.
The birthday gal Teresa....we went out to a Irish Pub after for some good live irish tunes.

On our last day at the beach we waited for the sun to set for us. We took some pupu's and wine and toasted the day. Thanks for the invitation Teresa. It was great.

LAGUNA BEACH OCT 08

Back in Las Vegas for only about 3 days and we headed out to sunny California. Laguana Beach is a trendy, artsy, hip, surfers paradise. Long stretches of white sandy beaches overlook Catalina Island. Hip clothing stores and wonderful art galleries are only accented by wonderfull restaurants for all tastes. Mexican, Brazillian Steak houses, Sushi, and of course California cuisine. Located on old Highway 1, Laguna sits at the edge of the foothills and opens up to the Pacific Ocean.

Daniel has had this same room reservation for about 17 years. Room 101 at the Laguana Riveria. It is a older hotel but boosts the saying that "Ye canno be both grande and comfortable"
It is a great great great location. You park your car and walk where ever you need. Nothing is too far away. Grocery stores ect. It is easier to walk on the beach as it is flat and the roads are up and down. Good for the cardio though. LOL

This is the view as you start to do down to our room. They have 3 levels and we were on the bottom. No one in front of us to obscure our view.


And what a view it is.......this is our private deck. You can watch the surfers challenging the waves all day. They start as early as 7 am. Great for reading and having romantic dinners at. Also, fun for playing cards or dice late in the afternoon.

The walk way up to the lobby is full of tropical plants and very pretty flowers.

These looked kind of like honeysuckles

Every day "surfer boy" and I would hit the sand and walk the beach. Good exercise for us both, since we figured we were on holiday's and ate and drank whatever we wanted!!!!
We were there for a week and for the last part of it, our friends, Steve and Jackie, joined us for some fun. We had lunch here looking over the Pacific after we played some golf. We had crab natchos (yummy) and margarita's.

Daniel practicing his new swing.....

Sunday brunch was so good. I also loved the restaruant. It used to be a house on the beach (hence the name tee hee) that a old movie actor owned and someone had made the decision to make it a eatery.
The courtyard was so pretty....
The gang enjoying some great food....and "sunshine mimosa's" (champagne, oj and a splash of grand marnier)

And, no Sunday Brunch would be complete without a Bloody Mary "Beach House" style. I think that Julie still wins in that department though. This is a close second!!!!

Crab cakes benedict!!!!

We took a walk after breaky and found this quaint shopping area with a funky chocolate shop in it. This reminds me of New Orleans...actually a bride was in here having her pics taken. Very nice
Chococlates made for the election...republicans and democrates

And, whenever I see beautifull flowers I have to take a pic for my friend Sue Dean. She loves them all and seems to be able to grow almost anything. I didn't ever find out what this was but I think it might be a relation to a clematis plant....very pretty.

Some nicely groomed shrubs...I found ahumming bird hanging around in there.

THIS IS MY MAN'S HAPPIEST PLACE

And. I am sure you can see why....

Such a peacefull spot to have for awhile....

UNDER CONSTRUCTION 2

So, now we have a lovely deck at Tony's place and this crazy old stump in front of it all. It took alot of convincing but Tony finally agreed to let us take it out. That's Harold on the machine and our motorhome beside him. This pic is a old one before the house is painted and the new front glass door is on. It is now a gorgeous dark olive green with cedar facia boards, ceadar window casings and black accents to highlite the cedar. Very classy.

Harold putting that darned stump into the back of Joe's dump truck. Bye Bye stump!

CASSIDY'S WEDDING

We made it back into Canada around the end of April. Luckily in time to see George and Cassidy tie the "knot" (he's a fisherman...get it ??? LOL) The brides Dad (Rick), Mom (Dana) and a family freind (Sue)

The wedding was beautiful (just like the bride) and the food was amazing as well....yummy treats for desert.

SYLVIE'S SHOWER

One of our Ya Ya's got married this summer on the beach in Qualicum Bay...they had a very sweet wedding service with all their family and friends attending. Then the party started with everyone camping at the campground and enjoying each other. Fun was had by all.

But of course you have to have a shower first....
We went to the second hand stores and found her a lovely veil to wear for her shower....


And everyone pitched in and made a great meal for her...Sylvie checking out the lasagna

We had the shower at Julie's house that we decorared all in blue...something borrowed, something blue, something old and something new and all that jazz!

And our freind Sue, gave Sylvie the only gift that a woman who has it all could possibly need.

A condom garden of course....just add water and watch them grow

WE ALL LAUGH SO HARD!!!!! Congratulations Sylvie and Norm

NAWLIN'S BASH

I know that Daniel said that he didn't want a birthday party, so I decided we should have a Nawlin's party (Nawlin's is how the folks in Louisianna pronounce New Orleans) We had so much fun in New Orleans and fell in love with the city. I thought it would be a great idea.
So here are some of the masks we brought back from the mardi gras city.
The gals on the deck at Tony's

The food is wonderfull in New Orleans. They have such a influence from Africa, France, Spain that the food is diverse and full of different flavors to please your palate. The dinner menu included chicken and andulli sausage gumbo, "muffalletta's and bread pudding. Oh, of course, we had "hurricanes" .They are a very very very potent drink made with equal parts of dark rum and fruit punch mixture. You can only have one...really, you should only drink one unless you like to be put in jail and wake up with a new tatoo. LOL

The gals are in the kitchen helping me hold togeather the Muffalletta's. Mom, Me, Teresa and Carol is hiding on the left.

They are usually on a bun, but I couldn't find the right buns up on the island so I opted for a french bread.
The stuffing is ham, pastrami, hard salami, provolone cheese and then topped off with olive salad. I brought home 2 jars of that yummy stuff. Then you put it all on a toasted bun and ENJOY

Some of the gang that joined us for the party. Marianne, Julie, and Dana.


The Lawsons' on the deck. See all the beads hanging in the trees???
Mike Jr., tony, Frank and Mike Sr.