Lyn's thoughts..........

Great weekend

I have had a great weekend finally finishing my first Holiday Photobook....can't wait to get it back.....I'm now onto my CANADA Photobook and found this pic today that we had taken on the Banff Gondola.........................so I'll scan this in also.

Saturday Night we went out for dinner with relos and then to see "The Three Muskateers"...ok movie.....but the funny thing was that the projector broke down right in the exciting part and all of a sudden the lights and film went out.....with a BANG!!!! So darn funny....we couldn't stop laughing.

Then today Rod and I went to the UYSC 50 years Re-Union.....and we met up with people we hadn't seen for many years.

We finished off today with a lovely meal with Daryl and Maureen at the Wessy Pub.....so no going out for us now for awhile....LOL! I must admit the homemade apple pie was to die for....fresh from the oven....it was delicious!

I'm hoping to start planning my Xmas Cards this coming week in between helping Rod price things for the WATERGARDEN......I have a large order to unpack,price and re-pack.....it's never ending at the moment....but we'll get there.

gotta' love "Happy Mail" & more holiday pics

Don't you just love it when the FED-EX man drives up your driveway unexpectedly......and you wonder in amazement at what might be inside the parcel you sign your life away for......LOL!

Well.....this is what was inside my box today all the way from the US....thanks REBECCA!!!

Ooh....yummy Limited Edition Fiskars Border Punches.....but wait.....there's more...3 fun Limited dition Lever Punches.................

.....and how lucky am I......there's even more....3 gorgeous Limited Edition Squeeze Punches!!

I love being a FISKATEER......and I love sharing my goodies I receive at times also.....so I'll tell you what......I 'll be posting something soon on here.....with a little Giveaway......LOVE TO SHARE such fabulous Fiskars Tools with others.....

Are you a FISKATEER?          Would you like to join?       Then all you need to do is click on http://www.fiskateers.com/ and then click on the Join Up link and follow the directions.

Now Rebecca told me to keep these tools for myself......so don't tell her that I'm going to be gifting one of these tools on to another Fiskateer......sh.....sh......sh.......sh.....more info soon!

I've already ripped open the Buzz Worthy Squeeze Punch to try it out......love it!!

I have found a few more holiday pics.....of Rod and I...ENJOY!!

This Athabaskan Fur and Hand beaded Coat took over 6 months to create and is valued at $6,000

and here I am in Denali National Park in front of Mt Mc Kinley.......

and at Nenana,Alaska I met this cute man.......LOL!  Just had to sit on his kneee...and he didn't mind one bit......LOL!

Rod thought he'd try his hand at lifting some Caribou Antlers.......they were quite heavy....not sure how the Caribou run around with these things on top of their bodies....

and lastly.......I took this pic of Rod in front of Mt McKinley

FAMILY NEWS:

Wishing Brian (son) a speedy recovery after having Shoulder Surgery and also sending best wishes to my nephew Joe who is back in hospital in a lot of pain after hip replacement surgery......thinking of you both and sending our love!!

Sally is in her final days before giving birth to baby number 2.....any day now....getting excited!

Tammy is also in her last week before giving birth......Kimberley shall have a little brother or sister soon.

Congrats to Brendan on his Promotion for next year to Wellington Secondary College as Middle Years Co-ordinator.

Tim heads over to Paul Ferraris' Wedding in Brazil in November.....and Michael is now looking for another car.....anyone have a second hand car for sale in the Melbourne area or Eastern Suburbs?

Looking forward to our trip to Sydney this weekend for the Gift Fair.....it will be a quick trip ...need to be around for granchild no.2's arrival

 

a few Video shares from our holiday in ALASKA

Brown Bear fishing for Salmon on Hoonah Island which is about an hour plane flight from JUNEAU,ALASKA...we had to be soooo quite which was sooo hard for me....LOL!

Humpback Whales out from JUNEAU - ALASKA

   

Salmon swimming to their death upstream in ALASKA

I wish I had my tripod over there with me but I didn't so the hands were a bit shakey....oh well.....it gives you some idea of what we saw.... My still pics have come out very well.....I'm very pleased with the results....may even do these up in a video at some stage....but for now...I have all pics saved to Memory Cards,DVD's and USB Sticks....

What a fun night

On August 13th fellow Fiskateer Karen Poirer Brode and her hubby Cal took Rod and I out to see BEACH BLACKET BABYLON in SAN FRANCISCO......what a fun night......the Show was hilarious...costumes amazing and the singing was fabulous......thanks for sending me this pic Karen.

We had such a fun time......a very witty show.....so much laughter....and those HUGE HATS were amazing.....for anyone living in the US.....if you get the chance to go to this fun show......GO!!

Musicals are so good for the Soul................we all need a good belly laugh every now and again....

finally meeting Trina and glorious weather in Auckland NZ

It was lovely to finally meet Trina and spend some time with her ,Andy and the kids......they have the most gorgeous view of the Auckland area looking over the water....thanks so much Trina for picking us up and thanks to Andy for the lovely cooked dinner......

It was nice to cach up ...loved meeting the rest of the family...Sarah,Mat and Dan....cat and chooks......LOL! What a lovely family.....and hey Dan...............love all that Lego mate.....

    We are now resting up in our hotel....late breakfast has just arrived in our room.....then we are off for another walk around the Harbour.....AUCKLAND has really turned on the gorgeous weather for us......................in fact we have been very lucky the whole holiday with the weather.

I must say I'm kind of glad to be going home after being away for over 5 weeks.............can't wait to see our family again........................

What glorious weather here the past 2 days.....AMAZING......    AUCKLAND has really turned it on for us.......LOL!

Off for our final walk around the Harbour shortly.....then the final packing before we fly home to Aus.........................yeh!! I've really missed our family......and can't wait to catch up...as you can probaBly tell I've had internet access here and have had more time to play with some pics to share...LOL!  WHAT an amazing holiday we have had......I'll be still on a high for a few days to come...................he,he.

There is a real buzz here with the approaching Rugby World Cup...flags and signs everywhere....love it.............helps build up that true Sporting Pride....go the KIWIS!!

To those following along on my Blog....I hope you have enjoyed me sharing some of where we have been to and what we have seen......this has only been a small glimpse of what we have done and seen.....but hope you have enjoyed it

OMG....OMG.............Yosemite was AWESOME

We are now back in SF after spending 2 magical days in Yosemite National Park...staying over night at Yosemite View Lodge.............what an awesome experience......this place is such a fabulous place.............awesome doesn't do it justice..............truelly amazing place....

 

It was such a peaceful place....

 

we just love it..............Bridla Veil Falls amazingly had water in it ...usually in August they don't flow we were told...how lucky were we....

 

The trees.were amazing.............we loved the whole experience...wish we had more time there...

 

This was at Tunnel View.....a fabulous place to take pics...

 

As you can imagine...I went wild with all the cameras.....LOL!

 

Yosemite Falls.................and  even caught this cheeky little squirel knicking food.....firom a butter pack..........LOL!

 

....AND  check out this HUGE butterlfy I spotted

 

isn't it amazing!!!

 

ok................we have some more time in SF today.......fly to NZ late tonight...........I have soooooooo many pics...........but have just shared a few................we went out to dinner and the live show last Sat night with Karen and Cal.....what a fun night ....BEACH BLANKET BABYLON....a very funny live show............thank you Karen for arranging this to happen......loved spending time with you guys.........

Saturday night we have dinner at Trina's in NZ......can 't wait................better get off here and spend our last few hours looking around this wonderful city................might have another Cable Car Ride...........it's such a hoot......................LOL! ONE LAST PIC..............Half Dome
 

Golden Gate Bridge and Muir Woods

 

We have now been over the Golden Gate bridge 4 times since being in SF......what a wonderful bridge......we also went on a Bay Cruise......and saw all the Seals......haven't down sized thoses pics yet.................

 

Today we ventured out again across the Bridge to Muir Woods where all the tallest tress in the world grow....HUGE Redwood Trees.....

 

These trees are really massive in height.......and many years old....

 

I'm so tired today ................and I look it right......LOL!

 

What a magic place....so peaceful.......I spotted this HUGE burl on one of the redwood trees...

 

 

It was hard to Photograph these tall trees.....but I hope you can get some idea of how tall these trees are...

 

What a great day......we stopped in a quaint little town called Sausilito for lunch and a walk around the Shops......lots of up market shops,art and craft,galleries.....

 

ok....here's a few pics I found and sorted from when we flew over Mt Mc Kinley in ALASKA last week...................wowie what a fun experience.....

 

oops....this pic  ABOVE is from the Arctic Circle flight..................LOL! BUT wait....here's the correct pic....looked like we were going to hit Mt McKinley we got that close in the light plane...........LOL!

 

IT HAD JUST SNOWED .....so to see the fresh snow was amazing.........you felt like you could just put your hamd out and touch it......only 7 of our Tour Group made this wonderful flight....including Dana out Tour Director..................he had the seat next to the pilot....I had the rear seat.......great seat for taking the pics................only have about another 100 or so........LOL!

 

ok......that's it for now.....off to see if Rod has awoken from his Pa nap............LOL!

Off to Yosemite National Park for the next 2 days then back here for one last day before we fly out to New Zealand.........on our way home to Aus.....

some more holiday pics -now in the US

 

We are now in San Francisco...having a fun time.....loving riding on the Cable Cars............OMG....what fun going up and down the streets of SF.....they have people hanging out the sides....and looky what I spotted in the Japanese Gardens today............so darn cute....this is the third kind of Squirel that we have seen on our holiday so far.....

 

I have started to go through and sort some more pics from ALASKA....HERE ARE SOME OF THEM....FIRSTLY ....the grizzly Bears.....in total we saw 12 of them.......amazing to see

 

 

We saw these on the TUNDRA WILDERNESS TOUR through Denali National Park....what a day that was.

 

 
 We spotted heaps of Carribou.............they actually came up quite close to the bus we were on.....it was a rickity old bus......but fun to ride in.....LOL! This ARCTIC FOX walked right by us........

 

Check out his bushy tail..............it was gorgeous! We spent today touring the city.....over the Golden Gate Bridge and down to Fishermans Wharf....more pics when I have the time to sort through them...................we are getting use to the lingo now.......and the money......LOL!

 

Hello from sunny San Fransisco

WOWIE...where do I start.....it's so long since I blogged.....have had issues with internet access whilst in ALASKA......but we have now arrived in sunny California...staying in San Fransisco for the next 4 nights...then heading to the Yosemite National Park to stay for one night....2 days...then we come back to SF for one night.....................we are having an amazing time.............I 'll try and upload some more pics over the next few days.....here's one I found of Rod outside the Princess Cruise SHip looking at this AMAZING GLACIER......OMG...WHAT A TIME WE HAD....

 

We stayed outside for about 2 hours taking pics and just enjoying the moment together......and look what we saw....

 

There were seals and otters everywhere.....laying around on the ice.....

 

 We got off the SHIP in Ketchikan,Juneau and Skagway and did some shore excursions......what fun that was..................we really had a great time exploring in ALASKA....getting into the wild....going into the Tundra in Denali National Park....what an amazing experience......I only have about 3ooo pics to sort through to fine the bears,carribou,squirels,etc........LOL!

 

I hope everyone is enjoying seeing these pics ......I have so many more I want to share .....let's see how I go tomorrow......here's just one of the brown bears we spotted......she was walking along the log and catching Salmon as they were swimming upstreammm

 

this was amazing to see....we all had to stay sooooooo quiet....we flew to Honnah Island from Juneau....and went bear watching for 2 hours......such fun

 

I also have a video of this bear catching 3 Salmon........what an experience to see....they skin the fish and leave the head ......

 

 

ok......that's it for now.....I'm on a time limit here......not cheap......but shall upload more pics soon....

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rocky Mountains and Black Bears

WOW....we have just arrived in VANCOUVER on the Rocky Mountaineer Train....what a fabulous experience.....loved the past 2 days travelling from JASPER to VANCOUVER...................I had the camera working overtime along with my tongue......LOL!  We have such a fabulous travel group.....so many laughs and funny things have happened.......

I have managed to get some great pics......here's a few.....firstly....our close up encounter with a Black Bear and her cub.......this was in JASPER

I was so stocked to get this pic....many others missed out....

I had fun today going in and out of our train carriage so that I could get some great shots from the landing in between the train carriages.......we had so much fun moving from side to side to try and see and experience to lovely rocky mountains......I was lucky enough to get this Bald Eagle....we saw quite a few in the trees and flying above the train.....

I took this pic at Jasper Park Lodge a few days ago...Rod and I canoed around the whole lake for an hour.......such fun.......we loves this place....stayed for 2 nights.....we shared a Log Cabin with 5 other couples in this Wilderness.........................we had a ball!!

I was absolutely blown away by the spectacular scenery we have seen here in the Rocky Mountains the past 2 days..................I have taken so many pics  catching reflections in the water.................and the food has been unbelievable......our breakfast and lunches,wine and juice....scones,biscuits were all included.......we now need to work it all off......LOL!

This country has so much water.......the rivers are flowing so quickly and they are soooooooooooo wide........................

We swa so many logs and debris along the rivers.....................this is caused partially by the glaciers pushing the trees over...and alos by the Pine Beetle that has kiled off many trees.....in cerain areas.....

I love all the water reflections.......................just like in the Postcards you see.....CANADA is a beautiful,beautiful country......................we have learnt so much about the history of the Fur Trade..................the selling of Beaver Fur,etc.......

I was amazed at how these pics came out...............and these are unedited.....

ok......I better get to bed.....we can sleep in a bit tomorrow....then we head to the Cruise Ship in VANCOUVER and sail for the next 7 nights up to ALASKA........so exciting!!

I'll Blog again soon when I have a chance................there has been so much to do during the days.....it's been nice to have a break from the INTERNET!!

I'm slowly learning the CANADIAN lingo.....and have the tipping all organised.....LOL!

We change to using US Dollars on the Ship.....look out ALASKA....here we come!!

.....oops...I forgot to share this pic of an Osprey and it's nest.................these were found around Kamloops.....

It's so odd to see snow on the mountains although it is SUMMER over here..............