Looking back on 2014

LOOKING BACK ON 2014!

Last year I wrote my review but never got around to posting it, so I posted 2013 and 2014 at the same time!

January: The start to the year was the continuation of miserable winter weather; ice storms and heavy snow falls damaged more trees and my commute turned into a 2.5 hr drive from hell on some days!
A pic of our driveway...

Just joking.. but that's what it felt like!
Here's our real driveway...

February: Still cold. We warmed ourselves up with all you can eat Chinese buffet to celebrate several February birthdays in Ryan's family! In this pic is his Papa Randal, Nanny Mary, Sister Ralene, Mum Renee and Nephew Mason.

 

 

Even the kitty cats were cold...

 

April: Mum, dad and family friend Miranda came out to visit for a week before heading off to the boat. I couldn't believe that there was still on snow on the ground at this point! Never the less we got cracking on landscaping around the pool (to our dismay the soil was still frozen hard...didn't plan on that!) We took a touristy trip to Niagara Falls, one of my favourite places! We played arcade games and I even persuaded them to do a round of dinosaur mini golf.. hurrah!

Pool before

 Pool after

April: Ryan and I flew down to Washington DC the next week with my mum and dad. The yacht was moored in Norfolk, Virginia, a few hours south of DC. We were super impressed with all the (free) Smithsonian museums , and the city was absolutely beautiful with lots of cherry blossoms in full bloom. I would say it's the nicest city in America that I've been.

 

Summer: Ryan and I decided not to go away and to just enjoy the house and the pool (which was such a novelty!) On Canada Day we took Mason to see a Toronto Blue Jays baseball game, his first ever!

 

July: Another visit from Mum and Dad, once again passing by on their way to the yacht, which was moored in Annapolis, MD. We took a trip to the CNE (Canadian National Exhibition), and I got free tickets to the airshow from work! The airshow was a bit disappointing, it was so hot everyone was huddled under trees for shade. However, the trees made it difficult to see any of the planes haha! We also had some of Ryan's family round to the house to meet my parents for the first time!

The week after, I headed down to DC alone this time to meet up with Paul, Dee, Derek (Dee's 4yr old son) Mum and Dad! It was a lot of fun and reminded me of all the great things and crappy things about boat life! (Mainly throwing up my breakfast burrito off the back of the boat whilst clinging on so I didn't fall overboard!) and wandering an hour to find a Chinese restaurant that didn't exist (oh google maps you let us down that day!) Let us never speak of that outing again.
We also visited the Smithsonian Zoo with Paul Dee and Derek. The best part was watching the lion cubs, but it made me sad that they were in captivity. It was fun but I don't think I'll visit zoos anymore. It just doesn't seem right.
Annapolis is just beautiful, mum and I liked to frequent the Starbucks with free wifi and I'd download our favourite shows to watch in the evening!

 

 

This summer we had an unexpected visitor at (or should I say IN) our house. A snake decided to start living in our exterior wall right by the front door. It used one of the ventilation holes to get in and out, and one day... if that isn't creepy enough... I found it's skin hanging out of the hole in the wall! Then my dad sent me a link on how garter snakes can lay 50 live baby snakes at once *shudder*.
I'd become quite fond of our little snakey friend, and after several failed attempts to humanely catch it, I waited until it was out of the wall then plugged up all the holes! I think it went to live under the deck which is fine with me!

In November we ended up taking a last minute trip to Cuba! We stayed at the Paradisus Rio de Oro in Holguin. It was a lovely resort and the Cuban people all seemed genuinely happy. Ryan's favourite thing was the swim up bar in the pool! It grossed me out a little though because we would see the same people sitting around the bar for literally hours and hours drinking....and it started to make us wonder where they are all peeing!!! My favourite part was definitely the coral reef off the beach, every day I'd go for a little snorkel, I saw an amazing chameleon fish. Ryan was a little nervous of the snorkelling and the first time he went in, he caught his hand on a rock and thought he'd been stunf by a sea urchin so he was flailing around all over the place!!

December we had a stressful time replacing the floors at the house, but we finally managed to get them done in time for Christmas! We were able to get away to Blue Mountain Resort for a night to celebrate Ryan's cousins birthday! It's like a mini whistler with "ski village" shops and nightlife. The slopes aren't anything like Whistler though! We had a great time and boogied the night away.

That's all I can think of for now. 2015 is going to be exciting because any day now we'll have the arrival of the very first grandbaby in the family. Paul's girlfriend Dee is due to have a little girl at the end of January! Until next year...