Apple Picking in Juilan

Last weekend we took our motorhome to KQ Ranch RV

Resort in Julian, for Apple Days, and in honor of David's birthday.

Julian is about an hour and a half from us in the local mountains.

{Grandbabies and Proud Grandparents}

Nicole, David, 3 grandkids, Dan and Jeri joined us for a fun weekend of camping at the resort. The town was hopping, or as Gigi said, "It's bumping!!" (I think her daddy taught her that saying!) Lots of tourists were walking all around the small quaint town of Julian.

The weather was warm, sunny and beautiful all weekend. Nighttime was cooler but not too cold. We took walks around the resort, rode bikes, and relaxed in camp. Mommy, Hallee and Gigi slept in the motorhome with Yaya and Papa. It's always an adventure for Gigi to sleep in the motorhome. She was so excited about sleeping on her camping mat and in her very own sleeping bag on the floor of the motorhome!

On Saturday we drove just outside of Julian to pick apples at one of the local apple orchards. Gigi really had fun picking the apples off the trees and putting them into her very own bag.

She's at a great age (4 yr)!! It is pure joy to see her excitement, written all over her cute face at doing new and fun things. After apple picking, we enjoyed lunch "downtown" Julian and yummy famous apple pie ala mode!

Gigi loved riding her bike around the resort. She has a cute way of coaxing just about anyone to go with her! She also enjoyed feeding the nearby horse a big carrot. She's like an energizer bunny----she is go go go all day long--no napping for this "big" girl!

Brody (18 mon) had the most fun just being a boy and getting as dirty as possible. He loved playing with the set of MatchBox cars that were his daddy's, right in the dirt! He go go goes too!!

But he does finally give way to resting, here coming close to sleep on dad's lap! Daddy and brody slept in their tent!

The litttlest camper, Hallee (4 months) did a lot of cooing, sleeping and eating, but she also enjoyed the outdoors. She's been camping twice already at her young age. She loves being held, but she has to be facing everyone so she can see all around her. Mom just carries her around in the Ergo or Moby and she's fine.

Here she is sitting with Papa and talking up a storm! She's too cute!

You can see more Apple Days pictures here.

Cruising the Eastern Seaboard

{Portland Head Light, Cape Elizabeth-Portland, Maine}

New England/Canada 9 Night Cruise

At the beginning of September we cruised up the eastern coastline of North America. We flew into Newark Liberty International Airport, and set sail on this adventure on the RCCL Explorer of the Seas, from the Cape Liberty Cruise Port, Bayonne, New Jersey. Our ports of call included: Portland, Maine; Bar Harbor, Maine (known to locals as BA HA BA !!); St John, New Brunswick, Canada; Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada; and Boston, Massachusetts!

We cruised with our good friends, Gary and Cindy, and my mom and sister, Kathy.

Fun times were had by all on and off the ship.

{St John New Brunswick, Canada}

We saw a lot of history in these towns that are older than any in California. We walked on some original cobblestone streets, visited some famous lighthouses, Portland Head Light, Cape Elizabeth, Maine, and Peggy's Point Lighthouse, St Margaret's Bay, Nova Scotia, eat Lobster Rolls (Yum!), and Whole Maine Lobster

{I'll stick with Austrailian or Pacific Lobster tails, thank you! I didn't much care for the eyes of the lobster looking at me--so I jumped, thinking the lobster moved, and gave the waiter the biggest laugh of the day!!!!}.

In Halifax, Nova Scotia, we visited the cemetery where the victims of the Titanic were buried so many years ago. We took a few sightseeing tours, a Duck tour of old Boston and the oldest baseball park in the USA, Fenway Park (that's PAAAArk in Bostonian, long accent on short vowel sound!).

{ Nick is leaning on the infamous Green Monster at Fenway}

The ship was a large one, the largest cruise ship we've gone on. It could accommodate 3,800 passengers, but there were only 3,056 of us!!! It had a Promenade down the middle of the ship where the shops were located, a couple of bars and coffee shop, much like an indoor mall which was very cool and a great place to people watch.

For the first time we had a balcony room on the back (AFT) of the ship. It was great. The balcony was larger and we had no wind. Too bad it was not a hot super sunny trip. Weather was ok, mostly in the high 60's - 70's, some cloudy days, few drizzles too, but that didn't dampen our fun.

At the end of the cruise, Nick and I took the train from Newark to Philadelphia for a few days. What a pretty city Philly is. Of course we enjoyed Philly Cheesesteaks! We took a trolley tour around downtown, visited Independence Hall, saw the Liberty Bell, and visited Citizens Bank (baseball) Park, the home of the Phillies, where we had a fabulous tour. We even got to go into the dugout and the players' locker room! Very cool to see all the "behind the scenes" stuff!!

Cruising is a great way to get an overview of places we've never been, but it doesn't afford us any extended time in one place. The East Coast is so lush and green, everywhere, unlike most of California in the fall. The buildings and houses all look so different than what we are used to seeing on the West Coast. As it turned out we were too early to see the Fall Colors, but what we did see really impressed us. We plan to go back to the East Coast, hopefully, in the not too distant future, in our RV, and take more time to see and soak in the beauty of the New England states.

To see more of our pictures go to my flickr page.