Cuba....it was wonderful!

We are back.. We had 1 glorious week of sun, sea and relaxation in Cuba. The week went far too fast!! I think we are hooked, I would go again in a heartbeat!!! This could be the first of many trips tropical or otherwise!!! I've included some of the highlights, we have tonnes of pictures but can't post them all.
This is Brittany dancing with one of the entertainers - Vladimir.

This is a cuban residence. We were invited into the home of one cuban family and they are very basic. No doors, grass roof, they have sheets for partitions in their house. We did notice that they were very clean and they don't have much but they seem generally happy with what they do have. It was an eye opener for sure! It gave us a totally new perspective on what we have and what we are blessed with. We found out many interesting facts about Cuba and its citizens and how their country is run...definitely very interesting!!

This is a narrow street in Camaguey, the city where we landed. This city was built in the 1700's and the streets were built in a maze to confuse any pirates that happened to come ashore.

They have very few new cars in Cuba. The majority are very old..built in the 1920's and 30's. It was cool to see how good of shape they were in.

Camaguey airport.
Cassie snorkelling on our coral tour. I took the picture but didn't realize the b & w setting was on!

The girls with 2 of the female entertainers. Wow..can they dance!


Gorgeous, gorgeous beach....white sand, blue/green water. The ocean was warmer than the pool! We did many relaxing walks along the beach.

Dave smoking a "cuban cigar"...not really those things really stink!

Cassie's monkey face....just chillin one afternoon!

We stayed at Brisas Santa Lucia.

In front of our villa.

The palm trees, the landscaping was beautiful. They had workers out every morning raking leaves and we found the resort was very well cared for.

Housekeeping came in every morning. We came back one day to this really cool swan made out of towels! We also had fresh hibiscus flowers on our bed every day. A treat for sure!

Wild flamingo's by the hundreds!!

The pool.

We made it back home just before the "snow storm of the year" hit. It was thoroughly depressing to leave Cuba in shorts and then arrive home and within 48 hrs have almost 50 cm of snow dumped on us. I guess back to reality! When is spring coming???

I can't say enough good things about Cuba. We felt safe, our resort was good, we had a good variety of food at our buffet restaurant and we didn't find it bland at all as we had heard it could be. We didn't encounter any mysterious flu bugs or any sickness. The weather was gorgeous. The entertainment was amazing. The dancing and skits were awsome. I can definitely see us heading back to Cuba again. Wish I could go back today.... sigh....

Smile!!

The braces are off!! Cass only had her braces on for about 14 months, which is not too bad compared to some I have heard of. She is happy to be free of them none the less!

Before...

During...

After...

Jack Frost

We woke on Saturday morning to a beautiful cool crisp day and discovered that the trees were all covered with snow. Made for some beautiful pictures!!

An added bonus is that the sun was out and shining. We are very much vitamin D deprived this winter so the shining sun was a welcome sight!

Also a belated valentines post. We had a nice day and went for dinner at Kelsey's. We brought Cassie and Lucas along, they of course sat at their own table! I bought the kids each a rose, 2 red for the girls and a yellow for James. They were surprised but I thought it was a nice sentiment. Dave bought me a large black garbage can....apparently he loves me enough to buy this so I can stop cleaning the yard for recycling that Reece continually gets into and decides to scatter about the yard!!!! Yes it has a lid!!

Visit with Julie

I had the opportunity yesterday to visit with my good pal Julie. Julie has been a wonderful friend over the years and has adopted 3 of my yorkies and 2 of my maltese. At one time I was breeding maltese as well but decided to focus more on one breed rather than 2. Julie and her mother Dorothy took my maltese in and have given them a wonderful home over the years! I am greeted with lots of kisses from them. Jenna wears all pink...pink coat, pink collar and pink bow, Diamond wears mauve, mauve coat, collar and bow. They are just adorable.

More recently Julie has taken in my soon to be retired male Jack. I know she is taking excellent care of him and when I visited yesterday he looked completely at home and well settled! Thanks Julie for taking such good care of the dogs!!!

Be Safe....

I got the official word last night from my sister that her son, my nephew was leaving this morning bound for Afganistan. He has been in Manitoba training for quite some time. He left Winnipeg this morning and was making a stop over in Trenton. Across the miles we are thinking about his family and fiance Brice and hope and pray for his safe return later this year. Such an admirable position to be fighting against terrorism and keeping our country safe. God bless you Nathan and keep you safe. You make us proud!!! We also salute all the soldiers who are currently in Afganistan and those that have just left and will be leaving soon to represent our country.

Thoughts for the day...

Just wanted to share my rants for the day. Buses were cancelled again this morning so again no school for the kids. This to my recollection is the 12th day that the kids have not been in school since starting back after Christmas break. That is over 2 weeks they have been home. Reports cards are coming out in 2 weeks and I am wondering what the heck the teachers will be using for reporting their grades? I have heard talk although unsure if it is true or not about the kids loosing their march break or even have the school year extended into the summer. At any rate I must share that some of the "snow days" were actually very nice days and the kids could have gone to school. I could take them in but with their school being all bused they would just play games anyway. It hasn't helped that the muni workers in our region are out on strike so our plows have not been out on the road. We have had so many snow storms after another, it seems we just dig ourselves out and we get another but I do strongly think that plowing the road should be an essential service. I drove home from work Sunday night with visability that was almost nill and hitting snow drifts that were 3 and 4 feet high. I would not have made it home except Dave had taken over an hour to dig me a path on the road with the skid steer and even then it was touch and go. Normally my drive home is not an issue as I only work 5 minutes from home but on this night it took me over 45 minutes. By morning our roads were unpassable. Great...everyone gets a day off but my question is "what would have happened if someone needed emergency medical attention?" an ambulance would not have made it through or "what if our house or barn had caught on fire?". We would helplessly watch because a firetruck would not have made it through either. So CUPE workers of Kawartha Lakes...stay on strike for as long as you want, hope the strike pay is good to ya, just someone make road clearing an essential service so that we all stay safe.

Canadian Winters Eh????

So they say this February has been the snowiest in many years and I would have to agree with them. We have been bombarded with so much snow.
Now I am all for the change in the seasons and snow is nice around Christmas but this is getting annoying! However that being said....not much we can do about it. Makes me look forward to the beach in Cuba even more!! Not long now!

Here are some gorgeous pictures Cassie took of a sunset over snowy fields.... Winter can be very beautiful from the inside looking out!!

The Bathroom..almost finished...

Well our bathroom is nearing its completion. I am very pleased with the entire outcome of the reno..minus the drywall dust that I seem to be still finding all over the house, it was definitely worth it!
There isn't that much left to do, we plan on taking the window out and making it into a full door but that will likely be in the warmer weather. That way I can just zip my laundry outside in a jiffy.

You can see here that we need shelves and doors on our closet. Dave's very talented brother Norm is making the doors and trim. I think the yorkies are pleased with the reno too!

I absolutely love this vessel sink. We changed our minds so many times but finally decided on this sink/vanity...I think its great!

The top of the knee wall is not quite finished yet either...that is being made the same as the trim.

We stacked the washer and dryer, and added the laundry sink for ease of bathing the dogs and also for messy wash ups from the barn etc... I was able to bring in my grooming table for a total grooming area for the dogs as well.

Farm Critters

We have a menagerie of animals here on the farm, each are fun to look after and play with.

Barn kitties obviously...

Brittany has her rabbits and we have 2 baby bunnies right now.

We have peking ducks and call ducks plus rhode island red layer hens.

Also Toby our thoroughbred pictured with Brittany...looking for treats of course!

Red Golden Pheasants....

Our Miniature Horses

Miniature Horses were the first animals to occupy our fields when we first moved here. They are very friendly and love to get their carrots and apples for treats. We occasionally have foals and they are so perfect in a mini form is it amazing.

This is Tanner, a black pinto, my future stallion and herd sire.

This is Diesel, a palomino, my current herd sire and an absolute baby...we all love "D"

This is Saucie, a chestnut pinto, or Sausage as she is nicknamed...Saucie loves her food.

This Liley, a silver pinto, she is a little shy but loves her belly scratches.

This is Indy, a chestnut roan, she made a visit to the nursing home on Christmas Eve, the residents were just amazed by her and loved her up. She of course loved all the attention. Our little diva.

This is Ella, a bay appaloosa, she is a mischeivious one. If I don't get her the attention she wants, she will bite at my clothes until I pay attention to her!

Lotsa Lambs...

Well it is certainly safe to say that we having been going crazy with baby lambs. To date we have over 30 lambs born in January and February. We have had 1 set of quads, 3 set of triplets and lots of twins and some singles. They are adorable when they are born!!! They are mostly pure dorset but some are dorset/suffok cross.

Here is Brittany with some of our adult ewes..

Of course we can't forget Ford the pig...he became kind of a farm mascot around here. I think maybe Ford thought he was a sheep???

Or maybe a miniature horse???

The New "Do's"

Pictures speak for themselves!!! The girls both had their hair cut. Britt got a long layer but still had a whak of hair cut off...doesn't she look older???


Cassie's is more dramatic!!! It is so short!!! However she has been wanting it this short forever!! Oh by the way...the braces come off on the 14th!!! Will post pictures on the new and improved smile when they are GONE!!

The "Dress"

This is "the dress"!! After much looking and shopping around, Cassie has found her grad dress. It is a gorgeous brown with sparkles throughout the dress. It totally suits her!! It is a little early considering grad isn't until June but we found it, it looked good and it was a good buy! My little girl is growing up!!!