Rick snapped this photo of the girls’ books. Makes us chuckle. :)

It isn’t officially summer until you can pull up to the fruit stand at the side of the road and get fresh strawberries! I have grown accustomed to the taste of Québec berries. The Nova Scotia ones don’t have the same full earthy flavour I am now used to. Mind you, Nova Scotia got a ton of rain this year – it may have affected the flavour.

Hands down we like to get our berries here locally at Quinn farm. They do not spray them with pesticides unless we have a wet season and they are forced to or lose their crop. The ones pictured above however, are from Valleyfield. One of those road-side stands called our name – our first batch of the season! :)

My girls, ages 2 and 3, promptly putting themselves to bed after their bath. They have the hotel routine down pat! :)

Our family likes to travel – road trips to be exact. We prefer to stay at the Marriott chain and have been able to achieve Gold status with them which means free upgrades. Under the Fairfield banner we are able to take advantage of roomsaver walk-in coupons while still accumulating points which is a plus. Our preference is Residence Inns as they have kitchenettes. We can prepare our own meals rather than rely on restaurant food all the time when on the road.

My only complaint is that if you leave anything behind, don’t expect to see them ever again. Twice now I have forgotten something at two Marriott hotels (one in Burlington, Vermont, the other in Halifax, Nova Scotia). In Burlington it was a brand new pair of pants I bought, tags still on…in Halifax it was the girls’ spring jackets. Despite contacting them right away and even telling them where to locate them in the room, their housekeeping swears they never saw them/recovered them. One of the jackets my mother had purchased for my oldest (my youngest was wearing at the time) it is worth nothing but has a lot of sentimental value as my mother purchased it (she is deceased). There’s customer service for you…it doesn’t exist anymore. I am just thankful we didn’t leave the laptop behind!

When in the Adirondacks for our anniversary, we stumbled upon this great little shop selling all kinds of flavored popcorn. It was your typical charming Lake Placid store with not only many yummy goods but fun camping gear to boot. It smelled delish in there!

We got a couple of small bags of both the cheddar and caramel flavors to munch on…and we immediately were hooked! We returned that evening to purchase a tin of this addictive snack from the Adirondack Popcorn company…call it a souvenir for our 5th wedding anniversary. :)

Our Himalayan cat truly blends in with the scenery around here…



One of these things is not like the others, One of these things just doesn’t belong… ;)



I’d color-correct the red eye here, but it accurately depicts the venom the cat had for me for kicking her off the dolly bed. :)