Jim and I are privileged to be Godparents to Emily, the daughter of our good college friends Paul and Karen. Since Paul works for an oil company, their family of 8 has taken advantage of many opportunities to live around the world. They currently live in St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada. Lucky us, that they were living there during Emily's First Communion, instead of their previous home in Houston. :) What a fantastic visit; we were really able to spend time with their family and get to know Emily, and at the same time experience a new country and culture. They are wonderful hosts and we enjoyed a boat tour, a walk around downtown, a pint in a 300 year old tavern, Mass in a gorgeous Basilica, and a party that included an Archbishop!
Photos in no particular order:
Waterfall from the boat
(photo by Karen or Paul)
Jenny, Jim and sweet Emily in front of some of the colorful houses of St. Johns.
The colorful houses started because the fishermen would use their leftover paint from their boats to paint their houses and it just continued. Its makes for a beautiful and happy city. I imagine you need all the color you can find in this climate.
Nathan and Jim being boys
Emily, Madeline, and Kayla waiting for the boat
Jim and Signal Hill?
(photo by Paul)
Jenny and Jim
(photo by Karen)
Kayla, Reagan, Jenny & Emily
(photo by Karen)
Jenny, Kayla, Madeline, Emily, Reagan, Nathan, Jim, and Luke
All fancied up!
(photo by Nathan)
Jim, Jenny, Karen, and Paul
(photo by Karen)
Jenny, Emily, Jim, Archbishop of Newfoundland
(photo by Karen)
Jenny & Emily
(photo by Karen)
Kayla, Reagan, and Jim
teammates for the game "Things"
Emily, Madeline, & Jenny
WINDY!!
St John's
Madeline, Emily & Kayla
(photo by Karen)
Kayla (asleep?), Madeline, Jenny, Emily
Enjoying the sun's warmth
(photo by Karen)
Jenny, Jim and Emily
We brought up the gifts at Mass.
St John's
(photo by Paul)
Jenny, Jim, Madeline, Kayla, and Reagan
doing some souvenir shopping.
(photo by Paul)
Jim, Emily & Jenny
(photo by Karen)
Iceberg!
Its so much bigger than it looks in pictures, like 2x the size of a house. And only 10% is above water. This one is grounded in a bay. Its been traveling for 2 1/2 years from Greenland and the ice is 25,000 years old.
(photo by Karen)
Jim, Jenny & Emily
This is the same iceberg from Signal Hill
Signal Hill
This isn't the beach-y kind of island, its the cliff-y kind of island.
Also windy, cold, foggy and rough. The waves get up to the level where the trees stop!
Newfoundlanders must be tough! They are also welcoming, friendly, heavy drinkers and they sound Irish. They are closer to Ireland than Vancouver. When they speak normally, its REALLY hard for me to understand them because its so fast and with such a strong accent using lots of local words that mean little to me. But we were honored to be "screeched in" on the boat ride. We had to speak a local phrase, kiss something questionable (a stuffed puffin's arse), and take a shot of the local rum called "Screech". We have a certificate and everything!
(photo by Nathan)
Jenny, Karen, Emily, Reagan, Madeline, Kayla on hike at Signal Hill
(photo by Karen)
The hills and cliffs we hiked are so steep, that we could look down on this eagle's nest that is on the top of a tree. See the eaglets?
(photo by Karen)
Jim & Jenny & St John's
I stayed an extra night with Jim in NYC before heading back to Eagan, my mom, Kim, and the kids. His hotel was in the Garden District, which is where all the flower shops get their inventory. The sidewalks are lined with all kinds of plants. Its the only part of NYC I've seen that smells good :)
