Christmas!!

We hear that we missed out on one of the whitest Christmas' ever back home. All we got was a nice and sunny 30 degree day! We actually got ridiculed because we spent most of it indoors: opening presents, having breakfast and watching It's a Wonderful Life. We made it out to the park around 6 pm to play with our new gifts and have a good old fashioned Christmas Dinner... Mango Chicken, Steak and Prawns with mashed potatoes and asparagus! It was delicious!

We did miss our families but had a great first Christmas together!

Our Christmas Eve

We had a great Christmas Eve! We first went to Mike's work Christmas party, after which we headed to the only Japanese Restaurant that seemed to be open for some noodles and sushi. We also decided to attend our first ever Midnight Mass as St. Paul's Cathedral. By 1 am, they still had another hour of service to go, and we were falling asleep in our pew. I remember hearing a child crying in frustration and could only think "I SO get how you feel, kid." So we smoothly slipped out after "O, Little Town of Bethlehem" and went straight to bed! Santa doesn't come if you're awake ya know.

Melbourne: The Bird's Eye View

For our 9 month anniversary, we decided to have a little night out! (I think Mike was responding to my moody comment that we never go anywhere nice...and I realize how ridiculous that sounds! We're in friggin' AUSTRALIA!! but, anyway...) We thought we'd go up to a viewing deck at the Rialto building in downtown Melbourne. It was absolutely gorgeous and the sunset was stunning! There's a picture on the slideshow of a lake, and that's OUR lake! It's right across the street from our apartment. Mike and I are currently training ourselves for a big run that will take us around that thing a couple times!! Eek!

Our Apartment!

As most of you already know, Mike and I found a place to live! Now, we realize that five months is not considered long-term, but for us this is the most settled we've been in almost a year! The place is really nice and we've been having fun setting up our room! Our flat-mate's name is Alyssa and I'm sure you'll see one or two pictures of her in the future! She is a super-fun girl who owns all six seasons of Sex and the City...need I say more?
Well, enjoy the virtual tour!

Down Under

Well, we finally made it to Australia. Our month of travels on the way were incredible and we are now attemping to "settle down" for the next half-year or so. Upon arriving, we spent 2 nights in a hostel in St. Kilda (a suburb of Melbourne) to see what the area was like. After that we called up Karl and Trude, friends of Gramma Johanna. We have since learned that Gramma called them up out of the blue for the first time in 20 years for us!
We were treated so well staying with Karl and Trude, who welcomed us into their home for a whole week. We ate incredible dinners every night, and searched for an appartment in the city by day. They live about an hour outside of Melbourne, so we spent a lot of time at the library finding places on the internet. Our efforts were rewarded as we found a place to stay in St. Kilda. We are living with one other girl named Alyssa now and are hoping for employment!
We'll post some pictures of our appartment soon!

Johannesburg

Our last stop in South Africa was Johannesburg...or as the locals say "Jo-Burg". We were able to meet up with Stephanie Munholland. The three of us were in the same LIT year at Camp Mini-Yo-We and Steph and I became good friends. I hadn't seen her in about 10 year or so, but when she heard we'd be in JoBurg she told us to come visit her!!
For about 5 years she has been living and working in the city at an orphanage called "Door of Hope". Mike and I were able to visit and help out at church one Sunday as a few babies were being dedicated.
We were very blown away by the amount of responsibility Steph has. She's basically in charge of...well, EVERYTHING there. She's the big MAMA! We are thinking of you Steph and all your babies! Keep up the amazing work.
And thanks to Steph's "adopted" parents who welcomed us into their home for the night! It's always nice to have people looking out for you in the "crime capitol of the world"!!

Hluhluwe (Shluh - shloo - we)

No African adventure could be complete without a Safari, so we managed to sneak in one day in a game reserve! We missed out on Elephants, Lions and Giraffes, but we did see a lot of animals!

Durban

We have been spoiled by all the people we have stayed with so far, and Durban was no exception! We were picked up at the airport by Tom and Jess, which is a great feeling for sure. We stayed at their place, which overlooks the ocean, for about 4 days and we spent the rest of the week at Dirk and Chantal's home.

On our first day, Tom took us to a township where he was speaking at a local church. We were introduced as Canadians to a group of volunteers there, so one of the guys said he had a borther in Canada. The classic kind of statement you ignore because there is no chance that you know his brother. Then he explained his brother lives in Coburg, and married a Canadian girl. Well, we have a good friend from South Africa who married a Canadian girl and is now living in Coburg... turns out we just met our friend Dylan's brother Damien. We ended up spending a lot of time with Damien and he even lent us his car for a few days! What are the odds! It was great to get to know Dylan and Rachel's family and friends so much better, and we are definatly intending on a return trip!

South Africa!

We have finally left the North and headed down to where summer is just beginning! We had a rather hectic first week, moving from the west coast to the east coast. We hiked up Lion's Head Mountain in Cape Town before taking an 11 hour bus to Jeffrey's Bay. There we did a little surfing, a little relaxing and a lot of shopping! It's surf clothing factory store central. Even though I get Billabong clothes for free, I still could'nt help paying for more! Boardshorts for $10, come on!

Laka

London on a budget is still bloody expensive!

We thought we'd just pop round the corner to London before heading South to well... South Africa. We left Spain at 10 at night on Friday and were set to fly out of London at 5 the next evening. So... we arrived in one of the busiest cities in the world at 1:30 am, dropped off by a bus in the business district with no plans or accommodation. After a quick chat with a taxi driver in which he told us we were crazy and the hostel we were interested in would be full, we went on our way. We found a bus going sort of the direction we wanted and even managed to find the hostel after walking for half an hour. They had a couple beds!! We were set... and then we realized that our plane didn't leave until Sunday... woops.
Turns out London is booked on Saturday nights... we called at least 20 hostels, getting rejected over and over... so we decided to try the airport hotels. What a great call that was!! for 10 pounds more than our crappy hostel we got a room at the Sheraton Heathrow. By far the best lodging we have had yet!
With that settled, we did our day of sightseeing and had some fish and chips.

By the way, do you recognize the coat of arms?

Porque No Te Callas??!!

Once we left Dublin, we landed in Barcelona, Spain and had no idea what we were in for!
We spent a couple days in the city looking around and having a good time. Nothing could have prepared us for what we were about to experience. We headed to Torrella de Montgri, the village of my good friend Celia. The whole Palli family made us feel so comfortable. We spent countless hours touring the beach towns with white houses facing the Mediterranean sea, eating seafood Paella and sipping glasses of wine. We saw Medieval villages, with narrow, cobblestone streets and walls covered with vines. With the help of the whole family, we experienced a lot that the Catalan region of Spain had to offer. I think my most favourite meal of the day in Spain is Merienda! This is a late-afternoon snack where you get to drink Xocolata (basically, melted chocolate in a mug)paired with Churros, (basically fried dough with sugar). I don't think people eat this meal everyday...but we sure did! My new favourite meal!
Having spent this time together with Celia and her family has created an amazing bond. We miss everyone so terribly.
(And in case you are wondering what the title of this post means...well, this is an inside joke that we share with the Palli family and most of Spain...you can go to youtube.com and watch the video if you like!)

MUCHAS GRACIAS CELIA, CLARA, CHRISTINA and PAPA PALLI!! WE WILL SEE YOU IN AUGUST!

Deedly-idly-eedly-idly-eh!

On the road again! Here we are in Ireland visiting our good friend Ellie and her family.
On our very first day there we rented a car and drove the 3-4 hours it takes to get from the east coast to the west. This was no easy feat as the driver's side is on the right and we had to drive on the left-hand side of the road! We managed to get most of the way there without killing ourselves when we noticed the car was making some strange noise. When we pulled over and got out of the car, the smell of burning rubber filled our noses. The back, right tire was flat as a pancake and smoking like a chimney. Oops.
Within a few moments I was on the phone with the car company and Mike was assisted by a dad with his two boys to help change the tire. Mike said it was like watching a pit crew! Each kid knew what his job was and within a few minutes the spare was on and we were on our way! The west coast was gorgeous, just as you would imagine the country to look. Rolling green hills, stone walls that stretch for miles and breathtaking, rugged cliffs facing the sea.
It was a grand time. Ellie and her family were so hospitable, kind and HILARIOUS! Ellie's parents have so much fun and we loved every minute with them. I'm pretty sure they MORTIFIED Ellie, but such is the case with parents. Thank you Griffin family for "taking in the strays off the street"!

Plans

After some down time at the cottage, we have finally decided on what we are going to do next and we are very excited! We are going down under to live and work for about half a year, with a few stops along the way. We bought a 'round the world ticket' and spent the last week getting organized. We leave on Monday, Oct. 13 at midnight from Toronto.
Our first stop is Dublin, Ireland to visit Ellie. The rest of our itinerary is:

Oct 13 - Ireland
Oct 26 - London to Cape Town
Nov 9 - Johanessburg to Melbourne
Mid April - Melbourne to Cairns to Sydney
Early May - Sydney to Bali
Mid-May - Bali to Hong Kong to Bangkok
June - Bangkok to Singapore overland
July - Back to London

New York New York

I HEART New York!! Start spreading the news!! We were apart of it! We woke up in the city that never sleeps! We found we're top of the heap, king of the hill, A num-ber one! Our little town blues have melted away! We made it there, so we'll make it anywhere!
It's - up - to - you. New. York.
Neeewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Yoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooork!

The Capitol

After leaving Ryan and Kit's place, we made our way up to Washington DC. We spent the first night in a cabing just south of the city, where they once trained spies! The city definately surpassed our expectations in the short time we were there. We saw all the sights and everything was free, even the museums! We even saw a police escorted limo leaving the White House... perhaps George?

Ryan, Kit and Mia!

We are now in Forest Virginia, visiting Ryan, Kit and their new baby Mia! Our niece is very cute! Ryan and Kit are alright too... We finally got to see what Ryan does, so now I'll have an answer when you ask. Mia definately takes a lot of attention and Miranda and I are doing our best to help out. We babysat on Saturday night so the new parents could go out and hit the town! We are camping on the back lawn, right beside the horses! We have been feeding carrots to the horse shown in the picture with Miranda... but Miranda touched the fence as the horse ate the carrot. The fence is electric and they both got shocked... you should have seen the horse run away! We are really lucky to be in a position to be able to visit like this and are excited to see what is next!

What Now??

We are finished working in Muskoka now and everyone keeps asking us what we are doing next. It's actually pretty hard to keep answering that question when we don't really know! For now we are just visiting friends and family in Toronto and trying to plan our lives. Nest week we are going on a road trip to see our brand new niece, Mia (and Ryan and Kit too I guess)! After that we will be driving home with stops in Washington DC and New York City. We even have tickets to Yankee Stadium already! So, we think we will be fine and things will figure themselves out...

Summertime

We spent our week back in Toronto visiting everyone and now we've headed up to Muskoka Woods for the next three months.
There is a whole new realm of camp we're learning about right now. I like to call it "The Marriage Factor". There are many different perks within the Marriage Factor, some big, some small. For instance, the accomodations are much better. As well, I am now encouraged to spend time alone with a boy. Furthermore, other married couples will include you in their conversations about different facets of married life. Topics like toilet-seat etiquette, sleeping habits and even S-E-X, are all open for public discussion.

As much as it's fun and novel to play "grown-ups" here, we manage to keep the maturity level on the low-medium scale. We've been told that we are "the only married couple in our positions." Meaning, we're the oldest instructors this camp has ever seen. Most married people up here are full-time staff with keys and clipboards and courier bags full of lists and pens and things.

To be honest, we're fine with that. The longer we can post-pone "real life" the better. We plan on having a blast until then.

Costa Rica to Panama and Back Again

Our return to Toronto is fast approaching, but we thought we´d add one last entry.

After Tamarindo, we visited Quepos. It´s a small town about 6 hours south of Tamarindo. It´s a short bus ride away from a beautiful national park called Manuel Antonio. We saw so much wildlife there! Monkeys and tucans and sloths...oh my.
The beaches there were some of the best we´ve seen in our three months.

We also ended up spending a week in Panama on the Bocas del Toro islands! We met up with our Irish friend Ellie there and had a blast! Surprise, surprise, we visited MORE beaches! (Don´t you just HATE us?) We went dolphin watching one day. Our boat driver really knew what was up! He drove the boat around in circles and we got to see the dolphins jump and play in the wake. It was incredible!

And here we are, back in San Jose, Costa Rica and really loving the city! We´ve spent so much time in small towns and villages that being in the city is really fun. Throughout the trip we´d take buses into major cities and high-tailed it out to surrounding towns. I think being here is making us miss Toronto a little and the bustle of city life. It´s perfecting timing because we fly out on Saturday!

Even though we´ll be in Ontario for the summer, we plan on keeping up our entries while we´re at camp. So if you´re not completely bored of our blog, you can check it out! Thanks for all your responses and emails during our trip!

We can´t wait to see all of you again!

The Costa Rica Experience - Vol. 1

We arrived in Costa Rica with our new friend Ellie! She is from Ireland and is lovely! We had all been on connecting flights for a sum total of 12 hours when it should have only taken 5! But we got a FREE first-class meal out of it, so...well, we were fed anyway.
After a few nights in a lovely BandB, we moved on to Monteverde where the three of us went on an awesome canopy tour! We zip-lined through the jungle about 200ft above the ground. In the tour we were able to do what they called ¨The Tarzan Swing¨. It was pretty scary. Miranda screamed like a banshee and swore like a sailor.
For all those globally-minded friends of ours, we also went to a fair-trade, organic coffee farm! It was really interesting to see how hard people work, especially when they´re trying to be environmentally friendly!
We took a few buses after all that to Tamarindo! For those that don´t know it´s a pretty popular surf town. Mikey spent 3 days in the ocean and about 5 minutes on the board! He did better than Miranda, whose picture says it all. I think you can see her hand peeking out of the foam.
More to come from Costa Rica soon!

Roatan... another beautiful Island

We left Utila on a 38 foot Catamaran for Roatan, another one of the Bay Islands in Honduras. The trip took 4 hours and we have now decided that boats are the only way to travel! We even got to stop and swim in 2 miles of water, about 10 miles from shore... crazy.

Roatan was very beautiful, with beuatiful sunsets and much better beaches than Utila. In fact, in the 2 dyas we spent there, we rarely left them. One day we rented a moped and drove to West Bay beach, which is the nicest one we have seen yet! It had really good snorkelling, white white sand, and lots of sun! We went out for Thai food on April 29, our 2 month anniversary! It´s crazy how fast things have gone by already.

I´m sure this next bit of news is what you have all been waiting for (at least my mom for sure...): we bought return tickets! We fly home on May 24, getting in around 7 pm. We are excited to come home and see everyone again, but first we have to enjoy Costa Rica and a bit of Panama perhaps.

Island Paradise #2: Utila

So after a few buses and 2 nights in Tela (small, uneventful town) we took a ferry to Utila! They failed to inform us that if you sit at the front of the boat, you get wet! We landed on Utila soaked but ready to begin our next adventure.
Our plan was to take a 4 day course and learn to scuba dive. Unfortunately, Mike had a small ear infection and wanted to get checked out first. So we headed to the infamous "Dr. John". We showed up to the office at about 10am to sign in. I don't think Dr. John showed up until about noon, and Mike didn't get seen until 4ish! Did I mention we were the fourth people in line?? I think that the picture in our slideshow of the shirtless, hairy, chain-smoking, beer-in-hand, partying @ 3am guy will give you an idea of who this man is. Oh, Dr. John...we love him so.
Oh, so basically he said that Mike was in no shape to scuba. (I think his exact words were "$#!@ &*%$#@!*!! You're not thinking of scuba diving, are you?")

My ears are fine, so I signed up! (sorry Mike...) I had so much fun. Being able to stay underwater for up to an hour is so amazing! I got to see fish and corals from such a different perspective. Being able to swim up and down can feel like flying sometimes! The nice part was they let Mike come on the boat and snorkel for free! I have affectionately named him "snork". And quite often I've heard him mumbling under his breath "I hate scuba divers." (again, sorry Mike)

We are getting slightly behind on this... we have since been to Roatan, Honduras and are now in Costa Rica! We´ll post more in a couple of days!

Sailing!

We wanted to take a boat from Belize to Honduras that left from a town called Placencia. Placencia was an hour water taxi followed by a 7 hour bus from Caye Caulker... which didn´t sound too fun. So as were were wandering the street in Caye Caulker we noticed a very interesting sign. Ragamuffin tours was offering a 3 day sailing trip to Placencia! It was goiing to arrive Thursday night, just in time for the weekly shuttle to Honduras (Friday morning only!). Everything seemed to perfect, so we jumped at the opportunity and are so glad that we did!

We had such a good time sailing down to Placencia. There were 16 passengers and 3 crew members on a 45 foot sail boat... a little packed but we slept on Islands. Every day we had about 3 beautiful snorkeling stops, got to fish if we wanted to, and enjoyed good food. Actually, incredible food! Breakfasts and lunches were really good, your standard eggs and toast and sandwhiches... but dinners really stood out! We caught a baracuda one day and some lovely barracuda steaks were served up that night! The next night Miguel, our captin, cook, mechanic, fisherman... etc. really outdid himself (He is in the picture with Miranda). We had garlic covered Grouper with shrimp salad and conch ceviche, served with mashed potatoes and garlic bread. (as well as all you can drink rum!) It was so good that both Miranda and I asked for a little more... only to get a second meal!

We made a lot of new friends, some of whom we are meeting up with tomorrow on the Honduran Island of Utila. The sailing has to be the highlight of our whole trip so far!

Ahhh the Ocean...

After spending weeks trekking through inland Guatemala and Mexico, the site of blue waters and the feel of a nice cool breeze was incredible! Our first stop in Belize was Belize City, where we bought lunch, snorkel gear and a ride out to Caye Caulker. While we were waiting for the water taxi, we were approached by a Belizean man named Prince Charles Paris. Quite a unique name for quite a unique person! He managed to grab and hold our attention for a solid 30-40 minutes as he outlined the history of his country. We really enjoyed listening to him, as he was very entertaining, eloquent and knowledgeable. He was "worth his cheese... so we gave him some cheese".

After lunch we caught our water taxi to Caye Caulker. We both really love the island! The beaches and blue waters are beautiful, the food is excellent, and the whole vibe is very relaxed. The unofficial motto for the Island is "Go Slow". We have spent quite a few hours lying in the sun, sampling the local rums, and snorkeling. Just yesterday, we went on a full day snorkel tour to a Marine Reserve. We got to swim with sharks, touch sting rays and see turtles and all kinds of fish!

And then...

So, it's been a while since we've written. We'll try to update you quickly.

We ended up staying in San Pedro for another week and took Spanish lessons at San Pedro Spanish school and stayed with a local family. (see picture of us with our teacher) AND THEN we hopped on a crazy chicken bus and about 4 hours later we were in Guatemala City. AND THEN we decided to get on ANOTHER bus and trek another 6 hours to Rio Dulce. AND THEN we were really tired and grumpy and checked into the BackPackers Hostel. AND THEN we took another bus to "Agua Caliente" (Hot Water)which is a really awesome water fall that is...well...hot, but a cool river flows underneath it, so you can imagine how weird and interesting that is. AND THEN we hopped on ANOTHER bus for 4 hours to Flores. (Oh, did I mention that for 3 of those 4 hours we were STANDING on the fullest and hottest bus I have ever seen? ya.) AND THEN we took a taxi to El Remate, the hottest place on the planet. No breeze, the lake was warm and muddy, and we had run out of money so...in short, we fought a lot. AND THEN we went to Tikal. (another mayan ruin) Very cool to see but still...freakin' hot. We did get to see monkeys and toucans 'cause the ruins are in the middle of the jungle. AND THEN we took a morning bus into Belize AND THEN a water taxi to Caye Caulker where we are right now. On the coast again! Phew.

Our Wedding!

We thought we´d add a few photos to the blog of our day! And it seems fitting since today is our 1 month Anniversary!
All I want to say is MIL GRACIAS (a thousand thanks) to Jill for capturing the day so perfectly! We are thrilled with every single one! You are the best!
To see more pictures, check out the link to Jill´s Blog. (on the right under our slideshow)

Goodbye Antigua, Hello San Pedro!

So here are the pictures! We ended up hanging out with Jessie and Ben from Wisconsin for the past 4 days or so, that´s them at the flying dog reggae bar with us!


We spent five wonderful days in the beautiful city of Antigua, Guatemala during their Easter celebrations! We were soo excited for this leg of the trip. We had our hotel booked in October and we were ready to experience the party! Unfortunately, Mike came down with a wicked case of traveller´s you-know-what...so we ended up spending most of our time in the hotel room. We managed to get out and see some of the festivities (pictures to come!) and joined in on the super-fun processional for Easter Sunday. We´ve been learning to roll with the gastro-intestinal punches, so to speak. We have adapted to feeling mildly nauseous...pretty much everyday! ha.
We are now currently in a little village where you´ll find some very interesting indigenous Mayan people and other hippie travellers, like ourselves. It´s called San Pedro and it´s located on a 1000 foot deep lake called Lake Atitlan. It feels a lot like Muskoka here except for the fact that we´re surrounded by mountains and volcanoes!

Lost in San Cristobal de Las Casas

When we arrived in San Cristobal, we checked into a place called Planet Hostal, which was quite a nice place, but not found in our guide book. We then proceeded to stay out past dark and couldn´t remember where the heck the hostel was. Umm...not so much fun wandering around an unfamiliar city in mexico after dark. So, we approached a fairly nice looking man and asked if he knew where the hostel was. He´d never heard of it...great. However, he turned out to be our new favourite person in mexico! His name was Cido and he was DETERMINED to help us find the place. He threw us in the back of his pinata filled pickup truck (we´re talking life size Cinderella, Spiderman and Venom...) and drove us around for 45 minutes! He did not let us leave his side until we were safe in our ´´home´´ as he called it. It turns out Planet Hostal had just recently changed names. Once we made this connection, Cido told us that we started about 20 meters from the place and he would have been able to take us straight there. Cést la vie! We made a wonderful friend in this man even though each of us struggled to communicate all night in broken english and spanish. Mike and I both agreed this was our first "story" of the trip. Cido is in one of the pictures with us!

We have stayed for 4 days in San Cristobal de Las Casas, which was a welcome break from all of our travelling! The city is about 2000 m. above sea level, and so is actually quite cool, also a welcome break. We leave for Antigua, Guatemala to enjoy the Semana Santa (Holy Week) festivities. Adios!

Mayan Ruins

Buenos Noches! (thought I´d try a new spanish greeting...you may get sick of "Hola")
We have finally managed to get a few photos downloaded! It only takes about 5 minutes per photo! Luckily the internet is free right now!
In the past week or so we have visited 4 Mayan Ruin sites throughout the Yucatan. They were all so beautiful and so different from one another.
Tulum was the smallest, but right on the Atlantic coast. Many ancient buildings were set on the backdrop of turquoise water. (which we got to dive into after our hike through the site!)
Chichen Itza was the most impressive of the four. The main pyramid took our breath away. We wished we could have climbed to the top, but as we read, about two years ago a woman fell off and died...so now they have roped it off.
Uxmal, (pronounced oosh-mal) was one of our favourites! This one was much more interactive. We got to climb and explore all over the place! We toured around with some friends we met in Merida. Claire, who was from Paris, France (oo-lala), and Mark who was from Germany...not sure where exactly. We took a much slower pace this day (I think because there were four of us, and we didn´t want to rush anyone)It was gorgeous to look out from the top of some of these buildings.
Lastly, we toured the Palenque ruins. We found these ones to be the most scenic as they were set in the middle of the jungle. The plants in Palenque just THRIVE on the humidity, so every building, every stone was covered in ferns and moss. Unfortunately we had just taken an overnight bus ride into Palenque and decided to tour the ruins before taking a nap. Three hours later we collapsed in our cabana for six hours. We then woke up, had dinner and collapsed again for the night. We were exhausted.

Okay, ´nuff said.

Hasta la vista!

Mirinda y Miguel

Ps. we are actually in every photo... it´s like where´s waldo!

Merida - Our New Favourite Place!

After staying in Cancun, Isla Mujeres, Tulum, and Valladolid we arrived in Merida. We have seen so much so far and it has only been ´uno semana´! This city is bustling with culture. We arrived on Sunday and got a great room overlooking the Grand Plaza. The Hostel Zocala is a beautiful building with 12 foot ceilings and beautiful arches. Every weekend there is a festival in the Plaza and we caught the last day. We ate 60 cent tacos that tasted great and by the end of the night everyone was literally dancing in the streets! (Did I mention that this happens every week!)

This morning we found our way (with some difficulty and a lot of walking!) to Cuzama, a small town outside of Merida. There we took a horse and buggy ride to 3 cenotes. All the rivers in the Yucatan run underground and small pools are created when the ground collapses over them. These pools are called cenotes, and they are ¨muy bonita¨! We were basically swimmimg and diving in caves filled with the clearest water we have ever seen! Thank goodness for the man who lent us his goggles for awhile...

(pictures to come soon... our camera died)

Miguel and Mirinda

Hola from Mexico!

Our luxurious honeymoon is over! We stayed in a beautiful, all-inclusive resort in Cancun for the last 4 nights. We enjoyed our Pina Coladas and Sex on the Beach as well as the nightlife... Spring Break 2008 wooohoo!

Today we left the resort and went to Isla Mujeres (Woman Island) to swim with the dolphins! Our dolphin, Nala, was incredible, giving us kisses, handshakes and rides around the ocean! Our standards for accomodation have dropped drastically, as we are now at a dorm style hostel in seperate beds that costs $10 a night. It is a little overwhelming for both of us, but we have eachother and are excited to begin our travels!

Matt gave me a book to read that was apparently the Hippie Bible, called Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenace. I really enjoyed this quote and hope to live by it:

"Plans are deliberately indefinate, more to travel than to arrive anywhere..... We want to make good time, but for us now this is measured with emphasis on "good" rather than "time" and when you make that shift in emphasis the whole aprroach changes."

Buenos Noches!

Miguel & Mirinda

Our International Shower!

Just a few pictures of the Donald family shower! Thanks to Mom and Uncle Paul for putting it all together and making it such a memorable day! A big thanks to everyone who came and contributed all that delicious food from around the globe! What a fantastic idea!

Parties, parties, parties!!

Well, Mike and I have officially finished our jobs and are now in full Wedding/Trip Planning mode. Every weekend from here until the big day is booked with parties, parties and more parties. (Not the worst existence in the world, I know.) Two parties have already taken place, and I've included a little slideshow of some shots my sister Jen took.
The first party was on January 27th and was given by Brenda Hodgson, one of my mom's fabulous friends! She had it at her beautiful lakefront home in Ajax. We had a really great time there and were so overwhelmed with how much love and support we felt from everyone there. The highlight for me would have to be the speech my dad gave and the songs he and my sister sang for us! Thank you Dad and Jenn for doing so much work! It means the world!
The second party was on February 2nd and it was the joint Jack and Jill we had with our friends Rachel and Dylan! We held it at The Rhino on Queen West in Toronto. This was a great night with games, raffles and....well, frankly, really cheap drinks! So many people helped out with this party but I'll have to thank Laura and Matt for coming up with some awesome Nearly-Wed games and questions! I still can't believe that Rachel and Dylan beat us but I'm convinced that it's because Mike and I know each other TOO well. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

February is Exciting

Things are moving along really fast now! Miranda and I both resigned from our jobs and are officially done working on Feb 1. We are excited to have a month to organize the wedding, get ready for the trip, and see our family and friends! Rachel and Dylan are getting married on Feb. 16th, so we decided to throw a joint Jack and Jill on the 2nd. We also have 3 showers coming up, bachelor and bachelorette parties, and Rachel and Dylan's wedding! So many celebrations!



We are getting very excited for our big day. We both love the way we are doing it and everything has worked out so easily. We are also thrilled about our upcoming trip! Soon we will be able to kick back on that dock...

South Carolina

Just after Christmas, the Donald family headed to Hilton Head, South Carolina for a weeks vacation. It was great to get away and relax. We enjoyed shopping, golfing, riding bikes on the beach and spending time together. While we were there, Jill took some engagement photos of Miranda and I. We love them! It may look warm... but it was not at all. Those pictures in the water were freezing, our feet went numb!

Jill has started a photography business, and we think she is amazing. If you would like her to take photos of you (wedding, engagement, maternity, family, etc...), please go see her website, see her other work, and let her know!

http://jilliandonaldphotography.blogspot.com/

Wedding Plans

I think Mike and I need to get much better at keeping this blog updated. It has been months since our last entry and so much has happened since then!
Our wedding plans are coming along very well and we are now currently one and a half months from the big day!
Above are pictures of the ceremony and reception venues. Allan Gardens’ greenhouse is the perfect place for us to get married. It is absolutely beautiful and just big enough to house the 20 some-odd people that will be there! We were concerned that, because our wedding is so small, most places would feel empty. When we went to look at Allan Gardens, both Mike and I unanimously agreed that it was the place.
Bodega is the name of the restaurant we will be taking everyone to post-ceremony. This decision was a little harder to make. We wanted a place that feels upscale and private but that is reasonably priced. Bodega is quite lovely and charming. It’s built into an old Victorian home in Baldwin Village, not far from Allan Gardens. Our parents took us there for dinner in November and we had a culinary experience! The food is exceptional.

Amongst all of these wedding plans we have also begun to plan our big trip to Central America! We are so unbelievably excited! If you know Mike and I well, you’ll know that we are very different. He loves sports, sports and more sports. And I love the arts, singing, dancing and performing. However, this dream to travel and see the world is one thing that we share as a common life goal. And if we have listened to any advice it’s this; if we want to travel, we should do it now. Almost every person with life experience agrees that the older you get, the harder it is to plan something like this.
We are both excited to step back from all the chaos and learn about this world and our role in it. As we take this time away, we hope to learn some really important lessons about what is important to us and get some perspective on what it means to live a full and passionate life.