And Then There Were Three…

Through this blog we have posted entires and photos of our journeys from our life in Seoul to our new life here in Mount Pearl. We have let you all see some of our travels from Cambodia to Singapore. We are now officially on a new journey as of last Thursday. Our latest adventure is parenthood. Our little girl was born on Thursday and since then we have been wrist-deep in diapers, spent hours rocking and have been obsessed with a feeding schedule. This blog will now involve the adventures of the three of us.

Downtown St. John’s Busker Festival

First of all, sorry for my absence. This has been a somewhat busy month between being away, my birthday and our anniversary. I have also been actively setting up a baby’s room and getting prepared for our little arrival who will be here this month. Thanks for coming back and keeping up to date with us.

Last weekend, the weather was hot and sunny! It was a great weekend to get out and enjoy some street performers. We headed downtown to the annual Downtown St. John’s Busker Festival here in St. John’s, Newfoundland. We didn’t get a chance to catch all the acts by the buskers, but we did manage to watch two.

The first performance was called Twin Tango. This act tells the story of a shy and dorky man who eventually gains the courage to woo the woman he wants.

Most of the show is him clowning around, with a finale of him doing some jaw-dropping stunts on a pole which is being held up by four volunteers.

We had a much better view for the second show we saw by The Circus Fireman. This Aussie Brother duo put off a show of stunts and laughs while dressed as firemen.

They noticed that I was in the crowd and taking photos, so they made sure I got some nice and quite hilarious poses from them.

The grand finale of their show was of both brothers on separate ladders juggling fire sticks.  Definitely something not easy to do on solid ground, let alone while balancing on a ladder.

Last weekend was a very hot summer day. It was a great day to get out and enjoy the skills and talents of buskers from around the world.

Want to know more info on the festival and the performers. Please check out the links below.

Downtown St. John’s Buskers Festival

The Circus Firemen

Twin Tango

To Middle Cove Beach We Go

Living on an island has its advantages. One of the biggest is the ability to be on a beach or a cliff, overlooking the ocean within hours, or in our case within 15 minutes. Yesterday, we headed out to the beach in Middle Cove. The town of Middle Cove is about a 10 minute drive outside of the capital city of St. John’s. The beach is a popular place for people to enjoy the Sunshine while looking out at the waves of the mighty Atlantic Ocean.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Being this close to the ocean makes me grateful that I live on an island. The ability to be standing on the shores of the Atlantic within minutes is something to be very thankful for.

Have you been to the ocean lately?

Mini Golf: Golf For the Rest of Us

Serious golfers go to driving ranges and courses. Serious golfers buy golf shirts and shoes. Serious golfers have a whole set of clubs and keep them in an oversized bag. For the non-serious golfers, there is mini golf. You may call it miniature golf, goofy golf, crazy golf, mini-putt, Putt-Putt golf or mini golf, but it is basically golf for the rest of us. No clothes to purchase or clubs for that matter. Just come as you are, pay a small fee and receive one ball, one putter, one scorecard and a tiny (mini) pencil. We recently participated in the low-stress version of golf at the mini golf range at Pippy Park here in the city of St. John’s.

We wanted to have some good old-fashioned fun. We didn’t want to watch balls disappear into water hazards and sand traps. We didn’t want to have to dress in certain attire. We didn’t want to lug around a heavy bag full of clubs. We wanted to play the miniature and less stress version of golf. Our afternoon of mini golf was a success because we had fun. Oh, and by the way…I won!

Summertime in Bowring Park

Summertime is here. To me it seemed to take awhile to get here, but the hot days of summer are here. There is nothing better than getting outside and enjoying the warm weather. One of the best places to do that in St. John’s is in Bowring Park.

The park was officially opened in 1941 on land that was donated to the city by Sir Edward Rennie Bowring on behalf of his company Bowring Brothers Ltd.

The park has plenty of grassy areas with picnic tables for family and friends to get together. It also has a number of recreation facilities such as a swimming pool and tennis courts for people to pass the time.

There are several trails that make their way through the park. They provide a way to exercise and a place to escape the city and enjoy nature. These photos were taken from the trail alongside the Waterford River.

The statue of the caribou is a monument to the battle the Royal Newfoundland Regiment fought during the Battle of the Somme in Beaumont-Hamel, France. Another monument sits at the battlefield in France and also includes a statue of a caribou.

There is nothing better than getting outside on a summer day. If you are in St. John’s or planning to visit make sure you spend some of that time outside in Bowring Park.

More information on the park can be found here: http://www.bowringpark.com/

Dandelion Seeds

As she walks along the wooded path something catches her eye. There by her sandaled feet is a dandelion. Suddenly, her mind is taken back to her childhood,  a past when she had the time to pick many dandelions and distribute their seeds by gently blowing on them. “Why not now?”, she thinks. Why couldn’t she take the time to pick a dandelion now and send its seeds flying into the wind?

She pauses…there is nothing to stop her. She bends down and chooses the seeded flower. With a gentle pull it comes out of the ground. She looks at it, smiles and then begins to blow.

The seeds take flight. Some of them go to the left and some to the right, but all of them end up falling to the ground below.

She twirls the flower as she gently, but precisely blows. She is careful to make sure every seed breaks free.

She smiles as looks at the now naked stem before dropping it. Her childhood memories begin to fade as she continues to walk on the wooded path.

My Canada Day Photo Tribute

Today (July 1st), is Canada’s birthday. Today the country I call home is 145 years old. I decided to skim through my photo albums and find photos that had my country’s flag in it. I’ve posted the photos below as a tribute to my home country and the nation that gave the world peanut butter, snowmobiles, gas masks, basketball, IMAX, insulin and of course, ice hockey.

Have a Happy Canada Day wherever you find yourself on planet Earth.

Cape Spear, Newfoundland

Cirque du Soleil Tent, Seoul, South Korea

Outside of COEX Mall, Seoul, South Korea

JSA Museum, Korean DMZ

Niagara Falls

United Nations Memorial Cemetery, Busan, South Korea

 

Walking Around Branscombe’s Pond

I’ve been scouring the internet lately in an effort to find things in my area to explore and blog about. One of the things I’ve mentioned in a previous blog is the vast amount of hiking/walking opportunities there are in Newfoundland. So, there was no wonder when I came across a website that lists all the hiking/walking trails in my area. One of these trails is around Branscombe’s Pond here in Mount Pearl and just a five minute drive from my residence. 

The pond is not a large pond and the trail around it is very short. Which is prefect when your pregnant wife needs some exercise, but doesn’t want to overdo it. 

The trail brings you along a boardwalk around the edge of the pond, and through the woods on the other side of the pond. 

Hopefully as the summer weather improves, I’ll get a chance to get out and explore the other paths that are in my area. Expect more hiking posts to come. 

Here is a website that lists all of the trails in my area. According to the website, there are about 125km of trails ready to be strolled on. 

http://www.grandconcourse.ca/default.asp

Ultimate Chafe Burger

A couple posts ago I wrote about the scenic hike I took with a few others from Cape Spear to Maddox Cove on the east coast of Newfoundland. After our hike we went to the nearby town of Petty Harbour to eat at Chafe’s Landing. The restaurant is located in what is the oldest house in the community. It was built in 1878 by Edward Chafe who was a fisherman in Petty Harbour.

The menu is mostly made up of seafood, from clams to mussels to cod, but it also has some burger choices. One of these is the Ultimate Chafe Burger. This burger is your typical burger with a hefty 8 oz. beef patty, bacon, lettuce, tomato, onions and pickles. The “Ultimate” part is in the bun. The chef has done away with the typical bun and has replaced it with two grilled cheese sandwiches. Yes, a burger between two grilled cheese sandwiches.

Lucky for me someone had the nerve, or in this case the “guts,” to order and devour the Ultimate Chafe Burger along with a side of fries.  I was able to get a snapshot of this unique burger. Oh, and he said it was good. I must admit, it does look delicious.

For more information on Chafe’s Landing, please check out their website: http://www.chafeslanding.com/index.html

What’s the most unique burger you have ever eaten or seen?

Hiking to Maddox Cove, Newfoundland

I’m finally back on my blog after a a time of transition. We recently moved into our new place in Mount Pearl, Newfoundland and between shopping for furniture, hanging pictures and waiting over a week for our internet to be connected, we have been quite busy. I hope to continue to put up posts of our travels to the places we have been. 

Newfoundland is a great place if you love the outdoors. This island on the east coast of Canada has about half a million people and just about as many moose. The island is chocked full of areas waiting to be explored. One of the best ways to do this is to pack a lunch, water, and put on your hiking shoes. Which is exactly what I did yesterday.

I was invited by a friend to go on a young adult hike that was being organized between a few churches. The hike is a part of the East Coast Trail system which boasts hundreds of kilometers of trails to be trekked on. Our particular route would take us along the coast from Cape Spear to Maddox Cove. This is an easy to moderate hike of about 10 kms.

Even though most of the trail was flat and easy going, it went along the edge of the cliffs. If you decided to get too close to the side or slipped, you would definitely be in for a long drop with a painful thud to follow.

Newfoundland has often been nicknamed the “Rock” and though I sometimes don’t agree with this description, I can see how the name came to be. The rugged coastline that can be seen around the island is not full of sandy beaches, but rocky beauty.

These two rocks caught my eye. They seem to be posing as they sit there on the shoreline. There is actually a smaller rock tucked underneath the rock on the left.

This was near the end of our hike. Our destination in plain view. Our lunches had been consumed, water had been downed,shoes well worn in, and a good long hike was under our belts. If you want to explore Newfoundland, you need to get off the pavement and onto the beaten trails.