The Great Szerminski Adventure

A day after the airplane ride that brought us back from Cuba, my family and I headed over to St. Catharines for one more visit to family before the big trip. With a delicious breakfast to fuel us, we set off on a nine- hour ride to Kentucky in the car. I brought as many things to do as I could, and I hope they don’t run out. Among the most important things was my Kobo, three books (I was only allowed to bring three) and as many writing tools as I could find. The first six hours or so of the drive went by faster than I would’ve expected. We stopped for lunch at a Subway where this guy thought it was really cool when my dad used tap with his credit card. We listened to some recorded This Is That shows. (If you haven’t heard of that, it’s a radio show where the hosts tell fake stories that are hilarious. It’s now finished- the last episode was just a while ago.) The last three hours went by very slowly- I would look at the GPS’s countdown of how long we had left to drive, and only a f

Our last night in Tennessee was a special one. On Wednesday we drove from Nashville to Forest Gully Farms, which is just south of Nashville in Santa Fe. The girls didn’t know where we were headed - they tried hard to guess where we were staying after we told them it was neither camping nor a hotel. The drive to the farm was beautiful...rolling hills and farms everywhere. At one point when we were only a couple of kilometres from our destination the road disappeared under a creek and I (being shy about such things) insisted that we turn around and go another way. Our hosts later told us that crossing the creek was part of the experience, so I guess we didn’t get the full experience! First Gully Farms is beautiful. The owners, Jon and Mandy, have been working on the land for several years. Jon gave us a tour of the farm and explained that he was working hard to populate the land with native plants that could thrive on the land with very little maintenance. We learned about some

Yesterday was the big take off of our trip when we drove around, our destination, Elizabethtown in Kentucky. It was a very windy day to be starting the trip, but at least we were not planing on camping that day. We slept in a small Motel with happiness, knowing that we had gotten through our long first day. I am very happy that we got out nine and a half hour drive over with because I never want to drive that much at a time again. The next day me and Lucy went for a quick swim in the motels warm pool, and then headed out to the Mammoth Cave. Mammoth Cave is a very big cave in Kentucky near Cave City. Domes and Dripstones was our tour for the day. We went into the cave and looked around at all of the cool types of rocks and minerals. My favourite type is stalactites which are drippy rocks that come from the ceiling of the cave. You can’t see them moving, but you can see all the cool patterns that they create and how old they really are from there size. When we came out of the cave we n

We had a great week away in Cuba with our good friends the Slepkovs. Our kids got along really well all week, and we made the most of this opportunity to rest and relax. We spent our daytime hours at the beach and pool, and evenings in the lobby where we played games and enjoyed drinks long into the night. Three of the kids - Miriam, Sophia, and Sam - got to be part of one of the evening shows, which was fun and hilarious all at the same time. In this photo they are taking their final bows with the singers. The kids were part of a Lion King medley, and the singers in the photo had just finished a Mamma Mia set. Definitely an unexpected highlight. (We didn’t go to any shows except for the last 20 minutes of this one!) The water in the ocean was beautiful for swimming, and we saw lots of neat fish. The beach volleyball was fun most days as well. We were lucky to have smooth travels to and from Cuba, and are very thankful that our first resort experience was a positive

When we woke up at 1:15 in the morning we gathered our things and then hit the road. The ride to the airport was very sleepy but when we got there we were relived. We meet our friends the slepkovs not too long after that and then waited in line the rest of the time. When we got on the plane and got up in the air, most of the people were sleeping including most of our friends. I tried to, but really, unless I am on a night flight, I can’t sleep on plaines. CUBA IS AWESOME THOUGH! When we got there we absolutely loved everything. We waited in line forever and then we went on a two hour bus ride to our hotel & resort Iberostar Ensenachos. There are swimming pools, beaches , tennis courts, bars, pina colada, and so, so, so much more. I did accidentally spill my pina colada on my friend and me, but it got cleaned up shortly after that. We swam at both beaches and the pool, and ate donuts at breakfast. We switched activities from day to day to enjoy our great vacation. We even got our ha

It is really beautiful here. We will write more when we get home. For now, we are avoiding internet...we just hopped on today to check up on everyone.

Wishing for warmer temperature (and more sunshine) is common this time of year. I really enjoy winter, but usually by March I have joined the 'complainers,' wishing away the cold dark days in favour of something else. I have only escaped winter three times in my life. When I was in elementary school my family drove south to Myrtle Beach for March Break. When I was a teenager my family spent a week in Disney World in November. Most recently, when our kids were younger (2012) we spent March Break at a house in the Bahamas with our good friends. This year marks the fourth time I have abandoned winter, but this time we are leaving it for good, not just for a week. On Thursday we are going to Cuba with some very dear friends of ours. It will be our first trip to a resort ever (maybe our only one ever!) and it marks the beginning of our adventures away from home this year. When we return from Cuba we will only have one day to pack and get organized before we leave on the big road

     In less than a week, we'll be in Cuba, so there's so much to do! Another family is going to live in our house while we're gone, which means we had to box up a lot of our stuff and put it away. For me, that means empty shelves, almost empty bookshelves, clean desk, clean floor, empty drawers... almost everything needs to be moved. A suitcase is sitting on my floor at this moment, ready to be filled with clothing (just need the laundry to be ready) for a winter trip to our cottage (COLDCOLDCOLD) with some friends. I've recently begun to pack some bags for the big trip, including a toiletries bag and an activities-for-the-car bag. I'm allowed to bring three books on the trip. Which ones do I choose? (Maybe Anne of Green Gables, The Mysterious Benedict Society and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows?) We will also have a family iPad (to respond to emails and write blog posts) and a Kobo (more reading if the books are available) for the road. I hope it will be en