CINDERELLA GOT TO GO TO THE BALL

I am back. I know it has been a month, but as I mentioned on my last post, I have been celebrating life. Here is the story. I took 600 photos, and will try to spare you from all of them....YOU'RE WELCOME

Part One

Go confidently in the direction of your dreams and live the life you've imagined. (anonymous)

my dream vacation

This is the lady behind it all, Claudie. She has spent nearly a year
planning her event.....called SUMMER BREEZE

AND

like Cinderella.......I was invited

Let me introduce you to the other Summer Breeze Gals

JULIE....From Vancouver, British Columbia

CC....(Catherine) from Georgia

Miss Bee....(Deborah) from North Carolina

Jeanne......also from North Carolina

all these photos were taken from my trip. I had to borrow from Jeanne for hers, but I tried to "catch" some of their personality. We promised each other to only post flattering pics.

We are all blogging pals

My FIRST time in meeting them

What an eclectic group we were.  Ranging in ages from 72 to 50, different upbringings, faiths, experiences

and YET

Joy and Sorrow.....Pain and Pleasure has sat at all of our tables

Claudies place was truly like a fairy tale.  Everything there was so fanciful, fun, colorful, and almost magical

The little cottage in the back is for guests.

This is an outdoor shower. It has a BIG pool at the back. Oh yeah, we spent time there.  Ontario is hot and humid.

Claudie even went to extraordinary efforts to  make our rooms just "perfect" for us.  She took the bedspreads off the hotel beds and put on some lovely ones from her own home.  She tried to decorate every ones room according to their personalities, styles, and likes.

Being the country girl I am, I had a country patchwork quilt on my bed.  She knows I love ladybugs, so she had these lights put around the mirror. The little picture on the desk was from her.

She made huge paper flowers and streamers that hung from the ceilings.  Since her favorite color is pink, she even put pink toilet paper in our bathrooms, along with lovely soaps. 

Not to mention the  room fridges stocked with soda, juice, cheese, chocolate

a simple hotel room was transformed

befitting Cinderella

Meet her husband Randy.  He did ALL the cooking for us and he is a chef supreme-o.

(he is opening some of the gifts we brought for him)

We all brought each other wonderful surprises, gifts. My whole carry on luggage was full of gifts

and even more full going home

Here is the bunch of us enjoying one of his breakfasts. Claudie's kitchen is like a doll house. I adored it.

Me and Claudie enjoying one of Chef Randy's meals outside.

yes, that is a river that runs along her back yard (sigh)

We did a lot of This..celebrate

and we also "danced to the music"



Since she had a pool in the back yard......she made sure we understood we would ALL be getting in, no matter if we still fit in our swimsuits. (or not)

so before getting ready for our first swim.....we had our "ah ha" meeting

get it out

tell everyone what we Hate about our bodies

but we also had to tell what we Loved about our bodies.

Guess which list was longer.

Now that they know of my still post pregnancy belly fat (youngest is 26), I guess I am ready for the Plunge

I am 5th one in

Even though I had 6 full days there, we were busy every day and still ran out of time

we went to Montreal...Oui

Old Montreal

It was like nothing I have ever seen before

Cobblestone streets, amazing architecture, shops, oh the food!! 

Julie and CC seem happy about their room

just being friends who can hold hands

and be ok

cause that's what friends do

We all had autograph books (which was one of our many gifts)

Everywhere we stopped, we tried to get people to sign our books.

We'd paste paper souvenirs in them

Here is one of our waiters signing our books

Can I just say the French men....Oooola la

Before we left, all the waiters came over

and they left us each with a red rose they bought from a street lady

Did I mention..........Ooooo la la 

We went for a walk along the pier and saw this sign.

Claudie, using her french charm

talked the owner into letting us get one for $5.00

MISTAKE

why...I'll tell ya why

Henna does not last or set like a real tattoo

and it was so hot and humid that evening

the slightest touch would rub it off

All we had them put on each of us was the words

SUMMER BREEZE

Well, I thought I'd get my sexy on, and have mine on my neck/chest area

So.....I am not really the french floozy that this photo looks like

I had to pull the shirt down so it wouldn't rub off

(that's my story and I'm sticking to it)

However, after all my efforts to protect it

by the end of the night it was a mess

It ended up looking like some broad who was getting laser treatments for a Bad Tattoo

Since it was such a muggy night, we all did a little dance in the fountain.

Sure, you're not supposed to

Whatever

(Claudie)



Not a bad photo for all us felons I guess.  Poor Julie isn't in this photo as she was our official picture taker.

That water felt dang good for all us menopausal women

We took a little detour home. Went on a ferry boat ride.  AGAIN, Claudie, using her irresistible charms, talked the captain down on the price

and

as it turned out.....he took us across 4 times just for fun

(it is only a 15 min. ride across the river)

One side of the river is Ontario, the other Quebec

(CC and Claudie)

Don't worry Jeanne, it's not that big of a river.

If you fall off, just paddle hard

Of course no trip to Canada would be complete without some POUTINE.

Eastern Canada makes the best

It is french fries covered with cheese curds and brown gravy

We only wanted one family order for our southern friends to try, but when they found out where we were all from

they gave us 2 for the price of 1

SO

instead of only 1000 calories a mouthful, we got 2000

NICE

This is where I will leave you for now.

I am sure my carriage is about to turn into a pumpkin

enjoy this sunset from Claudies back yard

along the river

"a dream is a wish your heart makes"

stay tuned for part deux

that's french talk for two