New Apt for a New Year

Hello Everyone! Dustin and I have had a very busy month. I went to Tennessee the week before Christmas. It was great to spend sometime in the South with family and friends! I made it back to Maine on December 23, so I was able to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas with Dustin for our first Christmas as husband and wife. On December 31st I started my new job at the Job Corps. Then on January 2, we moved into our new apartment. This apartment has been such a blessing. Dustin has worked so very hard to make it feel like home. Being so far away from home is hard, but we can see how God has his hand in everything that has happened while we have been here. Here are some pictures of our new place!

The Kitchen

The Bathroom 

 

The Bedroom 

The Living Room

 Thank you for following us on this journey! We love you!

O Christmas Tree

While Mom and Dad were here, we decorated the apartment for Christmas!

 Mom and I fluffing the tree

Dustin and I decorating our tree with the ornaments we have collected over the past six years.

Our beautiful Christmas tree with our stockings hanging behind it. 

A week with Mom and Dad

Hello Everyone ! I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and were able to spend lots of time with those you love. Although we were unable to be in Seymour for Thanksgiving, I was blessed to have my parents spend the week with us in Maine. Mom and Dad arrived on Monday with the Trailblazer in tow!

My parents helped us unload the Trailblazer and organize our apartment. Then, Monday night we took Mom and Dad out to Napoli's a local Italian restaurant in Caribou. On Tuesday, we finished organizing the apartment and we went shopping ! Mom and Dad bought me my first pair of snow boots.

For lunch, we went to Ruby Tuesday. It is so nice to have a East TN restaurant all the way up here in Maine. That afternoon we did quite a bit of grocery shopping. Tuesday night, we had our first Maine lobster dinner. We ordered soft shell lobsters from a local store, and Mom made baked potatoes, broccoli with cheese sauce, and garlic knots. It was delicious !

For dessert, we had whoopie pies !

On Wednesday, we did lots of cooking, Mom and Dad helped me make pot roast, a husband's delight casserole,  and chex mix. Dustin got off work early, and we went to see Skyfall, the new James Bond movie in Presque Isle. On Thursday, we headed over to Canada to see Grand Falls and enjoyed lunch at the 787 Bistro. It was hard not being in Seymour for Thanksgiving, but we enjoyed spending time together in a different country! I wish Scott and Sam could have been here.

Mom and Dad left early Friday morning, and they arrived back in Seymour tonight. I am so glad they were able to come to Maine to help us settle in. We are truly blessed to have all their love and support. It has  been a great first week in Caribou!

Thanksgiving in Canada?

We had already had the traditional Thanksgiving meal with both of our families before we left for Maine.  Her parents came up on Monday so we decided to go on over to Canada for Thursday.  We headed northeast toward Grand Falls, NB, Canada or Grand-Sault.

Trip map provided by maps.google.com

It was a beautiful community and small town.  We headed over to the actual waterfall which is in town.  It is dam controlled so the falls were not majorly impressive but the views were gorgeous.

Part of the fall

Deep gorge

Picture upstream toward dam

Zoomed shot of upper picture

Melissa's parents Don and Dianne Reed

Melissa and her parents

Me and Melissa

All of us

Melissa and her mom

Another shot of us

Melissa and her parents

After a great visit in Grand Falls we got on 2 and headed south to Perth-Andover.  We saw some beautiful country on the way.  Melissa's mom had found a neat bistro called 787/Waterfront Bistro and Cafe.  They had some great fresh food and were so hospitable.  Below are pictures of some of the food we had.

Picture at entrance

Yummy!

My AAA Prime rib with salad

Melissa's club

We missed having the traditional Thanksgiving meal and spending time with family, but It was great to find something different and fun to do local (I never thought Canada would be local for me).  We look forward to visiting more places in the area.

Chasing my dreams

Well my first week of work is over.  I have finally completed most of the paperwork related items that I needed to accomplish.  I have been spending most of my time doing online training and some basic operational training.  I have been shadowing which has helped me understand the normal operations at this office.  I was featured as one of the new meteorologists at the office which was neat which can be found here http://on.fb.me/XLpQJL.  Also here is a picture of the office from the outside and me in the office.

National Weather Service Caribou

Me working sorta

Maine meal

This is my second day at work and Melissa's Parents second day here.  We decided it was time to have a more Maine like meal.  What else could you have but a Maine lobster.  There is a local store about 2 minutes from here that will steam the lobster for you.  We ordered up 4 lobsters and Melissa and her parents made seasoned sliced baked potatoes (potatoes are big here in Caribou), some broccoli with cheese sauce and garlic knots.  Then for dessert we had whoopie pie which is also popular here.  This was a great meal and time to visit with family.  Looking forward to our southern meal tomorrow.

The lobster dwarfs the plate

Some whoopie pie

 

Lots of Fun to Come

Hey ! This is Melissa again ! Today, we were blessed by the hospitality of Calvary Baptist Church here in Caribou. We met some very nice people and shared in a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner. The interim pastor at Calvary Baptist Church is from Sweetwater, TN. He helped bring Tennessee a little closer to Maine. This upcoming week is going to be full of exciting events. Tomorrow is Dustin's first day at the National Weather Service, and my mom and dad will be here tomorrow afternoon.  Mom and Dad are bringing our Christmas decorations, so we will post pictures of our apartment decorated for Christmas. On Thursday, we are going to explore Canada. We will keep the blog updated with lots of pictures from this upcoming week. We hope you all have a wonderful week !