Two Plus Three

Great visit

2011-10-18T18:23:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend we had a great visit from some friends that live in Manitoba. They travelled with us to China in 2006 and we haven't seen them since but have kept in touch by email. It was great to see them and their two kids! We took them on a bit of a whirlwind tour since we only had a couple of days but I hope they enjoyed their visit. I forgot to ask her if I could post pictures here so I will wait until I can get permission.

In the mean time here are a couple of pictures from a couple of weeks ago.

Happy Thanksgiving 2011!

2011-10-10T10:21:00.000-07:00

We had our Thanksgiving dinner yesterday, Turkey with all the fixings! Thanks to my MIL who cooked the turkey for us. Everything tasted delicious this year even though I felt a little unorganized. My mother is still in the hospital so we are trying to get everything done in between visits. Even the kids went for a vary short visit yesterday morning. I think she enjoyed seeing them but she is in a very small room with another lady and there isn't any chairs or anything to sit on so it isn't a comfortable place to stay for any length of time. Anyway, I'm also a bit paranoid about all the communicable illnesses that this hospital is quite famous for so I didn't want to prolong the kids visit in case they take to touching stuff and freaking me out.

Today is already the last day of the long weekend, at least for us working stiffs. It has gone by so fast and I didn't get any cleaning done yet this weekend so that is the order of at least this morning.

Hospitals and other bad news stories

2011-10-07T19:28:00.000-07:00

Yesterday while I was at work I received a text from my sister, who was in Ontario saying something was wrong with mom and to call her right away. When I called she didn't sound good but I couldn't get much out of her. I called my sister quickly and decided that I would just call an ambulance so that she could get seen by a doctor...finally. After over two weeks since her fall and things appeared to be getting worse rather than better. One of my co-workers was kind enough to drive me over to the hospital to meet the ambulance. I had a stressful afternoon waiting around with her and worrying about how I was going to pick up the kids from day care since Alan was in Victoria on a course. I finally broke down and called my co-worker again and asked if she could pick me up and drive me to the day care, which she did. After we got home and Alan arrived he went back to the hospital to find out what was going on and I took Ian to karate. Ben missed his karate time so he just came with me. Alan found out they were keeping her for the night so that at least was good that we wouldn't have to figure out how to cope since she couldn't walk or anything.

Today I went to work for the morning to get a few things done that are on deadlines then the same co-worker (thank goodness for her) drove me back to the hospital. I found out that the doctor had been by and that my mom has a compression fracture. She will be in the hospital for a few days at least. We don't know exactly how long or any details because we haven't been able to speak to the doctor yet. Today I spent quite a few hours there until my sister arrived back from Ontario. They were supposed to come back yesterday but a bird flew into the engine of the plane they were scheduled to fly out on so their flight was cancelled.

While I was visiting there were two other women in the same room with mom and one had been in fire on Monday and had jumped from a two story window to escape the fire. Unfortunately she lost all her belongings and her home in the fire. I am trying to help her find a place to rent for when she is released from the hospital so if anyone in this area knows of a suite for rent please let me know, if it was furnished to some extent that would be helpful.

It seems that bad news comes in three's as I called a friend of mine that owns a bed and breakfast to see if she might be able to stay there for a bit. He no longer has the bed and breakfast but also told me some bad news about his 13 year old daughter. It was all hard to believe and I am feeling a little bit sad for all these people today....and a bit exhausted as well.

Exercise anyone?

2011-10-05T20:37:00.000-07:00

Today we went to check out a Taekwondo class with one of our friends. Her son used to take karate at the same school our kids go to then he tried kungfu and now he takes Taekwondo. Alan's co-worker now has his kids in this same Taekwondo school as well. We are thinking of moving the kids to this school if Alan and I can take a class at the same time as the kids. This would simplify our lives quite a bit but right now they don't have enough people to run the adult class at the same time as the kids class. So far I think we have 5 people so we only need a couple more. Not sure if I can actually do Taekwondo, I'm waaaaayyyyy out of shape but maybe if I actually did it things would improve in that area. It has been 11 years since Alan and I did martial arts in Calgary so I am not sure how well we would do now. I am hoping the instructor will go easy on us old people!

So anyone in the area like to join us?

A week already?

2011-10-01T21:41:00.000-07:00

I see I haven't posted anything in a week. Time goes by so quickly. I have been pretty busy working in the evening for clients and Friday evening I had to work late at my real job. So that doesn't leave much time to do interesting things to blog about. I have downloaded a couple of new books, well not really new, new to me but more like classics.

Ian has been doing a book report for school on the Great Gilly Hopkins book that I reviewed a couple of posts ago. He doesn't seem to have any major thoughts on the book, just the basics, no real emotions that I thought might be stirred up by it but then again he is not an adopted kid so that doesn't surprise me.

I did leave work early one day this week to go watch an assembly at the school, I used the opportunity to introduce myself to each of the boys teachers since I hadn't had that opportunity yet this year. Ben's teacher seems nice, she seems to be happy that all her grade 2 kids are brainiacs so she can only teach grade 3 material to all the kids. Ian's teacher was well....I'm not too sure about him...I'm still forming an opinion, Ian seems to like him though so that is good.

My mom is doing so so, I think a bit better but not great. I am hoping she will go back to the doctor on Monday.

Can't wait to watch the Street tomorrow...hopefully I can watch most of it anyway, lots of interesting stuff going on there.

Well...

2011-09-25T20:00:00.000-07:00

It's going to be one of those weeks I can tell. Last week my mom fell and we have been dealing with the repercussions ever since. Yesterday my sister left the country for a two week trip so it will be an interesting two weeks trying to take of mom from here when she is a good 30 minute drive away.

Anyway, the project I was working on is now up to date so I can take a bit of a breather until he sends me more work, I think I need it. I thought he wouldn't have a chance to send me more stuff before the weekend but he did, it's done now though but it took most of my free time on the weekend.

Ian had a much better week managing his time and homework than the week before so I was quite happy with that. Lin has started band and will be playing trumpet again. Ben and I just took my walking partner, very large dog N., for a walk. He was so excited to see me he was doing leaps into the air! I haven't had that kind of reception since....well, I have never had that kind of reception! Anyway, Ben was scared of him at first because he was so excited he tried to jump on Ben and give him a very slobbery kiss. By the time we came back the dog had settled down and the two of them were walking side by side and Ben was petting him as we walked and said he was the nicest dog he ever met. He is pretty nice that is for sure.

Anyway, another work week is coming right up but I don't really feel like I had a weekend.

Every minute

2011-09-21T21:09:00.000-07:00

Just about every minute of the day seems to be filled with something these days. Meetings at the school, helping kids with homework, well Ian is the only one bringing homework home and a lot of it I might add. The kid doesn't have much spare time between karate, homework and music. I feel a bit like an army Sargent sometimes. There seems to be an endless stream of forms to fill out for school as well.

I've also been working a couple hours each night on this new client of mine. It's been tiring but I'm hoping to get most of what I have here done before the weekend and I doubt he will get any more to me before the weekend...who knows though.

Anyway, I know I haven't been blogging much but I'm quite exhausted by the end of the day and when all the laundry and dishes etc are all finely done for the day I just want to fall into bed. Which is exactly what I am going to do now before I have to get up and do it all over again in the morning.

Book Review - The Great Gilly Hopkins

2011-09-18T15:42:00.000-07:00

Ian brought this book home from school as class reading. I spent Saturday morning reading it instead of doing my Saturday job. Although I did enjoy the characters in the book and found the storyline interesting I am wondering what the teacher has in mind for discussions in the class. I think the overall theme of the book could cause a lot of emotional upset to kids in the class who are adopted or in foster care. In the US this book has been banned in some areas for it's racist parts and foul language. I'm not as concerned about that as the overall theme of the book. I think most kids will just find it an interesting story but there are some kids that might find it hitting them harder than that and I wonder if the teacher will be able notice/understand/handle these situations. The issues of abandonment and attachment are not easy issues and I don't think most teachers are experienced enough to deal with them in the classroom.

Karate BBQ event

2011-09-17T21:02:00.000-07:00

Today we went to the annual BBQ put on by the karate school. This year they had a fun competition for the kids. They competed in Kata's and they also did some sword sparring with foam swords.
Here are Ben and Lin preparing for battle.

They all won medals and ribbons which they were very proud of.

Afterwards there was big pot luck dinner with hamburgers and hot dogs, lots of salads and other goodies. Unfortunately the hamburgers were under cooked and I couldn't convince myself to eat it. Someone also took my metal bowl and serving spoon that I had brought with our salad in it. I was a bit disappointed about that. Afterwards there the door prizes were drawn, Ian was the only one in our family to win something. He picked a hat, at least it is something useful.

After the prizes were all drawn it was time for the much anticipated zucchini races. Ian won his first round but wasn't so lucky in the second one.

Overall the kids had a great time and the rain held off until our drive home.

Where should I start?

2011-09-15T19:34:00.000-07:00

It's been a hectic week. On Monday the boys got their teachers and their classes. They were quite surprised when I "guessed" who's class they were in and some of the kids in their class before they could tell me at the end of the day. They thought I was pretty smart until they found out that one of the other mom's had emailed me with the scoop during the day. Ian and Ben are both in a split class so I think that will be good for them and they both like their teachers so we are looking forward to a good year. Lin wanted to quite gym class but I told her she couldn't so she has to just stick to it.

I went to a PAC meeting at Lin's school last night and that was quite interesting. I was surprised to sit down with two people I knew already, not well but at least they weren't all strangers. I only volunteered to sit on a committee so at least this time I didn't get myself in too deep for a change.

Earlier this week I went for a walk with my new walking buddy, a very LARGE German Shepherd cross standard poodle. He is very sweet and full of energy so I am hoping we can get some good walks in together.

One year ago today I started working at my present job. Hard to believe that a year has gone by already but just as amazing that I survived a year, at least some days it feels that way and today was one of them.

Speaking of work, I received some paper work from my new client, talk about a blast from the past when I saw those oil and gas statements from the accounting system that I used for so many years. Anyway, I hope to jump into that on the weekend, my Saturday job my suffer though.

Remembering and resting

2011-09-11T19:31:00.000-07:00

So today everyone is remembering where they were 10 years ago today. I remember Alan waking me up as he was leaving for work and telling me that two planes had hit the WTC. I thought, he must have that wrong and I got up to go and turn on the TV. Ian was about two weeks old at the time and I wasn't getting a very good nights sleep at that point so I was still trying to wake up and understand things. I think we spent the entire day sitting on the couch watching TV, well Ian eating and me watching TV. I think that was just about all we did most days then come to think of it. Anyway, today I spent some time watching some memorial stuff, mostly about the people and their stories.

It appears that today is probably the last of the very hot weather we have been having. I may be upset with myself for not taking advantage of the sunshine today but I just didn't feel up to it. I'm still fighting this cold and I had a bit of a nap in the middle of the day today which seems to have helped a bit. I am hoping by tomorrow I am ready to face the day with a bit more energy. We ended skipping out on two events today which I would normally have wanted to attend but didn't. Alan was continuing work on our downstairs door renovation project as well. The kids maybe didn't have such an exciting day but tomorrow school should get under way for them so a day of laying low won't hurt.

Welcome to Nanaimo

2011-09-10T22:24:00.000-07:00

Today we went to a bit of a get together at our next door neighbour's house. It was so nice of them to invite all the neighbours to welcome two new families who have just moved here from other provinces. I discovered that I have very nice neighbours! I have spoken to some of them before but some of them I have not, even the lady that lives right next door to us. Anyway, we had a really nice visit and I am hoping that we can get together with these neighbours a bit more now that we are not such strangers now. The Nanaimo bars I made for the get together turned out edible after all so I was glad for that. They didn't look as nice as the store bought ones but the kids seemed to like them and I thought it was an appropriate snack for a welcome to Nanaimo party.

After our usual dinner at my mom's house this evening we stopped in at some friend's house where Ian had attended their son's birthday party this afternoon. The mother is from China and was telling us a funny story about when her first son was born all their friends and family in China sent them split pants as gifts for their baby son. They didn't know what to do because here in Canada children wear diapers and not split pants. So when her sister came for a visit she sent all the split pants back to China with her.

Anyway, we had a great visit with them as well, nice to have such nice people as friends.

I didn't feel a thing

2011-09-09T22:24:00.000-07:00

Let's deal with this earthquake thing first. Yes, we had an earthquake off the coast of Vancouver Island today but no I didn't feel it. Neither did Alan and neither did the any of the kids or any of the teachers since they didn't know about it until I told them at the end of the day. In fact, I haven't spoken to anyone around here that felt anything. I'm thinking people in Kelowna who say they felt it have very vivid imaginations.

Anyway, we seem to have survived the first week of school. The boys get put into their classes and find out who their teachers on Monday, sooner than last year. It will be interesting to see how it shakes out. Lin had a good week. I have spoken to the vice principal, the counsellor and the music teacher. All have been super understanding and accommodating. Alan even spoke to her English teacher at karate. I am really hoping this is going to be a good year for her. Lin has even told me that she is going to pay attention in class and work hard so I am very hopeful that we are finally headed in the right direction.

I had an interesting meeting at lunch today. I met a fellow accountant who is involved in a few different exploration companies. I am going to start doing some part time work for him to earn a few extra bob here and there. It doesn't sound like it will be more than a couple days of work per month so I should be able to handle it. It will be interesting to get back into oil and gas and related industries. We will see what comes out of it in the long run.

First full day of school

2011-09-07T19:02:00.000-07:00

Well, the long weekend really was the calm before the storm. Tuesday was a full day with all kinds of craziness at work then coming home to lots of forms and notices from the schools. Two field trips already! Lin got her timetable but I couldn't tell if she was in the program or not because it didn't indicate anything on the form. Anyway, after many tries today I finally got in touch with someone at the school who explained everything to me. Unfortunately she has to take art instead of band because of a timing conflict but the band teacher was very kind and said she would look into making some alternative arrangements since there are a few kids in the same situation.

In the evening one of my friends from Calgary was in town for a short visit. We spent a couple of hours catching up and it was great to see her again. Hopefully it won't be so many years between visits next time.

The kids all had karate as well and unfortunately we are back to each kid being in a different class at a different time. It was nice while it lasted having Ian and Ben in the same class but that is done and we are back to three trips in an evening.

Today the kids had to get up early for the first time in quite awhile. Ben was quite grouchy and I think an early night is in order today. Anyway, we got the boys off to the day care and then off to work for another crazy day of computer problems and all kinds of other stuff in between the phone calls to Lin's school.

After work there was more forms to fill out and Lin had a list of school supplies that I was able to fill almost completely from last years unused supply pile. There was also a message that a space had come available for the swimming class I had tried to get Ben into but it was full so I put him on the wait list. I called right away after work to get him in and take him out of the other class since this one is better for us. It's not at the same time as Ian's but at least it is at the same pool!

Ian started piano lessons this evening as well. I almost forgot all about it but luckily I remembered about 10 minutes before his class started. Now the kitchen is cleaned up and I am finally able to have a couple minutes rest.

To top it off I have had a sore throat over the last couple of days and I am hoping that I am NOT coming down with something. There just isn't time for that at the moment.

Oh wait, I think the dryer is finished.....

Quiet Long Weekend

2011-09-05T08:15:00.000-07:00

We are having a pretty quiet and lazy long weekend. Yesterday we had a short visit from our niece who is visiting her friends in Vancouver. She came over for about 4 hours so we walked to the beach and had dinner and then it was time to take her back to the ferry. It was nice to see her again though and hopefully I can follow her travels on the internet a bit.

Tomorrow is the first day of school, well sort of, the boys only go for one hour during the middle of the day. I found out yesterday that there is no day care tomorrow. That's handy. I guess my MIL will need to step in again. Tomorrow is not a day I can take off from work.

Oh well, I guess we will try to enjoy our last lazy day.

Stepping into cyberworld

2011-09-02T18:25:00.000-07:00

My weeks vacation is over, it just zipped by at the speed of light. I still have the long weekend of course but my actual vacation time is now OVER. The kids and I tried to keep busy. I tried to reintroduce them into the world of thinking by giving them a little bit of school type work to do in the mornings. Ian had to actually practice his summer piano pieces a bit each day. Nothing too strenuous but it's time to start at least thinking about routine again.

We also had fun, we went to the water park one day and yesterday we met up with a few other moms and their kids at the playground and spent quite a few hours there. The weather was a bit on the cold side but only the moms seemed to notice that.

Today we went to the library and got some books, time to get back into the routine of reading a bit as well.

I am not sure if it was a good idea or not but I got Ben and Ian (Lin didn't want one) their own email addresses. We had a chat about how they should be used etc and internet safety so we shall see how that all goes. So far it has been fun emailing back and forth even though they are just in the other room. I think it cannot be avoided forever and I think Ian really wanted one, Ben of course had to do what Ian did. Ian also wants wireless internet for his iPod. I am trying to figure out how to do that but so far I haven't got anywhere and I'm not rushing into that one. Our wii also stopped working this week and I am not rushing to buy a new one either. It might be just the controllers or whatever you call those things so we will work on that problem as well....just not too quickly.

I also got to go out for dinner with a few of my friends last night. We hadn't done that in awhile so it was a lot of fun to get together and catch up. The long chat in the car with my one friend after dinner was interesting too!

Book Review - Klee Wyck

2011-08-31T20:19:00.000-07:00

This was a much shorter book and much more fun to read! It's a different sort of book that is for sure but very vivid writing, you feel like you are right there on the wild shores of Vancouver Island and the Queen Charlotte's. The people stories are heartbreaking and they make you want to hear more about the people she meets and what happened to them. I wish I knew where these places were that she went to. Emily Carr was a brave woman to go to the places she went to, just her and her little dog. We are all richer for her work and her perseverance. I will definitely try to read more of her writing.

Book Review - A Woman of Substance

2011-08-30T21:33:00.000-07:00

I did read the ENTIRE 841 pages of this book but it won't rank up there with my favourites. It was long and predictable. I could skim many pages at a time of detailed descriptions that didn't really add to the story. The main character was just not that believable for me. Most of the other characters were not that believable either. At the beginning so many characters are mentioned it is hard to figure out who is who. I know a lot of people like this book but I had a hard time getting through it because it just was not all that interesting. Oh and if someone is going to run a business empire and all they ever do is read a balance sheet, they are going miss a few things. On to something else....

Yesterday was a crazy day

2011-08-30T10:22:00.000-07:00

Last week Alan and I decided we should be getting a new vehicle instead of putting more money into our aging van. We test drove a Sienna and a Honda Pilot. Alan really liked the Pilot and I don't blame him, nice vehicle and a change from the last nine years of driving a minivan. I found a better deal on a nicer Pilot for less money than the one they had here in Nanaimo so yesterday we rushed off to Vancouver, actually Maple Ridge to get our new (to us) car!

Alan finished work a bit early and my MIL rushed back from her trip to Penticton to stay with the kids. We headed to the ferry to catch the 3:10 but on the BC Ferries website it said it was already 90 percent full. We paid for our ticket and the lady said we may or may not get on. We managed to squeeze in as one of the last 10 cars to get on...phew that was a relief.

Well the drive to the dealership was not that much fun. Hitting rush hour traffic in Vancouver, not really knowing where we were going except for the Google directions I had printed and TONS of construction the entire way there. Some of the freeway intersections we had to figure out were mind boggling with half finished overpasses and off ramps, detours and cones everywhere...my goodness I don't know how people deal with this every day on their commute, they can keep it!

Anyway, we made it there at about 6:00 and we went to meet our new car, we were happy with it's condition and the colour. The sales manager was very good about dealing with each one of our concerns and I was impressed with attention to detail. Anyway, once all the paperwork was done we headed back to the ferry. The drive back was much more pleasant, first we had a much nicer vehicle, second the traffic was less and third we new the way a little better. We were in plenty of time for the 9:30 ferry and it was not full so there was no stress there. We finally arrived home at about 11:30.

Oh and a big THANK YOU to MIL for looking after the kids on such short notice!

And now for some pictures:

Here we are this morning trying to figure out how to work the DVD player. Turns out one of the sets of wireless headphones didn't work. I changed the battery and VOOLA, it worked! Aren't I smart LOL

Two happy boys watching a movie!

Stay tuned for a book review...all that reading time on the ferry.

Ian's birthday

2011-08-28T17:08:00.000-07:00

On Friday Ian had two buddies over for a sleepover and on Saturday morning they went bowling. After lunch one of the boys mom took the boys to the beach for the afternoon. I think they all had a great time. I bought Ian an iPod Touch, used from my boss who didn't need it because of course he has an iPhone. Anyway, it already had some games and songs loaded so they had a lot of fun playing with it.

He also got the Ducks hat that he wanted. Why he likes the Ducks I have no idea but he does.

And he got a lot of loot!

Today we were supposed to go to Newcastle Island for my other bosses 70th birthday party but we had too much to do today so we didn't make it. I know I will hear about it but it couldn't be helped. Besides I am now on one week vacation so they probably won't remember by the time I get back to work...maybe.

Time for cake

2011-08-25T21:13:00.000-07:00

Today was my bosses 70th birthday! When he came to work today I didn't know if anyone was taking him for lunch but I didn't want him to have his usual take out lunch at his desk on his 70th birthday so I emailed him and asked if he had a date. He said no and asked if we wanted to go next door (meaning me and the other ladies). We must have looked like an interesting group passing through the shop to the customers, V. with 4 ladies following behind in a row. We had a nice lunch although the conversation always seems to turn to politics with him and I really hate debating that topic with him. Anyway, after lunch we were going to divide his lunch amongst us girls but he said the company would pay, I wasn't intending that he pay for his own birthday lunch but I wasn't about to argue! When we told the waiter what the special occasion was he asked how old V. was and he said 35, the waiter said, "I assume that is before tax? Haha, in light of the HST results that are due tomorrow I thought it was quite humorous.

Later in the afternoon we gave him the card we had all signed and we lit the candles on his cake and sang "Happy Birthday" not well I'm afraid but we were well intentioned. Of course he is in for more festivities on Sunday but that is all a surprise so I won't say any more for now.

Tomorrow of course is Ian's 10th birthday. I can't believe it! Anyway, we are having a small sleep over with two of his friends and bowling on Saturday, his choice. SO it will be a busy couple of days and I might not have a chance to post anything.

Oh and I almost forgot...tomorrow is also our 11th wedding anniversary! Never gets more than a passing mention, hopefully I remember to at least say something in the morning!

OH and happy birthday to my nephew in Ontario as well...phewww almost forgot that one too...now...time to eat cake.....

Company BBQ

2011-08-21T21:33:00.000-07:00

Today we made our way to Victoria, actually Brentwood Bay, for a BBQ at one of the manager's home. They have a beautiful old house built in the 1920's and very nicely restored. The yard was like a park and it was very nice to meet many of the people that I have only spoken to on the phone for the past year.

They live only about one block away from a marina so we took the short walk to down there to take a look at the boats.

We thought this was an interesting boat, I guess a cruise/hot tub combo

Here is Ben trying to decide which boat he will buy for us when he grows up

This is a very cool old wooden tug that I asked the hosts of the party if they knew anything about but they didn't other than it was owned privately and being restored. When I searched on the internet I found out that it has a very interesting history. You can see the original picture and I wish I had taken more of a side shot so you can see how much it has changed but the original profile is still very visible. You can read about it here.

Alan wants to buy one of these homes so he has somewhere to moor the boat Ben will buy us.

Although it was quite warm today, it wasn't very sunny. I'm sure the harbour is even more beautiful in the sunshine.

The trip back was a lot of fun (NOT) with Ben whining the entire way but we finally made it. We were thankful to be going away from Victoria instead of into it since the traffic on the Malahat was crazy busy going south with an accident to add to the fun.

Overall we had a fun weekend but I think tomorrow will be a slap of reality.

Fun at the Fair

2011-08-20T19:54:00.000-07:00

Today I took the kids to the local fair. We had a lot of fun. We went on rides, Ben and I went through the haunted house (Lin and Ian didn't want to). They smashed cars, we ate hamburgers, hot dogs and ice cream. We saw a lot of different animals and watched a skate boarding demonstration. They made crafts and sailed remote control boats, they played in bouncy castles and went down inflatable slides. I dropped a lot of cash but the kids (and I) had a lot of fun. It was a beautiful day, one of the warmest this summer and there were quite a few people there but not too many. They only thing we had to wait in line for was to buy our admission tickets. We stopped at the playground on our way home and then we walked home, which only takes about 20 minutes from there so that isn't too bad. This evening we went for a little dip in the ocean but it was TOO COLD for me!

Here are some pictures from the fair:

Lunch and a movie

2011-08-19T20:28:00.000-07:00

Yesterday at work something a little out of the ordinary happened. One of the girls was downstairs in the shop when a young man walked in and asked to use the phone. She thought there was something odd about the way he was dressed and asked if anything was wrong and he said no I'm just a little crazy. She slipped upstairs to call 911. When she was on the phone with the dispatcher I heard her say that she thought we had a hospital escapee on our premises. Just then I saw the police drive up through the window. The dispatcher told her they already had officers out looking for this person. Shortly after that I saw the police car pull away so I figured they got their man.

It was about lunch time and I had ordered some lunch from the restaurant next door so I went to pick it up. While I was standing at the counter waiting for my take out lunch to come from the kitchen I saw the owner of the restaurant go into the bathroom area. A young man came rushing out of the bathroom and ran right past me. He was wearing only hospital issue type pants, no shirt and no shoes. He quickly ran out the door and into the bushes. Next I saw an unmarked police car pull up and some officers and a dog got out and started searching the area. We watched for a few minutes and then the girl went back to the kitchen to get my lunch, when she came back she said "I guess today you got lunch and a movie!"

I never did find out what it was all about or if they managed to catch up with him or not.

Two more weeks....

2011-08-18T20:25:00.000-07:00

Summer is disappearing very quickly. Tomorrow will be Alan's last day of vacation and I am sure he is not so impressed by that. The boys will go back to day camp for one more week. At least they have had some good weather this week. Alan has taken them on some outings during the day so that was a nice change for them.

Today Ben, Alan and I had dentist appointments. I had an old filling replaced and Ben discussed his aspirations to become a dentist with the dentist as he was replacing my filling. Ben asked many questions and the dentist was very patient and told him what he was doing at each step and what each item was for. Ben paid close attention but when the dentist was finished Ben said he wasn't ready to do any fillings yet but would wait until he was older, I was relieved to hear that! Ben and I compared our frozen faces but I am glad that it is finally feeling normal again.

Swimming at the pool

2011-08-14T20:05:00.000-07:00

Alan's sister arrived from Calgary yesterday but today the weather was not really "swimming in the ocean" type weather as you can see from the pictures. It was nice enough but not HOT so we headed to the indoor pool in Qualicum Beach. None of us had ever been there before so we didn't know what to expect. It was quite a bit smaller than the pools here but it was still fun and it wasn't too crowded. It was nice to go somewhere a bit different. Too bad they don't have any water slides though.

After swimming we went for a little walk on the beach. It was nice but I knew I would have never gotten in that water today.

This evening we used the Web cam to talk to Koko over the computer. It was fun to see her and talk to her for a bit. Everyone got in front of the camera for at least a few minutes and Ben enjoyed making a lot of funny faces. We might try to do that a bit more often now that we know it works.

This week Alan is on vacation...not me, I will be off to work as usual bright and early in the morning. I am looking forward to not having to make anyone but myself lunch in the morning though, almost like a little mini vacation...oh my...I am a sad case.

Old friends and people from days gone by

2011-08-09T21:37:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I went out for dinner with one of my old clients. It was really nice to sit and catch up with her. I have seen her over the last year but we hadn't had a chance to have a good gab like we did last night. She did tell me about her son and his wife that are "living their dream" after selling everything in Alberta and giving up the 9 to 5 job to go and crew on a sail boat around the Virgin Islands. You can check out their blog here, it is quite an interesting read.

Today all my workmates and I had lunch with the lady that I replaced in my position. She came up from her new home in the southern US for a little break from the heat and to visit family. We were also joined by the person that was in the position for many years before her. It was a lot of fun to catch up and we had some good laughs, they understand my daily trials and tribulations like no other. Both of them however seem to be enjoying retirement immensely and don't seem to be missing the stress of old office one bit!

And last but not least, I have been in touch with my old boss from oh about 10 years ago because of some work I am still doing for one of my clients. He is being very pleasant so far so that is actually a bit of a relief as it was never my intention to have left under strained circumstances.

So overall it has been a very interesting couple of days.

Relaxing at the beach

2011-08-07T16:59:00.000-07:00

We've had a pretty laid back weekend, mostly staying close to home. The weather was pretty good so we headed to the local lake for a dip this afternoon. It was quite relaxing and I got some reading time while the kids played in the water and sand. Here are a few pictures:

Tomorrow the boys start a new day camp so I have filled out all the paperwork for that. Ben has already decided he doesn't like it but I'm sure it will be a lot of fun and it is only for two weeks. Summer is just zipping along.

For TS

2011-08-03T21:28:00.000-07:00

"If you know someone who fought Cancer and won, or fought Cancer and died, please add this as your status for 1 hour as a mark of respect and remembrance. I hope I was right about the people that will do this."

Well, this was posted by a friend of mine on FB but I really have issues with FB so I'm posting it here instead.

I know he checks my blog regularly, so this ones for you!

Book Review - Boss Whistle

2011-08-02T19:39:00.000-07:00

This was a very interesting book to read because it details the history of coal mining in this area. Coal mining is how the area that we live in was first established and grew. Some areas grew into large towns only to die out as the coal mining industry died. I always find it interesting to hear the stories of individuals and families, how they lived and what became of them. Now we will need to take a trip to some of the local museums, I hear they are worth exploring.

Happy BC Day!

2011-08-01T20:04:00.000-07:00

Today was a holiday and I was glad that it was a long weekend so I could have a day off. It was a beautiful day so we headed to the beach.

We played in the park...

We had a picnic lunch...

Then we headed to the beach...note the snow still on the mountains.

The tide was WAY out there so we had a bit of walking to do but the tidal pools were nice and warm.

We finally made it. It was a little too breezy, thus the white caps, for me to swim, made it feel a bit cool.

Wave jumping is always fun....

Then back to the tidal flats to build some sandcastles.

See? I did have my feet in the water.

Sometimes building sandcastles is A LOT of hard work.

We had a great day but next time I would love a couple more degrees so that I could just jump right in!

How high can you bounce?

2011-07-31T19:04:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we made another purchase. Ok, I am really DONE now. We bought a new to us trampoline. The people we bought it from ended up being a substitute teacher that a couple of the kids had at one time or another. Anyway, it was a fair price so I couldn't resist for this type of trampoline.

Here is the assembly crew hard at work. It was actually quite a big job dismantling it and then putting it together again at our house. On top of this our yard doesn't have a flat spot at all so we had to do some digging in order to get it at least somewhat level. Anyway, after two almost full days of hard work it was ready to bounce on this evening.

No picture of me, thank goodness, although I did have a few bounces until I was so exhausted I to have a lie down. It is quite comfortable as a hammock as well as long as no one else is on there jumping at the time.

Today I had to go into work so I missed most of the assembly work, I am looking forward to having tomorrow off, if none of my clients catch up to me at least.

Sand Castles

2011-07-30T21:16:00.000-07:00

Every year Parksville holds a large sand castle competition. The sand castles are up for a while for public viewing so tonight we went to take a look. There were some really good ones and it was difficult to choose which one to vote for. Here are a few of them.

Ian's favourite of course.

A little music in the park.

A little stone skipping in the ocean.

and some nice scenery.

Here is a little video of one of the sand castles so you can see how big some of them were.

First of all....

2011-07-30T20:58:00.000-07:00

My sister spent a few days in Tofino area with a new camera so I thought I would share a few pictures of hers.

The Perils of Island life

2011-07-28T21:23:00.000-07:00

Today we went to BC Children's hospital in Vancouver for Lin's surgery follow up appointment. We left early to catch the 7:45 ferry. We were one of the last cars on so that worked out well. We arrived at the hospital in plenty of time for our 11:15 appointment. Lin's scars are healing well and the doctor explained our options for further surgery. She can have one or more of the same type of surgery she just had or she can have that as well as get an expander put in so that the doctor can repair her ear. Lin is not crazy about this idea but we will have to think about this option a little more. The improvement from the first surgery is quite noticeable so although it is a lot to go through, it might be worth it in the end to let her do her stuff.

Anyway, the appointment was finished by 11:30 so we headed off to find a place to get a cold drink, which ended up being a delicious bubble tea, before we headed to the ferry. Our original plan was that we might do something in Vancouver before heading back but then we realized it was the long weekend coming up so we figured we should head straight to the ferry terminal. When we got to the booth at just after 1:00 we were told that the 3:15 was already full and so was the 5:15. The earliest ferry we might possibly get on would be the 8:15. That would mean we would get home at about 10:45. I was thinking that a 7 hour wait sitting in the parking lot would just about kill us and how could I have been so stupid to not make a reservation. BUT really, since when does the long weekend start on Thursday? I guess for everyone but ME it does! Anyway, the lady gave us the option of taking the 2:00 ferry to Victoria instead, so we took that option. We arrived at Schwartz Bay at 4:00 and then drove for 2.5 hours to get home at 6:30. Nothing like a 15 minute appointment turning into an 11 hour day.

Note to self: DO NOT book appointments in Vancouver anywhere close to a long weekend.

The upside of our little side trip to Victoria was that we were treated to a very scenic voyage through the Active Passage, through the southern gulf islands. This is something I have never experienced. The scenery was just beautiful and I had really wished I had brought my camera but I didn't know we would end up there so you will have to make do with other people's pictures by clicking on the link above. The weather was perfect, sunny but not too hot so in some ways I figured we were rewarded for our patience. Before our arrival at the ferry terminal we had a little tailgate picnic out of the back of the car. Since we were the last car on we had an awesome view from the very back of the ferry as well and it made me really appreciate living here even though it is a pain sometimes to get on and off the island when you want to. Just part of the package deal I suppose.

Out with the old, in with the new

2011-07-26T21:17:00.000-07:00

This week the boys started at a different day camp. Its similar in that it is through parks and rec but at a different place so I am hoping it gives them a bit of a change. Today they are worn out from going swimming and skating in the same day.

The big news is that rumour has it that the boys elementary school is getting a new principal next year. Yayyyyyy! I am going to refrain from going on a big rant here but pretty much everyone who will listen knows that I am not a big fan of the old principal. I am sure I'm not on her Christmas card list either but hey WHO CARES and don't let the door hit you in the behind on your way out!

Makes me sort of look forward to the next school year, at least have some hope that things might change for the better.

I have already received by email a newsletter from the high school that Lin will be going to next year. I was impressed by that. They seem so organized and actually communicating with the parents AND in the summer WOW! This could be a good year all round....at least I am hoping anyway.

Golfing, bouncing and eating

2011-07-24T20:49:00.000-07:00

Ian had a sleep over at Grandma's over the weekend and played nine holes of golf for the first time. He enjoyed himself quite a bit and apparently was very polite and well behaved impressing all her friends at the golf club.

Finally the weather was quite summer like over the weekend hitting about 28 degrees today. We spent the day today at a potluck get together with a few other families and the kids had lots of fun. The hosting family lives on an acreage so lots of room for a trampoline, swings, running through the sprinkler, water gun flights and of course LOTS of good food! It was nice to see everyone again and the kids all seem to change so much from one time to another.

It looks like that is the end of the warm weather for a while anyway...back to work tomorrow so it doesn't really matter to me but hopefully things will change again for next weekend.

This really sucks!

2011-07-23T16:56:00.000-07:00

Well maybe this isn't the most exciting post of all time but I have to mention it anyway. Today I finally gave in (to myself) and invested in scookum vacuum cleaner. It looks like this:

Man does this thing suck! We had our carpets cleaned professionally only two weeks ago and yet I got a full canister of crud today when I vacuumed. We don't have a lot of carpets in our house either but there was a lot of dirt and dust hanging about anyway. Alan vacuumed the stairs with our crappy vacuflow system before we went to buy it and we did the stairs after again and there was a lot missed the first time. I was going to take a picture before we emptied it out but I figured no one wanted or needed to see it as it was a bit disgusting. At least I know now that when I spend my time vacuuming its not a total waste of time like it was before. Now I really have to STOP this spending spree.

Trying to keep up

2011-07-21T05:56:00.000-07:00

Things seem to be happening all at once and I'm having a hard time keeping on top of it all. Yesterday we had to have our environmental audit done on our house before we can have our furnace and heat pump replaced. There was some sort of panic because the guy that is doing it was leaving for a couple weeks yesterday at lunch time. He ended up picking me up from work in the middle of the day, we came home and did the first part. He will do the second part later. I also had to register online for the grant program before he could come. The installers seem to be chomping at the bit to get things done so they are coming first thing this morning to get started.

We all had dental appointments yesterday as well so we had to leave work early. Alan, Ben and I all have to go back again for another appointment. Seems like it is a never ending string of appointments lately.

We also have been running around trying to get something sorted for the boys for two weeks in August that I haven't booked them in camp yet. We are going to try something a bit different that is not through parks and rec. The hours are a bit better at this camp. I'm finding 8:30 to 5:00 a bit limiting and rushed at times. I am quite behind at work because of the renovations, one staff having surgery, another off because of an ill mother and another going on vacation next week. Going in late because the day camp doesn't start until 8:30 and having to deal with all these appointments etc during work hours is not helping.

Today I have to find someone who can come on short notice to clean our ducts while the furnace installers are here. I don't think next week is shaping up much better either.

Mid July

2011-07-17T19:28:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted in a few days because there isn't much to report. On Thursday we spent the entire day at work moving stuff for the new carpeting and painting that would be done in our office over the weekend. On Friday I worked from home since my computer and everything else was in a box somewhere. I am interested to see how things look on Monday but not so excited about having to lug all those boxes back up the stairs and put everything back in order again. Anyway, that is a job for tomorrow.

While I was at home for the day on Friday I had the carpets cleaned and had a guy come to give us a quote on getting a new furnace and heat pump. I hope this is the last really big job we need to get done. I know it had to done sooner or later and they are both pushing 30 years old so no wonder they aren't working very efficiently. Anyway, that process will be on the agenda for the coming week or so.

Yesterday was a very rainy day and it didn't feel like mid July at all. Today was a bit of an improvement, at least it didn't rain. We will see what the week holds.

Rain rain go away....

2011-07-13T20:17:00.000-07:00

July seems to have turned into April. I suppose it's better than being in a heat wave especially since I'm not exactly on holidays and it doesn't really matter what the weather is when you only see it through a window.

Monday we had a visit from Ian's piano teacher. She listened to the 3 songs Ian has been practicing since his formal lessons finished in June. She was satisfied with his progress and gave him his stickers. We need to go out and buy him some new books for the upcoming year and maybe try one or two over the summer. After the piano playing we had tea and a little catch up chat. I always love chatting with her, we always have some good laughs.

I found Lin a volunteer job for the summer. She went for the first time yesterday and seemed to enjoy it. I felt quite a bit better thinking that she wasn't going to spend the entire summer watching TV. Today I wasn't so sure though because she only went for a couple hours so I'm not so sure she is very motivated to stay away from the TV. I guess time will tell.

We are in middle of some renos at work so things are a bit chaotic. Hopefully we can make it through without too much stress and come out a bit more organized and a lot less cluttered in the end. I am hoping for some new office furniture too but I doubt they will spring for that.....

I'll take door number 2

2011-07-10T19:36:00.000-07:00

Yesterday the kids had fun at a customer appreciation day put on by our local group of Remax Realtors. They have some rides for the kids, bouncy castles, kids games, quite a bit of free food and a pretty good band playing. We bumped into quite a few of our friends there including our realtor who is now retired.

While we were there I bought a raffle ticket to win a 3 hour tour for 4 on the S.S. Minnow from the show Gilligans Island. The S.S. Minnow now lives here on Vancouver Island and has had some major restorations done. I think it would be so much fun to win this prize, besides the funds are to support B.C. Children's Hospital.

Today we went to the BIG hardware store where Alan and I like to look at all the things we would like to buy but can't afford. Anyway, they were having a clearance sale so we bought some doors, 5 of them actually.

We want to replace these:

With these:

I think it will brighten up the downstairs quite a bit and get rid of some of that "old" look. Lots of work there for Alan but he wanted to do it so we will see how it goes.

Technology lesson

2011-07-08T20:52:00.000-07:00

I bought Ian's birthday present today. I bought it from my boss who never really used it because he got a more advanced version shortly after he got this one. So although it is technically second hand it's very close to new. I can't tell you what it is in case he reads this but what I can say is that it's pretty cool and I hope he likes it. The fun thing is that I can play with it for a month before I have to give it to him. I have to learn some stuff about this kind of technology since I feel WAYYY behind. My boss was showing me some stuff but he keeps saying his 12 year old knows how to do this and that so I think after Ian's birthday we will have my bosses son over to show us how it all works. It's sad but true and I get that Ian will soon own more high tech toys than me and understand technology and know how to use it better than me very shortly. It's just the way it is when you get old and things are moving too fast for the old brain. Anyway, when he goes to bed later...I'll sneak it out and play a little....

First dip of the summer!

2011-07-06T18:47:00.000-07:00

After spending all day at work seeing the sunshine through the window we went for a short swim after work. Yahhhhh! Summer is here! The tide was coming in so the water wasn't too bad, at least there were warm spots.

The boys are enjoying their first few days of summer camp. They keep them busy with lots of activities and they went swimming at the pool yesterday. They both know some kids in their group from either school or karate class so that is good.

The new orthodontic face contraption

2011-07-04T20:17:00.000-07:00

Today Ben went to the orthodontist and got his new face contraption. The poor kid has to wear this thing every night for something close to a year depending on how much he wears it and how quickly his bones move into the right position. He doesn't need any more twists to the other contraption that is in his mouth though but unfortunately it isn't coming out like I was hoping. He is on the cancellation list for surgery but I have no idea how long the wait list is to get our own appointment. Looks like I am going to have to send a few emails of my own to find out what kind of timing we might be looking at.

Campout - Sort of

2011-07-03T14:13:00.000-07:00

On Saturday we had a camp out at my sisters house. After a rocky start because of half of our camping supplies being left at home (good thing we are only about a half hour away) an excellent time was had by all.

Some games were played....

The tent (eventually) went up, not too far from the house of course....

Some hot dogs were roasted....

A lot of delicious food was eaten....

And even the odd brewski was consumed....

Some plain old silliness went on...

Marshmallows were roasted....

Smores were built, eaten and somewhat worn....

Some ate something new for the first time....

Some time was spent chillin'....

Some ghost stories were told....

and some campfire songs were sung....

Eventually we went to bed...in the tent....but the damn rooster woke us all up very early. Me and the boys ended up sleeping on one couch and Alan in a chair. Lin managed to sleep through it all in the tent.

You gotta love camping....in the backyard.

Happy 144th Birthday Canada!

2011-07-01T14:21:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday KOKO!

2011-06-29T19:07:00.000-07:00

Hope your birthday was a good one and wishing you a great trip to Ontario!

Last Day

2011-06-28T19:56:00.000-07:00

Today was the last day of school. I skipped out of work at about lunch time and went to the assembly at the school. It felt good to just have a bit of time off and see the kids being so excited. I hadn't walked them home from school all year so that was a nice change too. They all had very good report cards so that is always nice to see!

I thought I would get to spend a bit of time with them after school but they rented a new Wii game so that takes priority over everything else apparently.

This evening Koko and I had our last walk to the beach together. At least we will be able to chat on FB!

The Conquerors of Newcastle Island

2011-06-26T18:57:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I spent most of the day at an Excel course. It is the first Excel course I have ever taken actually and it was really great! I know most people would think it boring but I learned a lot of new stuff so hopefully I get a chance to do some of this stuff at work one of these days.

After the course we went to my mom's for our usual Saturday night dinner but this time we celebrated Koko's birthday. It wasn't actually her birthday but she will be travelling to her new job in Ontario on her birthday so won't get a chance to celebrate with her that day. I sure hope she liked her present and she will think of us and her time here when she sees it.

Today was my birthday and I chose to go to Newcastle Island for the day. We hadn't been there for quite a few years and I wanted to take Koko there before she leaves so off we went! We walked all the way around the perimeter and I mean ALL the way, no short cuts. It was a long way but we all made it and it was a really nice walk. Here are some photos:

End of the year party

2011-06-23T21:53:00.000-07:00

This evening Ben and I went to his year end party at school. He had a great teacher this year, one of the best at this school I think. Anyway, the kids performed a few songs and then asked some riddles. After that the teacher had prepared a slide show of all the pictures she had taken during the school year. It sure looks like they had a lot of fun and Ben LOVES to be front and centre in as many pictures as possible, not shyness with this kid! After the slide show the kids had to serve the parents cake and juice first then they got to get their own cake. It was nicely done and I appreciate that this teacher put this on in the evening as it seems all the other events that they invite the parents to are during the day and hard to attend when you are working.

If you are wondering about the picture you can see the lyrics to the song they sang "Canada in My Pocket" and you will know why he is holding a giant quarter and a caribou.

Overall a great evening to end a great school year for Ben!

More fun

2011-06-22T21:10:00.000-07:00

Today was backwards day for Ben, he got to wear pajamas to school and play first before their work was done. They did most things opposite of what they usually do so I think they had a lot of fun. Ian's class went to the Vancouver Aquarium, they got back on the 7:00 ferry but Ian didn't seem to mind the long day. It sounds like they had a lot of fun and he was pretty much as excited this evening as he was last night!

I have also been working on getting all new passports so that we might actually be able to go somewhere one of these days. As of today they have all arrived except ONE...hopefully the last one will arrive in the next week or two.

Homework

2011-06-20T21:15:00.000-07:00

Ian has had a lot of homework this year. The most of all the kids, sometimes I felt bad for him doing homework while the others are watching TV. His teacher definitely made the kids work hard this year and it wasn't always easy for Ian. This week while the others are having fun activities just about every day Ian still has projects due. One of them is he had to write 12 poems of different types. Now they are all short BUT that is a lot of poems! I used to like writing poetry but not even sure I would have the stamina or creativity to put out 12 in a row. Anyway, he is almost done and I was impressed with how hard he has worked on this project. Here are a few of my favourite ones:

And the best part of his poem book...was that it was dedicated to ME!

A couple of pictures from Friday

2011-06-19T20:30:00.000-07:00

Happy Fathers Day!

2011-06-19T15:18:00.000-07:00

Happy Fathers Day to any and all Dads out there. We were planning a day out today but the weather wasn't as nice as the weatherman had predicted it to be. Anyway, all the kids gave Alan their cards and gifts that they made at school. They were very cute! Ben had spent last night at Grandma's so we went to pick him up at the ferry terminal this afternoon. While we were downtown we decided to check out the newly renovated Bastion.

This Nanaimo landmark was built in 1853 as the city's first line of defence and was recently given a face lift. It is a small museum and you can see various items of historical significance inside including a small cannon and cannon balls. While visiting I spotted a book about Nanaimo's history, mainly it's coal mining families and their lives in this area. I just couldn't resist and purchased the book. Now I have two books on the go!

Anyway, Alan had never been inside the Bastion so he had a new experience today for Father's Day!

Back home

2011-06-17T20:50:00.000-07:00

Alan and Lin made it back home today and I think they are both happy to be back. Lin seems a little tired out but otherwise she is doing well. I think a good night sleep in her own bed will be go a long way.

Ian tested for his black stripe on his orange belt tonight at karate. We went to watch and he seemed to do well although I haven't really got a clue to be honest. Next week Ben will move up into Ian's class which will be good for us since it is a bit later and it will eliminate one trip back and forth.

The boys have their last swimming class tomorrow so things are changing fast.

Lin's Surgery

2011-06-16T19:34:00.000-07:00

So, Lin had her surgery today at Children's Hospital. I spoke to Alan briefly and he said it all seemed to go well and she seemed in good spirits afterwards even though a bit drugged up. She was very brave and told me last night that she was staying positive so that was very good considering where she was three years ago. I think having this type of surgery first was the right way to go, it will be interesting to see the results. She will be released from hospital tomorrow and they will be back home hopefully tomorrow afternoon.

This evening was busy for me and the boys. With Koko's help we delivered the newspapers for Lin then Ben and I walked Ian to Karate. While Ian was at karate Ben and I walked over and bought some groceries. We met some very nice folks visiting from England and had a nice chat with them. I love meeting people from other places, it makes life so much more interesting when you rarely leave the rock. Anyway, after Ian's class we walked over to Wendy's and had dinner, that was a bit of treat for us! You can see Ian is starting to eat like a teenager....he went back and ordered another hamburger. After walking home from there I am quite exhausted and ready to have a little rest.

Sigh....Lunch bag let down

2011-06-15T20:31:00.000-07:00

THAT was not good, the better team won...now on with other things.

If I keep having to hold my breathe...

2011-06-15T17:59:00.001-07:00

...I'm going to pass out!

Ahhh time for the beach!

2011-06-11T20:22:00.000-07:00

Don't worry, he will grow into it!

A word of advice Ian, if you kick a pretty girl in the butt, you will never get a second date.

More changes and surprises

2011-06-10T20:52:00.000-07:00

First of all the surprise...what the heck???? The Canucks won! Now that was a surprise! What will happen on Monday?

The change....We have found Oscar a new home. It was a tough decision for Ian but I think he finally realized that he just wasn't ready for his own pet. The fact that he wasn't getting much attention and in a couple of months there will be no one home all day just didn't seem fair to the little guy. We found a young mom who stays home with her little kids so hopefully he will have lots of company. We will miss him, especially Ben.

It was a fun day at work. I work with three other ladies, today one of them was celebrating their birthday and anothers birthday is tomorrow. I always get to work first so I decorated the office and I had bought a couple of joke gifts and cards. I bought a delicious chocolate cake and we all went for lunch (this never happens so it was a real treat). We had some good laughs and I am hoping it was a better work day than most for them.

Things are changing

2011-06-08T19:47:00.000-07:00

School is soon coming to a close and the kids are having lots of field trips and fun activities. Music lessons are now finished for the season. Another big change that will be happening soon for us is that Koko will soon be leaving us for a new job with a new family! It has been a great year and it is has gone by so quickly but it is time for her to move on to new experiences and challenges. For now we are going to enjoy our last bit of time together. More to come on this as the time for her departure gets closer.

In the meantime, Ben continues with his orthodontic treatments, hopefully this part will be over in the next couple of weeks.

I hear there were some storms in Ontario today, I hope everyone is doing ok.

Jumping right into summer

2011-06-05T18:27:00.000-07:00

Today was a great day for going downtown and enjoying some sunshine!

I think some ice cream did make it into their mouths.

Great day!

2011-06-04T21:33:00.000-07:00

So this morning I headed out first thing to buy a birthday present for Ben's friend. After that I went to visit with a friend of mine. 11 months ago her daughter had a baby girl who was premature, at only 29 weeks she was very small and stayed in the hospital for a long time. I hadn't seen the baby since she left the hospital so a visit was long over due. Well, let me tell you, this baby is just adorable, so happy and cuddly, I had some great baby time. I'm good for another 6 months anyway. I was thinking today though after the visit how I seem to have moved from visiting friends with babies to visiting friends with grandbabies. Hmmm, I wonder how that happened exactly.

Anyway, the boys had swimming lessons while I got my baby fix then Ben was off to the birthday party. After that it was time to get ready for Ian and Koko's piano recital. They both did great and this music teacher has some very talented kids in her group. Not that I know much about music but boy they can sure play! The teacher played a piece too, which is always amazing to watch/listen to.

I managed to stay pretty focused on the music even though the recital was on while the game was being played. I turned the ringer off on my phone so my sister could text me the scoring updates. I felt better at least knowing what was happening. I got home just in time to watch 11 seconds of OT.

So to my friend in Boston....you were WRONG about this game....see you on Monday!

Here is Ian and his "hidden" friends playing an ensemble piece. I can't put the video of his solo up because it is too big and I am not smart enough to figure out how to make it smaller or anything like that so this is all you get.

Friends that are on the wrong side

2011-06-03T20:21:00.000-07:00

So today I received an email from a friend of mine that lives in the Boston area. She seems to be of the opinion that the Bruins will win the Stanley Cup. She is a bit misguided but in the end she too will be assimilated.

More honking all day long today, you can tell the really BIG fans from just the "yes, I'm a fan" fan by how long and loud their honk is!

Well wasn't that a bit intense!

2011-06-02T19:14:00.000-07:00

I'm talking about last night's hockey game of course. There were a lot of penalties and crazy stuff happening but they pulled it off in the end...well the very end that is. Anyway, game one is done...I wonder how game two will end up?

AND what is up with this weather? I want a bit of sunshine here, any time now would be nice.

Go Canucks Go!

2011-05-31T20:35:00.000-07:00

Well, tomorrow is the big game and everyone and I mean EVERYONE is very excited about this. At work someone put up a sign that says something like "Honk to show your support of the Canucks!" Well all day long HONK HONK HONK. We are right on the main road in this town so you can just imagine. I didn't even know for most of the day that this sign had been put up, I was just thinking there were a lot of bad drivers out there today. Then someone told me about the sign and things made a lot more sense. I'm afraid I'm in for more of the same all day tomorrow.

GO CANUCKS GO!!

Check it out!

2011-05-31T19:52:00.000-07:00

After almost six months of searching and waiting I finally got one! Thanks to my "connection" at a local electronics store I scooped the last Sony Touch ebook cover available in all of BC, maybe in all of N. America! Too bad Sony has discontinued their ebooks because I really like this one and I really like the cover as well. Here are some pics.

Book Review - The Handmaid's Tale

2011-05-29T20:01:00.000-07:00

Wow, this book was a page turner. In fact I got up way too early this morning and read the last 150 pages before anyone else woke up. I really liked the style in which this story was told. The story was very thought provoking especially in light of some of the topics being discussed lately on the adoption boards. Also, a few of the statements that were made in story are so true about today's society I was a bit startled by them even though the book was only written in the 1980's. The ending was quite a surprise to me but I thought it was also well done. Overall I would highly recommend this book, it's an easier read than some of the other books I have reviewed recently but still has a very intriguing plot.

Cake anyone?

2011-05-28T20:50:00.000-07:00

Last night was the kids fun fair at school. Everyone had a good time. There were many activities for the kids and a live band for entertainment. We baked cupcakes on Thursday night to take for the cake walk. There were a lot of cakes up for grabs and we all tried to win one but the only person who one a cake was....well of course Ian. He always wins. Here is the cake he chose:

Of course I had already ordered a cake for today's celebration of Lin's birthday. Here is her cake:

Note: she isn't 88, it's a math cake 8+8. At least that is my story since we didn't have a 1 and a 6 in the kitchen drawer. Why he had two eights, I have no idea.

We went out for Chinese food for dinner, Lin's choice of course. After dinner another hockey game broke out in the driveway. No hockey game to watch on TV tonight so might as well make your own Hockey Night in Canada.

Here is a picture I took after the game, don't ask me what they are doing because I have no idea.

Happy 16th Birthday Lin!

2011-05-25T17:47:00.000-07:00

Today Lin turns 16, hard to believe. We had a little celebration after dinner with a half cake and a card and present. We will have another little party on Saturday when the rest of the family can join in. I didn't take any pictures but she was quite pleased with her present and I think Ben and Ian forgot all about it even though they were with us when we bought it for her. Only problem now is getting Ian to practice piano tonight will be pretty much impossible.

So last night we were watching that hockey game...how about that game by the way....so Ben decides he is going to comb my hair. So he says, I'm going to give you a new look and you will look HOT! WHAT? He says, you will look so hot all the boys will want to marry you but I will tell them that I already have a dad. I thought I was going to die laughing. Sorry, no photos of my HOT new hairdo, everyone will be way too jealous.

Englishman River Falls

2011-05-23T17:46:00.000-07:00

Today we went for a walk at a local provincial park. We were happy to see this:

...garbage bags over the ticket machines. Up until this month you had to pay to take a walk in provincial park. We will see what happens after the next election. But this is what we went to see...

After our walk we dropped in at my sisters house for a short visit. Here is her backyard.

This is looking back at the house. The advantage of living in the country.

A rare moment of Ben AND Ian working.

Hockey Hockey Hockey!

2011-05-22T20:36:00.000-07:00

This morning the kids went off with a friend of our and her son to a pancake breakfast. This left Alan and I kid free to enjoy our own breakfast out and a very rare trip to the grocery store on our own. After that we picked up the kids, including our friends kid and came back to our house to watch the Canucks game. After the game we were all inspired to get outside and play a bit of hockey of our own, well street hockey anyway. It was quite fun until Alan tripped me on a breakaway and I landed on my elbow. I was back in the game quickly so no major damage was done but I didn't score on the penalty shot though either.

Watching all this playoff hockey reminded me of when I worked for the Calgary Flames and they won the cup. It was an exciting time in Calgary that is for sure. Here are a couple of photos from back then;

Here is the team photo, ok not the hockey playing team but the team behind the team! Can you see a much younger me in the picture?

And here I am with Lord Stanley's cup.

There is a blast from the past, just for fun.

PS I already have a Hand Maiden's Tale loaded on my ebook.

Book Review - 1984

2011-05-18T22:20:00.000-07:00

This is quite the book. I read it many years ago but only remembered bits of it, maybe because I didn't actually make it through all of it and I can understand why. It's not easy, light entertainment but still well worth reading if you can get through the political theory part in the middle. I think it was a good thing it was written before computers because it would have been a lot scarier if we started with today's technology and applied the same storyline. I don't even want to think about it because there are just too many ways you can apply what happened in this book to stuff that is happening now, just not in the same way. We seem to be more willing to volunteer to sign up for this type of society.

No fun

2011-05-15T21:13:00.000-07:00

We didn't do any fun stuff this weekend. The weather was really yucky and I feel like I spent most of the weekend working. Well, I guess I spent most of Saturday avoiding working and most of today actually getting it done. The good news is that my "very late" client is pretty much done! Yippeee!

At work on Friday I got the last of my companies off to the year end accountant. Even though my boss asked me why it was all taking so long. Here I thought I was doing quite well getting it all there by this time. I had to refrain myself from slapping him. Anyway, I was feeling pretty good about this and decided to take the weekend off from work, well at least my daytime job anyway.

I also enjoyed spending some time today talking to my old friend from Calgary. Last time I spoke with her she seemed pretty unhappy. Since then she quit her job and seems much less stressed now so we had a good old chat and it was good to talk to her.

Ok, now I have to vent about Coronation Street. For those who watch it....I thought Dev owned 7 shops? Why would he be worried about 12 cases of chutney when he owns 7 shops? Why is he only at the one shop if he owns 7 and you would think with 7 there would be enough work for both him and Sunita. I don't get the whole story line. Them moving into that house from the place they had makes no sense. Who would actually WANT to do that in real life? AND what is crazy Mary still doing hanging around the street anyway? It is not like there is anywhere around there she could legally park that motor home of hers is there? I sure hope Eileen finds some happiness soon, Sean too. I better stop because them that don't follow probably have stopped reading this by now anyway.

So much to do

2011-05-11T21:00:00.000-07:00

Ben started his orthodontic plan today, he wasn't too happy about it at first but he found out that it wasn't so bad after all. We also explained to him that after this part is done then he can have surgery then everything should be done. He wants to get that fixed and over with so I think he will be ok for now with the plan.

The kids are all doing so many trips and activities at school now that things are winding down that it is hard for me to keep up with it all. Ian got a violation from school for reading in class while the teacher was talking. I can think of worse things but I made him write the mandatory letter to the teacher that they wanted him to do. I remember getting caught passing a note to a friend in a high school class that said something like "this class is sooooo boring". Well it WAS boring!

Work is still crazy busy and I have been working like a maniac. Meanwhile my boss is asking me why things are taking me so long....UGGGG! Things seem to be piling up at home as well, I have been working diligently on our passport applications, since I let them expire now I am paying the price. One of my old clients has resurfaced and now I have to finish her stuff that has been sitting waiting for her to bring me the final bits of information for almost a year. Oh fun, I can hardly wait to tackle that one. A friend has bought a new business and takes over next week, she asked me to help her and since she helped us a lot with Lin I can hardly refuse and so it goes. I need time to stop for a week so I can catch up!

We're back!

2011-05-08T18:33:00.000-07:00

We had a bit of a weekend getaway in Victoria, this time all of us went! It was fun, we swapped houses with a family that we are friends with so it worked out great. They had enough room at their house for all six of us and their toys and Wii games kept the kids in seventh heaven. They live in a very nice neighbourhood and Koko and I took advantage of the local pathway system to go for a long walk. We went to an IMAX presentation called "Born to be Wild". It was quite good and everyone enjoyed it. It was everyone's first IMAX experience, except for me.

I of course, forgot to take my camera. I was too busy packing sleeping bags, towels, food and everything else I could think of so that we would be as unintrusive as possible in someone else's house. (Much appreciated by the way, you know who you are, not many would let 6 people invade their home when they're not there).

Anyway, these pictures are courtesy of Koko for above said reason.

Surgery date is set!

2011-05-05T17:04:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I spoke to BC Children's Hospital and Lin has her surgery date all set. I have also arranged for a place to stay for Alan for the three days that he will have to be in Vancouver. The nice thing is that there is a program that pays for this so the only down side is that Alan has to take vacation days from work.

Anyway, since we opted for the less stressful type of surgery, no skin expanders, I'm not sure how much improvement we will see but it is worth a try. I'm quite relieved to finally have a date since I have been working toward this for a couple of years and I was wondering if it would ever happen. More on this later.

So much going on

2011-05-03T19:58:00.000-07:00

Seems like there isn't much time these days for blogging. Between being crazy busy at work, the federal election and of course HOCKEY there doesn't seem that there is much time in the evening to just relax. The kids have been busy with different activities at school, track meets, healthamoungus and various field trips. They seem to be winding down for the summer. The weather has been quite nice as of late and we have been trying to get in as many walks as possible and some trips to the playground too. My old friend from Calgary QV is travelling in China and Tibet right now and she spent the last few days at base camp at Mount Everest, if you want to follow along you can click here. I love following all her adventures!

Yesterday we had a trip to the orthodontist and it sounds like we will be starting Ben's treatment ASAP so that he can have his bone graft surgery some time within the next year. It will be great to get this big stop behind us. More about this later.

Tough week

2011-04-29T22:40:00.000-07:00

Well, I had a pretty tough week at work so I am rather glad that it is Friday. I am sure the weekend will go by way too fast. I won't go into any details but I'm hoping we can work through some of this stuff but there is so much work to be done I feel like I'm just getting further and further behind.

Anyway, the kids had their school track meet today so they had fun and the weather seemed to have been quite nice for them. They seem to be going on a lot of trips lately so I am filling out a lot of permission slips.

Has anyone else noticed weird stuff happening on FB lately? I don't know what is going on but something seems weird.

Election 2011

2011-04-27T19:38:00.000-07:00

As I have mentioned in a previous post, Canadians will be electing a new government on Monday. Well, maybe the old government again but we will be voting regardless. There is a lot strategies going on, lots of coalition talk and all kinds of other information to sort through. At least I can always rely on the CBC to cover the election properly. Click here to see the latest coverage.

Happy Easter!

2011-04-24T18:02:00.000-07:00

I forgot to mention yesterday that the kids had an Easter egg hunt at Grandma's house. The reason I forgot about it was that I missed it, ALL of it. Koko and I decided we would walk from the ferry to their house, another thing I had never done but wanted to do. It only took about half an hour and that included a stop at the shopping centre and a look around the gift shop. Anyway, by the time we got there the kids had found ALL the eggs and ate MOST of the chocolate as well.

Today the weather was not so great but I had a nice visit with a friend who is looking to buy a place of her own. The place she had looked at last week was having an open house so we went together to check it out. I quite liked it and I think it will suit her needs quite well. After we had a good look around we went for a tea break and a chat. Later Ben and I went to the mall and bought some rather inexpensive art for the newly painted downstairs bathroom that is looking rather WHITE.

And thus ends a very nice Easter weekend for ME, everyone else gets tomorrow off but I'm mentally preparing myself for the shock of going back to work early in the a.m.

More adventures

2011-04-23T22:30:00.000-07:00

Last night I took Koko on another adventure. We walked from our house to a little hidden park that leads a beach very close to the ferry terminal. I didn't take my camera with me so here is a picture I got off the internet.

It is a very nice walk and we came out of the park I realized we were very close to the home of one of my old clients. I hadn't seen him in awhile so we decided to pop in for a visit. I don't usually drop in on people unannounced but I'm glad that we did. It is always so much fun chatting with this couple and their children. He told me he had been talking about me just the other day so I guess it was a timely visit after all.

Today we all headed to Gabriola for Easter dinner with my MIL and FIL.

Across the road from their place is a Alpaca farm where you can go and feed the Alpacas. Everyone had a lot of fun especially Koko. The Alpacas are very gentle and cute.

We even fed the chickens!

There is also a little garden to explore.

They have a store where thy sell all the products that they make from the alpaca wool but I didn't take a picture of the store. This is a picture of the workshop where they prepare the yarn and make the products they sell..

Ian got to try out spinning the wool and got to keep his sample.

They each got a finger puppet.

After a delicious turkey dinner we headed to a beach area to explore.

This is Entrance Island.

Then it was time to head home.

The weather was glorious and we all had a great day!

One more little tidbit to share...

Haslam Creek Suspension Bridge

2011-04-22T18:11:00.000-07:00

Today we went on an adventure to a new place I had never been to before. I had heard of it but didn't really know what it was like. It is not easy to find, off a logging road and it is not well marked. In fact we drove right past because this was the only sign in the spot where you parked your car:

I think the no entry sign is for the forest not the logging road but it doesn't say that. Anyway, after we figured out this was actually the place then we walked down the logging road way too far and missed the turn off onto the small path. This is what the logging road looked like:

And this is what the path we should have took looked like:

Anyway, we were finally on the right path and walked until we found the suspension bridge.

Ok, these are my feet and you can see the river WAY down there below me, kinda freaky.

This is apparently a popular swimming hole in the summer. How you get there exactly is beyond me.

I'm thinkin' that I'm just going to stick to the path....

Going back.

We stopped at Petroglyph Park on the way back. Some of us had never been there and it is a very short walk around the park.

The explorers.

Happy Easter!

2011-04-22T11:00:00.000-07:00

This is a screen shot of the baby eagles being fed by their mama. They are so cute! I love the dad, he kind of hangs around and brings food but doesn't really seem to take any direct role in taking care of the babies. Mom is still the one keeping them warm and feeding them.

Babies!

2011-04-20T18:28:00.001-07:00

The White Rock Eagle babies are hatching!

A Puzzling Problem

2011-04-18T21:04:00.000-07:00

I know I haven't posted in awhile I've been busy doing this:

When we were in Victoria I bought this puzzle for Lin, hoping it would be educational and fun. After a brief attempt at it she gave up and so this weekend I took over. I used to do a lot of puzzles...way back when and I have to admit, this one was one of the most fun! I say was because until I got to the point of having just the oceans left it was fun. I did know that 2/3 of the earth is covered in water but this is not so much fun. It might just take some time, just what I need.

I was puzzled again when I went to check out the list of local candidates registered in the upcoming Federal election. There are the usual suspects BUT then there are some others that leave me shaking my head. What choices to pick from! Let me see, The Pirate Party of Canada, don't tell Ian about this, he is studying pirates and will want me to vote for them. Or I could vote for the Christian Heritage Party....Or maybe I will register my own political party, I just need to come up with a name...

How can this be?

2011-04-13T21:28:00.000-07:00

This evening Ian and I walked to the beach but along the way we stopped and asked his friend to come with us. I haven't seen this boy in awhile since I no longer take the kids to school. Anyway, he is now as tall as me, he is 9 years old! He might even be a bit taller than me already. His mom thinks it's quite funny and I know I am vertically challenged but CRAP already??? Ian is not far behind but it will probably take the better part of another year for him to catch up to me.

Anyway, it was a nice evening and the tide was out so walked out a bit. Ian's friend found a bone of some sort and when he asked what it was I said maybe debris from Japan is already washing up here. I know I shouldn't joke about this but it was the first thing that popped into my head. A minute later we found part of what looked like a tea cup or a plate...weird. This kid is quite a talker, like Ben he pretty much never stops. I like talking to him though, he likes science so sometimes we have interesting discussions. Today he told me who the local candidates are in the upcoming election and why I should or should not vote for each one. Getting the political lowdown from the point of view of a 9 year old is quite interesting.

Good news from the school....FINALLY

2011-04-13T17:57:00.000-07:00

As you might recall from a previous post, our last meeting with the school and school board was in January and the result of the meeting was pretty minimal. The psychologist was basically going to set up a meeting for us with high school to see what programs would be available next year for Lin. Other than a couple of phone calls so ask me what my email address was (again) and a few emails asking me what dates would be good, which I said any dates, nothing happened. No meeting was arranged. Finally today the one person at the school that seems to get most of this called me today and said she has been talking to the high school counsellor about Lin and there is a program that was new this year that would be very suitable for Lin. It is a two year program designed for kids who are not where they should be entering grade 8. The goal is that after the two years they will be ready to enter the regular grade 10 program. It is a class of max 15 kids so she should get specialized help in this class and she will not rotate to other classes. This class will offer all subjects to meet the needs of the kids. I did have the high school handbook and I was reading it, for the second time but I just couldn't see how high school was going to be any different. This program is not mentioned in the handbook so I am quite happy that we may have finally found something that will be appropriate.

I should know more about it over the next few days.

Two firsts for Lin

2011-04-10T21:02:00.000-07:00

Today Lin went to the shopping mall that is about a 20 minute walk from our house by herself. She purchased a couple of things that she wanted and played some games in an electronics store then walked home on her own. She was gone longer than we thought she we would be so we were getting a bit worried and Alan went to look for her. While he was out she came home so it was all good. I thought this was a good experience for her to do this as we have gone there many times together so she knows the way.

I was asked to speak to prospective adoptive parents at an information session that our agency was holding today here in town. At first I was thinking of going by myself or just taking Ben but then I decided to take everyone (except for Alan, he could use an hour to himself). So off we went and I was a bit nervous about what the kids might say but they all did a great job! Except for Ian who didn't say anything but that was OK. Lin spoke quite a bit and she did a very good job telling things from her point of view. I was quite proud of her, to be able to speak in front of a room full of strangers is something most adults would have difficulty with. Koko talked about her experience helping facilitate several adoptions in China and Ben even talked a bit. I was worried that he would not stop talking once he got started because this is his usual self but I managed find a spot to cut in. All the information sessions I went to were all parents with very young children so I felt it was a good opportunity for the parents to see and here from kids that are able to speak for themselves and to a certain extent understand what adoption is all about. Overall I think it was very successful, I hope the people listening felt that they got something out of it as well.

I am still watching my Eagle very closely, the eggs still have not hatched. She is sleeping now and it is very windy and rainy, you can see either the camera, the nest or both shaking in the wind. Doesn't look too comfy to me!

TGIF

2011-04-08T22:19:00.000-07:00

I am totally glad that it is Friday. Not that I have left work behind me, as I have brought stuff home to do over the weekend. I might get to it and I might not.

Not much is really happening though. Nothing has been found with the missing couple from Penticton, it is a very difficult situation for the family, I am still hoping that they have some good news but things are not looking good at this point in time.

I am totally addicted to watching these Eagle Cams. The eggs are due to hatch any day now, wouldn't that be awesome to watch that happening? I have been watching the White Rock Eagle, when she moves around you can see her eggs, I was surprised to see how little they are. I can't wait to see the babies!

Tonight we had a ladies night out. I brought some friends to join a different group of friends, so that was a bit different. They are all very nice though so as usual, it was great to see everyone. I wish the waitress had been a bit nicer though, it seemed as though we were in her way and she couldn't wait for us to leave. Too bad, maybe next time we will go somewhere different!

Missing BC Couple

2011-04-05T17:54:00.000-07:00

My friends Aunt and Uncle were on their way to Las Vegas from Penticton but never made it there. Here is a link to the news story. Please pass this on or post this information on your blog if you can, especially if you have a lot of followers from the US/Oregon area. This is NOT an internet joke, this is for real.

Book Review - Blood Ransom

2011-03-31T20:27:00.000-07:00

This book was a bit of a disappointment, predictable and a bit too ultra religious for my liking. I thought the story line sounded good but I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would. The love story part was rather corny, maybe it's just me. I'm glad I didn't pay for the book. Time to move on to the next book!

Day 4

2011-03-30T19:24:00.000-07:00

This is Government House where the Queen's representative stays when they are in town. It is empty most of the time except maybe a couple days a year. It is not open to the public but there are beautiful grounds to enjoy.

This is the back of the house

There are many different types of gardens, including a rose garden, most were not yet in bloom...

but we did see some colour and enjoyed all the different gardens.

There was even some wildlife making their home on the grounds.

This is Craigdarroch Castle, it was originally the home of a wealthy family but now it is a museum open to the public. We didn't go through this time but we did visit the gift shop, that part was at least free, especially since we didn't buy anything

We went for lunch at this cool pub in downtown Victoria, it's called the Bard and Banker.

For those of you who like the traditional British style pubs (and those who watched Coronation Street in the early days) they have snugs!

This is the window on one of the snugs.

This is was the view out of our hotel room window, were we close to the museum or what?

In the afternoon we went for another walk, it was just beautiful!

We walked all the way to the cemetery...

We looked all over for Emily Carr's grave...and finally found it!

I don't know why this loaded sideways, you might have to put your head on the desk to read it. Anyway, I have one of her books lined up on my reading list, should be interesting.

And thus ended our trip with a gorgeous sunset!

Day 3

2011-03-29T18:50:00.000-07:00

This car was owned by John Lennon but now it is owned by a very wealthy local business man. It is on display in the lobby of the museum. We didn't go through the museum this time but we did go to see an Imax movie.

This day was probably our worst weather wise but we still went out for a walk around the harbour.

We crossed the blue bridge...

Got rained on, so we turned around and went shopping instead.

This is the Imax film we watched...Arabia...it was good and I learned a few tidbits as well. You aren't supposed to take pictures in the theatre so don't tell anyone I took this picture.

The parliament buildings at night.

Day 2

2011-03-28T20:58:00.000-07:00

Here is a city bus in front of the Parliament building. I never did get to ride on a double decker bus but some day I will!

Here is a street musician dressed as Darth Vader. I don't know who the kid is, he just happened to get in the picture but he seems quite interested in violin playing Star Wars character.

A trip to Victoria wouldn't be complete without a shopping trip to China town. We found a hand embroidered table cloth very similar to one we bought in China, only difference was this one was 68 dollars and we paid about 8 Canadian dollars in China.

We also took in a guided tour of the parliament building.

This is the legislative assembly where our elected leaders ~~fight and act like children~~ make our laws.

This is the ceiling, you can also see part of the public gallery.

It was actually quite an interesting tour and I did learn a few things. One of them was that BC has half of the worlds jade. I didn't know that, I actually thought that China had most of the jade but apparently a great deal of the jade that is purchased in china is actually from BC. I would imagine it has to do with the cultural importance that jade has in China compared to here in BC or Canada in general.

The other thing that I learned from reading the literature that I picked up was that the architect who designed the parliament building and many other prominent buildings in Victoria, was murdered on March 24th 1935. Kind of creepy that we visited on the anniversary of his murder but I didn't see any ghosts.

Trip to Victoria

2011-03-27T14:46:00.000-07:00

For 20 years my mom and sister have been taking a trip to Victoria each spring. This is the first year I was able to join them and it was a lot of fun. We did a lot of walking, eating and shopping. Well, I didn't buy a lot but spent a lot of time shopping. There is so much to do and see in Victoria. I am hoping that I can take the kids to see some of this stuff possibly over the summer if we can find a reasonable place to stay. Here are some pictures from day 1:

This was the sign at our hotel.

We were right across the road from beautiful Beacon Hill Park.

We took a stroll on beach.

And along the walking paths.

The weather was glorious.

We walked around Victoria's inner harbour

We took a peak inside The Empress Hotel

Short trip

2011-03-22T18:27:00.000-07:00

I'm off on a short trip for a few days so I won't be posting anything new until I get back but hopefully I will have some pictures and a few interesting stories to tell.

I'm looking forward to the little break from work.....

Supermoon!

2011-03-19T21:24:00.000-07:00

Frist week of spring break

2011-03-19T06:43:00.000-07:00

The first week of spring break is complete. I think we managed to come up with enough activities to keep them busy. On Monday I put the boys in one day of camp. The theme was The Olympics so they got to make gold medals and some sports activities. On Tuesday they went to the mall where they had a free mini golf course set up, Ian got a hole in one so he was excited about that. On Wednesday the went to the library where there was a Lego activity day. On Thursday they went to a large book store that also held a Lego activity day. Ian of course is the big Lego fan so he quite enjoyed both of those activities. On Friday they went to see a movie. The theatre had a special price for spring break, 2 dollars. So the movie cost 8 dollars and the bus to get there and back was 16.50. Add that to the cost of the popcorn and drinks and it was hardly a cheap activity but what can you do.

Next week is another 5 days to find activities for.

As some of you know, I applied for a new job last week and the posting closed on Friday. Who knows if anything will come of it but I am stressing out over it! I always think that there is no decision to be made until there is an actual job offer but there is always little time to think it through after that so you have to be prepared. We will see what happens and I will explain more details if anything comes of it.