50th Anniversary of Delta Fire Department

Les and I left the kids with Judy and headed out to Ladner to a giant barn to celebrate the 50th anniversary of becoming a professional department with about 350 other members and spouses.

It was a once in a career night to have so many of the people I work with together in one place. It was a great night, despite having to be up for work first thing the next morning.

Bare Bones Theatre

Congrats to Les for a very successful debut run with Bare Bones Theatre group.

Running into our high school drama teacher Fred Galloway (Les and I actually first met in his class back in grade 9) at a UBC basketball game last winter, somehow lead to Les getting back onto the stage for a couple of nights playing the psychiatrist on 'Stay Carl stay'.

It's incredible how quickly Les is able to take on and memorize a role, and how comfortable she is on stage. Really, you'd have a hard time believing it unless you saw it with your own eyes.

Les was great, the play was funny and the packed house went home happy. The only difficult part of the night was convincing Lukey that the actor who dropped the "F" bomb wasn't evil and that it was okay to talk to him after the show.

E- May long weekend- Steve's 39 bday.

Some running and some fun

Before Finny and Eric could take off for Phoenix, Finny had some running to do. She signed up for the BMO Kid's Mile, taking place the day before the official marathon on Sunday. 

Finny is a manager at heart. She loves to control as many variables in her environment as possible. I, apparently, am a giant variable. Therefore, a lot of control is fired my way. We are, by nature, not the most punctual of families. Here is a breakdown on our conversation very early on Saturday morning:

Finny: "Let's go. Let's go, let's go. Can we go?"
{as an aside, this conversation is taking place IN THE CAR. I am checking my emails to find out exactly where the marshalling area is...]
Me: "We will leave in a second. Don't worry. I will get you there.
Finny: "I know you'll get me there, but at what time?" Bada-boom.

Hey, fair enough. Having said that, we got there an hour and a half early. So, Finny is having her positive influence. My mom was with us, so she got a good laugh.

Finny and Delia got a great pole position at start of the race.

It was a fun run, so it wasn't timed and there were no places given. Both the girls had a great run and they were pleased. They got beautiful participation medals as they went through the finish.

They also got to meet the Canadian Olympic marathoner, Dylan Wykes. He signed Finny's number bib.

The girls also got to meet last year's BMO marathon winner, Gezahgn Eshatu. Both he and Dylan were so warm and encouraging of the kids.

We headed home after a great event. Our neighbour was taking care of some ducks overnight, so she brought them out for a bit of a play with the kids. They were pretty cute. Molly did a good job setting her feeling aside, since these were meat ducks. She only cried once. I suspect she seriously considered smuggling one or all three ducks home for a longer, less brutal life. If she thought she could hide ducks, she would have.

So, in the meantime, she stroked their little fuzzy chests and gave them snuggles. Give them whatever joy she can. Also, in a related note...ducks poop a lot. A lot.

With the ducks back in our neighbour's bathtub for the night, we headed down to Point Roberts. Finny and Eric were getting up early the next morning for their flight to Las Vegas and we had a full Sunday of sunshine and beach time to log.

I sent Eric the picture below to let him know that it was pretty darn nice here, too.

We had a picnic on the beach for lunch and BBQ on the porch for dinner. It was a little slice of summer previewed.

We missed Eric and Finny tons while they were gone, but the sunshine eased our sadness.

Molly and Lukey got lots of time to play, just the two of them. It was nice to see them slip into their own rhythm of play.

The picture below is my dad and Lukey listening to the pre-game radio show before one of the few Canucks playoff games this year. Lukey has turned into a massive fan. In fact, even with the Canucks out, we are still watching hockey. The new teams he is cheering for are: Senators, Penguins and Maple Leafs. And the Ducks in a pinch.

We also squeezed in a quick trip to the Aquarium. Penguins were kissed.

E- Phx day 4

Finny and Ed headed out for early morning golf session in the Corvair. 

There was some high speed driving of the golf cart...and I'm not sure who was the voice of reason in this duo. 

Finny practiced her swing and got to hit a few balls.  You can see it needs a little work.

In the afternoon we headed to the Harkin 18 to watch the Croods.  Movies are big down here in the summers as everyone tries to avoid the mid-day heat. This theatre is offering 10 weeks of kids movies for $7 over the summer holidays...which is some pretty cheap babysitting at 70 cents per session. 

After the movie, we checked up on our rental homes. I was happy to see them all looking pretty much like I remembered. No obvious meth labs or grow ops here...but I guess you never know. 

At work I've managed to be tagged with the label "slumlord". Can you really be a slumlord though when the homes you rent out are nicer than you'll ever own yourself? This one in Durango HOA is a block away from a nice outdoor pool/hot tub and park. 

E- Phx day 3

In-n-out Burger. Yumm...and the best service I've ever had a fast food restaurant. Someone volunteered to bring out our meals when they were ready so that we didn't have to wait inside listening to the numbers being called.  She then proceeded to make separate trips to bring us lemon water, ketchup and then our meals.

After lunch we hit the YMCA for a freshing swim.  I know the Phoenicians don't think 33 is warm...but we do. Finny was a great companion to play catch with...and I was not so great a sliding companion. It's always amazing how cold it can feel having water evaporate off your skin in the wind, even if the air is warm. 

We played a little basketball after swimming and Finny worked on her dribbling and power lay-ups.

She generates a surprising amount of power on those lay-ups, and had no problem dealing with a 10 foot hoop.  The cover on the rim posed a little more of a challenge. 

Back at Ed's place we got to listen to the Canucks being eliminated from the playoffs (kind of glad I missed that one) and watch some playoff basketball.

E- Day 2

After 17 hours on the road (900 km behind the wheel and many more in the plane) driving to Bellingham, flying to Vegas, driving to the Grand Canyon and then on to Phoenix for day 1, we decided to take it a bit easier on day 2.  It wasn't an easy travel day, but Fin was an absolute trooper. It was her decision to visit the Grand Canyon...but it's still not easy for an 8 year old to be patient for as long as she was.

 After a short sleep in, we hit Eds backyard for a hot tub and to feed his chickens.

Ed is in the midst of building a new home on an acre he bought nearby and needs some books and permits, so we headed to downtown Phoenix.

The main library is beautiful, and it even has a nice outdoor courtyard where Finny and I read while waiting for Ed.

 After a few more errands including a stop at our property manager's office, we headed back to Ed's for dinner and a quiet evening.

E- A quick spring trip

After taking Molly to Phoenix with me when she was 7, there was no way I would get away without doing a similar trip with Finny...she has the memory of an elephant. Having said that, she's been very good (perhaps strategic) about not asking when our trip together was going to happen. 

When I did let her know that the trip was booked, Finny was over the moon while the others were pretty bummed.  Molly and Lucas actually had a pretty good week lined up too with Vancouver forecasted to be sunny and in the twenties the whole time we are gone. 

We got an early morning flight and were in Vegas before 9:30am. Finny didn't waste any time posing for pictures.

Finny decided that the Grand Canyon was not to be missed, even if it meant an extra 4 hours of driving.  Although it made for a long day, her enthusiasm was so genuine and contagious that I'm glad she insisted.  "Isn't this just the best Daddy?  Isn't it so beautiful?  I'm so glad we came."

Seeing the number of tourists there who had travelled such big distances to get to the Canyon made me feel better about my customary leg cramp from driving that accompanied me for most of the day. 

With Phoenix another 3 1/2 hours south of us, I was tempted to get the drive started...but Finny wanted to hang out with our not so wild wildlife in Canyon National Park. They let her get within less than 10 feet before they strolled away.