A lemon or "the best ever"?

Working in the "pool", where I can be asked to work outside my regular shift in exchange for days off at another time, has its good and bad points. The uncertainty of when and where I am working is the worst part. Getting to work with lots of different crews and at different halls is one of the better parts. Having an extra week added on to the end of my holidays is the best. However, it means right now I am working a lot, 11 shifts in the last 12 days.

With Les putting in extra hours to meet deadlines, life has been as busy as ever. Of course it hasn't stopped us trying to fit even more into the crammed schedule. Mike, Kate, Steve and Kathy came down for a night playing our newest video game, Rockband Beatles. Les and I had a night out for dinner at Primos before seeing "Black Comedy" at the Stanley. Then, to make life a little more complicated, I decided to pursue buying a van I had been looking at just outside of Seattle. Using a Craigslist monitor that alerted me every time a VW Weekender came available anywhere within one thousand miles, I came across a van I liked at the right price. However, with almost 200,000 miles driven, it was important to try to figure out whether there were any major issues with the van. Thankfully, Bryan McKnight volunteered to come down with me and was extremely helpful in making my decision, getting a good deal and figuring out how to handle all the details of the sale properly.

Even with the deal done though, there were lots of issues to deal with bringing the van back to Canada. There was US and Canadian customs issues, inspections, taxes, duties and insurance. I managed to get through all of this fairly painlessly but needed to get day time running lights installed. Balking at the $250 to do it in the shop, I got a tutorial on the free, thirty second version.

The van is now home and the kids love it. When I showed them the pop top roof and the pull out bed, they shrieked with excitement. "That's the coolest car ever." I'm not sure about that, but if it survives our trip down to San Diego and back without any problems, I will be very happy as well.

These pictures are from our trip to UBC for Finny's first birthday party by herself. We dropped her off at the gymnastics studio and went to the aquatic centre and student union building.

Later on, when Finny was back with us, we went for a swim and to the gym. Finny, who hasn't shown any great inclination to sport, showed her first sign of putting her mind to it. For some reason she decided she wanted to shoot the mini ball we had at the hoop. She shot over and over again until I eventually told her we needed to go. Even though she was heaving the ball, mostly nowhere near the rim, she was determined to keep shooting as long as she could. She is a determined little girl!