ericandles

Beavertails

2012-01-24T23:52:00.000-08:00

When Lukey started his skiing lessons, I told him that he was finally going to be able to try the on-mountain treat his sisters have been talking about years: Beavertails. I was talking it up really BIG, telling him it was only for skiers at the end of the day...a delicious reward for hard work.

I did not understand his lack of enthusiasm. Finally, after the umpteenth time I'd hyped it, I noticed the tears in his eyes. Were they tears of anticipation and joy? No.

"I don't want the beavertail...! Why would anyone want to eat the tail off a beaver...?!", he cried.

He was so upset about the thought of this massive beaver tail harvesting operation he was convinced was happening on Grouse that he could not take in my protests that Beavertails are PASTRIES. "Take a deep breath, buddy. They are made of dough. Not beavers. No beavers were harmed in the making of these treats!"

I was glad to see that Lukey wasn't too traumatized to enjoy a post-ski lesson Beavertail with his Daddy up on the mountain on Monday.

Oh, and in other news...Eric's ski jacket is huge.

Hmmmm...!

2012-01-23T10:22:00.000-08:00

Lukey was looking at his toy car (a Nissan 300zx) and he noticed it has a pair of tennis racquets in the back. He said, "I guess it's a sports car...". Huh, I guess so. Is that what it comes from?

Freewheeling Hipsters

2012-01-18T00:44:00.000-08:00

Oh, you know, we're cool.

Oh darn, you do know us? Alright. We aren't that cool. At all.

But doesn't Eric LOOK pretty cool on his beach cruiser bike? And the ironic green bike lock?

And don't I look pretty cool on my beige...oh forget it. I don't look cool. I am wearing my seven year old daughter's hat and a toasty pair of fleecy tights under my jeans.

Eric and I took a little two night break away from parenthood (woohoo for grandmothers!) and headed for the border. I found a great deal on two nights at an awesome hipster hideaway in Long Beach, Washington called Adrift Hotel. It came with a breakfast one morning and a bonfire package (red wine, s'mores, and wood for a fire).

Somehow, in my excitement about this excellent deal and my love of the appealing vibe at this cool hotel...I managed to ignore my Google map. I guess it's kind of far. Oh, and it's also January. Apparently that's not beach weather. Did I mention that it's far? And...January?

Luckily, January isn't that hostile out here on the Wet Coast. Except this week. Freakishly cold. And snow. A bit of hail and some freezing rain. That SCREAMS bonfire, doesn't it? That just SHOUTS long bike rides on the beach.

The bonus was the extra hour we took to drive down because of the snow on the road. It only took six and a half hours. That's right. Six and a half hours.

But once we got there, the long drive disappeared and the cold weather and stormy ocean was a little bit wonderful.

We laughed on our chilly bike ride, drank our wine in our room and drove on the beach. We slept in and watched movies (Ladder 49 and the Last King of Scotland).

The beach was vast.

The hail was also pretty impressive.

This is the skeleton of a 38 foot grey whale who beached himself in 2000.

This is the happy, happy face of a man driving ON the beach for the first time. In Washington it's still legal to drive right on the beach. The trick, we were told, is to drive onto the beach at at least 40 miles/hour. Then stay on the hard sand and don't turn. Eric said he could feel how shifty and unstable it was. I think that made him like it even more.

I had visions of watching the Jetta carried off into the waves with the rising tide when we got stuck...

You can see how close we were to the water. It was a very cool experience.

We drove into the Cape Disappointment State Park. This is the lighthouse at North Head, which was erected in 1898.

The lighthouse feels isolated and cut off from civilization today. I can only imagine how remote it would have felt 110 years ago. This is hostile country.

Somehow, we got a flat tire while we were in the State park. We drove on it back into Long Beach where we found a little shop to fix it while we waited. To kill time we poked around a little grocery store and then popped into a pizza place to get warm.

Chico's Pizza is a place that has had its heyday. But it still has some charm. The most charming part was the $9 pitchers of beer.

How do you say no to that? I don't know, because we didn't even try.

A couple of hours, a large pepperoni pizza and a small $5 of beer later, we were Chico fans.

Even after the long drive there (and back...), it was a divine mini-break from our routine at home. We might not be cool or hip, but we are happy.

2012-01-09T22:18:00.000-08:00

Lukey took his first ski class today. He was a bit apprehensive, but ended up really enjoying himself. It wasn't a postcard day...put it this way: I walked away from the Ski Wee building and couldn't see more than fifteen feet in any direction. Um, sleigh? Uh, chalet? Or painful hypothermic death in an ice crevasse? They all seemed equally probable.

You can see what I mean...it was pea soup. But look at the form on that boy...

Here's the boy apres-ski. He said it was one of the best days ever. I liked it too,

\

Our boy is 5...

2012-01-09T19:16:00.000-08:00

Above you can see a picture of the awesome cake that Mandy made for Lukey and Lars to celebrate their birthdays. It was gorgeous. December 4th he turned five.

Five years old. Such a strange thing, because the blog is the same age. It seems odd to write about Lukey getting older here...I just have to click a button on this site to see the video of him coming home for the first time from the hospital.

It is the blink of an eye. And yet, I know how lucky I am. As much as I feel the passage of time keenly with my big boy in school, his long legs in big kid jeans and with a backpack on his back full of everything he needs for his whole day at school...I can also still see the baby he was so clearly. It is just behind the veneer of grown kid. It's in the little looks he still gives, the way he pinches my earlobe with love, unconscious that he even does it as he talks to me. He also pinches the skin at the back of my elbow a lot. I don't like that one as much.

He woke up last night and came into our bed, as he still does most nights. He cuddled up to me and told me that I was beautiful and he loved me. His eyes weren't even open. His voice was barely a mumble, but I heard it clearly.

These little gifts are the vestiges of babyhood. I gobble them up fiercely. The are an endangered species. The worst kind of endangered. Guaranteed to go extinct.

So far, he is a good person. He is generous to a fault. He enjoys things more when they are shared. Except possibly with his sisters on occasion.

He is self-confident and self-contained. He has a great laugh and he uses it often. He likes big words. Poor little guy, he doesn't get picture books anymore, really. Every night we read chapter books and he follows right along, asking great questions, keeping track of the plot and characters.

He loves toys more than his sisters. He has more than the two girls put together. One of his vices is the constant desire for more toys. Never enough. But he plays with them, every day.

Playmobil and Lego. And lots of it.

He makes me laugh, too. All the time. Sometimes on purpose, sometimes not. He doesn't mind which. While we were in Key West, he told me he'd seen "a man with earrings in a very dangerous place...his nibbles!". He meant nipples of course. He didn't care that we laughed. He knew we were laughing WITH him.

He has a temper, but it takes quite a bit to get to it. When it goes, it really lets loose. I think I know someone else like that.

He's a picky eater. There are only a few things he likes. Everything else is bad. That's a lot of things.

I can't imagine life without him. It makes sense that this blog can be found at lucasbutler.com...we started this record of our family when he arrived. He made us complete, we were just waiting for him to join us.

Just found this note on my Post-It pad...

2011-12-15T21:27:00.001-08:00

...spelling notwithstanding...nicest note ever.

Molly's gingerbread man...complete with headband and marshmallow water bottle

2011-12-15T20:04:00.000-08:00

Disney World 2011 - 1080p.mov

2011-12-14T13:35:00.000-08:00

Hey, just found this in WE newspaper...

2011-12-09T14:47:00.000-08:00

First ever royalty cheque...

2011-12-09T14:20:00.000-08:00

Home from Florida

2011-12-08T21:41:00.000-08:00

This post is super late, but I can't leave out these pictures. When we got off the plane in Seattle after our month of sunshine and vitamin D...we almost froze our butts off.

This is The Return From Florida...

It was cold. Actually, no. It was pretty mild. WE were cold.

Driving North for the first time in a month...

2011-12-08T00:19:00.001-08:00

We left the Keys with regret. We knew we were starting our journey home. The good news: we had almost a week to get back to Orlando

The highlight of our trip homeward was looking forward to some time in Bonita Springs. We have family and friends there, so it was a treat.

After a quick overnight in our old standby, the Hampton Inn in Fort Lauderdale, we stopped off at the GIGANTIC Sawgrass Mall and Outlet Centre (I had a retail heart attack...it was too many stores). Then it was a quick shot across Alligator Alley to get to the Gulf of Mexico side of the state.

Our great family friends, the Smiths, offered to host a dinner with everyone we knew in Bonita Springs. I was excited to see them! I grew up across the street from the Smiths in Burlington and was best friends with their kids (the only thing that would have made the visit better? Seeing Greg and Hil too!). It was such a wonderful treat to hang out with them. And...we got to hang out with them IN THEIR BEAUTIFUL house. Loved it. Straight up love. Not only was it gorgeous, I can't stop thinking about Aunt Erica's drop everything room. She has a room where she can leave things she brings in from the car but doesn't have a place for quite yet. My new mental dream home has a room just like this. In fact, instead of fantasizing about a library or indoor pool in my dream house, I dream of a room just like that one.

The pool felt like it was in the middle of the living room. It was divine.

It was pretty alright.

But the best part was seeing the hosts, Uncle Pat and Aunt Erica. And also getting a chance to catch up with my Aunt Karen and Carl, and Joan and George. It is always fun to see people you know well in a different context. It was a perfect evening.

Joan and George were kind enough to invite us to spend the night at their place (no small gesture when you are a family of five!). George thrilled the kids with pictures from a trip to Africa and we had a nice chat before heading to bed.

The next morning, we met up at my Aunt Karen's, where my parents and brother stayed, and headed to Sanibel Island. It is reknowned as one of the best islands for shell hunting. I wanted to check it out.

It was a very natural, untouched place. Probably because of the big, toll causeway bridge to get there. We didn't realize then, but the hundreds of dead fish we spotted (and the thousands of horrified "Ewwwww!"s we heard from the kids...and Eric) were caused by a big wave of Red Tide that had just hit the area.

Luckily, the beach was huge and the dead fish were spread out. It wasn't that bad.

The boys:

The shells:

Right over Lukey's right shoulder, you might be able to spot my mother huddled down in sheer panic. She is deathly afraid of birds. As you can see, there are a few birds around.

She is getting ready to bolt in this next picture.

And in this one, she's abandoning my children to the bird attack. This picture does not adequately convey the haste she used in her departure. It appears leisurely. It was not.

A bit of driftwood/sea garbage baseball.

My brother contemplating the horizon.

This was a bad game of chicken my father, brother and husband devised for me. There were some big rogue waves in the incoming tide. They bet me I'd get wet where I was sitting. I said I wouldn't.

After a couple of minutes of me staying dry, they got impatient to see me soaked and miserable. So they dug a channel so the waves could access me more easily. Wasn't that nice of them? The three of them stood a few feet behind me and watched each wave come in, cheering it on

Once they finally saw me get wet, they were satisfied and we could leave.

Last night in the hotel in Orlando before the long trip home. We were sad, sad, sad to leave.

Hopefully we'll be back?

I Heart Key West

2011-12-07T22:20:00.001-08:00

Recognize this guy?

We rented our house in Marathon with my parents from Saturday to Saturday. When we booked our trip we were hopeful that my brother would be able to join us, but his work schedule has been hectic. Luckily, he managed to get away. He arrived after three flights and a long car trip to a full Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday night. Hey, it was American Thanksgiving. When in Rome...

I knew my brother would love Key West. We didn't let him take it easy. Friday morning we took off for another trip South to the big lights. Eric stayed back with the kids and went to the beach. I beelined for Hemingway House.

Ernest Hemingway lived in his house in Key West for some of his most productive writing years. He was very inspired by this location. So was I.

My experience at Hemingway House was fantastic. They run tours every half hour. It was informative and funny. Bob from Boston crammed tons of info into my tour. I have always like good ol' Ernest. I really dug him after this.

Here is a painting of Key West in Ernest's living room.

The spaces are so open, breezy and straight up gorgeous. No wonder the guy banged out some classics. Get me settled in here, I could come up with good stuff too. Not American Masterpieces...but...like, you know...really good stuff. Ok, maybe not. But it was a mind-blowing location.

C'mon...look at these pictures. Couldn't anyone be genius here?

The picture below carries a great story. Apparently Ernest was upset at the amount of money it cost to build his pool (strange, since it was his wife's cash that funded it). He was feeling a little cash-strapped when his buddy Sloppy Joe cleared all the urinals out of his bar, Ernest's well-frequented local.

Ernest came home with a urinal. He told his wife that since she got the pool (as if!), he got the urinal. He told her that he had pissed so much money down the drain in Sloppy Joe's, it cost around the same amount.

She, very artfully, made this beautiful fountain out of it. She slapped an olive jar up there and glued some Mexican tile on the side. Nicely done, hey? Lemonade out of lemons.

Even funnier, the cats that live at the house won't drink out of the urinal. They balance precariously and lick the water dripping down the urn.

Here's the pool.

Here's Ernie's writing space. I mean, geez. Set me up in there (minus the creepy head) and I could whip up...Ancient Lady and the Ocean (get it...? Old Man and the Sea...?).

Everything about this house was artful and soul-feeding. Even the tile. The strange six-toed cats. The weird urinal fountain. I. Loved. It. All.

The lady of the house. Wife number two of four. Hemingway might almost have been worth living for just for the house. Although...imagine how quickly I could have run that beauty into the ground. Throw a few empty applesauce containers around there. Pencil shavings. Dirty dishes. I'd be right at home.

Oh Pauline, you got me beat, you stylish lady.

Sigh.

You know, it is probably cheaper than an Eastside Vancouver Special.

After touring heaven, I met up with my parents and my brother. Have you met my parents?

Here they are...

The city is full of these little architectural gems. Love, love, love.

This is a nice picture of my parents (the real ones). Sweet, huh? I didn't take this shot to get my parents captured in time in a beautiful place on a great family holiday...

It was a decoy shot so I could snap the picture below.The sign next to this guy read "Palms Read by a real Swami". What is he really reading? Comics. Couldn't he have hidden them inside a scholarly journal or an ancient text?

Great day.

2011-12-07T22:18:00.001-08:00

Bahia Honda

2011-12-07T21:53:00.001-08:00

After a few days of loving the Marathon area and specifically the pool area of our rental house, we decided to head a little farther afield. Bahia Honda is a state park just over the Seven Mile Bridge from Marathon. It is a spectacular setting with three very different beaches and lots of park. Unfortunately, it was one of the most overcast days we had, so we weren't able to do the beach justice. It was crazy beautiful, with shallow, clear water for hundreds of metres out to sea and a gorgeous white sand bottom the whole way. We sat there in the water for an hour or two, but it got chilly with the sun behind the clouds.

There was a nice walkway at the edge of the park that leads up to the old railway trestle bridge. It is a pedestrian path now. The view from the bridge is incredible.

Here's the girls walking up:

And at the top:

It is such in incredible setting that it is used for weddings...we watched one ceremony at sunset.

And managed to snag a family picture from a departing wedding guest. Score!

This one is cool because you can see the islands of the Keys in the background.

Across from the girls (in an uncharacteristically cuddly pose), you can see the bridge carrying on...I think they cut it off to prevent people from crossing. The bridge itself is in rough shape now so they only maintain that small section.

I hope we get another day at Bahia Honda on another trip someday. On a really warm, sunny day this beach would be unbeatable.

Sombrero Beach in Marathon

2011-11-29T08:45:00.001-08:00

FULL DISCLOSURE: We are home from Florida. Looking at these pictures is already making me sad because it feels like a distant and much missed dream. It is cold here. I have been chilled since we got back.

I am going to continue to update the blog with our vacation pictures anyway. Why? Well, in our family, if we didn't blog it, it didn't happen. Bear with me. Or ignore these.

Sombrero Beach in Marathon is one of the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen. It is a great mix of recreation, clear water, white sand and palm trees. Love, love, love.

We spent two great days playing on this beach.

There was a lot less surf than at other beaches, which made it less exciting for the adrenaline junkies among us...but the swimming was less stressful for our lifeguard (that's me).

We dug in the sand and played in the water.

We built castles.

We played games.

These girls were hard core in their beach volleyball lesson from Eric. Aside from a few complaints that bumping a soccer ball hurts. And it does.

Lukey is crying in the picture below here. He also found out about the painful soccer ball.

Everyone made up, though. His sisters pushing him on the swing was all it took for Lukey to forget his pain.

2011-11-29T08:29:00.001-08:00

Despite my best efforts, I have fallen behind in blogging.

I am in our hotel room in Fort Myers and tonight is our last night in Florida. We leave tomorrow morning bright and early.

Somehow, however, the blog is still in Marathon at our rental house.

I will do a couple of catch up posts.

Our rental house for the week was right on the ocean. The pool was only a couple of feet from the waterline. In order to swim in the ocean, we had to climb down a ladder off the dock, since the shoreline was protected by a concrete slab.

The kids only swam in the ocean in front of the house once. We kayaked a few times, too.

Here's Finny ready to snorkel.

Eric was the dive master, ensuring the kids didn't drown or get attacked by a giant fish.

The water was really clear and warm, but you had to keep your shoes on in the water because there was some coral and lots of barnacles.

Finny quickly got the hang of the snorkel. She used the pool noodle to stay afloat. She saw hundreds of fish, including a few big ones.

The kayak was fun to paddle up and down the shore. Finny and I saw a turtle while we were out one afternoon.

We spent some time one afternoon cracking some of the coconuts on the property. They were tough nuts to crack. Eric used a drill, but they still took a beating. It would be a way better activity if the end result were better. I have to admit that despite all the purported health benefits of coconut water, I think it's disgusting.

2011-11-22T21:50:00.001-08:00

We went back to our good friend the Hampton Inn in Fort Lauderdale. The breakfast buffet and super-reasonable Hotwire rate proved irresistible.

I checked out while Eric and the kids had a swim. Then it was off to meet my parents at Costco to get some shopping done for our week in the Keys.

It turns out that Costco on a Saturday is a bad idea in any city, not just Richmond or Vancouver. The place was packed, but we still scored great food and an awesome 1.7 litre bottle of Malibu rum. It was like a holiday in a bottle.

I was excited for the drive to the Keys. Despite spending quite a bit of time in Florida as a kid, I have never been to the Keys before.

One of the first things I noticed was that the Keys are reminiscent of how I remember most of the rest of Florida. It was more eclectic and beach-oriented. It had the little tacky stores I remember. The strange small towns. I love it.

We made our way to Marathon and then found our house. Oceanfront, with a pool.

Here is a shot of the kids int the house pool.

And here is a shot of the house from the dock.

These two huge pelicans were hanging out at the end of our dock.

We settled in and made our official drink of the week: the Yellowbird. It consists of ice, Malibu rum, orange pineapple juice and a squirt of coconut cream. Blend and consume...

Sunday morning, we decided to make the drive to Key West. After driving through Key Largo, which seemed like an extended mobile home park (really, Beach Boys? Your lyric about Key Largo in Kokomo threw me off...), Key West blew my socks off. I can't remember the last time I fell in love with a town like this. We were planning a quick afternoon there, but I knew right away that we had to come back.

Here we are in front of the Southernmost Point in the USA. We were 90 miles from Cuba. I noticed a couple of people sitting behind this red marker, looking out to sea with tears in their eyes. I imagine it is a natural gathering point for homesick Cubans.

My mom and dad. You can see the lady in the blue dress beside them. She was crying.

Most of the Keys don't have great beaches, which makes this gorgeous beach in Key West even more special.

The sand, the water...the sun and palms...sigh.

The temperature was perfect. There was a breeze. There were a couple of little shelters...

Then we went back into the city to walk around a bit. The first thing you notice when you get out of your car is the number of CHICKENS running loose all over town.

They are crowing, squawking and pecking on every corner.

If you know me at all, you know that I am no fan of birds. I braved it out and got close enough to get these pictures. Please appreciate it because I faced my fears to get these.

We stopped for a coffee and my new favourite thing...the NYT Sunday paper.

We already knew that we were coming back another day, but things like this old building made it impossible for me to just walk away from Key West. This hotel was a temporary home to both Ernest Hemingway and Tennessee Williams. In fact, Williams penned some of A Streetcar Named Desire RIGHT HERE.

More on the literary history of Key West to come. I made a pilgrimage to Hemingway's House. It was divine.

MR Callender

2011-11-22T19:04:00.001-08:00

In the middle of this wonderful holiday, we have had a day coloured by sadness. Today Eric and I lost a good friend, Mantia Callender.

Mantia and his wife Becky were in Europe with us. We lived next door to them for a year in Kapfenburg, Austria. We ate meals together, went out together, traveled together and just plain old hung out together. Eric and Mantia were teammates for a season and a half, but then played against each other in the same league for another couple seasons. In that time frame, I probably spent more time with Becky than with anyone else, except Eric.

We have kept in touch over the years. In fact, on our month-long trip through California exactly two years ago, we stayed with the Callenders on our way through Idaho. It was like no time had passed. We had a great night together.

The four of us came from different backgrounds, but we shared a unique experience. Becky and Mantia were an incredible couple. They were a perfect compliment to one another. It is exactly because I know how great they were together that my heart absolutely aches for Becky tonight.

Mantia was a gentle and kind person, a great basketball player, a terrific friend and a true family man. He was devoted to Becky and his two daughters, Jalen and Tamar. He wouldn't have ever wanted to leave them, which makes his passing even more difficult to accept.

Eric and I will miss him too.

Mantia's sudden passing is a cloud in the sunshine of our trip. But, it's also a stark and heartbreaking reminder of why trips like this are important. You can't put off living. You can't wait for the perfect time to take advantage of plans. We need to soak up every moment.

Tonight's sunset.

The Key to Miami (actually...it's our trip from Miami to the Keys...just a really lame pun)

2011-11-22T18:11:00.001-08:00

The only day of trip without a bright blue, sunny sky. We woke up in Miami Beach to an overcast horizon and the promise of rain.

Undaunted, we headed out. Our plan had been to tour the city, not hit the beach itself...so, no the weather barely registered.

Until...the monsoon.

We planned a nice walk along the pedestrian mall of Lincoln. For lunch, we bought things for a picnic. We didn't anticipate the deluge we got. Instead of the urban chic, open air picnic I imagine...we huddled under a Pottery Barn awning and scoffed down peanut butter sandwiches and ice cream sandwiches.

We still had a really nice walk. And, since it is Miami, the temperature remained warm and toasty in spite of the clouds and showers.

The beach itself, however, was deserted.

After a few hours of touring Miami, we headed up the coast to the Hollywood area to meet up with my mom and dad. They'd arrived the night before, but were staying in a different hotel from us (and...a little nicer). We hung out in their room for a while, then headed out for dinner to celebrate the next part of our trip: we were heading to the Florida Keys the next day for our week together in a rented house in Marathon.

We went to the Cheesecake Factory. I had never been there. Wow. The meals were so tasty and the portions were huge. Eric said his salad was one of the best he'd ever had. And, he couldn't finish it.

Next stop: Marathon in the Florida Keys!

E- I love Florida

2011-11-20T17:12:00.001-08:00

I have always found November to be one of the worst months in Vancouver. It's not that the weather is much worse than January or February, but it is the knowledge that the days are getting even shorter, colder and even rainier before they get any better. So when I started working as a fire fighter and realized that, because of my low seniority, I wouldn't get to have holidays in the middle of summer for many years, I wasn't too disappointed. I would get to have some great November holidays.

However, for the plan to work, as parents Les and I had to be willing to take the kids out of school in the middle of the year. With a very supportive principal and teachers, as well as an unfulfilled interest in the idea of homeschooling, it hasn't been hard for us to play hookey for almost the whole month. The kids, particularly Finny, have made it even easier on us. She was given 20 pages of her math book to do during our absence and was finished them all less than 2 hours after her last day of school.

Both of the girls love reading and writing so much that we're not too concerned with the language arts. They will spend hours writing in the journals, drawing in books and reading chapter books. Molly recently finished A Prairie as Wide as the Sea and Finny just finished The Littles yesterday.

Math however, has been a bit more of an issue in our house. Although both of the girls are getting better, neither of them have a natural affinity for numbers. It almost seems like they have never needed to calculate anything so they don't have any context for what they are learning. As they get a context, they seem to be getting a lot better.

In order to make a month long trip financially feasible, we needed to make some compromises to our travel itinerary. The first part of that was flying out of Seattle even though it added an extra 3 hours to our trip....bringing our total travel time to 21 hours.

Here we are in Seattle airport, with everybody still fresh and eager to start our trip.

Lukey started chatting to the pilots on his way by the cockpit and was invited in to try flying the plane.

The next compromise was having a stop in LA for 4 hours before catching a red-eye to Orlando. Although many people would consider this living hell with 3 youngsters, our children were so excited to get to "sleep" on a plane that we knew we could expect good behaviour....or threaten that a trip like this would never happen again. Apart from a mild meltdown when Molly wasn't in a prime position to rub one of her parents arm, the kids were fantastic. We slumped together in two rows and all managed to get a couple of hours of fitful plane sleep before arriving in Orlando early Monday morning.

While most of the rest of the trip has been well documented by Les, the one thing she didn't post was the pictures from our anniversary date on November 10th. My mom took the kids for the day and hung out around our hotel, swimming and shopping at local gift stores.

Our first date was November 11th, 1991 to the Laser Zeppelin show at the Planetarium. We have been somewhat negligent celebrating this date over the years, but we weren't about to let the 20 year mark pass unnoticed as well.

We headed for Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure.....because 5 straight days of different Disney parks weren't enough for us!

Luckily we had a beautiful day because there were plenty of rides that left us drenched.

We had heard a lot of hype about the Harry Potter/Hogwarts part of the park, so were pretty intrigued to see if it lived up to our expectations. I'm not a huge Harry Potter fan, having stopped reading/watching any of the episodes after the 3rd part. I have to say though, I was really impressed. The village was very authentically done and it had a great roller coaster. The real highlight though, was Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. As a connoisseur of great amusement parks, I would have to say that this is the most original, mind blowing ride I have been on in my life.

All of the ride takes place inside this castle and mountain. Imagine riding in a man lift that moves around the castle, slams you from 60 feet in the air to the ground in a flash, puts you into omni max type of surround screen where it looks and feels like you are playing Quiddach with Harry Potter for 30 seconds before moving to a hallway where realistic animatronic figures interact with you.....etc, etc.
It's an unbelievable ride that is worth the price of admission on it's own.

We had a fantastic day, just the two of us getting to play together in the sunshine.....like life used to be for the funseekers. We went out for a nice steak dinner in Orlando before calling it quits in time to get ready for Hollywood Studios the next day.

Welcome to Miami...

2011-11-17T22:57:00.001-08:00

We woke up in our nice Fort Lauderdale hotel, crammed in as much breakfast as our free buffet could offer, and headed to...what else...the beach. (As an aside, I am pretty sure we are not the hotel occupants they have in mind when they offer the breakfast buffet...five hungry people can eat a fair bit. Plus, we book our hotels for cheap on Hotwire. Yeah, pretty sure we aren't what they are looking for...)

The beach in Fort Lauderdale was really nice, but it made me miss the more untouched and less urban beaches further up the coast.

It never gets old for these guys...

Sweet beach babe.

And this little mermaid...

We pulled out the snorkel, mask and fins for Finny. Even though she had the best that Walmart could offer, the equipment let her down. Despite that, she saw a giant fish.

I just noticed how nice the water looks in this picture. It was exactly that nice.

I love this one for the pose Eric is striking in the background. He and Molly were playing...something...in the ocean.

The kids were finding all kinds of cool things on the beach. This was a piece of coral, but there were tons of shells for the kids to sort through.

Lukey isn't too big on swimming in the ocean. He's a beginning swimmer and the waves alternately fascinate and terrify him. He is attracted into the water, then something happens that makes him a bit scared and he retreats up the beach. Actually, as a parent, it is quite nice. He is a sensible guy and I don't have to worry too much about his judgement. He is almost as conservative as I am, as far as what I feel comfortable with him doing.

When it all gets a little hairy out there in the waves, he comes up the beach and plays by himself in the sand.

While Lukey and I were hanging out on the beach, we saw this crazy thing wash up. Lukey picked it up and we investigated it together. It was a strange water filled sac with soft sides. There were funny flakes of stuff inside.

We decided it was very mysterious. I have looked it up on the internet but can't figure out what it is...maybe an unfertilized egg of some kind.

If anyone has any ideas...let me know.

After a couple of hours on the beach in Fort Lauderdale, we hopped in the car and headed further south to Miami.

We read about a pool called the Venetian in Coral Gables. It was made out of an old limestone rock quarry in the 20s. The pictures called to us. We had to go there.

It did not disappoint.

We got there at 3 pm. It was THE MOST perfect temperature. We had the whole place to ourselves.

The only person who wasn't thrilled was Lukey. They had a rule that under-fives had to wear lifejackets. He. Did. Not. Like. That.

There was sulking and there was crying. Then, there was a protest. Then, there was capitulation. It was very dramatic.

As you can see, he came around.

One of my favourite things was the old pictures lining the pool building. The pool itself really feels like it is out of another time. Seeing the photos brought the pool to life for me.

Look at these beautiful ladies and their fantastic swimsuits.

Thank goodness the high dive board has been removed. Finny would have been off that thing in two seconds flat. Literally...flat.

We ended the night with a great treat. Our good friend Lukas from Austria happened to be in Miami on business. We met him at his hotel and had a couple of beers and dinner together. We haven't seen him since Finny was a baby and he has never met Lukey.

Big Luki is a big reason we went with the name Lucas, so they were both happy to meet each other. We felt really lucky to get the chance to spend a few hours with Lucas. Happily, he is coming to Vancouver to visit in May.

We ended a very late night by heading to check in at our hotel in Miami Beach.

More beach...

2011-11-17T22:32:00.001-08:00

The kids were so excited by the beach. We decided our second day after Orlando would be a tour of all the beaches that caught our attention on our drive between Hutchinson Island and Fort Lauderdale.

First stop was a random pull over on the side of the road, still on Hutchinson.

There were no people in sight. Just gorgeous peaceful beach...and three screaming kids.

I will apologize again for the lack of variety here. There are a lot of beach pictures. The kids don't even have different bathing suits to break up the monotony of beach fun. Sorry...

There was more throwing in the water, trying to catch a wave.

There was some excellent shell hunting. Some straight swimming and some sand play.

We jumped back in the car, kids still in swimsuits sitting on a towel in the back of the car to allow for a quick bolt to a new beach.

It didn't take long to find another tantalizing stop.

Boogie board, towels, noodles and kids. We poured out of the car and into the water. I should mention that it was BOILING out. It was honestly too hot outside of the car and not in the water (at least for me...). It was that magical temperature when you come out of the water and feel no chill of any kind.

We hit Jensen beach because it was favourably reviewed in our guide books and online, but it wasn't our favourite. The beach was a little steeper and more shell-ridden.

No problem...back in the car.

We did like the poster of the manatees, though...

Our next stop was meant to be Bathtub reef, a really cool looking beach named for the reef that forms a shallow tide pool off the beach shore. Unfortunately, it was closed. Apparently October and November storms wash the sand out and make cliffs and unstable dunes.

We modified our plans and stopped for Subway sandwiches and another close by beach.

Once lunch was done, we had a family soccer game.

Surprisingly, Molly was the most competitive. She really wanted to win.

Check her out challenging Lukey. It was girls versus boys, but the fairer sex did not prevail. Next time, girlies, we'll get those brutes...

So, sweat and sand equal...this guy:

He looks so disdainful and cool beach boy in this one. I had to laugh.

The kid was covered in sand, so we figured we may as well go whole hog and bury him in the sand.

He was pleased. Until Daddy put boobies on him.

He broke loose and it turns out you CAN get sandier.

Never one to be outdone on fun, Finny needed to be buried too.

The boogie board is supposed to be a gravestone. Macabre.

We drove through Palm Beach as it was getting dark. Described in our guide book as the wealthiest city in the U.S., we made a statement by eating two day old buns with peanut butter and jelly on their fancy beach walk. Take that, swanky Palm Beach.

We called it a long day (and I will preserve our dignity by not describing our search for dinner that night...suffice to say there are limits to what should be done to find free kids' meals...) and checked into our lovely hotel in Fort Lauderdale. The kids had a nice swim before bed. We needed our sleep...next day we were off to Miami!

Disney snapshot

2011-11-16T07:33:00.000-08:00

The fun continues...

2011-11-16T06:19:00.001-08:00

We took a day off on Sunday, which I will blog about later (the pictures won't upload for some reason...).

No rest for the wicked, though. We went back to the work of the pursuit of leisure with a new vigor and focus. Our sixth (and final) day of amusement park fun was spent back at Epcot. We only covered the World Showcase on our first go, so we had a lot of ground to cover.

Unfortunately, we were one man down on our way in to battle. Eric dropped his mom at the airport and the kids and I headed into the park alone. Then Eric headed to the mall to buy an iPad...so he took a little while.

We didn't have too much trouble filling the time while he was gone. Donald, the kids' new dad, helped.

We tried MORE hats...because I am sure you aren't sick of that yet...

The kids wanted me to take pictures of them in a peaceful pose. I figured it was rare enough to be picture-worthy.

They look so serious when they are at peace.

Except Finny...

We ran into Snow White. Finny found a lot of fault with her appearance. Her hair wasn't right and neither were her teeth. Or her voice.

The day was an absolute scorcher, so I got the kids a mango smoothie. They descended on it like lions on a fresh kill. It was like Animal Kingdom all over again.

In our last instalment of the Molly ride face. She has finally reconciled herself to just saying no to the scary rides. This was the Test Track. She'd been on once and she put her foot down. She only regretted it a tiny bit.

Much more up her alley...paper making! She was more excited about this than almost anything.

She was enthralled.

Even waiting for the paper to dry was thrilling!

While we did that...Finny and Eric designed their own ride, then rode it in simulation. Molly and I did it too, but I had to hide the fact that we were going upside down twice. It was a classic scene of "look over there", while I adjusted the ride to include loops. She loved it. After the fact.

We also played a great game called the Great Piggy Bank Race. We had to learn how to save money and carried around a real pig to measure our success. It was hilarious. Here is Molly sticking Porkchop into the measuring tube.

This is Finny holding George.

The Seas section was excellent.

We rode clamobiles.

There were real fish mixed with tremendous technology to great effect. I loved it.

Turtle Talk with Crush was amazing. It was animated but live and interactive. And hilarious.

Oh, then Bruce the shark ate the children. They were terrified. All except Lukey, who accpeted his demise with great excitement.

The Illuminations show was a great way to end our Disney run. Even though my expectations were really high, our experience exceeded them. What an awesome week.

Our holiday shifted gears that night to the next part of our holiday...beach fun. We had packed up from the Blue Heron condo and decamped to a hotel (of horror) in Cocoa Beach. We were excited to embark on our new adventure, but a little disturbed to share digs with the less savoury residents of Florida. Unless you are into open sores and beer at 10:30 in the morning (and she was behind the wheel of a car...).

Anyway, we left there quickly. Cocoa Beach was amazing. We stopped at Ron Jon Surf Shop and Walmart to get our beach gear and then hit the sand and surf.

Here are the kids sitting on Ron Jon's surfboard bench.

There was much fun had trying on the five toed shoes.

Alright...even I did it.

Gorgeous Florida flower. I know it isn't really relevant, but look at it. So pretty!

Finally at the beach!

Our surf girls.

And pool noodle boy...

There was amazing surf and the sand felt like corn starch between our toes. The only negative...I was reminded of my favourite childhood Florida game of scratching sand out of different cracks and crevices of my body. And the scalps of sand...wow. It was great to see this tradition passed to the next generation.

You can scan through these pictures pretty quickly. Get used to them...there are more where these ones came from...a lot of beach pictures are in your future.

Disney Day 5 at Magic Kingdom

2011-11-12T21:38:00.001-08:00

Finny was feeling a bit like all of us. Wow, this having fun is exhausting. Still, we were up for another day of merriment. Especially since it was the Magic Kingdom on the agenda today.

We perked up and headed into the park. It was a really reasonable start. We entered at around 1pm. Why, you ask, did we allow ourselves such a leisurely pace? Because the park was open until midnight. We figured that 11 hours was plenty of fun.

At the gates. Ready to hit the office.

Second stop of the day was one of my top three rides at Disney. Also, it has been removed from the California park, so it was nice to get back on the People Mover. Such a great ride.

Next stop was the Speedway. Kids drive cars. Somehow in the scramble, I got partnered with Finny. Look at her face in this picture. I was terrified. We have been on some big-time rides this trip, but I have to say...riding in a car driven by Finny is up there in the scary scale. Look at her face again. Feel my pain.

Luckily, she could barely reach the gas pedal. I had some control. I needed it.

Omi got this reasonable companion.

Some shots from our journey through fear:

As soon as we were done on the Speedway, we sat down to eat and talk about our plan for Space Mountain. We had Fast Passes.

It didn't take long before Molly started making the Face.

Lunch was done and the Face was a permanent fixture. On the walk over to Space Mountain, our little daredevil started to complain of a sore tummy. It got more and more sore the closer we got to the front of the line. Finally, two people from the front...dry heaves.

When it was our turn, she panicked and we bailed. We had to take the walk of shame down the emergency exit ramp.

Pretty soon, Molly said her tummy felt better. She put two and two together and realized that it might be nerves.

After some spirited conversation, I told her she'd be doing herself (and me) a favour by trying it out. We did the triumphant walk back up the exit ramp and right on the ride. Once we were boarded and I was holding her hand, Molly told me she was terrified.

She popped off at the end and gave the thumbs up. The tummy ache was mysteriously cured.

When we got off, Finny and Eric didn't believe we'd done it.

Then, when we hit the carousel. everyone was doing the scared face. Here is Eric's. The bobbing horses were FREAKING him OUT.

Not this guy, though.

We discovered that the only thing more fun that hats...is pirate gear. Here we are after Pirates of the Caribbean.

How would you like this girl on your crew, Blackbeard?

Or this sharpshooter?

Or the duelling sisters?

We hit all the rides, big and small. Here we are on Aladdin's magic carpets:

The biggest hit was Splash Mountain. We all went on together and even though there's a scary drop at the end, even Lukey agreed it was the most fun of the day.

I am also a huge fan of the Haunted Mansion. Eric tried to weasel out of it, but I was hellbent (appropriate, right?) on getting it done. Still love it. Here is a picture of the ghost carriage out front.

We had front row seats for the electric parade and we saw the fireworks show.

And after a couple of quick end-of-the-night rides and 3D movies (Big Thunder Mountain and Mickey's PhilharMagic), we were out of there by 11:30.

Tomorrow...day of rest (and shopping at the local outlet mall), then an evening at Downtown Disney.

Disney World Hollywood Studios Day 4 (Day 3 was Eric and me at Universal Studios Islands of Adventure)

2011-11-11T19:59:00.001-08:00

After yesterday and our day of anniversary fun (thanks for babysitting, Jane!), Eric and I were back on the family fun agenda for today.

We had a leisurely breakfast in our condo, then headed out to Hollywood Studios for the day.

First stop was the Stunt Show, with a surprise visit by Lightening McQueen. The show was great and the driving was incredible. I think Eric will go to bed tonight dreaming of the life of a stunt driver. Maybe I should take over driving our rental car for a couple of days. You know, remove the temptation to drive donuts in reverse...

Or try this...

Today was less about rides and more about shows. I lost track of how many we watched. Strangely, this has changed Lukey for the worse for the rides. We went on the most benign "ride" journey through movie history. He cried. And hide his eyes. Through a Mary Poppins section...we may have wrecked him through a couple of more alarming rides. It's hard to predict though...he is a trooper for some very scary rides.

The Muppet Movie in 3D was one of my favourites. Waldorf and Astoria are the best. Here we are outside of the movie, posing in front of the muppet fountain.

You know, I am not sure what happened here. Lukey had a rock star moment. He jumped up and struck this pose. Look at Finny's face. She is as surprised as I was.

We are standing in front of the faux front New York cityscape. The whole thing only extends a couple of feet behind us. It looked cool in person too, not just in a picture. Eric says, "I told you I would take you to New York..." I will state here categorically that THIS DOES NOT COUNT.

The girls posed with Walt Disney. They are pretty impressed with this guy.

This was the Beauty in the Beast show. Again, the quality was great.

The Fantasmic show was also fantastic. It was a chilly night here tonight. I was cool in my light sweater and shorts. Bummer. Tomorrow, we are back to 82 degrees. Phew.

More Fantastmic.

In continuing my theme of Molly Sad Face pictures...this is a new one. Molly decided that she was going to put her foot down and NOT go on the Tower of Terror with us. She was sad about it. She said she was a rotten apple, getting soft. She wanted to go a little bit, but she wanted not to go even more.

She didn't go. The Sad Face you see below is NOT the face she made when she was thinking about going. Oh no.

It is the face she made when we came back from the ride. This is the Sad Face she gets when she regrets missing a fun ride. It even looks a little mad, don't you think?

I love these pictures and I am already planning a montage for our wall.

Finally, we were lucky to catch the first night of the Osborne Family Christmas Light display. Apparently, this guy kept getting more and more ornate light displays and he finally drove his neighbours insane. Instead of packing away his incredible display, he moved it to Disney. It was insanity. The pictures do no do it justice. The negative of this light display was the accompanying carols. That felt wrong.

Lukey tried on a Yoda backpack. This picture makes me laugh. Yoda seems to love our Lou.

Continuing the theme of our family trying on hats...this is Eric as Chewbacca. Also funny. That's a light sabre under his chin.

You will be shocked to discover that this is a self-timer shot. Still, it has all six of us.

Tomorrow, on to the Magic Kingdom for Day of Fun Number 5!

Disney World Day 2 (EPCOT)

2011-11-10T20:35:00.001-08:00

Alright, don't say I didn't warn you yesterday. You have to love us to wade through all these pictures...so here you go Mom and Dad and the McTaggarts (we love you too!)!

Here we are outside of Epcot on Day 2 of the crazy fun:

Bizarrely, our first stop of the day was the Canada pavilion of Epcot. There are two distinct sections of the park. The first is all futuristic and tomorrow oriented. The other is all different countries. We will likely spend two days there, so we focused on the countries on Day 2.

Canada seemed very familiar, but distinctly warmer than we remember.

Also, as always, most of the culture we present to the rest of the world has a lot to do with First Nations people. And maple syrup. No wonder other countries find us dull...

The kids picked up paper bears on sticks, which became their passports for our trip. They had to check in at each country and get their stamp. Also, real representatives from each country would write messages for them. The guy from France told me all about Disney's cultural ambassador program. They actually bring people from each country for a year apiece. They stay just off-site and take trips all together, in addition to answering questions and working in their country's pavilion. It sounds amazing. All the people we meet were fantastic and very keen to talk about their homes. So cool.

I had the luck/misfortune to be pulled out of the audience to perform in a King Arthur skit in the Great Britain pavilion. I was the hag/maiden/wizard/embarrassed person. At the end, I was gifted a button which will apparently save me from ever having to do it again. I will hold onto that button.

The kids trapped in a London phone booth.

Here we are in the gardens of France. Again, the attention to detail was incredible. The last time I was at Epcot, I hadn't been to any of the places in the pavilions for real. This time, I was able to look at the Disney version more critically. It really is amazing what they do.

From what I remember, they have done a lot of work to update the items available in the stores and the flavour of the pavilions. There were things for sale that I know you can't get anywhere other than the home country. I noticed it especially in Germany, where there were hundreds of items I have never seen outside of the EU.

An especially delicious example (though not so rare) is the delicious pain au chocolat we ate in France. They were flaky and authentic (just like me....ba-dum ching...).

Here we are eating them.

This is Finny, lounging majestically in Morocco. This was my favourite place we visited. It really felt like a souk atmosphere.

I could have spent the afternoon hanging out by this fountains and cool courtyards. It was divine.

Molly was also enamoured of Morocco, because it is in Africa, her favourite continent. She asked the Moroccan woman there to write her name in Arabic.

So, of course, Finny followed suit. I need to take a picture of their bears at the end of our day to include here. They had their names written in Arabic, Mandarin and Japanese characters. They had messages in French, German, Norwegian, Spanish and Italian. They were so excited.

Morocco.

There was an amazing store in Japan. It was a good thing I didn't have a credit card in my pocket. There would have been some charging going on...

Molly and Finny tried on kimonos.

The girls looked so lovely, but I questioned Molly about this praying pose. She did it in a few pictures with "ethnic" costumes. It is her pose of respect for another culture.

The girls also learned how to fold an origami t-shirt.

Lukey got the demonstration model.

There was hula hooping. There were tons of different little activities in each area. It was interactive, instructive, educational and fun. I know I sound like an ad, but I really loved the total package.

A fountain in Italy.

A square in Germany.

A dragon dance in China.

An incredible bendy lady. If you know Finny, you know she was watching every move to duplicate it all on our floor at home.

Molly in her hat in China. I didn't include the one with her in praying pose...

With a troll in Norway. Observe Lukey's wacky helmet.

In Mexico.

More hats. If there are hats, my kids put them on.

And last, but not least, the requisite picture of Molly's reluctant face before the best ride of the day. Yesterday it was the Everest Expedition. Today it was Test Track. She made this face for a full half hour. She went on the ride with much arm twisting.

She loved it.

Expect more of these shots. I love them.

Next stop: Universal Studios Islands of Adventure. This time, no kids because it is Eric's and my twenty year anniversary of our first date on November 10, 1991. We get our own day of fun.

Disney World Day 1

2011-11-08T18:53:00.000-08:00

WARNING: If you don't love us (I mean, really love us), skip the next three week's worth of posts. We are on holiday and these blog posts are likely the equivalent of the post-dinner party two hour vacation slide show...just saying.

Today was the first day of our vacation. Yesterday was the REAL first day, but after flying all night, getting our rental car, finding our condo, bringing up our bags and grocery shopping...it didn't feel much like a holiday.

Today, on the other hand, was pure vacation fun.

It was our first day of theme park madness. We hit Animal Kingdom. My expectations were modest, since I wasn't too sure about a Disney zoo...but, wow. I was impressed. It was a fantastic day. The weather was warm (around 80 degrees). The crowds were minimal. The park was phenomenal. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised.

The scenery around the park was incredible. The level of detail is such a treat to discover. I really loved it. The picture above is Finny in front of an offering site outside of the Operation Everest ride (great ride, too).

Below, the kids are pulling a prop rickshaw. Molly is making a face to show her exhaustion (there is something a little funny about prop rickshaws, something that must be an absolutely gruelling job. "Here kids, we have a lag time between rides. Pose with this developing country's transportation...for fun!"

There were Nepalese prayer flags all over.

Even the animal exhibits were thoughtfully displayed. You can see the bat below in a beautiful enclosure.

Lukey's favourite thing was seeing tigers.

As you can see, he got close (there is glass there). He is soaking wet from the Kali Rapids ride. We got seriously wet. Well, not everyone. Somehow Omi and Molly stayed very dry. They said it was because I was taunting them. Might be true.

The tiger enclosure was spectacular.

Finny in a crumbling ruin.

We were also impressed with the Fast Pass system. We picked them up for two rides today and both times it worked beautifully. We were excited to get on the Expedition Everest roller coaster. Molly was...apprehensive. As our Fast Pass time approached, I kept turning around to see this face on my girl:

The Tree of Life is behind Omi and the kids. It has over 300 different animals depicted on it.

There were entertainers throughout the park. One of our favourites was this lady: DeVine.

She was able to blend into her surroundings so well that passersby could not figure out what people were taking pictures of...can you spot her?

One of the aspects of this park I found most remarkable was the level of knowledge the staff had about the animals. There were experts standing by many of the exhibits to answer questions. We talked to one guy whose whole job was mole rats. Just mole rats. We learned a lot about these bizarre little creatures.

This is a pancake turtle. We thought he was stuck. He wasn't.

There were a bunch of different trails to follow, along with spotting guides to help find the animals. Lukey was our guide.

Meerkats.

We took a long safari ride. Driver controlled safari jeeps drove around a huge area. It was packed with animals.

The scope of this attraction was amazing. They simulated a wildlife reserve and the animals are allowed to wander freely. You see what you see.

Having been on safari in Kenya, I can't say that it was a truly authentic experience (there was a collapsing bridge and abandoned poacher's camp), but it was great mix of realism and fantasy.

These are hippos. Molly was very happy to learn that they are both the most dangerous animal in Africa and vegetarian. I am not so sure. That means they kill...for fun.

Crocodiles. Very large and sedentary.

Finny. Another wild animal, for sure.

The elephants were Molly's favourite.

I think Lukey bought the whole experience hook, line and sinker. He is a safari master tonight.

This white rhino was uncomfortably close to the jeep. I didn't have to zoom the camera. That's him. Right there.

I did a quick look around and asked the rhetorical question to everyone and no one within earshot..."Don't rhinos charge...?...?" No one answered.

Lukey wasn't as worried as I was.

Tricera-twirl. Basically the old Dumbo ride from Disneyland, but with dinosaurs.

Eric liked it so much, he went on it again...by himself. Just kidding...but it does look like it in this picture.

We went on a ride titled "Dinosaur", which seemed simple enough. I expected a "It's a Small World" type of ride with a dino-theme. Instead, it was this crazy, super loud sprint through screeching beasts, who were lunging and snarling out of dark holes.

This picture (which I took a picture of at the ride's exit...how cheap is that?) pretty much captures our kids. Lukey is terrified. Molly says she had her head down like this for the whole ride. Finny is eyes wide open (and sensibly shying away from a very scary T-rex).

We caught a parade.

Two shows. Both the Lion King and Finding Nemo were great, but I thought Finding Nemo could easily have been a Broadway production, it was so good. The costumes and originality were amazing.

End of Day 1. The time difference is a bit killer. We had our alarms set for 8 am this morning, which is 5 am our time. The good thing is that as I write this, it's 9:50 (6:50 our time). I am exhausted and going straight to bed. Eric is asleep in a chair and everyone else is asleep in bed. It might be easier than I thought to get us on Florida time...

Tomorrow: EPCOT

Bonus picture: Imagine this scene in 0.04 seconds, when Eric asked the kids if they had seen the big snake right beside them.

There was no snake, but it was still a great opportunity to view animal behaviour like running and squealing...

Month of fun...begin!

2011-11-07T04:25:00.000-08:00

Post-swim surprise

2011-10-28T21:05:00.001-07:00

Fall Fun

2011-10-23T00:03:00.000-07:00

Alright, I know that is a lame title.

A few family events have come and gone with very little fanfare on the old blog. This post feels a bit like a plate of leftovers warmed up in the microwave. I apologize upfront for the hodgepodge.

Lukey came home with a sheet of paper in the first two weeks of school sometime with instructions on the new "star of the week" program. Each week, one kid is the STAR (cue child feeling very special and important amongst their peers). There a few perks of being the STAR. Reservations at the front of every line (and they are kindergarten kids, so there are lots of lines). Pick of the carpets spots. First choice in centres at centre-time. Very VIP.

The bonus for the parents of the STAR is the task of creating the STAR board. My initial reaction to this was mild irritation, particularly since the kids' last names appear early alphabetically and this meant we were on for the second STAR of the week spot. I ordered pictures from London Drugs. I got out my glue stick. We made two little mini-posters of Lukey's life.

I was left with two observations. The first was gratitude to the teacher for making us do it. It was fun and now it will go on Lukey's bedroom wall, which is cool. The second was feeling like that little dude has a pretty great life with lots of people who love him and tons of neat experiences.

Here is Lukey in front of his display:

At the end of his presentation, Lukey took comments and questions. Every single one was about the picture of him cleaning crab in Point Roberts.

Last weekend was the Delta Fire Department Open House at Eric's home hall. You cannot have Lukey in your family and NOT attend this event. He digs this stuff BIG TIME. So we trooped out to North Delta for hot dogs and Krispy Kreme doughnuts (hey, I thought firefighters were supposed to be healthy?) and a demonstration of all the fun toys firefighters get to play with.

Here's a shot of the kids watching Eric cut up a car. I have to admit, it was pretty darn awesome.

They get those plastic hats every time. It doesn't get old.

We rushed home that night to attend our co-op's potluck evening. Molly and Eric missed it, but Finny and Lukey and I had a great time. I skipped the food (never have been a huge fan of the randomness of a potluck. I don't really enjoy a meal that has ribs, potstickers, macaroni and a chocolate haystack cookie hanging out on the same plate...just saying...). I was one of two people on face painting duty, which was cool until I saw the other woman in action. She was essentially a professional. I resigned on the spot. There was lantern making and a pinata.

Behold some of our co-op neighbours:

The line-up for the pinata. Bizarrely, I have raised two children who have single-minded focus on pinata destruction and one who won't hit a pinata with a face. Two guesses who is who...

This week was the big City Meet for cross-country. Both Molly and Finny competed in all four mini meets leading up to the big one. They were fantastic. Molly improved dramatically over the course of the meets, but didn't achieve her goal of breaking the Top 16 (and therefore getting a numbered ribbon). She was a bit disappointed, but she loves cross country and runs like a happy gazelle. She finished 130th in the big meet, which was a great result in a field of over 300.

Finny was hilarious at the mini meets. She ran her race of one giant lap, then ran Molly's race as well. An extra lap and a half. She finished each of her races with what looked like energy to burn. Her results this year ranged from 4th to 11th in the mini meets. She was determined to have a great race at the City Meet.

Sadly, she fell close to the start. Not only did she go down, someone else went down on top of her. She had a shoe mark on her temple...! She picked herself up and still finished 20th in the city. She was choked, but I was so proud of the heart it took to carry on and make up so much ground.

Lukey, Eric and I were proud cheerleaders.

Finally, today we ventured out to the Westham Island Herb farm to get our pumpkins. Despite the insane amount of mud and my total lack of adequate preparation for said mud, we had a great time with our friends the Warringtons.

Did I mention it was muddy?

The kids each picked out a pumpkin and I slipped around taking pictures. Seriously slippery mud.

Westham Island is the best place in the Lower Mainland to go to the pumpkin patch. They do such a great job and all you pay for is the pumpkins.

Despite the promise of rain (both the forecast and the ominous sky), we stayed dry.

My inappropriate shoes, however, were soaked. Evidence of my poor planning below:

Alright. End of mishmash post.

2011-10-16T23:21:00.000-07:00

2011-10-05T15:27:00.001-07:00

Quick practice run around Douglas Park. Good work, girls!

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E- First Class dinner

2011-09-30T21:41:00.001-07:00

There's little that fire fighters like more than a free dinner or dessert treat.....so we have lot's of traditions to make sure that this happens. Last week my shift's probie, Booker Hobbs, made us a dinner to celebrate the end of his first year on the job. Tonight dinner was on me, a belated celebration of reaching the status of first class fire fighter. This means that I am now at 100% wage and considered a fully trained fire fighter.

I decided to go with a seasonal dinner of turkey, mashed potatoes, roasted cauliflower, carrots and onions, corn on the cob, finished off by pumpkin pie and whipped cream. I managed to pull it off surprisingly well..... which I guess proves that I actually have learned something in my 3 1/2 years on the job.

We also trained for our high angle duties, something we regularly do pretty regularly at this hall. Although it seems like a big jumble of ropes, carabeeners, harnesses, anchors and pulley's, we have enough experienced guys that we can do some cool rescues.

I am not a huge fan of heights but don't mind them too much either. However, this stage of the evolution, before the line is weighted and I can feel secure knowing the rope will hold, is definitely my least favourite part of the whole thing.

So it's pretty natural to hang on until the rope catches.

This is the last major milestone on the job for quite a while. Apart from some driver training for the engines and ladder trucks, my role on the job will stay pretty much the same for the next 10 years when it will be time to train for being an officer. It sounds like a long time but everybody says the same thing as I have felt so far....time at the firehall goes by so incredibly quickly.

E- End of summer days at Montague

2011-09-30T21:11:00.000-07:00

As I am writing there is a cool fall rain coming down and it feels like a long time since these pictures were taken. However, it was just last week that the family headed for Montague harbour on Galliano Island and the water was warm enough to swim on this very appealing beach.

However, the next morning the wind picked up and it would have taken a lot to get me to jump into the frigid waters in the middle of the bay.....but the kids couldn't care less...they just wanted in.

And then out as quickly as possible.

On our way home we stopped at Sturdies Bay for burgers and ice cream.

We had to rush home in time for me to work my night shift.....Molly didn't want to go though after finding a bookstore she really liked.

All kids aboard

2011-09-29T12:14:00.000-07:00

Ahhh, the mixed feelings of an empty house. Midway through our baby years, with three kids four and under, it was impossible to imagine a day when they would all be out of the house for the bulk of the day.

After a flurry of activity in the mornings (by far my least favourite part of the day), lunches packed, clothes station completed, breakfasts prepared and mostly ignored, hair tortured into compliance (or a semblance of...), I come back to silence.

I practically sprint to the radio and turn it on to fill the empty space with the familiar voices of the CBC. But they aren't the kids. It isn't the same.

Lukey's first walk to Kindergarten

I am so proud of Lukey and his transition into Kindergarten. The best way I can describe it is that he is a very whole and complete person. He takes things in stride, but not in an unconscious or thoughtless way. He just deals with things.

From his very first day of school, he has barely flinched. His only hiccough was the night before the first day. I snuggled up into his bed in a quiet moment to gauge his mood. He was stoic. I pried a bit. His chin quivered and he confessed that he was scared that in the middle of a full day of school, he might fall asleep. Then the other kids would laugh at him.

We talked about how every kid in his class was starting something new for the very first time, not just him. We talked about how he has never been a napper (or narcoleptic...it sort of sounded like he thought he might just collapse sound asleep in the middle of a game in the gym). We talked about everything I could think of to reassure him.

All summer, he talked about this fire truck in the classroom. He beelined for it on the first day to check it was there, just as he remembered.

Who needs reassurance? Mostly me. The toughest part of this whole, big transition for our family is mine to navigate. Until the kids start school, the majority of their life experience is controlled and filtered by our family lens. For four years, Lukey has been home with us. He goes where we take him, he eats what I give him, he deals with his sisters as his friends. I find it hard to share my kids with the bigger world of school sometimes, because the margins expand so quickly.

At home, Lukey is surrounded by people who love him. Not just a little bit. Big, crazy love. Now, he has to head out into a world that isn't unconditionally in love with him. A world populated by other kids and teachers. He's just another boy on a crowded playground.

I want to keep him home. Cuddle him a half a dozen times an hour, like always. Instead, I have to share him. It is the first step in gently letting him go.

It turns out, that's pretty hard.

The five of us on our walk to the first day of school.

Lukey has been great. He has adapted to all day school with barely a backward glance. He's only come home at lunch time once. It was the day of the Terry Fox Run. After running, he was overheated, overwhelmed, overtired and overstimulated. He asked me to take him home. And I did.

The next day, with some trepidation, he asked if that run happened EVERY DAY. He was relieved when I said no.

I wish this little guy a great journey through his school years. I am happy that he is in this place, with these people. I hope that the heartbreaks (which are inevitable) aren't too devastating and that the triumphs (inevitable too, I hope) are thrilling.

In the meantime, I just have to bring him home after school and cuddle him extra to make up for the six hours I've missed. Because I really miss them.

E-first hockey practice

2011-09-26T01:24:00.001-07:00

Lukey and his friend Henry just before getting the ice for their first hockey practice last week.

CBC.ca | North by Northwest...Listen to me on the radio

2011-09-20T11:16:00.000-07:00

CBC.ca | North by Northwest

Second to last CSA box from Sagewood Farm

2011-09-17T17:29:00.001-07:00

The only way to deal with my sadness over this matter is the mass consumption of organic veggies...

And Finny harvested her only tomato on the season. She's so excited to...watch someone else eat it. She doesn't care for tomatoes.

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The view out my rear view window right now

2011-09-09T13:55:00.001-07:00

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Basketball, Tennis, Baseball

2011-09-04T16:32:00.000-07:00

As it probably should be, the basketball seemed almost secondary to the trip itself. As defending gold medalists in the last WPFGs, there was a pretty good argument for our team to stay in the open division. However, because of some injuries and not wanting to beat ourselves up so badly we wouldn't be in shape to enjoy New York, we decided to go in the 35 and over division. We figured the competition would be strong with so many east coast departments within a couple of hour drive from New York.

We were wrong! We ran over everybody and probably the best basketball for us was our inter team scrimmage. In the finals we played some big, strong guys from New York corrections, however they couldn't keep up with us. We were up by 20 points by the middle of the first quarter and never looked back. I had a great tournament, and together with Navi did the bulk of our scoring. Everybody contributed in different ways and we actually played really well as a team, making the competition look worse than they were.

Our lone American AJ had to listen stand and sing the Canadian national anthem with us in front of a mostly US crowd.

We celebrated our victory with a long night of drinking at Nelson Blue bar and on the roof top deck of a 42 floor apartment building on Wall Street.

On Thursday I had a very slow day until I headed off to the US open to see Novak Djokovic destroy Carlos Berlocq in straight sets.

On Friday I walked from 125th in Harlem down to 34th street, which took me through Central Park, 5th Avenue, Park and Maddison Boulevard. About 6 hours later I hopped on the subway to meet 17 of the guys from Delta Fire to watch the Yankees beat the Blue Jays. We ended up partying into the early hours of the morning at Legends sports bar.

I arrived back at the flat at 3 am and got 2 hours of sleep before leaving for the airport and barely making my plane.

Les and the kids picked me up at 1pm on Saturday in Seattle and, despite heavy traffic, managed to get me to work by 5 pm for the start of a 24 hour shift....such an incredibly supportive and understanding wife.

New York to New Zealand

2011-09-04T16:26:00.000-07:00

Trying to write about a 10 day trip to New York is like being a tourist just arriving in the city…..where the heck do you start? I chose just to start walking, and kept it up the whole trip.

After my tour of Soho, little Italy and Chinatown on Thursday, I went on a walking tour at ground zero of New York, lower Manhattan on Friday. Although everything was brand new to me, the places and names felt familiar to me…Bowling Green, Battery Park, Wall street, the NYSE, Broadway and the former world trade centre. There were tons of people out walking and eating in outdoor cafes (I don't know why Vancouver doesn't close streets like this in the summers), huge security everywhere and surprisingly clean and orderly.

I then hurried off to the WPFG opening ceremonies in Prospect Park in Brooklyn. The organization was fairly poor and thousands of us stood in the heat for a couple of hours with no clue about what was going on, so a bunch of us eventually decided to leave. Apparently Dave Matthews eventually played a couple of songs, but I was happily back on a self guided walking tour up 7th avenue, Flatbush and Borough Hall in Brooklyn by then.

There were so many things to see and people to watch that I found myself at the Brooklyn bridge in no time at all…and figured I might as well keep walking into Manhattan. By the time I got to midtown Manhattan my feet had had enough and I hopped on the subway back to our Harlem flat.

On Saturday, everything became about preparation for hurricane Irene. Our games were postponed for at least two days and the city was practically shutting down. When the MTA, New York's transit system shuts down, the city shuts down. One of the guys on my basketball team has a friend who is part owner of a bar, Nelson Blue, that is the low lying ground under the Brooklyn bridge.

It's a cool place with a New Zealand theme that the locals seem to really support (it's like a living room for people living in 400 sqft studio apartments in the area) and Wall street people come to for lunch and dinner.

As great as the area is right in the heart of lower Manhattan, it is known to flood quite badly there even without hurricane force winds and rain. However, we decided with our team of 8 firefighters plus bar staff we should be able to prevent any damage to the bar.

With the help of many sandbags, roles of plastic tarps and some staples, we managed to protect the bar from the flooding that other local places were hit with.

The grateful and generous people (Michelle, Rick and Frank) who run Nelson Blue provided us with countless drinks and plenty to eat all day Saturday and again on Sunday when we came to clean up after the storm. It meant was a great way to ride out the time while New York was shut down (when the transit system stops, the city mostly grinds to a halt) but was pretty tough on the liver.

When the storm got too close to go out any more, we returned to our flat for a game of poker that lasted well into the night.

E- Living off the land

2011-09-03T21:20:00.000-07:00

It's that time of year again....lots of blackberry pies and crabs (for the rest of the family) and time spent at the beach.

While the girls goofed around playing seaweed monsters with their friends, Lucas honed his crab cleaning skills, much to the delight of all the crab eating adults.

Last gasps of summer before the cold hand of reality grips their shoulders

2011-09-02T15:24:00.001-07:00

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Best dinner in the world

2011-09-01T20:11:00.001-07:00

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2011-08-30T21:50:00.000-07:00

2011-08-29T15:27:00.001-07:00

Tuckered out little boater...

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Poets Cove

2011-08-29T10:40:00.001-07:00

Day 2 of pool play. Yesterday, the kids put in a full day.

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Let's Make a Day of it!

2011-08-26T23:34:00.000-07:00

Eric had a flight to catch out of Sea-Tac airport, so we decided to make a day of delivering our favourite fireman to his plane.

What a great excuse to stop at Trader Joe's and get a picnic together. What a great spot to stop at Lake Sammish for a bit to eat and a swim.

We sure miss Eric when he isn't around, but we managed to squeeze every bit of fun out of that guy before he left for New York.

Lynden Fair

2011-08-26T23:29:00.000-07:00

There are two types of people in our family: those with normal senses of smell and ordinary tolerance of bad scents, and those who are incredibly sensitive to smells of every sort.

Guess which group Lukey falls into?

We have dozens of pictures of Finny doing the exact same thing. They get it, in case you are wondering, from Eric.

The funny thing is that I actually enjoy the smell of fresh sawdust in animal pens. It is earthy and sort of pleasant.

We went to the Northwest Washington Fair with our great friends the McTaggarts. We forgo the PNE in favour of this very authentically agricultural (and much less crowded) display.

There are prizes for everything from best shortbread to finest examples of decorative grasses (FYI, if a ribbon at a county fair is what you are after, I recommend you direct your efforts to the grasses. Those things looked completely and utterly pathetic. I guarantee that if you plucked a weed from your garden and stuck it in a green glass bottle you have a good chance of placing in the top...two. I mean, wow.).

The mother pig pictured below had delivered those 16 (!) piglets just two hours before the fair opened that morning. The kids were fascinated. Alright, so were the grown-ups. Apparently mommy pigs get impatient with the same squabbles I do. We watched one mother squish a particularly demanding little piglet against the pen wall. On purpose. Hard core.

We have been crabbing this summer, but not with nets like these ones used by the guys in The Deadliest Catch. Those Alaskan King Crabs are some big sea spiders. The kids wondered if grandad would enjoy crabbing as much with those suckers!

I told the kids we would sample some disgusting fair food. Things on sticks. Greasy things. We started wiht a loaf of fries that was the length of my upper arm and twice as thick. Below, you can see Molly holding up one of the longest ones in the bunch.

Here's our favourite little sweetpea, Matthew, going wild for the horse show. He is making his sign for "more", as in "more horses". There was no shortage.

Enthusiastic tractor driving. Too bad he doesn't have $23,699 in his Canuck zamboni piggy bank.

My American Gothic:

And milking. This little mechanical bovine had a real workout from our group. I went head to head against my friend Beth and suffered true humiliation. My frantic milking produced a very lame cup and a half. Beth squeezed out four cups! What the...? I guess I wasn't a Swiss milkmaid in a past life, but I know who might have been.

Hurricane a coming?

2011-08-26T12:19:00.001-07:00

I'm sitting in a cafe on 7th avenue in Brooklyn after the end of the Police and Fire games opening ceremony. Well, not really the end of it...after two hours of standing and walking in the hot sun, we gave up on hoping to see the ceremony and left Prospect Park before it even began. I figured there's better ways to spend my time in NY than baking in a park with 16,000 other emergency personnel.
Besides, I've already spent a lot of time on my feet. I took a red eye from Seattle Wednesday night and got a few hours of contorted sleep (planes aren't meant for 6'6" people) on my way to Milwaukee. A few hours later I took off to New York and landed in La Gaurdia at 11am. I was at our Harlem condo by noon and on my first walking tour by 2pm. I brought 3 other guys from team with me, but only 1 made it to the end with me. The tour was the "Historic Districts" section which took us through Soho, Little Italy and China town. The picture below is of our group right on the border of the Chinese and Italian districts. The most surprising thing to me so far is how incredibly quickly and distinctly the districts change character. Within one block, all the pizza, pasta and cheese changes to hanging ducks, seafood and rice.
After the tour I met back up with my team mates for a few beers before going to the convention centre to register. The lines were long for this and I'm pretty sure that things are going to get less organized and more chaotic as the committees have to deal with the oncoming hurricane that is barreling down on us in the next 48 hours. Predictions are for it to be a direct hit on Manhattan, with most services being completely shut down around the city.
This morning I went for a great walking tour around Lower Manhattan. There's so much history here and so many familiar places....even though I've never visited here before. We went to Broadway, Wall street, Bowling green, city hall, Trinity church, the World Trade Centre site and much more.
I really love the feel of the city. There's so much happening, so many different areas and I feel like I could explore for years. However I only have 9 more days and shouldn't waste any mote sitting in Starbucks.

Today's Catch

2011-08-20T18:08:00.001-07:00

Thank goodness for free crabbing licenses for kids. Fifteen beautiful crabs for dinner tonight. Our month of eating off the land has begun...

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Sakinaw trip 2

2011-08-19T22:40:00.001-07:00

You know it's a good a summer when you get up to Sakinaw twice in two weeks. The Hall's cabin is such a great place to be that it is very hard to turn down any invitation.

We headed up with Steve and Kathy, Mike and Kristina and their friends one weekend and then with my mom, sister and her kids shortly after. The weather was great and the lake was warm enough to not really have to psyche yourself into going.

There was lots of water skiing, wake boarding, knee boarding and bubble wearing....at least for Lucas.

The Halls' new Mastercraft is incredibly powerful, and easily ripped the rope from my hands when my technique was a bit off. Previously I tended to be able to hang onto the rope for long enough to straighten out and eventually stand up....but as you can see this boat just forced me to do it right....or not at all.

When I did finally get up, my back and arms were pretty toasted.

Finny on the other hand makes it look really easy.

And Molly liked starting from the tube so she didn't even have to get wet.

Lucas decided he wasn't yet ready to ski....but did swim with his bubble to the island 1000 feet away.

Mayne day trip

2011-08-19T22:40:00.000-07:00

Sakinaw part 1

2011-08-19T22:12:00.000-07:00

Dough (said like Homer Simpson)!

2011-08-11T22:28:00.001-07:00

We made our own playdough today. My hands will never be normal coloured again.

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Harrison hot springs

2011-08-09T13:53:00.001-07:00

Despite having two nights booked in a hotel, our adventure lasted less than 24 hours, included some bickering and poor meal planning.....but was nonetheless quite memorable.

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2011-08-03T16:18:00.001-07:00

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E- Watch out Seagulls

2011-07-30T11:27:00.000-07:00

We had another fire last night and although it wasn't huge, it was going well enough to get the adrenalin pumping at 3am. After getting the fire out and ripping down drywall and going through all burned contents to make sure we wouldn't get a re-ignition (nothing looks worse than the flames starting up again after all the fire trucks have pulled out), most of the guys had worked pretty hard for the better part of an hour.

Part of our regular routine at fires now is to get checked out by the paramedics after prolonged periods on air in a burning building. Seeing the results of this, where everybody had higher heart rate and blood pressure than expected, put into perspective why the biggest killer of fire fighters is heart attacks. For the most part, our guys are really fit and take care of their health. However, it is pretty easy to see that going from dead asleep to working full out in less than 5 minutes is hard on the heart for anybody. Throw on many years of questionable diet, lack of sleep and being out of shape and you have a pretty good recipe for a heart attack.

I decided to test the strength of my heart today in a better but equally dangerous way today with a flight on a trike. I really didn't know much about them but thought that they sounded like fun, so I headed out to a small grass strip in Surrey after work this morning to meet my instructor. Mikhael, a friendly but not totally trust inspiring Russian who came to Canada 10 years ago, took me up for a 1/2 hour flight over White Rock and Boundary Bay. He started by telling me that trikes are basically hang gliders with engines attached to them and that they have a lot less control than conventional planes like ultra lights which uses ailerons to steer. They can fly up to 15,000 feet, cruise at about 70 km/hr and only use between 7 and 10 litres per hour.

Within 5 minutes of meeting we taxing down a bumpy grass field and going over the controls, the opposite of everything I have previously learned flying. Push left to go right, pull back to go down and don't worry too much about bumping all over the place.....the trike has a bit of a mind of it's own.

Our take off speed of 60 km/hr feels really slow in a car on a smooth road but feels really fast rolling along a bumpy field in a totally open cockpit with only a few inches of steel in front of you. We climbed surprisingly quickly to 4000 feet and had a spectacular view on this cloudless day. We flew over Whiterock at altitude and then practiced some diving steep turns over the mud flats of Boundary Bay. Probably the biggest thrill of the ride was doing this spiral drop from 4000 feet to about 10 feet in less than a minute and then skimming along the bay and some farmer's fields for a couple of kilometres. I'm pretty sure the birds were less thrilled than I was as we flew through the middle of their flock and they narrowly avoided our churning blades......not exactly a scene from "Fly Away Home". Anybody who wants to terrorize birds like this can get a brand new trike of their own for about $25,000.

I meant to record the flight on my iPhone but had my battery die as we were taking off. Instead I had to settle for this picture from my laptop of a similar trike to the one I flew today. For anybody interested in trying out a flight they can go to BC Air Trike at Open Skies Aviation in Surrey, just before Crescent Beach.

Sweet girl reading

2011-07-28T15:27:00.001-07:00

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Finny wears diamonds for dinner

2011-07-27T18:34:00.001-07:00

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The BEST view

2011-07-26T14:05:00.001-07:00

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A little bit of child labour on our way back to the Point

2011-07-26T12:43:00.001-07:00

Hornby or Bust

2011-07-25T23:47:00.000-07:00

So, it was Bust, actually.

Last Thursday, we packed ourselves up (another marathon session that lasted multiple hours over what we predicted) for a five night trip up to Hornby Island. We planned to motor to Nanaimo on Day 1, then off to Tribune Bay to meet friends who'd rented a cabin there.

We got into Nanaimo late, almost 9:30 pm. We pulled into the Nanaimo Yacht Club for a night of reciprocal moorage, then planned an early morning start to make our way to Hornby. When Eric awoke to start our journey the next day, he checked the engine and saw one of the most dreaded things a boat owner can see: water collected in the primary filter of the fuel tank.

We knew this was a dreaded outcome because we'd already experienced it once up in Desolation Sound last summer. It involved many hours spent by Eric manually pumping out all our diesel, which is a messy and time consuming task. If the water gets into your engine...it stops running. That was something we wanted to avoid. It seemed unwise to head farther from civilization just in case it did happen.

Voila. Weekend in Nanaimo. Unplanned, but serendipitous. It was Bathtub Race weekend and the city was alive with street fairs, outdoor concerts, fireworks and of course, the bathtub race itself.

We moored up on (what we would soon learn was a total party dock) at Newcastle Island, just across the bay from Nanaimo. The kids jumped into bathing suits and dove in for a swim.

Well, actually, the girls swam (see them in the background below?) while Lukey did stuff with sticks.

We sat in the sunshine in the gorgeous park on Newcastle and had snacks and read while the kids warmed up from the cold ocean. The last time I was on Newcastle was during a school sailing trip in 1990. Twenty one years later and I was doing the chaperoning. Strange time warp.

Molly found a stump to sit on in the middle of a field. I thought she looked like the mermaid on the rock in Stanley Park, minus the water.

We enjoyed two nights on Newcastle. Bizarrely, we ran into someone we went to high school with tied up a few boats over from us. She is now a Nanaimo dentist. We watched the fireworks from her boat with her husband and two kids. Suddenly, we were immersed in what we learned was the biggest party weekend of the year for Nanaimo-ites. A few Palms Bays and Coronas on their boat and we were a part of the Island scene. Just another Nanaimo family out for the bathtub races.

The picture below is Molly and Finny jumping off the roof of the boat. We were anchored in Departure Bay at the finish line for the race. We could see the tubs come bolting into the beach, then watch as their drivers stumbled up the shore to ring the finish bell. Those things really fly. They are less bathtubs, more thin strips of fibreglass that plane across the water while their occupants huddle against the wind and waves. I admit, I pictured a more romantic image of actual tubs with faucets and bumbling drivers frantically bailing out as their baths sink into the harbour. This was all business. It was more like the boat races I remember seeing as a kid in Florida.

We left Nanaimo on Sunday afternoon and motored to Thetis Island. It was a hot ride and as soon as we spotted this sheltered cove, the kids begged to jump in. It looked so nice, Eric and I joined them. I can't even remember the last time I swam in the ocean in B.C. (it might have been that sailing trip in 1990...no, not really, but close). I choose a good time to break my streak because it was unbelievably warm.

Eric took the kids to the far shore in the dinghy, then swam back with them while Lukey and I manned the dinghy to make sure no one drowned (full disclosure: I was mostly watching out for Eric...he's not the strongest swimmer).

We dried off and motored into Telegraph Cove where we had pizza and cooked dinner at the marina. I learned later that this particular spot is famous for ice cream sundaes...which we missed. We'll just have to make another trip to sample those.

After three failed attempts at anchoring, we moved out of the Cove and managed to stick off the eastern shore for a wavy night. The sunset was spectacular. You can see it in the background of this shot of Finny.

We got up this morning and shot into Chemainus for breakfast. I think they went to the Leavenworth, Washington school of downtown revitalization. Pick a theme (in this case, it's murals) and go to town. We actually had to pay to tie up at the municipal dock for a couple of hours. The place was crawling with tourists on a Monday.

Tonight we are tied up at Poet's Cove on Pender Island. It is a dream destination for a boating family. We spent three hours this evening in the heated (seriously, we guess it was around 80 degrees) pool. It is an absolutely fantastic location. I even ordered fish and chips for dinner from the bistro for a treat. It was supposed to be my treat, because no one else in my family likes fish and chips. Except that as soon as it arrived, the two pickiest kids were all about it. They were diving in like it was their favourite thing in the world. They polished off most of it, meanwhile I know for 100% certain that I were ever to MAKE fish for them there's no way they would ever permit the tiniest crumb to pass their disgusted little lips. Geez.

Here's a great shot I got of my two captains while we were at sea this afternoon. Back to reality tomorrow.

Nanaimo Marine Bathtub Race weekend

2011-07-22T11:49:00.001-07:00

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Stolen picture

2011-07-19T15:59:00.001-07:00

The girls would never have let me take this picture, which is why I took it from inside the house to conceal myself. Finny is teaching Molly how to do a cartwheel.

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Ready for a rainy day

2011-07-14T10:44:00.001-07:00

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Hockey night in Point Roberts

2011-07-11T19:13:00.001-07:00

We are outside playing hockey in the driveway. The kids take turns versus Eric. They shoot on the full-size goal and he shoots on...a watering can.

I was taking pictures for the blog, but we couldn't stop laughing because every action shot of Molly looks like these:

She is giving it her all, but you can see that in each picture, the ball is...not where it should be.

I am publishing these pictures with Molly's permission. After all, she had a great game. She lost 8-10 against her dad.

I have the cheap seats on the stairs, but the kids set up box seats on the porch. Deluxe.

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Is our summer too fast paced?

2011-07-05T22:01:00.001-07:00

Lukey, asleep in the grocery cart this afternoon.

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Tightrope walking

2011-07-05T18:17:00.001-07:00

First day of Kid's Camp

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E- Year end basketball video

2011-07-04T22:52:00.000-07:00

I always knew that I wanted to continue to be involved with basketball when I quit playing but it took me a few years to get the right situation given my family and work obligations. I am very happy with the way things have now worked out at the Arbutus Club and hopeful that I can really help some kids develop over the next ten years.

I, along with John Dumont, coached about 100 kids starting in September 2010 and finishing at the end of June 2011. We really focused on the fundamentals and threw in some conditioning and agility work. The kids responded well and did everything we asked of them, over a period of many months. We wanted to celebrate this commitment and dedication with a party at the end of the year.

The party wasn't all fun and games though......we made them compete at the drills we had done all year long in order to win prizes.

We had Howard Kelsey, a friend and executive vice president of Basketball Canada help out and give a motivational speech to our group.

Just before pizza, prizes and report cards were presented, I showed the class the movie I had made of their year with our basketball program. Although it took me more time than I originally thought, I enjoyed making the movie and was really happy to see how much the kids liked it.

Here is the movie. If you watch it I am sure you will see why I liked this group so much and was really proud of their development during our time together.

2011-07-04T20:19:00.001-07:00

Tip of the Day:
When avoiding the flaming projectile that is your son's roasting marshmallow, don't retreat so far backwards that your momentum carries you down a very steep slope covered in carnivorous blackberry bushes.

Oh, and bonus tip? Don't marry the guy who takes the time to photograph your misfortune before getting you out of it.

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Letter to the editor

2011-07-04T20:16:00.001-07:00

After a full day of snacking, post-parade candy, sandwiches and constant grazing, Molly asked me what was for dinner. When I informed her that she'd already had it, she pitched a fit. Apparently, dinner has to be HOT or it doesn't count.

After not responding to her liking, the note below was ambush TAPED TO MY FOREHEAD from behind:

It looks like a day of non-stop play on the beach in the sunshine makes Molly inexplicably grumpy.

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Fourth of July parade in Point Roberts

2011-07-04T12:57:00.001-07:00

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What's the opposite of organic?

2011-07-03T12:57:00.001-07:00

To counteract my smug breakfast, I present Finny and her EasyBake cake. Made with cake mix and chocolate milk. And no, it wasn't organic milk.

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CSA breakfast

2011-07-03T12:55:00.001-07:00

Thanks to my box of herbs and veggies yesterday, I felt very smug as I cooked up delicious organic mushroom, cheese and chive omelets for the kids this morning.

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2011-07-02T12:17:00.001-07:00

We have signed up for weekly boxes of locally grown produce for the summer. Today was our first week. It felt like vegetable Christmas.

It was a pleasure to walk up to the man who has grown our food, shake his hand and hear him describe our bounty with the same love that I use to talk about my kids.

Hooray, Sagewood Farm and hooray, Tom!

Here is what we got in our beautiful cedar box:

Bundled up in there is:
Mushrooms
Heirloom tomatoes
Artichoke
Chives
Baby potatoes
Mustard greens
Snap peas
Strawberries
Corn
Red lettuce
Green lettuce
Grapefruit
Basil

The snap peas barely made it home.

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2011-06-29T19:20:00.001-07:00

The look on Eric's face when I make him watch the Kits Showboat with me and the kids...

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E- previewing W Illini

2011-06-29T11:33:00.000-07:00

I'm trying to clear out space now that I have finally filled up my 32 gb iPhone and came across this video. I have spent many hours going through hundreds of homes down in Phoenix, mostly with my friend Ed who I am talking to in this video and figured that might make this a keepsake.

Although it is not very entertaining, it does show what $67,000 can buy down there. This is a four bedroom home built in 2006, right across the street from a school. We ended up buying this one two months ago and it is now rented for $900/month.

2nd Annual Point Roberts Scavenger Hunt

2011-06-27T23:18:00.001-07:00

Last year, we hosted our very first "car rally" style scavenger hunt in Point Roberts to celebrate the end of the school year. Luckily, our friends are the tolerant kind and they submitted themselves to the same torture for a second year.

Last year, Eric wrote the clues and acted as the course commissioner. I had so much fun on his hunt last year that I thought it would only be fair to take turns. I took over the clues and Eric got his own car to command.

We met up in our garden to fuel up with veggies, fruits and chips. After all, there were three hours of straight up hunting and gaming to get through before we'd be done.

The group gathered to hear the rules (and arrange a bit of car juggling...Molly joined Maya in her family team and Finny and Delia teamed up with Eric). That picture shows Simon using his body to describe how much fun the hunt would be...

This shot is Eric scrambling through the local newspaper for the answer to a clue. He is competitive. I don't know if I have mentioned that here before. There was much debate over how much of an advantage Eric had as a competitor. He had the obvious advantage of knowing Point Roberts very well, but he was the only team leader without another adult in the car.

Here is Eric's team forming the letter "B" for "Butler. Poor Delia. And Finny, really. Oh, pity them all. Oh, and that jar on the picnic table is the baby food I made the teams eat. Last year it was chocolate bars. This year, I decided to make them really work for points. Extra points for choosing vegetable based baby food. Those peas really reeked.

There was swimming, which was similar to last year...

...but I introduced a new event that I expect to see repeated. The "hands-free doughnut eating contest". The spectator value on this one was huge. I liked that contestants were allowed to pick their own poison. They picked from a random selection of doughnuts...adults went for strategy, kids went for flavour. We learned that the cream filled ones are NOT the way to go. Unless you are there as a spectator, in which case, all cream filled is the best choice.

If these shots are shaky, it's only because I was laughing so hard.

I should note here that Lukey's performance, while mostly unnoticed, was pretty incredible. He was the unsung hero. I saw you, buddy.

Up next was the cracker eating contest. Kids were up first. Ben took this one.

Then the grown-ups. We had to whistle after four crackers. Not easy.

The results? Well, Team Butler was strong. They had the highest point total, but with adjustments for advantage as a semi-local, the title this year went to the Kaplun/Mulcahy team. Last year's champs, the Braun/Grants, went away disappointed. It was a 10 point difference, which is a true heartbreaker. I think they'll be swimming next year.

Behold the 2011 group photo:

2011-06-27T23:18:00.000-07:00

E- I wouldn't mind my own helipad

2011-06-27T14:41:00.000-07:00

On day 7 of our trip we tore ourselves away from the comforts of Bellevue and toured around Mercer island. I've never been one to particularly covet material goods and always thought it was a poor trade to spend all one's time chasing get money. However, seeing the lifestyle that money can buy on lake Washington, Mercer Island in particular, is about as close as I could get to really desiring the big bucks. Most of the homes on the water are amazing and the rest are spectacular. Many of these homes are less than a 10 minute drive from downtown. They have shallow bank beaches bordering on a relatively warm fresh water lake. Many people have big docks to keep their jetskis, ski boats, and even yachts like the one behind us in the picture. The more extravagant homes also have float planes, or in Paul Allen's case, a helicopter and it's own floating landing pad. These boats can go through the locks out into Puget Sound in less than 1 hour, giving them the whole of the Pacific to explore. I'd probably be willing to work a few more hours a week to make that lifestyle happen.

Having said that, I am appreciative of the time I get to spend with my family and be able to go down to Seattle for a week of fun. As you can see in the pictures, the weather was a mixed bag, but that didn't stop us from enjoying the lake and having a great time. For our last night we anchored off of Seward Park on the west side of lake Washington. We took the dingy to shore to play in the park and watch the "Furry 5 K" where thousands of locals came out to walk or run with their dogs. The kids loved seeing all the different dogs parading by.

On our last day, we explored some marshy areas near the University of Washington where we saw lots of wildlife in a beautiful setting......that just happens to be under a major freeway. Something about that feels so American.

When Finny fell in the water getting out of the dingy, Molly and I decided to join her for one final swim before we met up with Bryan. Before hitting the free way home, we toured around Seattle a little to retrace our route, but in the car this time. It felt so different seeing the same areas from the land side instead of the water. I really got a new appreciation for how beautiful Seattle is on this trip and would recommend to anyone to visit Seattle this way.

2011-06-10T20:34:00.000-07:00

Once we left La Connor, we had an interesting trip through the rest of the Swinomish Channel and then a long cruise to Oak Harbour. The clouds had moved in, so the overcast sky drove us all to our separate pursuits…well, as separate as you can get on a tiny boat. I drove while Eric read, Molly read, Lukey slept and Finny played on my iPhone. I listened to three Vinyl Cafe stories en route, then made the kids listen to one of them (The Waterslide, in case you are interested…it's hilarious).

Oak Harbour's marina was well outside of the little town. It was on the late side when we pulled in, so we decided to skip a walk into civilization and hunker down for the night. I thought the chilly evening called for a warm dinner, so I pulled out the pasta and set to work lighting the alcohol stove. Eric was off trying to sort out the reciprocal club arrangements for the night, so I lost my usual sous chef (he is usually the stove lighter…they freak me out a bit, plus I figure that as a firefighter, he should make himself useful). On my own. Not. Good.

I had, how shall I put it, a STRONG flame on the stove. The good news is that the water boiled fairly quickly as a result. The bad news is that my stove confidence was shaken. I have stuck with it and the stove and I have come to a bit of an understanding. A little bit. Actually, not so much. I still don't really get it, but I'll keep trying. No temperamental stove will get between this girl and her morning coffee.

Yesterday was our iffiest weather day forecast, so we decided that we'd hoof it to Shilshole Bay, a suburb of Seattle. It was a solid six hours underway, but the kids were troopers. We arrived in at about 5:30 and figured we should walk a little bit into Ballard and see if the Canucks game was on tv anywhere we could take the kids. We enjoyed a really nice walk along the waterway towards the Chitternden locks system that we planned to hit the next day. We got to walk onto the locks themselves and we tried to explain the lock system, which the kids dubbed "the boat elevator". They were excited to see it in action, though a little nervous about the number of people watching the boats in the locks. Stagefright for our turn.

We asked the lock guys where we could catch the game nearby. The consensus was that the Stanley Cup Finals were not the priority in Seattle that they are in Vancouver. There was a lot of shoulder shrugging and looking around for another guy to ask. We popped into one of their recommendations, a little dive called the Lockspot, just outside of the Lock park gates, not really expecting much success. Instead, we found a tv to ourselves, CBC feed, cheap beer and killer fish and chips. It was great.

The game, on the other hand…

As so often happens when the kids are away from the routine of school, within days our family shifts to its more natural rhythm of staying up late and waking up even later. This morning was proof. We cracked our eyes at 10:40 am. While I love a good sleep as much (actually, far more) as anyone, it does make me feel like we are at odds with the boating community. They seem to be a much more of an "early riser" kind of crowd than the Butler/McKnights. Story of our lives, really…

We only had a hop, skip and a jump to motor before we were into the locks. There are two locks in operation, one large and one small. It is a serious business, with big fishing vessels passing through to travel into Lake Union and Lake Washington. As far as we know, our boat has never been in fresh water, so it was a right of passage for our Albin too. I have to admit to a bit of stagefright myself as we approached the locks. The last thing you want to come off as is the biggest goofball novices on the water. Those lock guys mean business. They shout out directions on the loud (and I mean LOUD) speaker for all to hear and they expect things to happen fast. There are ropes flying and knots to be tied. We made it through with minimal embarrassment. The kids got water safety colouring books handed over at the end of our "elevation" and they were tickled, waving to the people gathered around to watch the locks at work.

The trip into Lake Union was amazing. Partly because I think I know Seattle a little bit and it looks so different from the water, patly because it was incredible to see the mix of working boats, pleasure boats and best of all…dreamy houseboats. Oh, the houseboats. We had a great journey though Lake Union into Lake Washington. We cruised along gawking at the enormous houses on the waterfront. We think we spotted Bill Gates' place, or at least the one we would build if we had his money. We docked at Meydenbauer Marina, reciprocal guests of the Yacht Club. It is the first place we've stayed on this trip that is truly a Yacht Club, complete with a clubhouse mansion and some VERY spiffy boats. We launched our dinghy with its new motor and explored the local park for happy hour. Then after dinner, we walked into Old Bellevue, which is basically Kerrisdale or Ambleside on steroids. It's fancy. And you know, we barely stood out in our day-five of the trip grunge. Barely.

Striking a pose in the park

The view from Meydenbauer Park

Tomorrow, I am going to wake up at a more decent hour (yeah, right) and walk back up to old Bellevue for a fancy coffee to start my day. Then, we'll explore around Mercer Island and likely tuck back into the lap of luxury here at the Yacht Club. The local Safeway has a television lounge (!) and we'll try to watch the Canucks game there.

The crazy girls going for a VERY cold swim

Seattle or Bust

2011-06-08T22:58:00.000-07:00

After our overnight in Anacortes (which has a boater's dream walking-accessible full-service Safeway...so close we went twice, just because we could), we decided to head for Oak Harbour on Whidbey Island. To get there, we cut through the Swinomish Channel. It's a dredged shipping channel servicing La Connor, one of my very favourite places in Washington. It was a destination favoured by my Nana and I remember many a trip to La Connor via Chuckanut Drive with my grandparents. I was a little surprised by how much being there again made me think of my Nana. It was an interesting change of perspective to arrive by boat, however.

Okay, so those of you who know me...a quick quiz. If I go to a quaint little town like La Connor, where am I likely to spend the most time?

Alright, half marks if you said coffee shop.

Full marks if you said lovely, little independent bookshop. Ding, ding, ding.

Here we are outside of The Next Chapter, possibly top of my list of my "turn-over-the-keys-I'll-take-over-from-here" bookseller fantasy.

Lucas met a friend. Also named Lucas. I can't blame the kid for glomming onto a dog. After all, what is the only non-literate in the family going to do while the rest of us browse books?

Another quick quiz...who, other than me, was the most reluctant to leave the store (which had already closed)?

If you said Molly, give yourself a bonus point. She found a book she wanted badly. I told her that I wouldn't buy it (I had already bought her two books for the trip, although in full disclosure, I hid one of them after I realized it was about the Titanic...who gives their eight year old a book about the Titanic to take ON A BOAT TRIP? I sort of owed her a book, but whatever...). I told her that if she wanted to borrow the money to buy the book, I'd loan it to her.

We bought the book, the first in a series by Erin Hunter called Seekers, and then Molly proceeded to read it all over La Connor.

The picture below was only taken after I insisted that she put the book down for the camera. Her expression is one of tolerance by the barest of margins.

If I didn't ask her to put down the book...this is the sort of picture I got:

I ended up leading her by the arm around the town. La Connor doesn't present much of a traffic challenge, but you have to be a little bit aware.

Once we got back to the boat, we lost her completely.

Only that's not quite true. It is funny how seeing my girl off in her own world can make me feel like she's in mine. I remember my dad yelling into the backseat of the car, telling me to stop reading and enjoy the scenery. I would put my finger down in the middle of a sentence to mark my place, then look out the window at...farmland, or a forest, or a little non-descript town in the middle of nowhere. All I wanted was to be back in whatever century or mystical place my finger was holding for me.

It's funny because I love traveling and seeing new places, but a book can give you the identical experience. It can suck you in in a way that a highway simply cannot. Or a boat trip, for that matter. Molly was in the north with a polar bear. And I was right there next to her, enjoying the scenery.

I am writing this blog at 12:45 pm in Shilshole Bay, just outside of Seattle. Tomorrow we will take the lock into Lake Union. If we have wifi, we'll update tomorrow.