Wilson

In early September we had to say goodbye to our amazing dog Wilson. We found out in July that he had a tumour in his spleen and surgery kept him with us for a few more weeks but he had a cancer that was in the blood and it spread quickly. Rather than dwelling on the end I thought I would highlight some of the great memories we had of him.

1) Picking him up from Salmon Arm and watching him experience grass for the first time at rest stops. During the ride home he rode on the arm rest of the car door.
2) His first hair cut where Kerry cut his bangs a bit crooked.
3) Chasing him around the dining room table at our town house whenever we needed to get him to do something. He was very fast and cornered great.
4) His fear of the saxophone playing Santa Clause. He hated every year that we brought that thing out.

5) His ability to destroy every toy we got him except for a baby pooh bear that he slept with for all his puppy days. (He eventually turned on him. Not sure what happened between the two of them.)
6) His poor looking self whenever he got a bath and his happiness afterwards as he ran around spraying everyone getting dry.
7) Our trip to Seattle to get Callie's crib where when Kerry accidentally got his nose caught in the automatic window on the passenger side.
8) His pink belly when he laid on his back and his terrible looking ID tattooed there.

9) The day of destruction when he pulled every shoe we owned out of the closet and tipped over our plants.
10) The time we didn't realize his puppy feet were not strong enough to walk on pavement during his first walk at Canada place. He hated the leash from that day forward.
11) His need to wear a cone whenever he had a cut or irritation because he would chew his own leg off without it.
12) His first snowfall and the huge balls of snow that would stick to him whenever he was in the snow.

13) His soft fir that was different from any other Bichon we knew.
14) The sound of his collar everywhere he went.
15) His warm body in between Kerry and I at bed time. He always moved to the end of the bed after about 10 minutes so he could get some rest without us crushing him.
16) His love of sitting in Callie's baby swing.
17) Uncle Corey and Uncle Ronnie having to use a golf club to get him out from under the bed before they left for work.
18) The time he chewed the bottom of our box spring and found a way to hide inside of it.
19) His love of chewing plastic water bottles.

20) Taking him on all of our local hikes.
21) The time he had a birthday party with his cousin's Captain, Hanna and Spencer and all of them wore birthday hats.
22) His love of giving Captain 'special hugs'... from on top of him... from the back...
23) His joy of sitting on top of the couch overtop of your head.
24) Whenever he would dig in the garden and come in with a black beard.
25) That time we rebuilt our deck and he was somehow able to walk on the joists.
26) His contentment when he slept in a warm hamper of clothes.

27) When Callie would dress him up in hats.
28) Holding him like a people with his arms wrapped around your neck.
29) His bed on the landing of the stairs.
30) His spot in the window behind the curtain in the living room.
31) The way he would race out the back door whenever we let him outside so that he could ensure the backyard was free from creatures.
32) Watching TV with him by my side.
33) When Captain taught him to bark.
34) When he would bark at the news paper carrier every time he came up the walk.

35) His blue Wilson blanket on the back of the couch.
36) The fact that he remains the name of our home WIFI network.
37) The way he licked the utensils in the dish washer.
38) His love of toilet paper rolls.
39) Always having to keep plates where he could not get them unless you wanted him to clean up your ice cream bowl.
40) The fact that he was always there.

Thanks Wilson.

The Eclipse - A Bad Time to Memorize Your Camera

If you know the exact time to plan for a once in a lifetime opportunity you should probably do so. Unfortunately I did not. I knew full well when the 'Super Moon / Blood Moon / Full eclipse' was going to happen and I should have taken the time to memorize every operation of my camera but I never got around to it and by the time the eclipse was upon us I was in the dark trying to figure out where the buttons were without being able to see them. If I had memorized their operation so I could do it with my eyes closed, it would have been a much less stressful event.

I did get to see the eclipse itself and it was amazing. The temperature was perfect for nighttime viewing and the sky was crystal clear. There were several eclipses this past year but none with such clear skies for us. We didn't get to see it enter the eclipse since the moon was below the horizon however we did get to see it in full eclipse and as it left the earth's shadow. For the next celestial event I will be prepared to get some better pictures.

Carter's Birthday

Carter's birthday is at an inopportune time in our household. With school starting, everyone is still settling into the new routines and there isn't much time for birthday planning. Thankfully Carter was able to plan much of his own party this year. It started with a theme. Dinosaurs. Carter is usually quite fickle with picking a theme and sticking to it. (For example he picks at least a half dozen halloween costumes.) However, this year he picked a theme and stuck to it. Kerry had him on Pinterest looking for ideas which included the T-Rex watermelon head.

He also found plenty of ideas for games. One he had his heart set on was a bean bag game involving a T-Rex head. This was more ambitious than I was willing to help with and was only going to be good for one year so I went a slightly different route. I created the typical three hole bean bag game and decorated it in a dinosaur theme. He was very pleased and now we can re-use it for other events. A point scoring system was right up his alley and I had it ready the night before so that he could practice.

Kathy is always great at doing something special for the kids for their birthday and this year she found some great dinosaur options including some rock like eggs that had dinosaurs hidden inside them. She made them quite a ways in advance so they were very hard when it came time to open them. I was glad we were getting a new floor because we needed the old floor to try to break them open.

Other games included a fossil dig in the sandbox and pin the horn on the triceratops.

The party was a complete success but the highlight for Carter started in the morning. We had tickets to the Kratt Brothers. They have several animal themed shows on various channels and were coming to UBC to do a show. I was fully expecting actual animals but it seems they had a similar show in mind. It involved a mix of on stage and animated scenes on the big screen and was based on their most recent show 'The Wild Kratts'. Carter loved it and even wanted to get the super hero costume that the Kratt brother's wear. Luckily it just fit him.

First Day of School

A very short post on the first day of school. Rather uneventful this year. No strike, no big changes for the kids. Carter is still in the Primary grades and Callie is still in the Intermediate grades. We did take our annual trip to Ricky's for pancake breakfast afterwards. The first day of school is still typically only one hour for the kids while the teachers get together to plan the year. This means Kerry is at work and I have the kids for the rest of the day. I originally started the Ricky's tradition so that Callie would be less apprehensive about the first day but now both kids enjoy it and this year had to remind me.

PNE - Super Dogs and Deep Fried Mars Bars

As part of our donut dash entrance fee we got free tickets into the PNE which runs for the last two weeks of the summer every year. It includes rides, animals and lot's and lot's of food. The highlight for me is always the Super Dogs. I don't know the full history of them but they have been at the PNE for many years. Some of the dogs are from the SPCA and they have numerous breeds, all of which have their own special skills. They typically break them into teams and each side of the arena gets their own team of dogs to cheer on. (Our team won quite handily. We chose wisely.)

The food highlight for me was finally trying a deep fried Mars bar. I've known about them since I moved to the lower mainland but had never had one. It was surprisingly good. A light breaded coating and a quick dip in the deep frier and you've got a fun treat. I wouldn't want to make them at home.

We also spent some time on the rides. They definitely aren't cheep and the kids only enjoy a few of them so we bought tickets rather than an all inclusive pass. Carter and Callie had great fun on the mini roller coaster. Unfortunately I dropped about half the tickets when I went to the washroom but I think everyone was pretty tired by that time anyways.

Donut Dash

At the end of August the family signed up for their first race together along with Melissa and Kathy's families. It was actually my first official race as well. The kids participated in some events when Kerry did the Tinker-bell Half Marathon in Disneyland but I have never been in an event where we intended to run. (We've done the walk for the Child Development Centre but that was 2k and we walked.) This particular race was 5k and was located at the PNE. We arrived before it opened and the race took you through the PNE and Playland grounds. It was fun walking past the rides with no one on them.

I should mention that this particular race was called the Donut Dash. The PNE is famous for it's little donuts. They have machines that make them automatically and you typically buy them by the dozen. It seems only fitting that the first official race put on the PNE would be donut themed. I originally thought there would be donuts everywhere however they were a bit more reserved than that. Nothing for the first 3k and then they offered some small bags of cotton candy and donuts at the 3k and 4k marks and you finished off with a chocolate covered donut with sprinkles. Probably a good idea that we didn't get too much. Running and donuts don't really mix.

The race started okay but I think Callie and Carter didn't really enjoy running in the large crowds and were a bit apprehensive about their abilities. Carter was very unhappy that we had to do jumping jacks and various warm up exercises as a group before the race started. I think he felt we were using all of our energy up. We walk/ran as a family for the first 2k but then I decided if this was my first race I wanted to actually run for a portion of it. I ran on ahead and since we had done so much walking, I was able to pass several hundred people who were also walking. My time was 45minutes for 5k which is quite terrible but not so bad when you consider I walked 2k. Me running ahead was apparently a bit of an incentive for the kids who started running more as well. Everyone finished happy and we got our medals. The kids are already starting to show an interest in other races. (Disney themed of course.)

Callie's Birthday - Spa Day

Callie officially became a tween this year when she turned 10. Some of her friends have already stopped having birthday parties but I was happy to hear that Callie still enjoys them. She's never had a party outside the house and this year was no different. The theme this year was going to be 'A Spa Day' and every good spa has freshly cut flowers. (A small detour as I talk about our garden.) This year was great for cut flowers. The roses bloomed at least three times and we had lily's, dahlia's and gladiolas. I have a separate area of the garden where there is no order and the intention is that everything is for cutting. It's working out great.

Back to the party, Callie's spa day included making your own lip balm. She got the containers from Michaels and found a recipe online. The materials were all pretty easy to source and I think they had a lot of fun. The highlight for everyone and unfortunately I missed most of it was probably the face masks. A goopy application of oatmeal, avocado, honey and yogurt, topped off with some cucumber slices for the eyes.  You could tell from the pictures this was the first face mask for several of the girls. They weren't quite sure what to think about it.

We also have a four person hot tub for the spa. Actually it's more like a two person hot tub that fits four adults in a pinch or in this case 8 tweens and a small boy from the side. By the time they were all out I had to add about 50 gallons of water back in.

The day ended with a sleep over in the living room. I think they went to sleep around mid-night and the first early risers were up around 6:00a. Thankfully it was Sunday morning so they had the rest of the day to recover.

Camping in Astoria - Goonie Tour

The Goonies came out 30 years ago as of this year and it remains a fairly timeless movie. We showed it to the kids and they both loved it so they were very excited to be able to tour some of the scenes from the movie. This area has been the scene of quite a few movies from the 80's including Goonies, Kindergarten Cop and Short Circuit.

Today was going to be tour day for us and it started at the Oregon Movie Museum. This was previously a real jail and also was the scene of some key jail scenes from Goonies. The kids got to try out the jail cells and take some pictures with Sloth.

After our tour of the jail we got directions to the Goonie house. As we got close it became obvious that we were not the only people who took this tour. There were signs everywhere direction us where to park and especially where not to park. I imagine the local people don't mind the economic activity that comes with the tourists but they aren't necessarily happy when those tourists show up on their front lawn.

As we walked up to the house I was amazed that even though it was the middle of the week there were four other families walking with us. They must get over 100 people a day walking up to get their picture taken. The house is owned by just a regular family so they ask that you don't trespass though you are welcome to have someone take your picture in front of the house. Not much has changed and even the arbour in the garden is still in the same place as it is in the movie. A fun experience and we stayed pretty quiet so I don't think anyone would be too mad at us.

Our final destination was Haystack rock again. This time the tide was out and we could walk right up to it. The rock is home to thousands of sea birds so the national park people are there with plenty of signage about where you can and can't go. You can walk up to but not onto the island allowing you to see plenty of muscles and sea creatures in the tide pools surrounding the island. I took a stroll as far away from the rock as I could so I could try to use my  treasure coin to line up the rocks. Got to a pretty good place though not the final location since I think that was much further up on the bluff.

Our final destination for the day was a trip to ship wreck beach not far from our camp site. We were the only ones there and I must say that the Oregon beaches make you feel very small. Huge bluffs of blown sand and they head in both directions as far as the eye can see. There was a constant wind that removes foot prints quickly so it's as if no one has ever been there. I spent some time in building a shelter with some drift wood and the kids had a lot of fun playing in the waves. Oregon was beautiful and we will definitely return.

Camping in Astoria - Settling in and Goonie Beach

It takes at least two years for something to be a tradition and this was our second year camping with Melissa and Kathy's families so I guess we can call it a tradition now. Last year we went to a place in Washington at the foot of Mount Baker and this year our destination was Astoria in Northern Oregon. It is typically a six hour drive or so if you go direct but we were able to leave early and take the scenic route via Western Washington. This mean taking a ferry to Port Townsend which was an excellent experience. Only $20 and they had free puzzles!

Melissa and Kathy and crew were already there when we arrived. They had left much later but had gone direct. We settled into our cabin and took a look around. This is definitely one of the larger KOA campgrounds. There were several thousand sites and the amenities were amazing. Two swimming pools, a hot tub, mini-golf and were lucky enough to be there for Karaoke night. Lucky for me since I just got to watch. Unlucky for Kerry because she had to sing "Friends in Low Places" with Melissa and Kathy. Josh and Callie even got a song in. Of course it was something from 'Frozen'. Many of the kids songs were.

After Karaoke was over we went to bed to get ready for the next day. Things started with a pancake breakfast. It's a pretty good meal for free. Pancakes and toast were no charge and if you wanted to add bacon or sausage you could for a low cost. The showers were also good at this site. No issues with the hot water and lot's of individual stalls to choose from.

The best part about Astoria is definitely the beaches. Our campground was only about 15 minutes away from the same beaches that were in the Goonies movie. The first beach we went to was in front of Seaside. A beautiful small town with lot's of small shops and great views of the sea. We found a place to get down to the ocean and were treated to a family making their way on horse. The tide was low so we could walk for miles in either direction.

Our goal of course was not just the beach. It was to get to Haystack Rock. A series of rocks just off shore that were featured in the movie. We walked down, finding sand dollars along the way and took some great shots of the rocks. As we got close though we realized that the tide was coming in and we weren't going to be able to get as close as we wanted. We checked the local tide charts and figured out the ideal time to come and made plans to come back the next day.

Summer in Prince George

We went up to Prince George at the end of June for our annual visit with family. This year we were lucky enough to be there at the same time as my cousin Erin and his family. They have kids that are of similar age to Callie and Carter but they live on Vancouver Island so we don't get to see them very often. We met up with them first at GG's house which was a great place for a family photo. The shot here looks a big cramped but I still had the zoom lens on my camera so Kerry had to take it from well across the room.

Jackson had his birthday a few days before we came so we just brought his present with us. A talking dog of some kind and a Star Wars Death Star ball. He seemed to enjoy both of them but his favourite was the Death Star which went nicely with his Star Wars themed sleeper that he was wearing.

On Canada day we headed down to Fort George Park for lunch. We do this every July and the weather was great again this year. The park has apparently been renamed Lheidli T'enneh Memorial Park and likely for good reason based on the history of how the fort dealt with the local people. If I could pronounce it I might even get used to the new name, but I'm afraid I will like refer to it as Fort George Park for quite a while.

We spent quite a bit of time out at our family's lake property again this year. It's only 15 minutes out of town and the weather was amazing. We were even lucky enough to be there before the campfire ban went into place. I took some time to renew some of the beech protection which seems to be a lost cause. The lake is higher than it used to be so beech erosion is a constant problem. We spent Friday there with the Jacksons and had the opportunity to get some cousin and second pictures taken. Wilson is lurking in the background.

We also made sure to spend as much time as we could with GG. We took her for breakfast at the nearby McDonalds which is close by and involves wheeling her there. She doesn't have a great wheel chair for trips like this so to keep things smooth we stay on the streets instead of the bumpy sidewalks. Harrowing but we made it. I also got her shortbread recipe which she still has memorized even though I think it's been a few years since she has been able to make it. It's very simple but I suspect 90% of it is technique. I'll give it a try anyways.

On our way home we drove right into a forest fire. It was only a few acres and they already had helicopters and crews working on it. Based on it's location I suspect it was probably a lit cigarette that started it. The area was very dry but sparsely treed so it wasn't spreading very fast. The helicopter had dropped water on it from the river and there was fire retardant on the road. When I opened the window to take pictures we could feel the heat. 35 degrees and a fire and the crews were walking around it fully clothed. Not an easy job. I think they had it under control since it was near some populated areas and we haven't heard about it. Quite exciting.

A Trip to Barkerville

We went to Prince George for our annual vacation to visit family and this year I decided that the kids were old enough for us to spend a day in Barkerville. It's about two hours outside of Prince George and a bit out of the way but I had been several times in elementary school and always enjoyed it. It's definitely one of the nicest historic sites on the West coast. BC isn't very old and most old things burned down at one time or another, including Barkerville, but it seems it burned down at the right time because they rebuilt it immediately and many of the buildings remain today.

Callie's favourite part of course was the animals. There were several horses attached to wagons that  you could take rides on and every time we saw one she would stop to pet it. I think we should nick name her the horse whisperer. There was one horse that looked like it was going to fall asleep when she was petting him. When she stopped he lifted his head up and someone else tried and failed miserably. She seemed to have an excellent touch.

When I told Carter where we were going his first thought was that we would have a chance to go gold panning. Not sure how he picked up on the fact that it was an option but I think he had heard that Callie got to do it in Fort Langley and figured he wanted to try as well. They each got a pan of dirt and with some very helpful assistance by a local minor each managed to find some gold. I feel they had someone unrealistic expectations about what they could do with their find but they had fun none the less. Carter had 4  flakes and Callie found 7. (Carter was a bit ambitious early on and may have lost a few.)

After gold panning we continued on exploring the town. A few years ago I had heard that Barkerville had their funding cut but it didn't show. Most of the buildings are still in excellent shape and it looks like they continue to restore them. My favourite building as a kid was the Dentist's office. This was a memorable spot for Carter as well since he has at least three loose teeth and the sign indicated they would pull teeth for only $5.00. Unfortunately we couldn't get him to take their offer.

Of course my favourite spot now is the carpenters shop. They had a great set up and lot's of tools to check out from various eras. They even had an excellent steam bending set up outside which would still work great today. Carter and Callie both enjoyed checking out the General Store. I was impressed by the variety of things for sale as well as the quality. It would actually be a great place to go for unique Christmas gifts. Carter used his 'gold' money to pick up a fun top game. Spin the top and score points based on where it landed.

At one point we were playing at lunch and there were three boys his age all absolutely enthralled with the game. Simple but fun.

As we left we came across a hill full of marmots. Not unusual however as I walked by one of them made a point of running in front of me trying to look cute. Reminded me of those movies with the talking animals that think they are smarter than humans. Unfortunately I had no food to offer and he left empty handed.

World Cup 2015

A few months ago Jordan called me and asked if I wanted to go to a soccer game. I must admit I had no idea what he was talking about. Apparently the women's world cup of soccer was being held in Canada with the quarter final game in Vancouver. As I've looked into it, it seems that FIFA spends about 1 tenth of the budget on advertising for the women versus the men and I guess virtually nothing was spent locally because even leading up to the event, I saw very little mention of it.

It sounded like fun though so we agreed and Jordan and Karla bought tickets for the whole family. When he bought them it was impossible to know who would be playing. It would depend on where teams placed during the round robin and it would be luck of the draw. As it turned out we were lucky enough to get the Canadian game. They did well in their pool and won their game of 16 match which left them playing England in the quarter finals.

The game itself did not go Canada's way. Mistakes early in the first half resulted in two quick England goals. Canada had not scored more than one goal in all their previous games so it didn't look good. Being behind though left them needing to score which opened the game up and made for a lot of excitement. They scored late in the first half and had lot's of chances in the second. Unfortunately it wasn't meant to be. They were ranked 8th in the tournament so they did as well as expected. Half their team was quite good but they just didn't have a full squad. It was still a lot of fun to watch.

A Field Trip to Fort Langley

Near the end of the school year in June it was apparently field trip time. Callie and Carter both had field trips on the same day. Wherever possible I try to go since Kerry typically can't since she's a teacher at the same school and can't really 'call in sick'. I of course didn't want to choose so I left it up to their teachers and based it on who needed chaperones. Carter was going by bus to Science World and there were already quite a few parents while Callie's class was driving and needed drivers. This made the decision pretty easy.

Admittedly I was leaning towards Fort Langley as a destination anyways. It had been several years since Kerry and I had last gone and I knew there would be lot's of traditional woodworking displays. The highlight was the barrel making shop which showed lot's of tools and various barrels in different stages of construction. I'm pretty sure I know where I would have worked if I was born 150 years ago.

I liked how they structured the activities for the kids. There were various stations set up including barrel making, gold panning and re-enactment of a play that covered the creation of BC as a province. After each station they headed back to the camp fire where they were quizzed on what they had learned. Each correct answer resulted in points that were totalled up at the end. The winning team each got a wooden coin stamped with the fort logo though after some discussion it was decided that everyone would get one. The kids had a lot of fun and so did I.