Tofino Day Two - Rain Forests and Beaches

Day two started with a trip to the Rain Forest Trail. I initially found the sign 'Slippery When Wet' to be somewhat comical. It's a rain forest. This implies it's always wet. What the sign should have said was "Hold on to your children at all times or they will fall off into the deep dark woods." This would have caught my attention more and we could have avoided Carter doing a cart wheel off the board walk. Luckily he's still small enough to bounce and I was able to climb down the three feet or so to get him. (Don't worry. On the really tall portions I had a good hold of him.)

Our second destination was Long Beach. This beach is quite popular with surfers and we could see why. As you can see by Wilson's fur it was incredibly windy and the waves were enormous. I'm not sure if it was the height of the waves or just the time of year but there weren't any surfers out and it was difficult enough just to stand up. Callie was not impressed by this beach at all, with no tide pools and a very stormy looking sky.

Callie's luck didn't improve as we headed up the coast to Chesterman's beach. We'd heard this had better tide pools but it was flat and windy just like Long Beach. Callie ventured out for a few minutes but then decided to run back up the trail. She took a hard fall on the rocks and got quite a nasty cut on her hand. Even with the wind and the saves I'm fairly certain people could hear her on the mainland. It was time to head back to the safety of our cabin.

For the afternoon we headed into downtown Tofino to the local bakery. The Whale Festival is happening right now and for the price of a couple of buttons the kids were allowed to take part in a cookie decorating event with some very heavily died icing that got absolutely everywhere. We haven't seen any whales yet but that's mainly due to the height of the surf. It would need to be much calmer to see any from shore and I wouldn't want to venture out in a boat right now.

For the rest of the evening we took turns going down to the beach to watch the surf. You might think the weather has been miserable with all the waves but the wind tends to die down as you head inland and we've had breaks of sun every few hours. Within a 10 minute span it can go from heavy rain to clear skies to snow and hail. I've got my Olympic volunteer jacket with me and with a few layers underneath it's plenty warm. Not sure what we've got on the agenda tomorrow but I'm now thinking that perhaps three nights wasn't enough. We'll have to head back again during warmer weather.

Tofino - A Trip on the Fairy (Or is that Ferry?)

The second week of Spring Break started this week and this year we decided we'd head to Tofino. I've never been and apparently the winter storms can be quite spectacular. We headed out early to catch the 10:30 fairy. You may have noticed I spelled ferry incorrectly. It would seem that Carter had it in his head that we were going to be travelling on a 'little flying thing'. Luckily I clued in and straightened him out before we left. While on board he met a new friend and we overheard him saying. "We're not going on a Tinkerbell Fairy. We're going on a ferry boat!".

On our way we stopped off to see the goats on the roof. (They even have a BC tourism sign with an arrow pointing to 'Goats on Roof'.) Unfortunately they weren't out yet but we stopped anyways. This was my first clue that Tofino isn't quite as isolated as one might think. I was expecting a small store with some fudge and a few trinkets but the store had a ton of tourism merchandise and a great cafe. I've since decided to describe Tofino as 'Whistler on the Coast'. It's got a lot of very nice places to stay and based on the property prices it's quite popular.

Our cabin at Crystal Cove is amazing. The campground is right on the beach and there's a great play area for the kids. With fountains and carefully manicured garden's it's not what I was expecting. Our cabin is two stories with a loft master bedroom and we step out of our second story onto a walkway that connects all the cabins to shared hot tubs. The price during the winter is quite reasonable but I can see why it gets expensive during the summer. They even have WIFI. Another luxury that I wasn't expecting.

After we checked in we headed down for some pinky finger sea creature hunting. Callie's favourite past time whenever we go to an aquarium is playing in the artificial tide pools where you can touch almost anything as long as you use your pinky finger. We managed to find many of the same animals and Callie had a ball running from pool to pool touching them with her pinky finger. The tide was fully out so we were also able to walk across to a small island and watch the very active surf. Judging by the mess Carter had made of his clothing I think he had a fun time as well.

By now we were quite hungry for dinner so we headed into town to the local Co-Op. Unfortunately they had one of those carts shaped like a car with two seats. There was a time when both kids fit nicely but those days are disappearing fast. They were not very happy. I managed to solve the problem by running them around the store at high speed. This distracted them enough to prevent them from destroying each other. Our plan was to pick something up for dinner so we headed to a pizza and fish&chips place we'd seen. We got to the parking lot but Kerry was frightened of both the patrons and the owner who she said looked like someone from Gilligans Island. We ended up at a take out pizza place which turned out to be quite good.

At bed time we realized it was not a good idea to let Callie pack for herself. She'd managed to squirrel away stuffed animals in almost every suit case and had brought the entire 100 Acre Wood family. Next time we'll pay a bit more attention. Tomorrow we head off to the rain-forests and beaches.

Christmas at Science World

You may be wondering why this entry is titled 'Christmas at Science World'. This event was scheduled for the first week of December and was supposed to be the BC Hydro Family Christmas Party. Science World is undergoing renovations and the interior portion was completed in November of last year. The first Saturday of December was going to be a free day for the public and it was set to open early for BC Hydro employees. Unfortunately there was some sort of mistake with a piece of equipment that knocked out power for the entire neighbourhood.

(Yes, you may chuckle at the irony of the BC Hydro Christmas Party being cancelled by a power outage.) Instead the event was held last Saturday and better late than never. The latest attraction is a dinosaur exhibit that I believe was recently down in Seattle. There were full sized skeletons as well as a number of animatronics. Carter was very excited to get to go however, like Seattle, once he was confronted with a life sized specimen he couldn't run away fast enough. He was okay with the skeletons that were out in the open but the animatronics were in a darker room.

Another exhibit that was a hit was the hands on Lego play area. Thousands of pieces of lego and dozens of young kids and adults frantically searching for the one piece they need to finish their project. I found myself standing guard over Callie's spot since she kept running to other tables to find pieces and it wasn't long before some other kid tried to take over her creation. I think this is another exhibit that's temporary which is too bad because it would always be a hit. Makes me want to head down to San Diego for Lego Land. Maybe next year.

Repurposed

This posting is about retirement. Two different types of retirement actually. The first is for a colleague at work who is retiring tomorrow after 34 years of service. Al started at BC Hydro in 1977 which was the same year I was born. I'd like to wish him well in his next career which for BC Hydro personnel often involves working for BC Hydro in some fashion. I've learned that for most people retiring doesn't usually stick the first time and it takes a few tries to get the hang of it. I'm hoping to learn these lessons and apply them in 20 years to ensure I get it right.

The second kind of retirement has to do with the pictures shown here. A few months ago Al gave me an old mahogany bed that had seen better days. Someone in his family had made it for his son Nathan. I was happy to take it as it was 5/4 mahogany and had some very wide boards. After a bit of disassembly I had enough wood for two side tables with plenty to spare. I made the box on the left as a thank-you. The sides were all resurfaced but the top was from the head board and was left original. The bed has been retired but will live on in it's second career.

A Trip to Home Depot

For those of you that have used our guest room recently and noticed an unpleasant odour, my apologies. With four dogs operating as a pack there was only so much that Febreze could handle. But I'll get back to that. This started as a simple trip to Home Depot. I had received a $30.00 gift card for my birthday and I mistakenly took the family with me. The intention was to check out products for some 'potential' home renovations in the future, but $300.00 later I was left with a new project and nothing of my original gift card.

I wasn't interested in drawing this particular project out too long as it required removing all of the furniture so it turned our upstairs into a bit of a disaster zone. We brought home the materials on Sunday and I got to work on Tuesday evening. We took the old carpet out and then let the room air out a bit before getting started on Thursday evening. It's good that the kids are still young as they were quite agreeable to helping. They both helped hammer down the staples for the subfloor and Callie helped move materials. Even though we were just putting in an hour or so each night we had all the floor down and some of the new baseboard in by Friday evening.

Saturday morning was spent finishing off the baseboard and putting on a coat of paint. The walls got a wipe down and the furniture was all back in place by Saturday afternoon. (Much quicker than the 2 years it took to finish off the laundry room.) It's now much cleaner and any little 'accidents' are easily taken care of. I should mention it wasn't quite as bad as it sounds. We did get the carpets cleaned regularly but there was simply a mustiness that we couldn't shake. Hotel Schwab has now completed it's renovations and is open for business again.

Tea Parties, Sugar Cookies and Baseball

I haven't done too many blog entries this year. Out weekends are filled with soccer, dance and recovering from the week. It doesn't mean we aren't busy, we've just been spending most of the time at home with the kids. This sunday started with a trip to Home Depot. Much of the flooring in our 20 year old home is original and we decided the next room to get a make over would be the guest room. When we returned home it was after lunch and rather than something quick, Callie decided a tea party would be a better idea. Crab and peanut butter sandwiches (separately), cookies, strawberries and tea. All on Kerry's grandmother's china.

After lunch it was time for Carter and Mommy to bake sugar cookies for Carter's daycare class. (This is one of  Carter's many 'Picture Smiles'. I'm not really sure why he squints since it wasn't bright in the kitchen.) Callie doesn't get to bake sugar cookies for her class. The Surrey school district has instituted some strict food safe rules so all food has to be store bought. Not all teachers follow it but it appears Callie's class is. I really don't think we lose that many kids each year to food poisoning.

After cookie baking we all headed outside for some baseball in the back yard. I decided I wanted a baseball bat and ball for my birthday. (Kids sized.) Tools are the ultimate gift but it's easier if I buy that for myself. We got a small metal bat and a bright yellow softball. It's still a bit heavy for Carter but it appears perfect for Callie. She's getting pretty good at throwing and she's surprisingly good at hitting. She's not just swinging wildly. She's timing it perfectly. I think I'l try to get a hold of a T for t-ball and spend some time playing ball at the park this summer.

A Trip to Steveston

If you were hanging out in Steveston last week and a wailing child interrupted your afternoon coffee, then my apologies.  I'll get to that a bit later. My birthday ended up on a Thursday this year so we decided to wait until the weekend before going out for dinner. The weather on the Saturday was amazing so we decided we'd head to Steveston for lunch on Sunday. The weather was nice but down by the water was quite a bit cooler then we were expecting. Steveston has quite a bit of history with several buildings being preserved. One of my daydreams involves retiring and taking up boat building. There are a few buildings that would make great shops for working and teaching.

For lunch we ended up at Pajos. It's a great fish and chip place on a barge in the harbour. They've been there for 27 years and they serve everything in cones of newspaper. (Special food safe news paper. I don't see places using real newspaper anymore.) The cones fit in holes in the picnic tables and chairs. We had to eat up top on the dock in the wind because we brought Wilson. "No dogs allowed!" After lunch we stopped off at Starbucks for hot chocolate and were planning on going for a walk on the dike but Carter had other ideas.

Carter's usually pretty good at holding hands when walking across the street but today he decided he had a bit of an independent streak in him. Sometimes I'll let him walk on his own as long as he stays right beside me but this time he wanted to be as far away from me as possible and with a busy intersection it wasn't working out very well. Big Mean Daddy decided he would force Carter to hold hand and get across the street. This didn't work out too well and Carter decided he had to 'redo' the intersection. No matter what we tried he wasn't moving forward until he had a chance to walk across the street without holding hands. Kerry tried to go with him and got across one street but then he tried the running away thing again and it was Big Mean Mommy's turn to force him across the street. We didn't get our walk and ended up having to force him into the car seat. He managed to cry about crossing the street the entire 45 minutes home. It wasn't until I explained to him that I needed his help so that I could be safe that he decided things were okay. Now whenever we cross the street it's so that he can keep me safe.