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.