Carter's Field Trip to Fraser River Discovery Centre

A few weeks ago Carter got to go on a field trip to the Fraser River Discovery Centre in New Westminster. I had never heard about it before but it seems that when the casino that was on the waterfront closed down a few years ago they turned the space in to the home of the Discovery Centre. Downtown New Westminster is an odd location for such a place but the city isn't that big so this location was good as any. The focus for grade two kids was the sturgeon that live in the river.

I've often heard about the sturgeon but to be honest I didn't know much about them. Certainly not the size that they grow to. Since they don't migrate and spawn like Salmon they can grow to be many over 100 years old. They also just keep getting bigger and bigger. This means they can grow to over 10 feet long. I'm still amazed that we have fish that size in the Fraser River. The only issue I had with the day was that all three activities were entered around the life cycle of the sturgeon. I guess they figure repetition is the easiest way for the kids to remember.

Bird Houses for the Peregrin Falcon

One of the channels that Callie and Carter periodically watch on TV has been advertising the Earth Rangers for the past few months. One of the regular commercials has been about the option to become an Earth Ranger by raising money for one of their causes. The two that Callie and Carter were interested in were the Peregrin Falcon and the Brown Bat. Both are threatened species and depending on how much you raise you become an Earth Ranger and they send you souvenir for your troubles.

The original goal was to try to raise $150 for each as it would get them a small stuffed animal though that may be a bit steep. Our first project was to build some bird houses and sell them to family members. We made six of them for $15 each and so far they have sold four. The bird house matched nicely with the Peregrin Falcon. The other project is intended to be a bat house for the Brown Bat. I haven't quite found a plan I like but when I do it should be a quick build. Some paint and some salesmanship from the kids and we should get closer to our goal.

Mother's Day

As the kids get older, Mother's day get's easier for me since the kids are old enough to do some of the planning. Kerry likes things kept simple and as long as she doesn't have to cook she's happy. This meant we started the day with a trip to McDonalds where I picked up breakfast and brought it back. After our special breakfast we headed to Campbell River park for a hike. Surrey has several regional parks that are in the city but definitely feel like they aren't. This one is one of our favourites.

When we got back from the hike we sent Kerry up to her room so that the kids could plan their surprise. They wanted to do an afternoon tea in the gazebo. I helped boil the water for the tea but everything else was them including finger sandwiches, fruit, cheese and crackers and a lovely flower centrepiece from the garden. Kerry was quite surprised at the level of effort they went to. We finished the day off with a trip to white spot. No cooking.

Hike to Deep Cove

At the end of April my parents came down for a visit. The timing worked out well as Mom was able to see the kids concert. (Dad felt he was done with kids concerts 20 years ago so he wasn't very interested.) The weather for Sunday was looking to be quite nice so we planned a trip to Deep cove. It's a nice area in North Vancouver at the start of Indian Arm. I've known several people who have lived there. They are always very proud to say the do and I can't blame them. Being at the far end of the North Shore it's a fairly quiet area for the lower mainland.

I say quiet but on a sunny day in the village area it's anything but when it comes to parking. There are very few places for people to park with very few public lots. The streets are also too narrow in most places for any spots. We are a bit late showing up since we came right at noon and we spent 10 minutes looking for a spot. In the end Kerry dropped us off and she drove back out to the main road to park. It was a bout a 10 minute walk each way.

Once we did find a spot we wandered around the Kayak centre beach for a while and then went for a hike. Kerry had planned on this hike for a while and being North Vancouver I was expecting it to be hilly. I was definitely not wrong. Unfortunately this mean my parents and the dog had to stay behind. They tried the first 100 stairs but it wasn't looking like it was going to get any better so they headed back to the village for lunch.

The hike was just a couple of kilometres but the elevation change was several hundred meters with many ups and downs. The destination was well worth it with a view of all of Deep Cove. If you are ever in the area I highly recommend it. When we were done we met up with my parents and went for lunch at Honey's Donuts. These are quite possibly the best donuts I have ever had. The Yelp reviews are mixed but that's because they are quite heavy and perhaps an acquired taste. After a two hour house we had acquired a good appetite so they were excellent.

School Musical

This school year we didn't get a Christmas concert and instead were treated to a musical at the end of April. Although somewhat untraditional this arrangement had one significant advantage in that the kids had an extra four months to practice. The band and instrument players always sound a bit rough at Christmas but that's because they've only had 4 months to prepare. With eight months the teachers were able to do something much more advanced. They brought in someone to help them stage the event as well as some very good drum and piano players.

There were three major parts to the play. The first group was mostly intermediate students and they were singing for a significant portion of the event on the outer portion of the gym. There was also a group of 30 or 40 students that played major parts in the play portion. Finally the primary students came in about half way with a three or four song set. I was quite impressed at the number of different songs each kid had to memorize and the actors were quite excellent. I hope they do something similar in future years.

Pirate Plunder

One last day of driving. We travelled over 5,000km, visited to a zoo, went to three aquariums, explored a theme park and toured an aircraft carrier. All in 9 days. We were very tired by the time our final day came along. Our night two destination was Newport Oregon and we got in very late. Thankfully, we only had about 7 hours of driving left so we had some time to sleep in and tour the town before we left. Our day started with a beautiful view from our hotel room. We had gotten in late enough that we knew the ocean was out there but we couldn't see it.

We didn't get to see much of Newport but we're pretty sure the Aquarium is worth going to. All we had time to do was tour the gift shop. There was a line up out the door and parking lot was big and full. If we go back we will have to check it our in more detail. Another highlight is apparently rocks. Several of the stores in The Pirate Plunder Antiques and Collectibles Mall had many locally sourced rocks. I would have loved to find the beaches they were getting them from. Jars and jars of agates to be found.

The Pirate alley was okay but a bit of a gimmick to have people check out what was mostly just second hand stores. There were a few local artists with some interesting things. If it was located on the water I think it would have been better. As it was, it was really just a business park.

We had a great time on our trip and we're all warmed up to do the same thing to Disneyland with the cousins this summer.

Paul Bunyan and his ox Blue

Our second day of travel from San Diego to Surrey had us starting in Santa Cruz which is only an hour south of San Francisco. The shorter route would have been the Bay Bridge but I've always wanted to drive over the Golden Gate Bridge. I've been to San Francisco but there was no need to travel over the bridge while I was there so this was an opportunity to rectify that. It was of course slightly less exciting than anticipated as it was quite foggy on all sides. Still good to be able to say we drove over it before the big earth quake destroys it.

Although the I-5 is the quicker route through California, because we were taking 3 days to travel, we were able to take the more scenic route. This included the 101 which goes along the coast of Northern California and Oregon. Wherever we came close to the ocean there were always a lot of waves making for a very scenic drive. The road itself was generally pretty good, with speed limits of 65 and not a lot of traffic. There were a few areas with some tight curves but they were in the forest so we could enjoy the scenery as we went.

As it turned out, this was still a long day of driving, even though we split the trip into three days. We were on the road for 14 1/2 hours including stops today so when we did stop we couldn't stay long. The one item we regretted not being able to do was the Trees of Mystery which was an old growth stand off the highway. Getting there would have been a 20 minute walk plus a 7 minute tram just to get to the forest and we didn't have time to do it. We did still check out the gift shop which was fun as it included some very large statues of Paul Bunyan and his ox Blue. Our destination today was Newport.