Callie's Dance Recital - Welcome to the Gallery

After 9 months of work it was time for Callie's annual dance recital. This has become an event we look forward to every year and I only partially mind that they've split it into 4 different shows and your kid could be in anything from 1 to 4 of those shows. At $24 a show it gets a bit pricy. This year Callie was only in two so it wasn't too bad. She started both days in the same costume that she has indicated is not exactly her favourite. When it's just her she looks like a ballerina died orange but when it was on stage and with the other girls it looked quite nice.

Day one consisted of Ballet and Point. Ballet is the more advanced form of point where the girls spend a lot of their time on their tippy toes. Being the first year they want to make sure they have had time to train before making them do too much so only a few moves are done that way. Both dances were quite beautiful and Callie did great. Every once in a while I will see her do a swooping movement with her hands. I now know what this is all about. There is a lot of hand swooping in these two dances.

The theme this year was art. Every dance matched the costume, art piece in the background and the song. The picture for Jazz seemed a bit basic and was obviously computer generated. Callie was not overly impressed by the costume either. It was a crazy sparkly skin tight material. The dance on the other hand was amazing. This was definitely where she had to do the most advanced moves. Lots of quick arm and body movements. I can see why she enjoyed the dance but not the costume.

My favourite dance style is lyrical. Lot's of running and looking. The costumes are typically very flowey and I usually enjoy these songs the best. This is where I found Ed Sheehan about 6 years ago. (Long before he was famous. :)) Callie ended up being in a class where she was in the top end of the class. This meant she got to do a 3 person solo but it also meant not all of the moves were super advanced. She's looking forward to going up a level next year.

We got a bonus scene this year. Callie has been volunteering all year as a student teacher. This is about 90 minutes of time every Friday where she helps the teacher guide one of the smaller classes. For the recital it meant she was on stage during their dance making sure they were in the right position and doing the right moves at the same time. She was right when she said they didn't need a lot of guidance which must have meant they had great teachers. Another great year. Very proud of Callie.

Carter's Field Trip to Victoria

When Kerry taught grade five at Frost Road she started an annual trip to Victoria. When she moved to grade seven they stopped doing it so Callie didn't get to go. Carter's teacher however have reinstated the trip and I'm glad they did. It's a lot of work to plan and a lot of work to execute and it makes for a very long day leaving at 5:30a and coming back at 7:30p but I think it will be something Carter will remember for a long time. My favourite part of the trip over was the Wasabi challenge which was initiated by my group. One girl had ordered sushi and dared one of the other group members to eat the Wasabi. Great fun!

Our first destination was the Royal BC Museum. With Victoria being BC's capital, much of the funding for this sort of thing ends up in Victoria and they make good use of it. The exhibits are top notch and well maintained and it's right near in the harbour near the parliament buildings. We wandered the 'Making BC' exhibits and stopped in the theatre to watch a movie about some guy breaking into a cabin. The kids loved it. I had six in my group so being able to sit in a theatre for 5 or 10 minutes was a welcome break.

Our trip to the museum ended quickly as it was time to go for lunch at the Spaghetti Factory. They have a menu dedicated to kids groups that really just involves spaghetti and 6 different options for things that go on top of spaghetti including different sauces and different cheeses. We didn't have a lot of time so it was for the best that serving 100 or so kids and parents was as efficient as possible. I had some sort of salty goat cheese which was good but I had to steal the water jug. Highlight was when they brought out dozens of loafs of bread with knives. Parents got involved quickly.

The highlight of the day was our trip to the Legislative Assembly. I had been before but the timing of our visit this time was better. It was the last day of the spring session and our group got to go into the main chamber while the Premier was speaking. We dropped off all our electronic devices and anything that could be used to record and we got to sit in the balcony and listen to committee as they debated what to do about the caribou issue up north. Fun to see our government at work.

We had a bit of free time left after our time with the MLA's and there is a well placed English Candy store. The owner must be used to large groups of kids because I can't say the groups that were there were very well behaved. They were noisy and I had to pick up more than one display that was knocked over. I made sure to buy some mints and chocolate since many of the kids had run out of money by this time.

We got back to the school around 7:30p. A long day but a fun one.

Hike at Minnekhada Regional Park

This hike location was chosen for a slightly less than healthy reason. Kerry wanted to go for a hike. Carter and I have wanted to try out Popeyes for a while because one of the shows we watch has lots of commercials and the lower mainland got its first Popeyes just recently. The issue has been that's about 25 minutes from our house and we weren't about to go that for just for fast food. I didn't see why we could do both so I found the Popeyes and then I randomly choose a hike location in the vicinity which turned out to be Minnekhada Regional Park.

I continue to be amazed at the caliber of hiking trails we have so close to our house. This place was less than a half hour away and when you get there you can't see any signs of civilization. The hike is focused around a large marsh area that has multiple beaver dams. As we walked around we saw turtles, frogs, fish and ducks. There are many hikes of different distances and the trails were well maintained. There is also some sort of lodge that apparently is open just a few times per here. Looks interesting enough that I might time a future hike on a day when it's open.

Osoyoos Desert Model Railroad

From the first time I visited Oliver, I've wanted to go the Osoyoos Desert Model Railroad. It's in a nondescript warehorse building and you see it as you are coming down the hill into Osoyoos. It's clearly marked and the hours are frequent enough that it should not have taken 11 years to go. I think the issue is that it's about a 20 minute drive to Osoyoos and we never want to stop on our way through so it has to be a trip on it's own and our typical trip to Osoyoos involves mini-golf. This past Easter however we had nothing planned so I asked the family who wanted to go. There was reluctance but Carter decided he would come.

I will admit I had rather low expectations. I've been to places like this in the past and they are often dusty and old smelling. This place was a lot different. The lower portion of the warehouse seems to be the hobby space for the 4+ individuals who created and maintain the models. The upper floor was partially dedicated to the models and rather than dust we were met with a meticulously clean and surprisingly interactive set of scenes. The room is about 1000 square feet and is absolutely full. Everything is behind glass and it takes at least a half hour to see everything in detail.

The most amazing part was that every so often the conductor, he even has a booth and a hat, will turn off the lights and the whole room turns into night mode. The ski-hill is lit, the houses have lights and there was a concert going on with  music and stage lights. Once the lights came on we found a feature we hadn't seen before. There are buttons that will activate a portion of the model. We made sure to press every button and we pressed the button of the man peeing in the bushes after a night of drinking more than once. The place was packed with people when we were there and I definitely recommend it if you are in the area.

Costa Rica - Our Final Day

It's our last day and we had accomplished everything on our list except for one item. Carter really wanted to have a drink in a pineapple on the beach. We had really liked the beach at Playa Conchal so we went for the morning. This time we picked the other parking lot guy to take our money. He also appears to look after the beach horses and the ATV's. It seems you have to have more than one hustle if you want to be successful in Costa Rica. We parked our car beside the horses and walked down to the beach.

It was much windier today so we found a spot in the trees in the shade and Carter and I went to the pineapple drink guy. Kerry had spoken to him to ask the price but didn't get a clear answer. When I went I only had a single bill and coincidentally that's exactly how much it was. Callie thinks I paid too much and set the price for the day because she had to pay the same amount later. The drinks were well presented though Carter's had a shell in it and Callie's tasted like alcohol from the previous pineapple. Good thing we all got our hepatitis boosters.

We came back to the condo and sorted out prepping for the next tenants. There is a gap between rentals and I met a guy from Calgary in one of the other units who needed to extend his stay by a few days so we had to arrange to have the place turned over to them. Carter and Kerry headed out a bit before us and went to a local brew pub. The owners are from California and Texas and they are expanding because they ran out of beer recently. What I tasted was very good and Kerry met some new America friends who indicated they were embarrassed by their President. (Kerry didn't even ask.)

Dinner was at a castle themed open air restaurant just down the street. We were quite early so we got our choice of table and time with the restaurant cat. The food was absolutely delicious including dessert. They only have two dessert items on the menu, an orange Creme Brulee and a Guinness chocolate cheese cake so we ordered one of each for the four of us. We missed the actual sunset but still had time to take in the last bits of the Costa Rica daylight. We didn't know what to expect when we came but it really is a great place to visit. We highly recommend it.

Costa Rica - A Trip to Margaritaville

Our first trip to Margaritaville was in the morning. Yes, there was more than one trip. We had cased the location yesterday and we really liked the beach at Playa Flamingo which is right in front of Margaritaville so we came to the beach for the morning. There are lots of different types of beach material where we are in Costa Rica and this was the nicest sand version we've been too. The beaches in Costa Rica have been incredibly clean. Very little garbage and very little organic material either.

The whole family spent the morning playing in the waves. The waves were very unpredictable. Some would be a gentle lap on the shore and others would be 4 or 5 feet tall and would break at a random distance from the shore. This meant you might gently rise with the wave in one instance and be knocked off your feet for the next. The waves break too close to shore for surfing but using the body board was lots of fun. Only Carter seems to end up having any trouble with wave playing. Somehow he always ends up with sand in places he doesn't want it.

We came back to the condo for lunch and some pool time before heading back to Margaritaville for dinner. This time we went to the "It's 5 O'Clock Somewhere' bar. The menu has definitely not been Jimmy Buffet approved and most of the hotel is under various stages of construction. The major signage has all been updated but there weren't many people and there still isn't a souvenir shop. Kerry will have to come back at a later date to get her Jimmy Buffet shot glass.

We stuck around for sunset. By this time the tide was coming in and the wind was starting to pick up. Some of the waves hitting the beach were over six feet high. Some crazy dad was out in the surf making halfhearted attempts at keeping his kids out of the water. There was at least one point where the rip tide back out looked very strong though it ended quickly. Sunset was amazing. Only one day left and then back to spring time in BC.

Costa Rica - A Trip to the Souvenir Shop

We started our day with a bit of a detour into Playa Flamingo. It's a peninsula to the left of where we are staying so the main road doesn't go directly through it. Our main goal was to do a drive by of the beach to look for parking and to check out what appears to be a new Margaritaville by Jimmy Buffet. We were quite suspicious because it's not on his main website and the menu didn't include a 'Cheeseburger in Paradise'. After some more digging we've discovered it is legit but it hasn't had it's official opening yet. It's a re-branding of another hotel. We will still check it out before we leave.

We only had one item on the agenda today and that was to go back to Tamarindo for some souvenir shopping. Carter has Colons in his pocket and wanted to spend them. He's enjoying doing the conversions between Colons, American and Canadian so he knows if he's getting a good deal or not. We picked up a parrot, a sloth and a frog shaped instrument of some kind. I tried to convince him that he doesn't have to spend all his money at once but he really wanted that frog.

The rest of the day was uneventful. Or perhaps it was eventful but I was napping really hard and didn't see anything happen. We had hamburgers and grilled pineapple for dinner and watched the sunset from our deck. We haven't seen any scary insects yet but there are a lot of creatures out there. There is some sort of bug that likes to sing in unison and the air is often filled by bright green dragon flies. Our biggest disappointment has been the lack of colourful birds. I think we expected to have parrots dive bombing us. I suppose the mourning doves on our deck will have to do.