Goodbye Rondo, Hello Sportage

After 9 years and 160,000 kilometres it was time for us to get a new car. The Rondo was still going pretty strong but we were looking to get a new car within the next year and 12 days before our trip to Disneyland the air conditioning broke. We also had quite a bit of service items that needed to be attended to. Rather than a $1,200 bill and any number of additional items that may have come up in the next  year we decided it made sense to take a look at moving up our plans. (We realize it was likely cheaper to fix and repair for another 5 years but new cars are fun too.)

We had already been checking out another Kia called the Sportage and after a couple days of test drives with a few others in the same class we made our decision. We probably would have gone with the Suburu Forester if we had unlimited funds but cost was a consideration we had to factor in. This one isn't a seven seater and it isn't fully loaded like the Rondo but 9 years later and most of the extra features from the Rondo are now standard. The only thing we have left to do is to replace the Disney family. Luckily we are headed there in a few days.

Summer in Prince George

The school district that Kerry, Callie and Carter are in has a rule that states that the last day of work for Kerry must be a Friday so the last day of school must be a Thursday. This year, July 1st was a Friday so the last Friday of June was a week before. As per tradition we go to Lheidli T'enneh Memorial Park. (Formally known as Fort George Park and no, I don't know how to pronounce it.) As per usual it was a great place to stop for lunch, watch a few dancers and enjoy the sunshine. The kids also got to get their picture with the RCMP bear.

Once we were done with Canada Day at the park we went to GG's house for a visit. It was fun to see her as she met us at the door wearing her Canada Day hat. You can't quite see it in the picture but it was a picture of the Canada Flag from the front page of the paper that she had turned into a hat. Even at 94 she continues to be full of life. She always has treats for the kids and this year we surprised her with a new puzzle. We helped her with the outside and got her started in the middle but left the rest for her. 1000 pieces. I think she was happy. ;)

One of our favourite things to do when visiting Prince George is to go out to West Lake where our family has property. As soon as Carter finds out we are leaving for Prince George he goes to get his fishing rod. It's a small plastic one but with the right bait he was able to catch his first fish that didn't catch him. The last fish he took stole his fishing rod. In this case the right bait was a piece of hot dog. Not quite big enough to eat but bigger than the minnows we were catching with the nets. I think we need to get him a tackle box for Christmas.

While we were there we also decided to take Oliver for his first hike. Our destination was the Fort George Canyon trail. I didn't have proper shoes due to a shoe mishap that happened in Oliver so we could only go about half way. I was fully expecting to have to carry Oliver most of the way since he was only 3 1/2 months old but he was a great hiker. As long as one or two people were in front of him he walked the whole way. I think if we had done the full 10k instead of just 6k he probably would have done the whole thing. Good to know as we like to go on family hikes.

Silver Sage's 20th Anniversary

At the end of June we departed on our annual trip to visit family in Prince George. Ordinarily we do the trip to Oliver for family on a different weekend but this year we had to go there first to help out at the Silver Sage Winery's 20th anniversary. This has always been one of Kerry's favourite wineries because of the people that serve you during the tasting. It's best when the owners family are the ones doing it because they have a one liner for every one of their wines that always makes you laugh. Over time Kerry's parents have developed a relationship with the owners and have volunteered to help out during big events.

The big event this time was their 20th anniversary. A free event for their best customers that included drinks and lot's of food. Reg was helping out serving wine while Kerry and Barb helped out in the kitchen and with setup. I came later with the kids but couldn't avoid helping out as well. Even the kids got involved with carrying food out to the tents. The weather looked like it wanted to rain but things stayed dry and it looked like everyone had a great time.

While we were there we walked across the street to visit some friends of Barb and Reg who own a kayak. In past years we've done it where Kerry and I each take a kid on our lap. Callie is getting too big for that so she got to go out on her own. I was a bit worried when she set off because she only seemed to be able to go straight away from shore but after a few minutes she got the hang of it and had a 45 minute tour of the lake. I think she really enjoyed it.

Father's Day at Stave Falls Dam

Since I work for BC Hydro we get regular reminders about some of the activities we can do that relate to our facilities. One in particular has always peaked my interested because it's relatively close by and has regular appearances in TV and movies including X-Files and X-Men. The Stave Falls Dam was built in the early 1900's when they retired the old powerhouse in favour of a newer one slightly down stream in 1995 they opened it as a historical site. Since I get to choose the activity on Father's day it seemed like a great opportunity to drag the family out.

I do say drag because I wasn't really expecting it to be very exciting. Since it was just an old BC Hydro facility I was expecting to just find the old equipment in it's  original location and not much else. As it turns out they did quite an excellent job turning it into a museum and considering we don't have a lot of heritage sites on the West coast this is now one of the nicer ones I've been to. Not only can you tour most of the facility they also have an interactive area much like you would find at Science World and they've brought in a number of older electrical appliances from every decade since they were first invented.

I will admit that we were the only ones there but it was early in the morning on Father's day. Having said that, Kerry agrees that it was a good place to visit and since her class is doing electricity next year she's already planning a field trip. It will include a couple hours at the powerhouse, lunch on the beach and a 6k hike downstream to the Ruskin Dam which is on the same river. I think her students will enjoy it and I'm not just saying that because I work for BC Hydro.

Callie's Dance Recital

Last Saturday was our annual night out for Callie's Dance recital. This year Barb and Reg drove down for the event and Callie was signed up for four dances. Other than a couple of open houses where we get to see her practice portions of the dance we aren't able to see her dance the whole year. All of her hard work culminates in a single staged event. Most years I'm quite worried for her but after so many successes I found I wasn't worried at all and just looking forward to some excellent calibre dancing for 5 to 18 year olds.

The first event was Jazz and she danced to Rihanna's Disturbia song. It's a great song for this type of dancing and the girls did an excellent job of looking disturbed. I'm not certain but there may have also been one boy in this class. He's been in Callie's classes since the beginning. There aren't too many boys at Callie's studio. The next event was ballet. She has two classes of this a week and the other classes seem to just be there to broaden her skill set. Ballet is the one that she can get graded on and she has now passed grade 3.

My favourite dance style is lyrical. It doesn't start until the kids are a bit older and I like the style of music that they typically use. Callie's song was 'All Through The Night'. I don't know if she did the original but the popular version is by Cindy Lauper. This was a much slower version by an artist I don't know.

The most amazing part of Callie's efforts this year was that all her dances were before the intermission. This mean she only had about 6 or 8 minutes between each dance to get changed.

The final dance was Hiphop. It's the most free style form and her teacher picked a mash up of about a dozen songs. This had them switching moves every 15 seconds or so and it was well received by all. I think Callie had the most fun during this dance though it's hard to tell. She has a big smile for every dance.

This was also the first year that my niece Kristen was in a recital. She's signed up for ballet and looked very cute in a pretty blue dress.

Both girls were showered by flowers at the end by family members and everyone had a great time. Now a short break before summer dance and then everything starts again in the fall. I'm very happy Callie continues to stay interested in dance.

15th Annual Run, Walk & Roll for Our Kids

Last weekend we were signed up for the Run, Walk, Roll for the Child Development Centre. The whole family was signed up as well as Barb and Reg since they were in town for Callie's dance recital. Unfortunately it was 5k and Barb had a sore foot and wasn't able to make it. We've done this run several times in the past but this year we have someone who is actually taking advantage of their services. My nephew was formally diagnosed with autism and has been attending speech therapy classes for the past several months.

In the past the kids and I have always done 2k with Kerry sometimes choosing to do the 5k or 10k. Since we're all 5k experts now we were all signed up that event. It's a good distance since even if you don't feel like running it doesn't take too long to walk it. For the $20 entry fee we got a t-shirt, a run, popcorn and a meal of hotdogs, Indian food and snacks. Since everything is donated, the entire entry fee goes to the centre. (Unlike many other local events where the bulk of the entry fee ends up going to organizing the race.) There are at least 500 people signed up and there are other sources of income including a pancake breakfast by donation and a donation box. A fun event even though it was 27 degrees by the time we finished. Carter was very excited about the water stations along the way.

Carter's Field Trip to the Children's Festival

At the end of May, Carter's class had a field trip to the Surrey Children's festival planned. I've been in the past and I had just chaperoned his trip to the Fraser River Discovery Centre so I didn't sign up to go this time. About a week before hand however, we got an urgent e-mail from the teacher indicating she didn't have enough drivers and might have to cancel. Our vehicle holds 5 kids and I didn't have too many work meetings that day so I signed up. I think a few other parents felt guilty as well and signed up so the event was back on.

The festival was being held at Bear Creek park which isn't too far from our house so it was a quick drive. We arrived around 9:00a and weren't leaving until 1:30p so we had plenty of time. Our first trip was to face painting. I had four boys with me and the line up was short so it seemed like the best time to go. Carter got a Minecraft character on the right hand side of his face. The others got a sword, a Minecraft square and a brick wall. (I still have no idea what the brick wall was about.) We finished off our face painting experience at the heritage booth where they got some traditional moustaches.

Other events included clay making, a giant sandbox, getting dressed up as a firefighter, getting into a police car, sidewalk chalk, henna hand painting, a card board box fort, story time and circus time. We finished most events before noon and I was worried we would be bored in the afternoon but story time used up at least an hour and allowed me to get a small nap. We had one minor issue at the box fort when I lost a kid. None of us realized there were two exits. We quickly found him though since he was smart enough to stay where he was. Circus time was fun as well though Carter needs to practice his stilts.