A Trip to San Diego

This week I had the opportunity to go to San Diego for a conference for work. I've been to San Diego several times now and have visited the main attractions like Sea World, The San Diego Zoo and Legoland so this time I thought I'd go down a day early and check out some of the attractions I haven't seen. First up was the Maritime Museum. They have one of the oldest tall ships in the world and it still floats. This one has a metal haul and was just as cramped as I expected. They also had two submarines, one Russian and one American. Those were super cramped.

After the Maritime Museum I went to the Air and Space museum. I was very naive in my knowledge of this area. Apparently the area is called Balboa park and there are actually 16 different museums as well as many other attractions including the San Diego Zoo. I checked out the Air and Space Museum as well as the Auto Museum. Both were quite impressive with a mix of original and replica planes and vehicles. If I had know there was so much to see I would have set aside more time and checked out the all museum pass. I guess I have a reason to go in the future.

The conference I was seeing was for a company called ESRI which makes software for creating maps. There were over 18,000 people attending. Not the biggest conference I've been too but still impressive. The San Diego conference centre is very nice with plenty of room and it's right down by the water so there are great views of the harbour which includes many military ships. There was also a 'Dole' ship. It never occurred to me that they would have their own ships but I guess they have a lot of pineapples and bananas to ship around the world.

On the last night of the conference there wasn't much going on so I went down to PetCo Park to see a baseball game. We got a 20% discount on tickets and the cheapest seats were just $21 or $17 with the discount. As I sat down I realized that I don't think I've ever seen a major league baseball game in person. The park is pretty new and despite it's size was nestled nicely inside the downtown core. You could walk by it in the morning and see the field from the street. The seats were great because they all pointed right at home plate. San Diego lost but it was still a fun experience. San Diego continues to be one of my favourite destinations.

Trip to PG

We made our annual trip to Prince George this July. We were a few days late because Callie had camp for the Friday, Saturday night which meant we missed being there for Canada Day. Last year when we arrived GG had made herself a hat out of the local news paper. The paper included a full page picture of the Canada flag. When Carter saw the same thing in our local paper he decided he wanted to make one for her this year too. Our paper was a bit smaller so the hat wasn't exactly the right size but GG still loved it and wore it. Visiting with GG is definitely one of the highlights of our trips each year. She's 96 bu still sharp and we enjoy listening to her stories. She always has treats available to us and we did our annual trip down to McDonald's for breakfast. I push her in her wheel chair and we have a route that takes us along the smoothest path possible. Kerry and the kids referred to it as the jaywalking GG route. We also started and finished a 300  piece puzzle and started a 500 piece puzzle. Fun times.

The second highlight was the new kayak out at the lake. Kayak prices have come down a lot and Costco always has one each spring. My job this year from Kerry was to recommend Mom and Dad purchase one but they were way ahead of me and already had one. I enjoy the canoe but the nice thing about the kayak is that it can be moved down to the beach by just about anyone and is much faster. I enjoyed using it for looking for agots on the beach. I could get low to find them and didn't even have to get out to grab them. Just reached with my paddle.

Carter's highlight was his new fishing pole and tackle. He's been using a cheap one that he says was 'for six year olds'. It was fairly good for what it was but the line was starting to get old so we kept losing our hooks. I took him down to Canadian Tire to grab some tackle and our plan was to get a rod from Eric. He apparently had some virtually brand new ones from the transfer station where he works. I'm amazed at the kind of stuff people throw out.

We had some excitement while we were at the lake as well. I don't recall seeing snakes at the lake as a kid however I've seen them the past few years. This year there was a giant one at least three feet long. It was pretty fat so we think it was either pregnant or full. Jackson was not scared of it at all and followed it down the beach. I know it's not dangerous but there is still something scary about a snake. We kept him from picking it up as I'm not really sure what a 3 foot garter snake would do if you did. It was a short but fun visit to PG.

Canada Day Weekend

Ordinarily we are in Prince George for Canada day weekend however this weekend Callie was invited by one of her friends to a weekend camp on Friday night and Saturday night. It's church group themed but was intended for 'friends' so they know that Callie isn't well versed on what they are talking about. She did have to find her own bible to bring and learned how to find things in it. We haven't raised Callie or Carter with a particular religion and will leave it to them to decide if they are interested. For now we're teaching them to be followers of being 'good people to all'.

The event was held in White Rock near Crescent beach. We go there often but I didn't realize there was a camp there. It's nestled in at the end of the beach and is owned by the city of Surrey. Anyone can rent it and it's laid out nicely for groups of 50 to 100. Callie had fun and was glad she could sign up for the art portion. They each made a puzzle piece and Kerry and I could tell immediately which ones belong to her and her friend Caroline.

After camp we headed to the Surrey Canada Day festival in Cloverdale.

The highlight for me was drone racing. The participants have quad copter drones with cameras on them and wear goggles that give them the point of view of the drone. I always knew it was fast but I had no idea how fast. They cover the length of a hockey rink in under 2 seconds and there are spectacular crashes and lot's of excitement. 

We finished the day off with dinner from food trucks. I had fish and chips from a double-decker bus. If you want authentic fish and chips I highly recommend you buy it from a double decker bus.

Grade Seven Dance

This year is a scary one for Kerry. After 8 years of working at the same school as Callie, it was time for Callie to graduate. Next year she will be in high school. Kerry is the grade seven teacher so she organizes the grade seven dinner every year but rather than just hearing about it, I got to attend as well. The dinner is billed as an opportunity for the parents to see their kids get their year end diploma and have a celebratory dinner. It certainly is that however part of me thinks the kids would be just as happy without the parents there. Much of the evening is spent with the kids wandering around talking among themselves and admiring their dress up clothes. The girls get to wear pretty dresses and the boys are a mix of dress shirts and full on suits. It was exciting to see Callie go and get her diploma as well as an award for completing a specialized math exam. There is also a great slide show that Kerry puts together each year that shows all the kids baby pictures. This year she was able to sub out much of the work to create it to Callie and her friends. 

The evening ended with the grade seven band performing a number of tunes. Traditionally the only time I've heard the band has been at Christmas. This is after only about 3 months of practice. By waiting until the end of the year the kids are much more polished. I think they did about a half dozen songs and I was even able to recognize most of them. Callie played flute and her skills and dedication have amazed me. She practices nightly and has even signed up to take band in grade eight. This should allow her to travel. Previous classes have been to New Orleans. Congratulations on graduating Callie!

Fort Langley Field Trip

I'm lucky that my work is fairly flexible as it allows me to attend most of the kids field trips. In June Carter and I went to Fort Langley. Callie and I went three years ago and her favorite memory is of me taking a nap at lunch time. That wasn't an option on this trip because it was raining and rather than having lunch at the fort the kids had lunch at school and we left a bit later than normal. Fort Langley is one of only a few original historical locations in BC. We aren't a very old province and most of our historic locations were poorly built and didn't last. The fort is not all original save for one building that is a display for the fur trade.

There are about a dozen staff on hand in traditional clothes and they are quite well organized. There is a main person at the gate that sends everyone out to the various buildings on a treasure hunt. The kids get points for walking in a straight line, listening intently and for generally being good. This certainly helps my job as a chaperone. The buildings I like the best are the fur trade, cooperage (barrel making) and the blacksmith. We got to seem them light the coal forge which was much more technical than I was anticipating. The 'side draft' fire place looked like it was very efficient at heating coal to heat metal.

The last building we went to was the big house which was built for an anniversary in 1958. The kids got to re-enact the creation of British Columbia as a province. Carter got to be the judge and was very animated in his acting. Even the people who worked at the fort were impressed with how passionately he read his lines. The only thing we didn't get a chance to do was to pan for gold. Maybe we'll go back on our own to take in the full experience. 

Carter at Track and Field

Carter tried out for track and field again this year. It's a tryout process and you are grouped with the 3,4 class. This meant it was hard for him to get in last year but easier this year. We spent some time each day doing long jump at the school to prepare him. He successfully made it to the practice team for High Jump, Shot Put and Long Jump and was made a reserve for the Shot Put and Long Jump. They can only take two kids per age group per event so it's not easy to make the team.

Technically he didn't make the official team but he was allowed to be the backup for Long Jump and Shot Put. They say he doesn't have to keep showing up but he decided he wanted to continue and thank goodness he did. One of the boys for Shot Put didn't show up for most practices and Carter was getting better with each throw. They picked him at the last minute to attend and compete against a team mate and 30 other kids from across Surrey. His first throw was average for him but on his last throw he threw it almost two feet farther. This was enough for 7th place for the large elementary schools in Surrey. Way to go Carter!

Callie's Dance Recital

Callie had her annual dance recital at the beginning of June this year. This is a little later than normal which may have been caused by the fact that there were four dance nights instead of just two. Ordinarily we only have to go one night with the other night being for a different studio owned by the same person. This time, depending on what you were in you could have had your kid in all four nights. We were lucky enough to only have to attend two of the nights. We only see Callie once per year so I was going to see which ever show she was in.

Callie started the year in four different dance styles. Lyrical, Ballet, Jazz and Hip-hop. About half way through the year she decided she had had enough of Hip-hop. It's a less structured dance form and I believe Callie wasn't happy with the choice of song they were planning on doing. She dropped out before they started planning the final dance for the recital so no harm to the group and the owner said that most dancers don't stay in hip-hop for ever.

The theme for this year was the Wizard of Oz and my niece Kristen dances at the same studio so she was also in a couple of the dances. She has improved a lot over the past year. Her two dance types were split over the two days so it was good that we went to both recitals that we did. Callie had one dance on one night and all three dances on the other night so we could have just gone to the one show. But as I mentioned, with only one chance to see her per year I was glad we got a bit more dance recital time.

Callie's three dances were very well done. I always like to see how she compares to the other dancers in her group and she always seems to be near the top of her class. Her ballet is progressing nicely and she was allowed to go into Point. This is the ballet style where you spend some time on your tippy toes. It looks quite painful but I watched some of the older girls and they don't spend a lot of time on their toes so I don't think she'll be too damaged. You need to reach a certain skill set to attend this and she went to get her fitting in June and some starter classes as well. I'm very proud of how she has kept up with the dancing. We just thought it was cute when she was little. Who knew she would still be doing it 8 years later!