"Santa's Favourite" Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

The moment you've all been waiting for has arrived!

My "Santa's Favourite" Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe:

Ingredients:
3/4 cup Granulated sugar
1 cup Brown sugar
1 cup Butter
1 tablespoon Vanilla
2 Eggs, slightly beaten
3 cups Flour
3/4 teaspoon Baking soda
3/4 teaspoon Salt
3 c Semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 c Chopped nuts (optional)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. - In a large bowl, combine sugars; add in butter and cream together with the sugar. Add vanilla and eggs; mix together. In a separate bowl sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt and add to the creamed mixture. Mix well; the dough will be stiff. Add the chocolate chips and nuts (if using). Line the cookie sheets with baking parchment or wax paper. Drop dough with a small ice cream scoop onto the sheets. Flatten the cookie dough slightly just prior to placing the tray into the oven. Bake apprx 12 minutes at 350 degrees F. Remove from oven and cool on wire racks.

Enjoy - and if you leave some for Santa ... expect way better gifts.

We'll be making a fresh batch of these cookies with the kids on Christmas Eve.

I hope everyone has a Safe and Wonderful Christmas - we're looking forward to a fantastic 2010 and wish you all the very best for the New Year.

Whistler Christmas Getaway

We had a fantastic time at our office Christmas getaway in Whistler. I've put together a quick video from the footage that I took while in Whistler.
Leslie and I drove up a bit earlier on Saturday morning and explored some of the residential areas around the Whistler area. There were some beautiful homes in Whistler.
We arrived at our hotel - The Four Seasons Whistler - around 11:30am and left our vehicle with the valet. Since it was too early for check in, we met our group (Rob, Melanie, Chuck, Alison and Ian) in the lobby and had a wonderful lunch at Fifty Two 80 Bistro at the hotel. The food was fantastic. I had the pulled pork sandwich and I can easily say it was the best I've ever had.
After lunch it was time to take the hotel shuttle over to Whistler Village where we met our guides at ZipTrek Adventure tours. We put on our harnesses and safety gear and made our way to the first of 5 zips. The first was at the base of the ski hill. An easy run, but a nice introduction to the sport without being hundreds of feet in the air. Next we boarded their shuttle to the canopy suspension bridges and the remaining zip runs. We had a blast. On our last zip, the guides had (almost) everyone upside down and getting stylish (ok, pretty much only Leslie and the guides got stylish - but it was a great time nonetheless).
High on adrenaline, we made our way back to Whisler Village and back to the Hotel to check in. We were pleasantly surprised to find that we were on the top floor (room 918) and had a wonderful view of the mountains. Our room, complete with fireplace and bar was bigger than many condo's that i've sold. The service was top notch and the quality of the facility was fantastic. After a quick unpack, we changed into some swim gear and headed down to the pool and hot tub (outdoor pool and hot tub - note to self: bring sandals to go from the hotel to the pool - the concrete is very COLD!!) The pool was heated to a nice warm temperature and the hot tub was perfect. Drink and food service was tub side - try the Banana Split, a hot chocolate type drink that really hits the spot!
After getting changed, we met the group downstairs for the shuttle to Blackcomb Sleigh rides. Our two horse team pulled the sleigh through the forest to a wonderful spot with a great view of the village at night. We went inside the shelter and warmed up next to the wood stove and enjoyed some hot chocolate. Our guide was great and the view was fabulous.
We then made our way to dinner at Il Caminetto Italian restaurant. The service and food were fantastic. I had the Ribeye steak (I know, it's an Italian restaurant, but I felt like having steak) and Leslie had the Veal Parmesan. The meal couldn't have been better.
Afterwards we walked back to the Fairmont Whistler for a nightcap, Chocolate Fondue and a dance with the wives (yes, you read that correctly). The Fondue was delicious. Unfortunately Ian had to drive back to WestVan late that night for business, but would come back in the morning to rejoin the group.
Sunday was welcomed with a quick business meeting at Fifty Two 80 Bistro and a wonderful breakfast. Rob and Leslie decided to go alpine skiing, Chuck had to leave unfortunately and Allison, Ian and Melanie did some shopping in the Village. I decided on snowshoeing to Lost Lake. I had a great time and managed to get out for a few hours. Unfortunately, by the time I made it back to the Village, it started raining. Not just a little, but pouring rain, then changed to snow, then back to rain, then something in between. I picked up some Beaver Tails for the kids and hopped on the shuttle back to the Hotel. After a warm up with some hot chocolate at the hotel, we said goodbye to the group and made our way home (through the rain and slushy roads) and managed to miss our Bowen ferry by about 5 minutes. We took the next ferry and headed for home and some excited kids. They love Beaver Tails.

Thanks again to Rob and Melanie for inviting us to join them on this adventure. This is certainly the most interesting office Christmas party that I've ever attended that's for sure.

Christmas is only 3 more sleeps away!! I hope you're all ready.
Stay tuned, I'll be posting my "Santa's Favourite" Chocolate chip cookie recipe in my next post.

Caroline's Grade 1 Christmas Concert

The Winter Wonderland that we awoke to this morning has turned to rain but we still had a very enjoyable evening watching the BICS students perform in their Christmas Concert. Caroline and her grade 1 class did an excellent job singing "Petit Papa Noel" and "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth". Mrs. Sun did a fantastic job in preparing the children for the show - and I know that Caroline had a wonderful time.

Winter wonderland

It started snowing last night and we awoke this morning to about 2 inches of fresh (wet) snow. I'm sure the kids are excited to get out there and play in the snow this morning (they better hurry, it'll probably be gone by noon).
Saturday after Michael finished up his last skating lesson of the season, we headed over to the Park Royal Mall and did some Gingerbread House decorating with Mrs. Claus - the kids had a blast and many thanks to the people at Park Royal for hosting this great (free) event - the goodies tasted as good as they looked.
After our stop at Park Royal and a quick lunch, we headed up Cypress Mountain for an afternoon of skiing. This was our first ski of the year and conditions were quite nice. We managed to get the kids into a lesson for their first ski and they did fantastic. They spent 5 mins on the magic carpet and then hit the chairlift to the little hill where they spent the remainder of the lesson. The instructors mentioned that we should bump them up from red to blue level next time and get them on the Mt. Collins run. Caroline is excited to hit the bigger hill, but as a dad, I could see them wait a bit longer.
Sunday was a nice day just hanging out on the island. Caroline had two of her friends come over for the day and Michael had a friend over as well. I managed to get outside and do some yard work and split some firewood. This coming weekend is our office Christmas getaway in Whistler. Can't wait - lodging at the 4 Seasons Whistler should be fantastic. Tonight is Caroline's Christmas Concert at school - looking forward to a wonderful performance.

Michaels Preschool Christmas Concert

Michael and his classmates at the Bowen Island Children's Centre Preschool put on a wonderful show Tuesday. Their Christmas concert was a huge success. Everyone brought some goodies to share and the treats were delicious. The children worked very hard during class to put on this fantastic performance and Michael was very proud of his part. They had a fun time with "This little light of mine" which was performed in the dark with flashlights. The surprise guest of the evening ... why Santa himself of course - delivering a gift for all the boys and girls. Caroline's Christmas concert is next Tuesday, I'll post highlights from her concert as well. I've included a quick preview of Michael's performance above.

An island Christmas celebration

The gang had a fantastic time at the "Light up Bowen" Christmas celebration on Saturday. We started off the festivities by putting up our first ever real Christmas tree. We love having the high ceilings which allowed for a 9 ft tree this year. The kids had a great time decorating the tree, the hot chocolate and cookies didn't hurt either.
After dinner we made our way up the steep trail to Artisan's square where the festivities were to begin. The crowd begin to grow and mulled wine and treats were delicious. We watched the Black sheep perform, Caroler's sang and we socialized with many friends. Caroline and Michael both found their school friends, so they were especially happy. Next the crowd made their way down to Village Square by the light of all the homemade lanterns. After some Hot Chocolate and more festivities, the crowd grew larger and made their way to Davies Orchard for the live Nativity scene and more Christmas Carols. A pit stop at Doc Morgans for even more Hot chocolate, cookies and cinnamon roll bites and we were headed to the Union Steamship building for the firing of the canon. After some difficulty lighting the canon, it was finally fired and Bowen was officially lit up. We then made our way to the dock where Santa arrived on the fully decorated and lit up Bowen Water Taxi and we waited in line for a chance to meet with Santa. Michael is still a bit shy with the Jolly one, but Caroline hopped on his lap and opened right up. She's much more comfortable with him now.
A quick walk along the Bay and we were back home in front of a warm fire. What a wonderful evening. So far we've had lots of fun with all of the events that have occurred on Bowen.. I'm sure that we have many more fun events to look forward to.

Friday night Pizza night !!

It's the weekend!
Friday has played out just as they normally do. 4:30 boat back to snug where Leslie took Caroline to gymnastics at BICS and I walked home with Michael to make my world famous homemade pizza. It's Friday night - pizza night.
My pizza dough recipe is listed below.
Last night the kids and I decided to bake some fantastic home made chocolate chip cookies with, of course, extra chocolate chips. The kids had fun baking them and we all enjoyed eating them. Tonight Michael had a great time making the pizza. He really loves to cook. Unfortunately he was also very, very tired. For the second night in a row his bedtime routine was turning into a temper tantrum, so I decided that it was a nice night for a car ride to Eagle Cliff. He really enjoys night time car trips and usually falls asleep very quickly. Tonight was no exception - he was asleep by about Cates Bay. Howe Sound was very beautiful tonight, the stars were out, the moon reflecting on the water and the north shore mountains dominating the backdrop. I could've stayed out all night and enjoyed the view. Michael didn't twitch from the car to his bed, he was worn out.
Tomorrow is skating for Michael - Leslie will take him and I will stay home with Caroline and prepare the Christmas tree for decorating when Leslie and Michael return. Our first year with a real tree. A 9 ft Noble - it'll look fantastic with the high ceilings in the living room. Tomorrow night is the light up Bowen Christmas celebration, should be lots of fun. Can't wait to see Santa and have some goodies during the parade.
Sunday is work for the first time in a long time (since the Open House days I think) - Melanie and I will be attending a seminar for real estate investing where Melanie will be speaking. We'll distribute some information packages and hopefully pickup some new clients at the same time. Looking forward to it. Even though our own personal rentals are gone, i miss it and still very much enjoy being involved.
and now the moment you've all been waiting for:

Steve's super dooper quick pizza dough recipe:
Prep Time: 15 min
Cook Time: 30 min
Serves: Makes enough dough for one 14" pizza
Ingredients

2 to 2 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1/4-ounce package fast acting yeast (1.5 teaspoons)

1/2 teaspoon sugar

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 teaspoon salt
Directions
In a large bowl whisk together 3/4 cup of flour, yeast, sugar, and 2/3 cup hot water (130 dgrees F). Stir in the oil, 1 1/4 cups
of the remaining flour, and the salt and blend the mixture until it forms a dough. Knead the dough on a floured surface,
incorporating as much of the remaining 1/4 cup flour as necessary to prevent the dough from sticking, for 5 to 10 minutes,
or until it is smooth and elastic.
The dough, may be used immediately, but for better flavor it is best to let it rise once. Put the
dough in an oiled bowl and turn it to coat it with the oil. Let the dough rise, covered with plastic wrap, in a warm place for 30
minutes, or until it is double in bulk, and punch it down.
Add pizza sauce, cheese and toppings to taste
Bake at 425F for about 15-20 minutes (depending on how thick you've made the crust) and how crispy you like it.
ENJOY.

The weekend

Saturday turned out to be a pretty rainy day, so after Michael finished up his skating, we visited Park Royal Mall for some lunch and headed to the West Vancouver Community centre for a swim in the pool. The kids really love the pool there - (a few more people there than on Halloween though). The kids finally decided to try the water slide and had a blast. They went down on their own and went again and again. Next time maybe we'll try the Newton Wave pool in Surrey.

Sunday was a nice stay-at-home day on Bowen. Caroline had her friend Madison over for the afternoon and Michael enjoyed some playtime with Ursula next door. Thankfully it was a rain-free day and the kids had some playtime outside. I managed to get the last tree covered in Christmas lights and get some more wood chopped. I took a nice walk in the evening darkness to Kilarney Lake and back. It was nice and quiet in the park - a very relaxing walk. My headlamp kept lighting up the eyes of many animals in the darkness. I'm sure that they were only deer, but it's still a bit spooky.

Christmas is fast approaching and the majority of our Christmas shopping is done. Our next task is to pick up a Christmas tree. For the first time we'll be getting a real tree since we sold our old reliable fake tree back in Ottawa. I've been told that the Ruddy Potato store on the island has trees available for sale. This Saturday is the Bowen Island Christmas festival featuring the parade, caroling, and of course, Santa. I'm sure the kids will enjoy it - the weather forecast is for dry weather on Saturday. Looking forward to some hot chocolate and goodies!

Our office Christmas party will be in Whistler this year at the Four Seasons Whistler courtesy of Melanie and Rob. It sounds like we'll be in for many activities including some skiing, sleigh rides and more. I can't wait.

Note to self .... when you need firewood and they tell you it's "well seasoned wood" question it. Fresh wood burns lousy.

The 80's are back!

Well folks, it looks like the 80's are back and I don't mean summer temperatures.
Lately i've been seeing more and more of the 80's clothing styles coming back. Take a walk around the mall and I feel like I'm in highschool again. I don't know about you, but I was thoroughly embarrassed being part of the 80's the first time around. Do we want to do that again by choice??
Another rainy day in paradise. I took the kids up to Cypress yesterday afternoon for their ski passes. Thankfully, there was no line up - in fact we didn't wait at all. It was raining quite a bit up there though. There's lots of snow from the weekend but with quite a bit of rain in the forecast for Cypress over the next few days, I think that skiing will be a no go for this weekend.
I think we'll probably take the kids for a swim at the WestVan community centre instead.
I spoke with my parents today in Ontario .. looks like my mom may get her driver's license back (was revoked due to her stroke almost 2 years ago). She's very excited and I hope she gets it back. I'm told they're supposed to get some snow this weekend - no thanks. I prefer driving up the mountain, enjoying the snow and then coming back down again. You don't have to shovel rain.
I just saw the Hallowe'en video that BowenIslandTV put out on YouTube (use the link in my Favourite links in the left hand column). They did a great job, I can't wait until next halloween!

Enjoying life on the "Wet" coast

It's amazing how time flies when you're having fun. I just noticed that it's been 23 days since my last post - wow, it feels like yesterday it was Hallowe'en!!
November so far has been just what we expected. Rain, rain and the odd period of more rain. Last week we had several storms come through one after another. We had tons of rain (Vancouver island experienced historic flooding) and incredibly strong winds (sometimes in excess of 80km/h with northern Vancouver Island experiencing even 110km/h breezes). Even with the excessive wind, we only had one power outage that lasted maybe 4 hours. The lower mainland actually experienced more power outages than we did on Bowen. We made the best of the power outage by cooking breakfast on the woodstove downstairs. The fireplaces have been great - we've been burning quite a bit of wood and have hardly had the furnace come on at all. It's nice to put your coat on at the end of the day and it has that wonderful smokey smell. Smells like home. Temps have generally been lows of around 5C and highs of around 10C. Highs in the last couple of days have crept down to around 5C, but it's still very comfortable. From what I understand, this is the kind of weather we can expect for the next few months.
Caroline was feeling a bit under the weather right after Hallowe'en but got better very quickly and Michael's been very healthy. The kids enjoyed having some playdates with their friends. Caroline with her friend Trinity and Michael with his friend Ewan. They get along great and I can tell they will be friends for years to come.
This past Saturday Leslie and I headed over to the mainland for a day of Christmas shopping. We also stopped in at Mt. Cypress to pickup our season ski passes. Halfway up the mountain we went from rain and green grass to a foot of snow in about 30 seconds. What a difference a little elevation makes! After about 45 minutes in line we finally got our passes. The staff at Cypress were extremely friendly and efficient especially considering the big crowds of excited skiers and snowboarders.
The rest of the day was dedicated to lots of Christmas shopping and a huge grocery stockup at the Superstore.
With Christmas almost 4 weeks away, excitement in the Blais household is building. It'll go by quickly i'm sure. Christmas is one of those times in the year when you begin to miss your family and friends left behind in Ontario.
On Friday, Leslie and I enjoyed a wonderful dinner at Carmelo's Italian Restaurant in WestVan with Rob and Melanie. The service was fantastic and the food even better. We'll definitely be going back.
It's been a wonderful commute now that I'm working out of the Mortgage Architects office with Leslie every day. I drive only on Saturdays now, and my commute consists of a short walk along Deep Bay, a short ride on the ferry and a 1 minute walk from the ferry terminal to my office. The exercise is nice and the scenery nicer. I feel sorry for all the commuters who spend hours each day locked in traffic jams on the freeways.
This is the life for me. I used to dream of having a cottage on an island that we could go to and enjoy a nice woodburning fireplace, peace and quiet and lots of trees. Now I have no desire to get a cottage, we now live where most people dream of having a cottage, and we get to be here every single day. Life is good!

Hallowe'en

Last week was a mix of sun and rain. Temperatures warmed up towards the end of the week and with a forecast of rain for most of the weekend, we were hoping that it would be cleared up by the time the kids were out trick or treating. It turned out to be an absolutely fantastic weekend. The Halloween festivities began with the school parties at BICS (Bowen Island Community School) and Bowen Island PreSchool. I was a volunteer at the BICS party on Friday morning. Caroline was extremely happy that her daddy was there to help out in her classroom. We had a great time (I worked the playdough centre) and the kids had a blast - they especially enjoyed the Halloween Feast. Mrs. Watson is a fantastic and talented teacher. Michael also enjoyed his party, and although I wasn't able to attend that one this year since it was at the same time as the BICS party, Oma did attend and took some photos.
Expecting rain, we awoke to a beautiful fall morning - sunny and crisp. We walked to the ferry and dropped Michael and Leslie off at the WestVan arena for Michael's Saturday skating class. Caroline and I went over to the sea wall trail and enjoyed a nice walk along the water. The air was salty and fresh and I was happy to be enjoying this sunny morning with Caroline serenading me with Halloween songs during our walk. After we picked up Michael, we stopped in at the Park Royal Shopping centre for lunch, picked up a few groceries and made our way back to the WestVan community centre for a swim. The pool complex is fantastic. They have a waterslide, kids swim area, lazy river current, family hot tub, adult hot tub and a lap pool. The kids had a great time and could've stayed forever. The staff were great and even talked Caroline into getting out of the pool long enough to decorate some pumpkins. We rushed a bit but made the 3:30 ferry back home to get ready for Halloween. Unfortunately, Caroline began feeling ill. All day she seemed a bit tired and groggy, but we wrote it off to getting them up early to catch the ferry. On the way back to Bowen, Caroline took a nap on the Ferry seat. After eating a little back at home, she went to bed and rested. We woke her up to see if she was able to trick or treat, she said she could do it, so we put on the costumes and headed out. We figured that if she felt bad, we could just come home and put her to bed.
Halloween on Bowen is incredible. I had been warned by all that Deep Bay would be insane at Halloween, but i was still amazed at the crowds, costumes and decorating that went on here. This place is truly special. Kids, adults, everyone - in costume. Most houses were decorated way beyond what we considered necessary in Ontario. Fireworks. We never associated Halloween with fireworks back in Ontario, but here it was a big deal. After Oma passed out about a hundred dollars worth of candy, we made our way down to the lagoon for the fireworks show over the bay. It was awesome. A great fireworks show over the bay with the mountain backdrop and a full moon. The sound echoed throughout the mountains and the light reflected off of the water to make for a perfect show. Pretty much all of Bowen comes to Deep Bay for trick or treating. In fact, many people replenished our supply of candy throughout the night.
After we got home and checked over the loot. We stopped in at Kate's next door for some hot cider and good company. We met some new people and had a very nice time. After a quick visit, we went back home to put the kids to bed. They were beat, so it didn't take them long to get to sleep.
This morning we awoke to an extra hour of available sleep, although Michael had other plans. I threw some logs in the fireplace and enjoyed a nice cup of coffee next to a roaring fire. The day turned out to be a beautiful one. Warm, clear and sunny. After a great breakfast, Caroline wasn't feeling well still, so with Oma home to keep an eye, we took Michael for a tour of the island (so Caroline could actually rest). Leslie hadn't seen everything on Bowen yet, so we headed over to Bowen Bay, Bluewater, Tunstall, Josephine Lake and Miller's Landing. Michael ended up snoozing in the car by the end of the drive, but not before exploring some nice public beaches. The time change is great since Leslie can now leave home in daylight in the morning, but it sure gets dark early now. By 5pm I was having a hard time seeing the burgers as I flipped them on the BBQ. by 5:30 it was dark. Before you know it Christmas will be here and the days will be getting longer again.
I hope that Caroline gets better soon. I know she'll be sad to miss school if she has to.
Looking forward to a great week.

Fall Colours

We had a wonderful day yesterday on the mainland. After Michael's skating lessons, we headed out to enjoy the fall colours. The day was shaping up to be fantastic and our first stop was at the Cleveland Dam for a hike through the Capilano Regional Park. We had a wonderful hike and really enjoyed the fish hatchery. After a picnic lunch we headed over to the Lynn Canyon Ecological centre for a puppet show (courtesy of Caroline and Michael) and lots of crafts and fun. Before we made our way back to the car, we decided to do a quick walk over the suspension bridge. After some of the rain we had, the water was really flowing. After a quick pit stop at Timmies for a coffee and some timbits, we drove out to Deep Cove for some play time at the park. Caroline had fun climbing the boulders and Michael loved the barrel roll feature at the play structure. From there we went over to another park, Cates Park. Cates is always a hit with the kids, it's such a great play structure and there's tons of room to roam. We did some shell searching on the beach, but didn't find anything suitable to add to the kids' shell collection. We had planned on making it to the WestVan community centre for a swim, but it was approaching dinner time and everyone was getting tired. We had a great dinner at White Spot in North Vancouver (the kids love the pirate ship kids meals) and then we headed back to make the 8:30 ferry.
Last week went by quickly - I wrote and passed my BC Mortgage Brokers exam on Tuesday and began working at our Mortgage Architects office on Wednesday. After so many years as a Real Estate agent, it feels wierd doing something else. Mortgage brokerage looks like it will be an interesting and challenging career and the people in the office are fantastic. I'm excited to see what the future will hold. The office has a great location and it's hard to concentrate on work with such a fantastic view of the Horseshoe Bay marina. The old trusty HP laptop finally died on Thursday. It's been running well since 2005, but it's finally time for a new one. I picked up a great deal on an HP laptop at Future Shop Thursday night and I'm really enjoying the Windows 7 OS. Now if we could just get the Blackberry Facebook app working properly again, that would be great.
The water is really flowing now at the Deep Bay causeway. The kids miss Swanny (the resident white swan) but i'm sure she'll be back in the spring. I expect that the Salmon will be arriving soon to climb the fish ladder into the lagoon. I can't wait to see it in person.
The weather is slowly turning quite rainy and damp, but it isn't so bad. It makes the beautiful days like Saturday that much more enjoyable. It's great to have that wonderful feeling of bliss where you know that you made the right choice in coming here to BC. We never had that in Ottawa - we wondered the entire time, had we made the right choice. Here on Bowen, we know it's right and we're happy to be here.
The leaves are falling and the fall colours are beautiful. It'll be interesting to see when we get our first snow here on Bowen (I hear they got a bit of snow in Ottawa already!).
Today was rainy and grey. That's ok. It was a good day to stay home and get caught up on some laundry, cleaning and making a contribution to the woodpile. A lazy cup of coffee next to the roaring fire is a great way to start a Sunday.
The kids are excited for Hallowe'en next weekend. I don't expect we'll have much of a mainland day. After Michael's finished with skating, we'll probably make a 2nd attempt at a swim at the community centre and then head back home and prepare for the festivities.
It would be great to have my parents here from Ontario, everyone misses them. Maybe they'll eventually be bitten by the BC bug and move out here too.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
We had a fantastic long weekend.

The festivities started for us on Friday evening as we headed over to BICS (Caroline's school) for the 1st annual Thanksgiving dance & social. The kids had a great time. After a slow start Caroline saw some of her friends and within minutes was dancing up a storm (along with Michael) to her teacher Mrs. Watson's music. After a couple of hours of dancing and playing in the straw bales (country western themed event), they were pooped and were quick to fall asleep that night.

No rest for the weary though, because the next morning we got up early and took the ferry to Horseshoe Bay and got into the lineup for the Langdale Ferry for a road trip up the Sunshine Coast. The coast was beautiful. We passed through Gibsons and Sechelt and visited Porpoise Bay Provincial park and the fish hatchery. By the time we arrived back on Bowen it was time for bed. Sunday was a great day for a hike with the kids to our own Bowen fish hatchery and the meadows trail. Even though the hatchery was closed on Sunday, it was still a nice hike and I did promise Michael we would check out the trail.
Thanksgiving day was a great day for hanging around the house and having a "Pajama Day" as Caroline would say. The kids stayed in their 'jammies until around 3pm when we finally decided to get dressed and head outside for some backyard fun. Then came the Thanksgiving dinner. Mmmmm. A wonderful turkey cooked to perfection by my lovely wife and all the fixin's.
All in all, this was a great 1st Thanksgiving on Bowen. Looking forward to many more.

Fantastic weekend

Another fantastic weekend has passed here on Bowen. Friday I hopped on the ferry to do some work from Horseshoe Bay and have lunch with Leslie at the office. After picking up some groceries and the Thanksgiving Turkey, we headed back to the island.
Saturday after Leslie and Michael sailed over to the mainland for Michael's skating lessons, they returned in time for us all to walk over to the Apple festival. It was a wonderful little festival with apple cider made the old fashioned way with a grinder and press. The kids enjoyed the games like apple bobbing and musical stumps? - a great time enjoyed by all. Afterwords we stopped in at Snug for a coffee and Michael had the worlds biggest chocolate chip cookie. Caroline held out for an ice cream drum stick from the General Store. After heading home and doing some chores while the kids played in the back yard, we got cleaned up and headed back into town for a special dinner at Tuscany for Oma's 65th birthday. We had a great dinner - the adults all had the cannelloni and the kids had the spaghetti - both highly recommended. After some fantastic desert we headed home along the water to watch the moon rising over Deep Bay.
Sunday morning after a hearty breakfast, Leslie and I ventured out to climb Mt. Gardner (sans enfants). Mt. Gardner isn't the biggest mountain at just under 2500ft (compared to the Lions at around 5500ft) but it was still a workout for us Essex County folk. We hiked the skid trail up to the loop, past several vistas to the North Summit where we enjoyed beautiful panoramic views of Howe Sound, Vancouver and even Mt. Rainier in Washington State, USA. The weather was absolutely perfect for a day of hiking. You couldn't ask for better. We have been so spoiled by this fantastic Bowen Island weather that I'm really hoping this is normal and not just a fluke. Back home we always heard about how much it rains in BC. So far, there's way more rain happening in Ontario.
It's still hard to believe that we actually live here. It's a great feeling to know deep inside that you truly belong here. We didn't get that feeling at all after moving to Ottawa. I know that we've made the right choice and can't wait to see what the future holds for us on Bowen.

Autumn is here!

Autumn has arrived on Bowen with a mix of perfect sunny weather in it's initial first days to today's soaking rains. Toady's weather so far has been a temp of about 7C and a steady rain. It's ok though, I kind of like it (so far). I just looked out the window and saw Michael and Oma outside in the rain gear with Michael puddle jumping. He's certainly enjoying it, besides it's good for the grass right? Caroline was supposed to have her first class field trip of the year today participating in the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup at Tunstall Bay beach. I'm not sure if the class will still go ahead with the trip due to the weather, but Caroline has her full MEC rainsuit with her, so she should be snug as a bug if the do go out.
Saturday was our weekly mainland day. While Michael was skating at the WestVan community arena, Caroline and I explored Dunderave village in West Van. We enjoyed the park and headed out to the pier to watch some fisherman. It was a fairly windy day, so lots of waves crashing on the rocks. We had fun dodging the waves avoiding soakers. After Michael finished up the skating, we headed over to the WestVan Library. What a nice facility. We picked up some movies and books and Michael enjoyed a bit of storey time. After a Subway picnic lunch at the Dunderave park we visited earlier, we did a bit of shopping and then headed in search of Caroline's new pet. A Beta fish (goldfish type). We found a pet store and proceeded to buy a pretty little pink fish named Princess the Beta fish which has now taken up residence on Bowen. Caroline bought her new pet with her allowance and is planning some future upgrades to the fish bowl such as a treasure chest. After some grocery shopping we headed back to Bowen and a movie night.
Sunday was spent being a bit lazy in the morning and doing some organizing and cleaning up. In the afternoon, Leslie and I hauled the kayaks down to Deep Bay and enjoyed our first salt water paddle. It was perfect weather and we very much enjoyed the paddle even though it was a relatively short one. We headed over to Snug Cove and stopped in at Nancy's Taco's for some lunch while Oma and the kids met us there for some ice cream.
Dragging the Kayaks back home would have been much more fun if not for the flat tire on the Kayak Cart. Finding a 3.00 x 4 tube is no problem pretty much anywhere, but try finding one here on Bowen. Not as easy.
Michael is enjoying his new sandbox and has launched a massive road building construction project which will cost taxpayers $0.00 for a change.
Next Saturday is the Bowen Apple Festival, so we'll probably limit our mainland day to just Michael's skating and then visit the apple festival. I hope that we'll have some good weather.
Well, time to get back to work.

Our first month on Bowen

Looking back, it's been a great first month on Bowen (except me getting sick though). The weather has been fantastic with more great weather in the forecast for this week - Sunny and near 30C !! We've really enjoyed our time on Bowen so far and we look forward to what the future has in store for us.
Saturday we took a mainland day and headed over to the West Vancouver Community arena for Michael's skating lessons. Caroline and I went into the community centre and found a great little family centre that was hosting a dad's and kids session during the time that we were there. It is a free session similar to an early years drop in centre that allows dads and the kids to have some fun playing and doing crafts. Caroline and I had a great time while Michael finished up his skating lessons. From there we did some shopping and then headed over to Cates Park near Deep Cove for the kids to play. It's such a wonderful park, they had a blast and especially enjoyed the strawberry waffle cone ice cream.
Sunday we unpacked some more and cleaned up the house a bit. We had Rob and Melanie McLister over for a BBQ and really enjoyed the company. We walked them back to the last ferry of the night at around 9:30pm. It was pitch black outside and the stars were amazing. No light pollution on Bowen.
I've been working on my Mortgage Brokers course from the University of British Columbia. Nearing the half way point and looking forward to wrapping it up quickly.
With the great weather forecasted for this week, we'll get outside as much as we can with the kids and have some fun, because November is coming quick and I hear it'll be pretty soggy.
Time to get back to work.

Happy 4th Birthday Michael !!

Sunday my little man turned 4 years old. We had a wonderful day together. We enjoyed a hike to Killarney Lake and were hoping to do the loop completely, but started too late and had to get back to decorate for Michael's party and start dinner. We have had some fantastic weather since arriving in BC nearly a month ago. We've really only had a couple of days of rain in nearly 4 weeks. Today is a rain day, but that's ok, it'll help the grass green up and the rest of the week looks rain free - sunny and around 20C.

Still unpacking and organizing. We've certainly got much less square footage to work with than in Amehrstburg or Ottawa, but with a little creativity, we'll make it all fit.

So far we're really enjoying Bowen. We miss everyone back home, but overall, the move was worthwhile. Once we get past the time spent unpacking and organizing and Revenue Canada's "welcome to BC, we're going to audit you" gift, we can finally spend some time with the kids enjoying the outdoors - what we came here for.

Time to get back to work.

Settling in

It feels like we're finally settling in on Bowen. I'm starting to feel better after my fight with food poisoning. I can't believe it lasted this long. Even though I'm not 100% back to normal, i'm still doing much better.
The kids have been enjoying school, Michael is so happy to be in preschool (there's no JK in British Columbia, so you pay for the kids to attend preschool). Caroline started Gymnastics yesterday and she really loves it. We purchased our season passes for mt. Cypress skiing yesterday. Unlimited skiing for the entire family (including x-country and snowshoeing for the adults) cost only $800 for the season. This isn't a normal price, but a special price due to the 2010 olympics. Cypress will be hosting olympic events and will be closed for 5 weeks during the olympics. This is why the price is so cheap. However, our passes include an add-on that allows the kids to ski at mt Seymour during the time that Cypress is closed for the games. The price is right - this package would normally cost well over $3000 for the family any other year, so we're glad we got in on it.
Michael will be skating in West Vancouver and Leslie will be coaching there on Saturdays. So it sounds like the kids will have a busy fall and winter. We still have to look into swimming at the West Van community centre. I wonder if we'll have time for it all.
The weather has been truly magnificent here. We've had a total of about 2 days of rain since we arrived on August 18th and the forecast shows no rain in the near future. Days are generally sunny with little wind and around 20C highs. So far no allergies for me, I will be very happy if I have left my allergies behind me in Ontario.
I've taken care of the vehicle licensing, got my BC plates on the van and trailer. Just waiting on the BC Health care cards to be processed and we'll be all set. Leslie is the only one who still needs to head over and get her driver's license switched over to BC.
My 38th birthday just passed on Thursday, I don't feel a day over 28. Yeah right. Thanks to all of my friends who sent email and facebook birthday wishes. It was a wonderful day. Michael's birthday is tomorrow and he's very excited - I'm sure he'll have a great day - we'll make it all about him and make sure he has a great time.
Tonight will be our family campout in the living room in front of the fireplace. We did this last week and the kids really enjoyed it. Movie night, popcorn, stay up late, throw a log on the fire and tell some scary stories - they love it.
Hopefully accomplish some more unpacking today - I'm really tired of not being able to find things that i need. It seems that we don't have much left to do, but it seems to be taking an awfully long time to finish up.
I hope everyone has a great weekend, the weather should be fantastic so enjoy!

What a week!

Well it's certainly been an eventful week since my last post ..
Wednesday we headed over to the Aquarium and had a great time visiting with the whales, dolphins and other sea creatures. We visited Totem pole park and toured the rest of Stanley Park and the beaches, as well as portions of downtown Vancouver. We then headed back to Horseshoe Bay and picked Leslie up from work and made walked over to the Boathouse for a nice dinner courtesy of my parents. We had a great time, but for me, that's where things took a turn for the worst. Within an hour of leaving the restaurant, I started with abdominal pain which worsened during the evening and night. The next day I woke to a headache and continued pain, but decided that since we were running out of time with my parents and their visit, I would tuff it out and we could visit Harrison Hot springs where the kids could enjoy the beach (big mistake for me). Combined with huge traffic tie ups in Surrey and Abbotsford, my physical condition only continued to worsen. When we finally arrived back home I had all the symptoms for food poisoning and would end up being sick for a week (I'm still sick as I type this) My parents had a great time visiting Bill and Marg in Nanaimo on Sat and Sunday. They played some golf and visited the Cathedral Grove.
The rest of the family had a great time at Bowfest on Saturday (I was so disappointed to be at home in bed) - Caroline and Michael took part in the "Run for the Ferry" marathon and were proud to show off their medals. They also enjoyed the parade and the other fun events.
Monday I took my parents to the airport for their flight home to Ontario (now that was an interesting drive in my condition) - after saying goodbye, I visited the friendly staff at the Lions Gate Hospital ER who re hydrated me with a few bags of IV, but when I got home, things hadn't changed and still haven't. I'm hoping to drive out to see them again this afternoon to try and put an end to this illness. It's been a week now and I need it to be over.
First Days of School !! Caroline had her first day of school yesterday and she absolutely loved it, the staff is fantastic and I know she's going to have a wonderful time at BICS. Michael's first day is today and I'm sure it will go just as well for him.
Time to get better, I can't wait to get back to work!

Our first week here

Today marks our first week on Bowen Island. Saturday my mother's friends Marg and Bill came by and spent the day. My parents had a wonderful time and so did we. We had a nice steak barbecue on the new grill and enjoyed dinner outside on the new patio set. I have to say that I had exceptional service since arriving here - Sears let me take their floor model patio set since I was having people over and they could not order me one for a week, the fellow at the Bowen Island hardware store hooked me up with propane for the new grill even though they had run out of new 20lb cylinders, Home Depot took care of a damaged part on the grill even though I had forgotten the receipt on the island (and even took the part from another grill so that I wouldn't have to order it and make another trip out). I've had many other great experiences as well and I'm very happy with my experience so far.
Sunday we spent the day putting up the kids play structure and went down to the pier for ice cream. Yesterday was spent on the mainland with a tour of some great parks for my parents. We visited Whytcliffe park, Horseshoe Bay park, Ambleside Beach, Lynn Canyon suspension bridge and had a great lunch at White Spot again. The service and food is always fantastic. The kids love the pirate ship meals.
Today is looking to be a cooler, drizzly day - only expected to reach 12C. I'm not sure what we'll do, but we've only got 3 more days with my parents (including today) before they head back to Ontario - They're heading over to Nanaimo on Friday to stay with Marg and Bill for a couple of days and then flying back to Ontario on Monday. We still want to visit downtown Vancouver, English Bay, Stanley Park and head to Squamish and Whistler. I was even hoping to visit Harrison Hot springs with them and let the kids go for a swim. A bit too cold for that today. We'll see what everyone feels like doing.

Settling in

It's been a few days since we arrived here on Bowen. We're finally starting to settle in and get things unpacked (slowly). Leslie started working the following morning in Horseshoe Bay and is thrilled to be in the Mortgage Architects office with Melanie and Rob. The first couple of days brought near 30C temps and was quite warm in the kids rooms upstairs (we're not used to having no AC on those warm days) however, temps cooled off starting yesterday into the low 20's and are expected to hover around the 20C mark all week with some clouds but no real rain expected. It's been nice taking the kids out to see their mother off to work at the ferry dock and to wait for her when she comes home. Michael especially really enjoys it.
Yesterday, my parents and I did a mainland shopping spree for some important items - a new 46" flat screen TV, patio set, stainless steel BBQ and a bunch of other items that we got rid of for the move out west. There are a few missing items (ie. screws etc. for chairs that were disassembled to fit in the overcrowded truck) but I'm sure we'll find them at some point during the unpacking process.
Today, my mother's friend Marg and her husband are coming to visit us on Bowen from their home in Nanaimo. I think my mom's pretty excited to see her, they haven't seen each other since they worked together at Sorensen's greenhouses in Ruthven many many years ago. Next Saturday my parents are headed over to Nanaimo to stay overnight at Marg's place. I must say that my mom's getting much better with boats (she has been very hesitant when it comes to water). Last night our return trip from the mainland at night was very beautiful. Seeing everything lit up against the sea was fantastic.
Next week since we'll be more settled in, I'll take my parents to do some more sightseeing. I took them to Tunstall bay on the south end of the island the other night and over by the golf course. We saw 13 deer in less than an hour and my parents were delighted. Bucks, does and fawns were certainly abundant for our viewing pleasure.
Have a great weekend!

Leslie's first commute to work

Home

We finally made it home to Bowen yesterday at about 3pm. We left Kamloops at abput 7:30am hoping to catch the 12 noon ferry but too many open truck inspection stations along with what we believe is wheel bearing trouble with the minivan had us miss the ferry by about 15 mins. No worries, we headed over to Deep Cove and stopped in at Cates Park for some lunch and for the kids to play. Then we caught the 2:30 ferry and made it home. Jen, Philip and Emily left the home spotless for us (and even left us some cookies, bread, milk and wine - many thanks!) After a brief tour of the home, we started unloading and got about half way done when we decided to stop for the day and head over to Doc Morgans for some dinner. After an early bedtime, I awoke to beautiful 1st day on the island. Since it's a bit damp and chilly this morning, I lit a nice fire in the fireplace and enjoyed coffee and toast by the fire.
Well it's time to finish unloading and return the trusty U-Haul truck.

The caravan in the Rockies

Almost Home!

Today we left Edmonton with great weather and very much enjoyed our drive through Jasper National park and the rockies. Although the drive was beautiful and the road easier with the truck, I think I prefer the Banff scenery better. We pulled into Kamloops BC at dinner time and got some great rooms at the Best Western Hotel. The kids enjoyed yet another swim and we're off to bed for our early departure. We'll leave a bit earlier tomorrow so that we can make it to Horseshoe Bay in time to catch the noon ferry. Finally almost home. Everyone is getting a bit sore from all the driving and it'll be nice to eat meals at home for a change.

A day off

Today was a day off for us on our trip to BC. We enjoyed our day in Edmonton, AB very much. After sleeping in a bit and a nice breakfast at the Comfort Inn's restaurant, we walked over to the West Edmonton Mall. What an incredible facility. We took a quick walk around the mall and saw some of the sights such as the pirate ship, submarine, seals and much more. After hitting the rides and playing games over at Galaxyland amusement park, we headed over to the waterpark and had a great time playing in the wave pool and waterslides.
By the time the 6pm mall closing came around we were exhausted. We walked back to the hotel and stopped by Kelseys for dinner on the way back.
Everyone's pretty tired and ready to hit the hay. Tomorrow we'll drive through what I expect to be the best scenery of the trip, Jasper National Park in the Rocky Mountains. We'll be spending our last night on the road in BC tomorrow, perhaps we'll make it to Kamloops or of we spend too much time enjoying Jasper, we'll only get as far as Clearwater, BC -- either way, we'll be on Bowen Island Tuesday.

Caroline & Michael are loving the pirate ship at the West Edmonton Mall

Update

We left Dryden yesterday morning to a strong thunderstorm. While packing up in the morning, we noticed that it was getting much darker instead of lighter outside. We packed quickly and loaded up the vehicles just in time. Thunder, lightning and heavy (very heavy) rains pelted us most of the way to Kenora. Since we were trying to make up time due to our late departure from my parents house, we opted to take the Kenora bi-pass instead of going through Kenora. I really like that town and wished that we had time for a visit, especially since my parents had never been there. The kids needed a change of scenery so we strapped one of the car seats into the U-Haul truck and the kids have had lots of fun taking turns "riding with daddy in the really big truck". Usually it boils down to Michael sleeping and Caroline playing video games on my Blackberry. We made it through Manitoba very quickly and ended up spending the night in Regina, SK. We stayed at the Travelodge hotel and had a great time. The hotel had a waterpark and Caroline & Michael (and mom & dad also) had a blast with the waterslide and the warm pool and hot tub. After playing in the waterpark, we hit the sack around 11pm. We awoke to pouring rain. After raining all night, it rained again all day today. From Regina to almost Edmonton, it was a steady and heavy rain, but no thunderstorms. It took us about 8 hours to get from Regina to Edmonton and we headed for the West Edmonton Mall. Unfortunately, all of the hotels that are part of the mall were booked solid (in fact almost all of the hotels in west Edmonton were also sold out.) We found what sounded to be a nice place near the mall, the Travelodge West Edmonton. Since we had a great time at the Regina Travelodge, we figured the Edmonton (it also claimed to have a waterpark) Travelodge would be a great choice. Wrong - after checking in, we visited the rooms and were disgusted. old (very old) hotel with an upgraded facade. The rooms stank of old pet odour covered up with febreze and I was worried that the elevator wouldn't make it up to the 5th floor. I called around and found 2 rooms at the Comfort Inn nearby so we checked out of the Travelodge as quickly as possible. The Comfort Inn is nice, clean (but no pool) and we can park our vehicles right outside of our sliding patio doors.
Tomorrow is a day off. No driving - just a visit to the West Edmonton Mall and maybe some time in their water park. It'll be a nice break for everyone to enjoy some time to themselves a bit and get a little exercise.
We'll head for BC on Monday morning (through Jasper National Park) perhaps even making it to Kamloops for the night. Hopefully we have good weather for Jasper National Park, since I'm expecting it to be the highlight of the trip.

Michael loves sitting up front with daddy in the U-Haul truck

Lake Superior Provincial Park

On our way

Well finally I have some data reception on the blackberry - I haven't had much signal since about Sudbury, ON. We're having lunch in Winnipeg right now (A&W) having woken up to strong thunderstorms from Dryden,ON through Kelowna and finally clearing just west of the Manitoba border.
After significant delays on the morning of our departure (the final load up took much longer than expected) we finally hit the road shortly after lunch. This put us in Toronto smack in the middle of rush hour and right in the middle of a thunderstorm and torrential downpour - we could barely see a thing on the 401.
We ended up only making it to Barrie,ON on day 1. Our second day was perfect weather as we went through Lake Superior Provincial park near sunset. We finally stopped for the night in Wawa,ON at a great little motel called Northern Lights. Our third day brought us through Thunder Bay and finally to the Best Western hotel in Dryden where the kids had a great time in the pool.
Hopefully I'll have good signal from now on and I can post more often.
Well I guess we should hit the road.

Load em up!

Today we picked up the 17ft U-haul truck from Tilbury and loaded it up. The truck is a newer Ford vehicle and is in pretty good shape, it only has 45,000 miles on it, so I hope that we have no problems on the trip. We could've done without the 90F weather with miserable humidity and thunderstorm for loading the truck though, but regardless, the trailer is loaded to capacity and so is the truck. Unfortunately we came up short on room a bit in the truck, we packed as tight as we could, but a few inexpensive items just couldn't make the trip.
This will be our last night sleeping here in Essex County. Many thanks to my parents for putting up with us for so long and allowing us to stay with them between homes. It was nice to spend the summer with them here, and although it was tight with 7 people living in the house, we really enjoyed it and we're going to miss them tremendously. We're looking forward to showing them around BC.
Tomorrow we hope to hit the road around 8am or so, we just have to load the minivan and Krista's focus and we'll be off.
Time to pack up the computer and start posting to the blog via Blackberry.
It sounds like we'll have some nice weather tomorrow for our drive and hope to stay somewhere around Sudbury tomorrow night (depending on if we hit the road early enough).

1 day left !

Today was a scorcher (sunny skies and 102F with humidity) in Essex County. Just shy of record heat in the area.
We beat the heat by taking the kids over to the splash pad at Toddy Jones Park in Amherstburg. After sloshing around in the water park, we headed over to our old Golfview neighbourhood to visit our old neighbours Keith and Sue Gagnon. We enjoyed some cold drinks and good company while the kids went swimming at the Stevenson's house next door.
After prying them away from the pool and their friends, we headed home for a great dinner of BBQ'd sausages and shishkabobs. The local weather stations are posting severe thunderstorm warnings for our area and by the looks of things, we may have some storms roll through within a couple of hours or so. Areas near metro Detroit are getting 1.5" hail and strong winds, so I hope we don't get anything too bad here.
Tomorrow we pick up the 17ft U-Haul truck in Tilbury at about noon. The company called me today to confirm the truck and it sounds like we've got a newer vehicle for the trip.
It sounds like we'll have another hot sticky day for loading up the truck, it should be about 92F with a 50% chance of rain.
As I'm typing this, Leslie is still trying unsuccessfully to get Michael to sleep. It seems as though lately, no matter how tired he is, he will fight to stay up until 10:00 or later. I can't wait to get him into his own room and settled into a routine... Caroline has now all of the sudden become afraid of the dark, so same with her, no sleeping till late in the evening. I hope that things will become easier for her as well once we get to Bowen.

2 days to go !!!

Today was a miserable rainy day here in southwestern Ontario. However, we did have a nice visit from Caroline's godparents Mike and Candace Larferle from Michigan. We made a quick visit to Colasantis Tropical gardens in Ruthven with the kids and after a quick Pogo for the kids, we dropped them off with the grandparents so that we could have a nice lunch for grown-ups at Jacks restaurant in Kingsville. It was nice to have adult conversations over a wonderful lunch. Afterwards we stopped in at Pelee Island Winery for a tour and some wine tasting (oh yeah!).
Dinner on the other hand - not so good. I never want to see KFC again for as long as I live. Two words - Grease Bucket.
2 days to go before we head out, tomorrow is supposed to be the hottest day of the year so far (94F and sunny). The forecast is for a hot and humid 92F for truck loading on Monday. So far it looks like we'll have pretty good driving weather to BC.

3 Days and counting!!

Today I enjoyed a great paddle with my buddy Pete in the Detroit River. The weather was perfect. Temps in the high 70's (F) and partly cloudy skies with a light breeze from the south.
We met at Paddler's Cover in Amherstburg this morning and paddled to Crystal Bay and into Hidden Lake. We saw plenty of white swans, heron's, dozens of turtles and plenty of jumping fish. After a quick break we headed over to Boblo Island (Bois Blanc) and had lunch at the island restaurant. Even though they didn't officially open for another half hour, they were great and served us immediately. Great food and great service!
This was Pete's first time in a solo kayak and he was really enjoying it, so we continued on and paddled around the island past white sands beach and finally back to the vehicles at paddler's cove.
I finally made it back home around 4pm and after dinner took the kids to the video store to pick up some movies for tonight's movie night - the feature presentation.....Stewart Little 3.
3 Days to go. The kayak trailer worked out great, my test run to Amherstburg today went well - no problems.
I caught the 6pm Windsor news on CBC tonight - Windsor's July unemployment rate has reached 16% (ouch) the highest in the country. The national average is 8.6% for July. It's going to be a difficult road to recovery for Windsor and Essex County.
I'm sure that the next 3 days will go by quickly and we'll be on the road before we know it. They're calling for storms tomorrow and a scorching humid 94F on sunday. I hear BC is cooling off nicely. Can't wait!

Pete's first Kayak paddle - Detroit River

4 Days and counting!

Well we're in the home stretch now ... I'm getting pretty excited to hit the road.
Over the last couple of days, we've spent some time doing some odd jobs around my parents home - installing drainage in front of the pole barn, cutting down trees & branches etc.
Today I took a drive with the kids through Woodslee and Belle River, and stopped in at my buddy Ray Proulx's new shop. He's started up a shop in Puce for personal watercraft etc. and it looks great. Unfortunately Ray wasn't there when I stopped by, but I had a chance to see the shop anyway. Afterwards, I went over to the VIA Rail station in Windsor and got a refund for my parents train tickets since they're flying home now. Once we were finished, we visited a couple of parks at Windsor's waterfront. I know that the workers just got off of a lengthy strike, but the city looks aweful. The first park we went to was on the river across from Casino Windsor. There was pet feces on the play equipment, dead grass and garbage everywhere. The kids agreed that we should find another park, so we went further down the river to another park that was in much better shape. There were other kids playing and the garbage and play equipment was in much better shape. Just lots of broken glass in the parking lot. After navigating all of the road closures in Windsor, we ended up back home just long enough to grab some dinner, swimsuits (and Leslie) and head to Amherstburg to hit the splash pad (while Leslie visited the Chiropractor). The kids had a good time in the water and afterwards we visited the Stevenson's in our old Golfview neighbourhood. The kids had a great time playing with Brian and Katie and crashed out in the van on the way home. Tomorrow morning I'll hitch up the kayaks and meet my buddy Pete for a paddle in the Detroit River. We'll put-in at the new Paddler's Cove in Amherstburg (end of Texas rd.) and paddle out to Crystal Bay and Hidden Lake. If there's any energy left, maybe we'll circle Bob-lo Island too. It'll be nice to get out on the water again.
Glad to hear the the wildfires in BC are slowly getting under control and that temp's are cooling down - I am ready.

7 Days and counting !!

Yesterday we had a great time visiting with the Argoselo family in Amherstburg, ON. Caroline and Michael had a blast playing with their children Brendan and Ava. They enjoyed water activities - slip 'n' slide and even had a nice bonfire after dinner. They have a great place on the lake but it was a bit too windy to have the fire on the waterfront, so we had it backing onto the marsh across the street - the mosquito's were ferocious. The kids were exhausted and were out like a light on the ride home.
Today we taped off an area in the pole barn equal to the interior dimensions of the 17ft U-Haul that we'll be taking to BC in a week. Looks like we'll be able to fit everything we need in the truck. We had a great dry run and it looks like we'll even be able to take a few things we didn't expect to have room for. Krista will no longer need to pull a trailer behind her car. I'm really glad that I won't have to drive the big 26 footer across the country.
With rain in the forecast for tomorrow, the rest of the week looks like it will be great here in Essex County. The end of the week promises high '70's F and sunny skies (chances of rain and high 80's for the weekend though) Maybe I'll get ahold of my buddy Pete and go for a kayak paddle this week.
Watching the forest fires burn in BC is heartbreaking. The number of fires popping up daily (mostly due to lightening) is incredible. Hopefully they get some good soaking rains soon.
Now that we're in the home stretch for our departure, i can tell it's going to be a really long week.

8 days and counting!!

Eight days to go ! Unfortunately we weren't able to go to my nephew Kyle's birthday party in Alvinston yesterday ... he became sick and my sister had to cancel his surprise party. It was disappointing, especially for Caroline who was really looking forward to it.
Instead, we drove to nearby Lasalle to enjoy their community outdoor pool and park. The kids had a great time, even though the mostly overcast skies and brisk wind made it a bit chilly.
I hope that BC gets some rain soon, the fire risk is extreme there and the heat has been difficult for many.
Today we'll finish up the repacking (finally) and enjoy dinner with Maria her family (my old co-worker at Deerbrook 1st Realty). They've got a great place on the lake, and some wonderful kids, so I'm sure our kids will have a great time.

11 Days to go!

The weather in Ruthven, ON today was fantastic, less humidity, temps around 23C and sunny skies.
Caroline had a chance to visit with her old friend from our old Amherstburg neighbourhood - Annie Hammond. Annie has since moved to Guelph with her family but was back in Amherstburg for a visit. Caroline was very happy to have had a chance to visit with Annie (and her friend Brooke and Renee too). She was sad to leave though. It's hard to leave friends behind - but we know we'll be happy on Bowen. We'll be headed to Alvinston on Saturday for my nephew Kyle's 8th birthday party. Caroline's really looking forward to that.
Michael is happy just driving grandpa's lawn tractor all day long. He's getting to be quite the good driver for only 3 years old!
I'm impatiently awaiting our departure for BC - I expect that Leslie can't wait to get to her new office in Horseshoe Bay.

Happy 6th Birthday Caroline !!

My little Princess Caroline turned 6 years old yesterday - she had a wonderful day and received many Facebook birthday wishes. We had a nice family birthday party and she was very surprised with all of her gifts (especially the Wii).
12 days to go before we're bound for Bowen and from what I can see on the news, BC (including the lower mainland) is locked in a heat wave. Hopefully it eases up before we get there - we're heading to BC in the hopes of leaving hot and humid Ontario behind us. From what I understand though, the last heat wave like this was in apprx 2003 and before that the last one was in 1928!! Will this type of weather be happening more frequently to the northwest due to climate change? We'll see.

14 Days and counting. ..

The gang had a great time at Soak City yesterday. After checking multiple weather reports for Sandusky Ohio, we opted not to go to Cedar Point on Saturday. We did drive up in the afternoon on Saturday to hang out at the campground where we booked a cabin (Camp Sandusky). It turns out we should've gone to Cedar Point since we didn't get a drop of rain the entire time we were in the USA from after lunch on Saturday until Sunday night. Oh well, the kids had a great time in the pool at the camprgound and playing at their playstructure. After some not so scary stories around the campfire, we hit the pillows and awoke to a wonderful day for Soak City on Sunday. The weather was nice (my sunburn is proof) but the strong wind from Lake Erie could be a bit chilly at times. The park was not too busy and everyone had fun playing in Soak City's waterslides, wavepool and many other attractions. After a great dinner at my favourite restaurant (Cracker Barrel) we headed back to Canada with a van full of exhausted kids (and grown-ups too!).
Well it looks like the Via Rail strike is over already. After 48 hours, they came to their senses quickly and decided that a lengthy strike could make it difficult to win customers back to an already slow and expensive form of travel (as discussed in my previous post). The globe and mail has reported that Via is going to offer 60% discounted fares as a way of apologizing to it's customers. My parents have decided to stick with air travel since there would be no discount to them (they already bought their tickets at full pop). Even with the $200 penalty we'll have to pay to cancel them, air travel will still be cheaper and they'll be home in just over 4 hours (instead of 4 days). I'm sure the train trip through the rockies would have been incredible, but come on, if they can't bring these fares down and compete with the airlines, how are they ever going to get ridership up?
With 14 days before we're Bound for Bowen, I guess I should get going on sending out change of address notifications (because there's no way I'm going to trust Canada Post with it this time).

16 Days to go!

I'll be loading up the van with Michael, Caroline and my nephews Richard and Kyle for our trip to Cedar Point this weekend. Today's weather looks like it will be lousy - rain showers all day with thunderstorms. Booooo. Oh well, we have a cabin rented in Sandusky, OH for tonight and tomorrow we'll head to Cedar Point's Soak City - it looks like the weather for tomorrow should be much better (Sunny, about 80 deg F and only a 20% risk of a thunderstorm).
Caroline & Michael have really enjoyed having Richard and Kyle around, after this weekend it'll be hard for them to say goodbye. We've been having lots of trouble with Michael and bedtime lately. I know that most of it is caused by our crazy lack of stable home life in the last few weeks, but hopefully we can get him into a bedtime routine soon. You can only drive him around the block to get him to sleep so many times in the week!
With only 16 days to go, we're really getting anxious to head for Bowen - we're almost done with the repacking and it looks like we'll be able to get the 17ft truck but we'll have to load it extremely tight. All of the arrangements have been made for utility accounts for the new place. Next week it will be change of addresses. Speaking of addresses we finally (after 22 days of no mail) received our redirected mail from Ottawa. It took a few phone calls to Canada Post but we finally got the mail.
My parents were originally supposed to drive up with us and take the train back, but since VIA Rail went on strike yesterday we booked them flights with WestJet direct from Vancouver to London,ON which is only about 1.5 hours from their home here in Ruthven. No wonder people don't use the train - I purchased 2 one way tickets from WestJet (4 hour flight) for $640 including seat selection and fees/taxes. I paid $840 for 2 one way tickets on the train (4 DAY trip). Even if VIA won't let me cancel their train trip without penalty ($200 penalty) we still won't lose anything by switching to air travel. That's unbelievable.

19 Days and counting.

19 Days left to go before we head out to BC.
We had a great time visiting with Candace and Mike in Michigan on the weekend even though Mike had to cut it short due to a last minute business trip to Ireland. Hopefully we can visit with them again before we head out to BC.
On our way back from their home in Utica, we stopped off at the Detroit zoo and everyone had a great time. The weather was perfect, upper 70's and partly cloudy - many of the animals were out and active. After the day at the zoo, everyone was exhausted and not thrilled at the "you're name came up for random inspection" on our way home at the Canadian border crossing. They were quick and courteous though and we were out in no time.
I had a chance to have lunch with my old buddy Pete yesterday at Gilligan's restaurant in Leamington. Gilligan's definitely has the worlds best burgers (in my opinion anyway) it's nice to have a chance to visit with friends before we leave, we'll miss everyone, but better still, we hope they'll all come out to visit us on Bowen at some point. We discussed lots of topics including the bad press that Windsor has gotten in the National media. From it's economic problems including historic job losses in the auto sector, the city workers strike and garbage piling up - to the west end kids fed up with hookers hanging out in their neighbourhood, Windsor hasn't exactly been getting much good publicity lately. With the highest unemployment rate and one of the highest vacancy rates in the entire country, many people who were making an extremely good living are now looking for work and only finding low paying jobs available, if any at all. Some of the restaurants in the area have disappeared in a short period of time (Outback steakhouse, Hooters, Applebee's in Leamington, Montanas in the east end and many more) are a sign of the times here. Well, at least the housing prices are some of the lowest in the country. Affordability is fantastic here.
Since we had to cancel Caroline's birthday party at Cosmic Adventures in Ottawa, we're taking her, Michael and my nephews Richard and Kyle to Cedar Point in Sandusky Ohio on the weekend. We'll do the 2 day amusement park and soak city ticket. I'm sure everyone will have a fantastic time. I just hope that storms predicted for the weekend hold off.
Repacking is almost done now and I think that we may be able to pull off the 17 ft truck and even eliminate the need for Krista's trailer. That would be great. We'll see once we're done with all the boxes.

Life's a beach!

Yesterday I took the kids over to Cedar Beach in Kingsville ON for a swim. As expected we found the beach (like most beaches around Essex County) closed due to high levels of bacteria. In other words the "poop" content was too high. We decided to make the best of it and brought out the sand toys and took to sandcastle building near the water. After about an hour of playing in the sand we started shell collecting and to my surprise, found some hypodermic needles in the sand. I wish I could take my kids to the beach without worrying about them getting injured from some idiot's careless needle disposal practices. If you're going to shoot up - please, at least put the needle in the trash so some poor kid doesn't get injured!

Today I spent a couple of hours enjoying a nice bicycle ride with my father. He really seems to enjoy biking the Chrysler trail (old railway tracks turned walking/cycling trail). The exercise is good for them. Afterwords my father treated us to a great dinner at Filis eatery - the side door grill on Division rd in Kingsville. The service was great and so was the food. It was nice that they took care of the kids with crayons and doodle placemats and also brought their food out well before ours so that we could take care of them and still enjoy our meals. Surprisingly not that many restaurants we've been to have done a fantastic job catering to family's.

Caroline is getting pretty good at the Wii games. Her tennis is hard to beat!
Michael's been a bit difficult lately, he seems to really be trying hard for attention. As with many nights, tonight I had to take him for a drive to get him to sleep (just got back 5 minutes ago). I know all of this moving around must be tough on them, but hopefully we can get them back to normal bedtimes soon and a consistent routine.

Tomorrow we'll spend some time working on the repacking and then head over to the USA and visit Caroline's godparents Candace and Mike in Michigan. Mike unfortunately had a last minute business trip come up in Ireland, but doesn't have to leave until after dinner, so we'll head over early and spend some time with them before he leaves.

24 days and counting. Can't wait to hit the road to Bowen.

25 days and counting

Weather is pretty good today in southwestern Ontario. Yesterday was hot and very humid, today should be hot (84F) but the humidity should ease up a bit. We're slowly finishing up the repacking of our stuff, still not sure if we'll end up with the 17ft or 26ft truck though.
I'll take the kids to the beach later today to cool off. We plan on going to visit Candace and Mike on Saturday - looks like we'll have a detour on I75 north because of the tanker fire at 9 mile yesterday.
We can't wait to hit the road to Bowen - hopefully the 25 days will go by quickly.

Pack and Re-Pack

Yesterday we spent the day sorting through all of our belongings that were hastily thrown into boxes from our quick move from Ottawa. We moved everything outside and then reorganized the shop into sorted and unsorted. We created a "not coming to BC" pile which grew substantially as the day went on, but still did not eliminate enough stuff. By the looks of things, we'll have to opt for another 26 ft truck instead of the planned 17ft. Financially, the big truck really isn't much more than the smaller, but fuel will probably be more - not to mention the hastle of driving the big truck across the country and through the mountains.
The biggest problem I see here is that we will be moving into a home half the size of what we had in Ottawa. I don't want to be living ontop of boxes that we don't even end up opening! We still have alot to sort through, and hopefully we get the load down to a smaller size, but if nobody is willing to part with anything, we'll end up using the big truck and filling up another house with our junk.
After a long day of sorting, we visited the Muscat family at their campground, Leisure Lake. The campground certainly has improved since I camped there as a kid. Mark and Gina are doing well and we had a great time sitting around the campfire with them. The kids enjoyed the playground & some Smore's and we enjoyed a few drinks. Hope to see them again before we head out.

The new canoe/kayak trailer

Modifications are complete on the old utility trailer. We're now equipped to pull the canoe and kayaks together.

Enjoying time with old friends

We're taking advantage of the time that we have here in the Windsor, ON area to visit with some old friends. Yesterday we headed over to Amherstburg to visit with our old neighbours Keith and Sue Gagnon. The kids didn't recognize them at first, but soon remembered them, and our old house next door. The new owner has really taken good care of it and we're happy to see that all of the work we put into that house has really made someone very happy.
We had a great BBQ on the Grillmaster 10,000 with the Gagnon's - Thanks for the hospitality. We also got to visit with the Stevensons next door to them. Caroline and Michael went for a dip in their pool (although a bit frigid) and they had a great time.
We got home a bit late, but the kids were still awake. After the usual bedtime routine and stories, I put Caroline to bed, but that's when the tears started to roll. Why do we have to move away from Ottawa? We just moved there!! It's tough to explain to a 5 year old why we feel it's so important and how much she will love Bowen. Right now, she's upset to leave her new friends in Ottawa. They didn't seem too upset about seeing their old house in Amherstburg though and most of her old friends in the subdivision we lived have also moved away, so right now, there aren't many kids her and Michael's age nearby anyway. I know that she'll adjust quickly on Bowen and make tons of friends. She always had a knack for making friends quickly and she's well liked by everyone. It'll take some time and a bunch of tears, but I know she'll be happy. It'll just be tough on mom & dad helping her through it.
Today is a beautiful day in Ruthven, clear skies, lots of sun and should be about 80F. I'll try and spend as much time as I can playing with the kids today. They need one of those days.

A full load

This is our full 26 ft U-Haul truck

How fast things change!

It's been a crazy few days ..
On Monday we received word we could close on our home in Ottawa early and save thousands of dollars - one catch - you have 1 day to pack, move out and clean the house. Can you do it?
Oh yeah! - since we were in Windsor visiting my family at the time, my father and I headed back to Ottawa at about 5pm. We arrived at around 1:30am. My mother in law Krista arrived from her Toronto visit shortly before us. Leslie stayed with the kids and my mom in Windsor, that way Leslie could continue working.
The next morning we picked up a 26ft U-Haul truck (a piece of junk, but hey we gave them about 2 minutes notice, so we were lucky to have a truck at all) and headed back to the house to pack up, load up and clean.
Even after 2 huge yard sales, we still had way way way more stuff than I could have ever expected and the going was very slow. Thank goodness for our neighbour Steve Kirk who helped us well into the night and in the rain, without him, we'd still be there.
By Midnight, we had emptied the house and only had items left in the garage. Since the new tenants (mosquitos) had taken control of the house, we stayed at the Days Inn in Bell's Corners for the night and finished up the loading in the AM. By lunch time the truck was full (and I mean REALLY full) and we were headed back to Windsor. We'll be staying with my family for the 4 weeks until our reload and caravan to BC.
Thanks again to our wonderful neighbours the Kirk family. We hadn't known them very long, but were amazed at how generous and helpful they were. You guys always have a place to stay in BC. Come by anytime.
Now that we have a better perspective on just how much stuff we still have (and how much we aren't willing to part with) we've changed our game plan for the move. Krista will still tow her 4x8 ft trailer up, Leslie will drive our minivan with our 4x8 utility trailer (with kayak mods completed) and I will rent a 17ft U-Haul truck for the rest of the stuff. My parents will ride with us and after a nice vacation in BC, they'll take the train back to Windsor. I have to say I'm jealous, I hear the train ride through the Rockies is absolutely fantastic.
Well, it's time to unload the truck (and then sort, eliminate and repack our stuff into a reasonable amount).
Thanks to my father Yvon and Krista for nearly killing themselves doing the banzai move. They shouldn't have to do that at their age, but we really appreciate the help.

Back in Windsor/Essex County

We enjoyed our first day back in Windsor/Essex County, ON by heading out to the Erie Ramblers Motorcycle club to watch my sister Nancy's boys compete in motocross races. We had great weather and the boys did great. Afterwards, we picked up some Chinese food and enjoyed a nice meal at my parents place while Michael entertained us with a couple of "accidents" - empty a cup of sweet and sour sauce all over the table cloth and then for an encore, empty the container of glue all over the bed comforter while trying to "make Grandma a present". Good intentions though.
Everyone's tired and dusty from the day at the track, so it'll be soap up in the bath tub and hit the hay early tonight. Tomorrow we'll work on the trailer.

We're back in Windsor, ON today visiting with family. We had a great time during our mid-way stop in the Hamilton area visiting with Ian, Sabine and their beautiful baby girl Sarah. Thanks to them for lunch and great company, we'll surely miss them when we head off to BC.
We'll spend a week here in the Windsor area visiting with friends and family and making a few "mods" to the trailer for the big caravan to Bowen.

Happy 10th Anniversary to my beautiful wife Leslie. We're enjoying a wonderful dinner sans enfants at the Rideau Ritz restaurant in Ottawa tonight.

Last day of School !!

Today is Caroline's last day of school - she's very excited about summer vacation. She'll get to see all of her friends again one last time at her Cosmic Adventures birthday party in July.
Currently hot and humid in Ottawa - expected to reach 40C with humidity today. HOT!
Can't wait for Bowen weather.

First Post!

My first post on our Bound for Bowen Blog!
Our August 11th, 2009 departure date from Ottawa is fast approaching. We will be heading back to visit my family in Windsor to square away some last minute things and make some modifications to one of the trailers that we'll be using for the cross country trip.
We've now had two successful garage sales and hope to fit our remaining possessions in the trailers we'll be towing to BC.
I will be purchasing a 7 x 14 ft Owen's Cargo enclosed trailer and towing it with our minivan. My parents will be driving up with us to help and will be towing our 4 x 8 ft open trailer modified to carry our kayaks and canoe. Leslie's mother Krista (who will be also be moving to Bowen) will be towing a 4 x 8 ft enclosed U-Haul cargo trailer behind her vehicle. 3 vehicles and 3 trailers will complete the Blais family convoy. I don't think that I need to mention, we'll be taking it easy on the way there.
So it's off to more packing and preparing. August is coming quickly.