Bound for Bowen

Hallowe'en

2009-11-01T19:08:00.005-08:00

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

2009-10-25T21:12:00.002-07:00

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!!

2009-10-12T21:29:00.009-07:00

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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

2009-10-05T20:56:00.008-07:00

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!

2009-09-29T09:55:00.002-07:00

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

2009-09-22T08:46:00.002-07:00

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 !!

2009-09-16T13:00:00.005-07:00

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

2009-09-12T06:41:00.002-07:00

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!

2009-09-02T06:43:00.003-07:00

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

2009-08-25T05:45:00.002-07:00

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

2009-08-22T06:54:00.002-07:00

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

2009-08-19T08:38:00.000-07:00

Home

2009-08-19T07:57:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-17T21:49:00.000-07:00

Almost Home!

2009-08-17T21:48:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-16T19:58:00.003-07:00

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

2009-08-16T10:02:00.000-07:00

Update

2009-08-15T20:10:00.003-07:00

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

2009-08-14T12:28:00.001-07:00

Lake Superior Provincial Park

2009-08-14T10:35:00.001-07:00

On our way

2009-08-14T10:34:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-08-10T18:27:00.002-07:00

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 !

2009-08-09T18:09:00.002-07:00

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 !!!

2009-08-08T16:01:00.002-07:00

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!!

2009-08-07T15:55:00.001-07:00

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!