Vancouver

We had a wonderful long weekend last weekend. Zipped up to Vancouver (5hrs due to bad traffic, but totally worth it!) Met up with Wendy (Al's mum) and explored the stunning city. Spent Saturday at Stanley park- Al & Ben went crabbing while Wendy and I wondered around with Hugh. It was so stunning & very hot but lovely to see so many people enjoy the environment. A great park for children & if you ever visit Vancouver with kids, a total must.

We drove from Stanley Park to Horseshoe Bay which completely took my breath away. Sitting on a Cape Cod chair while Al & Ben crabbed & Wendy wondered with Al, meant I had 10min of admiring the view out over a jetty, crisp blue water & the mountains in the back drop with a sprinkle of snow on top of them. The village Horseshoe Bay is about 30hr out of central Vancouver & was well worth the trip.

April

We were lucky enough to have Al's dad come & stay with us for most of April. It was fantastic to be able to show him around the place & for him to spend time with us all. We went out to the Aquarium, Pike's Market place, to a local brewery (where he corrupted Hugh away from milk & onto beer).

Alex, Alan & Ben also went for a boys "road trip". Not 100% sure what went on but they had a fantastic time, enjoying exploring new areas together. They went down to the Columbia River Gorge, stayed in a little place called Hood & then went out to the coast to explore further. Both Alex & Alan said the Gorge was stunning - but sorry no pics yet.

Thank you Global Warming & Maddie Fisher

I had a conversation with my dear friend Sarah the other day on skype. Managed to get a bit of time with Maddie (her 5yr old daughter), who was so keen to know if it was still snowing. "Of course not Maddie - it's spring time now, we'll have no more snow" was my response.

Well, thanks to both Maddie's thoughts & Global Warming, WE GOT SNOW!! Yip, went to go to bed last night & looked out the window (about 11pm), wow - what's going on!! There was about 10cm of fresh snow on the ground. You can imagine Ben's delight to wake up & see it all outside again. He keeps telling me it's Christmas time (as he's now associating lots of snow with Christmas time).

So, Alex spent the first part of the morning making a snowman & having snowball fights with Ben and then we walked with all our gear on down to the local school where I've found a bit of a hill to fly down on the sledge and making snow angles.

Also, after the ski season nearly been over, I managed yesterday to finally get up to try out the local slopes. Al was a darling & looked after the boys so I could have some fun. Considering it's late March, I couldn't believe just how much snow there was & also how good the snow was too. No rocks to be found at all & I also found out that you can get a pass to ski between all 4 ski fields. So, next season, we'll be getting season passes & enjoying so much snow (will also try & get Ben onto skis as well - wish me luck!)

HAPPY EASTER

Wishing you all a wonderful and happy Easter!! It's been strange here as they don't have Friday & Monday's off work, but the weekend is all go with celebrations. The neighborhood organized an egg hunt which was so much fun. Ben had a ball.

Nothing else all that new to report, but wanted to send our wishes to everyone.

Winter Time

Ok, so I've been a little slack with updating things, I'll get better I promise. Here are some random shots taken over the past few months. We're now starting to see blossom on trees (thank god!!) but it's still freaken cold!!


Lake Chelan - Fire & Ice Festival, Jan 08
Apparently a really really popular lake spot in the Summer. It's about 3hrs east of Seattle.
The drive home was rather freaky as we had to go over 2 passes & it was snowing really really hard. My first time ever that I've driven in the snow & between Hugh screaming and Ben singing & yelling, the 4hour trip home was some what of an adventure - but let's just say I now truly appreciate the all wheel drive car!!

Oh no I forgot my camera....

Oh no I forgot my camera
How crazy could I be
The mountains standing behind the city are glistening as white as can be.

We woke to such a snowfall & a clear bright blue sky
Today this city has stolen my heart, as the flecks of snow float by.

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I had thought that the snow would only be up where we live on the plateau, but after dropping off Ben at an appointment today I took Hugh for a walk in Kirkland. Kirkland is our equivalent to Mission Bay (just not as good - I'll always be a kiwi & back NZ things). However, today walking along the water's edge of Lake Washington snow covered the jetties and parts of the foot paths were covered with a slush/snow/ice combo.

As I looked across the large lake which was ripped out millions of years ago by glaciers, I can see the outline of the city & behind it the dominating Olympic Mountain Range covered with snow.

A breath taking & stunning day in one incredible city. (just a bugger I've not got a camera to show you what I could see).