Camping Weekend
I got Linda to go camping at Camperland in Chilliwack. This is the site next to the Transcanada waterslides. I like the location because it’s directly beside the slides and has all the amenities. They have a pool, hot tub, store, washrooms and even a games room with pool and video games. Not really roughing it. The site itself is nestled in beautiful mountains and quite nice except the tent area is basically just a big field with tents surrounded by big camper buses. Linda and Haley sleep in the van and Carter and I in the tent. We spent 2 nights there. About 6 hours at the waterslides and 2-3 hours in the pool. It was a long fun day in the water.

Carter Goes To Camp
Carter had a great week at Camp Howdy last week. A bus came by in the morning to pick him up at 8AM and return him each day at 4:30PM. The weather was great for him and he did all sorts of fun outdoor activities. They went in a big canoe, archery, played capture the flag, and all sorts of crafts and generally running around. Thursday night they had all the parents for dinner and an evening around the campfire and we had a great time.

I think Camp Howdy is being sold to developers though and is closing down. What a shame after almost 100 years there. I can understand why developers want to build. It’s a massive piece of land with spectacular ocean and mountain views.

Going Cruising

Alaska Here We Come

We’re going on a cruise !!! We can’t believe it. The 4 of us and my mom and dad and John and his family. 10 of us ! It’s going to be great to be all together enjoying the cruise and Alaska for 7 days. Mom doesn’t like to fly so this is a great way to vacation together. The ship leaves from and returns to Vancouver – how great is that ! August should be a great time to be up there as well. They have a kids program which I’m sure will entertain the kids to no end. I need to get in shape beforehand. I don’t want to say no to the buffets or dinners or beers. I can’t believe I’m going on another cruise. It all seems so decadent. Going with the whole family is just too great an opportunity to pass up. We’ll worry about the funds at a later date.

The ship is in port every Friday so we all checked it out last Friday. Wow – what a great ship it’s going to be. I sure hope the weather is better when we leave than it was last Friday. Weather in Vancouver continues to suck. We set rain records every month since last November.

Company Picnic
We had our company picnic down by the Barnet Marine park by the ocean and everyone had a great time. Good BBQ, the kids played with their super soakers and got everyone wet , weather was perfect and I played a bit of bocce ball and tried Ultimate (Frisbee game) for the first time. That seems like a cool sport I’d like to try again. Kids loved playing by the water – there were tons of starfish by the dock which they found fascinating.

Comedy Night in PoCo
Linda and I took my parents to the Giggledam Friday night and had a great time. The Giggledam is located in downtown Port Coquitlam and they have a dinner and show most nights. The dinner is from 7-9PM and the show from 9-11:30PM. The food was good (We had the Roast Beef - dad the salmon) – the beer in a bucket was cold and the “Dam Size” Strawberry Daiquiris almost had Linda on the floor. They had 3 shots in them !!

There was a lot of audience participation and many of us were picked on or mentioned during the show. The skits and songs were lots of laughs. My favorite was the Celine Dion song “My hear will go on” done in French. All she did was mix in a random French words to make up the song and it was brilliant. The theme was about Cruise Ships and their tag line was “When you trip turns to ship”.

One of the comedians reminded us of Will Ferrell – he was just so goofy. The pic of him in these tight tiny yellow shorts is hilarious. One of the girls doing a cleaning maid skit came up to dad and you can tell he loved it.

Overall a really fun night

Reluctant New Fence
So we go to Oregon and come back to find our new neighbor changed the landscape around their house. We shared a huge tree between the 2 houses. Poof – they cut it down while we were away. We liked the tree but the trunk did sit n their property. Then we go to the back and the hedge between the 2 houses is gone. We’re talking a 14 foot hedge !! We loved the hedge and it was on their side but was one of the reasons we bought the house. Total privacy with these huge hedges in the back and side. We were not happy.

The new neighbors came to us when we got home and expressed their sorrow for doing what they did without consulting us first. We were gone 5 days and they couldn’t wait any longer. It was tough to be mad at that point. We had 2 choices, either be mad or work together in making a new fence. They had already started a home made 5 foot fence which wouldn’t work for us. We worked together and decided to build a new solid 6 foot fence. We bought the panels from Rona and rented a UHaul to transport them. Uhaul note: They charge $19 for the truck but $15 for insurance and 50 cent a kilometer. $65 is more than $19. Oh well we got everything and built the fence in 7 hours and it turned out great !! We’d prefer the hedge but this is the next best thing. We worked well together and we’re going to like our new neighbors. Kind of funny – Hey nice to meet you – can I build a 6 ft fence so I don’t have to see you :)

Squishees at 7-11
The Kwik E Mart from the Simpsons TV Show has moved to my hood. 12 7-11’s across North America have been converted to Kwik E Marts and the only one in Canada is in Coquitlam. MrSlurpee and family checked it out. We waited about 10 minutes in line to get in since it just opened and everyone bought a Squishee. Unfortunately the Buzz Cola and Krusty Os and Duff Beer weren’t available. Just a fun thing to do on a Tuesday night.

Oregon Coast
The coast is awesome – just so beautiful. I made a good breakfast for everyone and then we headed off to Fred Myer to get a new air mattress for me. They exchanged my leaky one for a new one so that worked out great !! Got to love them for that. We went to Seaside and went on the bumper cars and Haley went on a hand powered little train. Lots of shops at seaside which Linda checked out. Both Cannon Beach and Seaside are just loaded with gifts shops. The kids and I love the massive beaches and making sand castles. The water is a bit too chilly to swim in but fun to play up until your waist.

Drive Home
The drive home was brutal. What usually takes 7 hours took us about 10 hours to get home. A motorcycle accident closed the I-5 in Olympia WA for 4 hours. The guy was taking off on the police and was doing over 100MPH when he clipped a car and killed himself. There was nothing left of the bike – just small pieces scattered all over the highway. We hit another accident area and then the border. We took the truck crossing border which was lined up on the I-5. The wait was about 2 hours. About 20 buses for the Van Warped Tour were in line taking up a lot of space. After about 30 minutes I got impatient and did some tricks and we went down the shoulder, got gas, bathroom stop, duty free and was across in just over an hour. So I saved an hour. The kids were not happy campers. I did stop for a slurpee as soon as we crossed the border. I missed them for 5 days.

Long Weekend
I left work a bit early and we headed south for Seattle Thursday night. The drive was a breeze and we stayed at the Hilton Doubletree by the Airport. I really liked the room we got – big room with 2 queen beds. Nice pool and hot tub. They give you hot fresh cookies when you check in. Great deal from priceline for $62. I called afterwards and the best rate they would give me was $155 so Priceline rocks once again. We enjoyed the hotel until 11AM and headed south to Cannon beach Oregon.

The drive was terrible, lots of traffic and the rain was just coming down in buckets. We weren’t looking forward to tenting it in this weather but we were going to do our best. When we got to the coast, the weather had cleared up and was blue skies. Our site at Sea Ranch Park was perfect. The edge of the campground with lots of trees around us. Carter and I slept in the tent and Linda and Haley in the van. It got chilly at night in the tent. We had a great Saturday at the beach and played a lot in the sand. Linda checked out all the gift shops. We fed the bunnies at the campground and pet the horses. We roasted marshmallows at night. Awesome day.

The night was the worst ever. I was asleep around midnight and then up at 2:45AM. The friggin air mattress leaked. I had to get Carter off it and blow it back up with my lungs. Got it going again but couldn’t sleep. All the huffing and puffing woke me right up. I watched the movie the Libertine with Johnny Depp (too weird) and then I watched 10th and Wolf. That was alright. Now I’m sitting outside at the table at 7AM writing this up and looking at our pictures. My head hurts.

There is another family awake and they have been since 6:30AM and they are the loudest rudest people. They scream at each other and their dogs bark. There’s another 200 people around the campground trying to sleep but they are oblivious.

It's July 1st - Happy 13th Anniversary to Linda and I !! Happy Canada Day !!