Category: Travel
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Spring Break in Hawai’i
The snorkelling was amazing. I’ve been somewhere tropical twice, both times to Baja California. Once by VW bus, once, in an extravagance borne of at deep Northern Ontario winter, by plane. The last time was 22 years ago. Our last attempt at a real family holiday away, in 2008, was an abject failure. So we […]
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Seattle at the MarQueen
We had chosen to drive to Seattle and fly to Hawai’i from there because we knew not only would it be cheaper, but it would be better not to rely on the small airports closer to home that are subject to up to 30% flight cancellation rates through the winter. But then Chuck’s locum booked […]
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Artisanal day trip
I had to go pick the van up. With our family shrinking, and the monthly trips to Calgary no longer happening, my desire for a more winter-worthy minivan is no longer a pressing need. We decided to put some work into the Sienna. I took it in to get the catalytic converter replaced to fix […]
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March Break for Fiona
March Break, the one- or two-week spring schools holiday, has never had much to do with us, other than loosening up our out-of-home activities schedule. But with Sophie in school full-time, and Noah part-time, it’s gained relevance this year. Those two headed off to Montreal to visit their big sister. And that has made Fiona […]
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Noah’s path
Erin and Sophie look like the ones making the big moves this year, but Noah is on a new path of his own that represents at least as big a shift. He stopped computer-gaming. He went through a phase early in the summer of watching movies (dozens of them — classics from the past five […]
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Erin’s move
Well, there she is. In Montréal. We delivered her to the airport in Calgary two days ago. She arrived safe and sound at the rambling old empty house belonging to a friend of a friend, where she is renting part of the upper floor as an apartment. She arrived with her violin, the backpack containing […]
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Cessna over the Slocan
Chuck and Noah were invited by a friend to take a trip in his Cessna. Can you imagine a more amazing place to tour the local scenery? They’ve both decided we need a plane of our own. That would certainly make it easier to get to Calgary! What an amazing experience for both of them.
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A tale of two provinces
Where would you rather be tomorrow? With us in BC, freezing our butts in the rain at the Friday Market, or with Erin in Ontario, dripping with sweat while trying to rehearse with the symphony? It’s been like this for almost a week, and tomorrow isn’t even the worst of it. It’s been 10 – […]
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Her summer
This is where Erin is living right now. Curiously enough it’s the same university residence system I lived in when I first left home. Almost, but not quite, the same building. I dropped her off at the airport a couple of weeks ago. The day before we’d arrived in Kelowna in time to do some […]
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Montreal visit
Random wrought-iron work Erin and I went to Montreal together this past week. I wanted to see what all the fuss was about, how it was that she went last fall to “check out the University and get some lessons” and came back saying that she needed to move there now. Well, not really. I […]
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Montreal chat
Erin is in Montreal, checking out the McGill music faculty and falling in love with the city all over again. She was there for a week in 2008 on an exchange trip and loved it then. This time her perspective is different. She’s not there for a visit; she’s looking to live there, and soon. […]
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Traveling
We seem to be traveling more than ever lately, and in so many different directions. Erin was off to Banff last week for WordFest, a writers’ festival that the school’s writing classes attends each year. She’s an old hand at the trip: this is her third year. She enjoys it, both socially and educationally. This […]
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Raptors
While in Duncan we visited a raptor centre a few minutes from the place we were staying. They had a few dozen birds, from baby eagles to falcons, hawks, owls and full-grown bald eagles. We were able to watch the flying demonstration, where they encouraged a few of the birds to fly in the open […]
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Storytelling
My kids pride themselves in their weirdness. The more random, bizarre, eccentric, irreverent and facetious they are the better. While we were on our way to Duncan last week they engaged in some collaborative cartooning and story-telling. This particular drawing started with four small wobbly horizontal lines, and got passed back and forth between Erin, […]
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Spring climax
It’s that time of year, when so many activities and responsibilities seem to reach their climax. It’s the end of our year of reporting with the SelfDesign program, and that involves a mad rush to submit and rectify purchases we’ve made, and spend the balance, as well as the final “annual report” document to be […]