A New Westminster Day

I know how those darned retired folks always say 'I don't know how I every had time to work, I can't fit everything into my days'. Well It's true. We're finishing up some dental and doctor appts and I wandered around New West this Sunday while Ron played crib. I spent 4 years there in high school so I enjoy the town. It is very old and historic and I love the old houses. It's fun to see the traffic on the Fraser river which was the transportation route when this city began in the 1850's. Just for the fun of it, I drove past Dontenwell Hall, the old St. Peter's parish hall and the spot for many dances during high school days. Then I went past The Crescent which was the large grassy hill going from St. Ann's Academy down to the main road before the Patulla Bridge.

Our Friend Mike

We've been so busy enjoying family and friends. This week our friend Mike stopped for a visit, we had dinner with friends and Ron went in to New Westminster for the crib tournament.
We also managed time to have happy hour with Bill, Kathy, her mom from New Zealand and Agnes.

3 Lunches in a Row

My goodness, I really will have to start eating lots of celery and working on maintaining my girlish figure. Wed. it was our St. Ann's high school graduation class and Thur. our Realty World group met for lunch. Friday I was supposed to meet Penny from Nurses training with a colleague out from the East coast but due to pouring rain and a grandchild this was canceled. So I just proposed that Ron and I visited them for lunch at home and we had a great time.

Nexus for Ron

We had a great time yesterday when we had a fun golf tournament at our local par 3 Peace Portal course just over on 4th Ave for our Pool crowd. We mixed up the golfers with the completely non-golfers for lots of fun.
Today we went down to Blaine for Ron to take his approval letter and get grilled to see if he can be a trusted traveler. We allowed lots of time for the Border crossing and wouldn't you know, we were 2nd in line and were an hour early. Almost impossible, the line-up can take an hour. Bettor than 10 minutes late. We drove down to the harbour and they have done an amazing job rebuilding the area with a Marine Park and it is very nice. The view looking back to White Rock showed us the skyline we never see. It was very peaceful looking over the calm water out to the old fish cannery. Blaine has always had an active fishing industry and the crabmen were just heading out.
We finally went to the Nexus office and Ron was approved and the card is in the mail.

Jan's Pig Pool Tournament

We had a great time yesterday at Carol and John's for Jan's pool tournament. Mike and I won first prize, a large homemade trophy with a pig on top, in 2007. John has built an amazing party place out back. It opens onto a covered patio with fireplace, pond and lovely greenery screening. There were some great shots and John and Pattie came first, Joan and Dan 2nd and Joe and Doreen 3rd.

RBC GranFondo - Vancouver to Whistler

Our son-in-law James, Suzanne's husband did this race today. GranFondo is Italian for 'big ride' and is very popular in Europe. Today's race is the first one in Canada, 120 kms, with 7000 feet of climbing, lots of up and downs. They started at 7 a.m. in Vancouver and had their own dedicated lane up the Sea to Sky Highway to Whistler. James finished in 5:42 hours and is truly a hero in my eyes. He rode for the B.C. Lung Association and raised nearly $2500.00 for them on this event.

Pensioner's Banquet

Our friends Chuck and Karen arrived from Kamloops and we went to the annual dinner for all the Boilermaker Pensioners at the Villa. There was the usual good food, friends and dancing. Chuck and Ron both received their 30 years service pins. Like goofs, we talked until 2 in the morning and then went out for breakfast with Gini and Irv. It was a very nice visit.

An Old Friend of mine

Yesterday we went through the Border at Aldergrove to check out the best crossing to take the Motorhome to the States. This is definitely it. There is a dedicated lane for buses, commercial trucks and RV's. It's 13' wide and 16' high, so no creeping through trying not to scrape your mirrors on the concrete. Bonus. We went down the Guide Meridian through pretty farm country and met C and B and CJ and J at a new Chinese restaurant for lunch. The ad said wonderful buffet and I looked for the right name and guess what - it was Wonderful Buffet. Very good food - we would go again.
Today we were just sitting here and an old Crescent Beach friend dropped by and we had a great visit - a pleasure.

First Day of School

S and J went off to Trey's first day of Montessori at 9 a.m. while I painted the closet door in the front hall. When he was picked up, we were off to the girls school and everyone was wearing their finest and very excited. Lexie and her friend were wearing the same tights, black with silver skulls on them.
everything was great until we walked back into the house and heard the sound of rushing water. Huge flood! from the bottom powder room. After James tuned the water off, I left for the ferry.
Ron and I stopped at my cousin Laura's to drop off some baby clothes and had a lovely visit.

Today we were invited for a lovely brunch at S and A's, sockeye salmon, salad and cheesecake. Delicious. Their girls are the same as ours and they always have fun together.
We did some power organizing of clothes and school supplies, then off to see the Karate Kid. Too much bullying for me, then home to bed for the school kids.
We had a lovely hot tub to finish our day.

Fun at the Swimming Pool

We had another great day today. Auntie C and kids came over for blueberry pancakes James made for breakfast and then S and I took the kids swimming at the Seachelt pool. What fun. Lex is now tall enough to go down the 3 storey redslide and just loves it. Next she challenged me to do the same so off I went and it is fast. The staff set up the huge rope hanging from the ceiling and we all did the swing across the pool to drop in the water, including Trey. We finished by flowing through the 'lazy river' where it pushes you along a little course and is fun. We saw the usual deer eating on a local lawn.

Off to the Playground

This morning James left at 7 a.m. for a long bike ride in training for the Gran Fondo Race from Vancouver to Whistler Sept. 11, when he is riding for the B.C. Lung Association. This is a popular cycling race in Europe and this is the very first race in Canada and he is very pleased to be in this prestigious event. He is already registered for next years event and with only 4000 riders, it fills up fast.
This afternoon, S and J went to a wedding of friends on the beach. They looked great. I took the kids to the playground beside their school which they really enjoyed. Trey is a great thrower and climber which can be a challenge at home but this place is mecca for him. He's the one at the top.

A Day at the PNE

For you neophytes, this is the Pacific National Exhibition in Vancouver. It is 100 years old this year and is a family tradition here. We started at Playland for lots of rides, rollercoaster, laughed at the Superdogs Show and saw Bobs and Lolo, a favourite with Trey. It was a very fun day and a delight to see the pure joy on the kids faces.

Golf and Fun

Myrna and I golfed at Meridian Golf course last Thur. You had to pay for 18 holes, even if you only wanted to do 9. The first 9 were pretty flat and so we stopped for a snack and water and started the back 9 and enjoyed the whole course. I got 2 pars and we had a lot of laughs. It's a funky course. Today we did 9 at Peace Portal Par 3 with Rita and really enjoyed that. Myrna got a birdie!!! I was impressed. We finished their visit with a potluck dinner together.