One rainy day Cole was really cranky, and I was trying to get a load of freshly laundered clothes folded. So I piled him atop the hamper full of warm clothes and pulled him in the hamper through the house. He loved it. Like a magic carpet ride! And I was so pleased with myself for having figured out a new way to curb the cranky spells. Fast forward three weeks when I cannot put anything into the hamper without having two "helpers" descend on me. How do they help? By taking the clothes out of the hamper! Fun! How else do they help? By ripping neatly folded clothes off the dining room table and bench. Super! I so quickly forget how high they can reach, and nearly always put the clothes too low. I'm learning. Just not quick enough. Here are my helpers. And yes, I know it looks like Grady could fall backwards and hit his head, but that head is huge and is really more likely to dent the hardwoods, so stop worrying.
If pictures aren't enough, here is a little video clip of the "helping". Just dawned on me that I should probably not laugh when they do something that I don't want them to do, but dammit, they're so funny.
This past weekend Dada and a few of his buddies went camping in honor of their buddy Rusty getting married. I personally think they were willing to use any excuse to head to the mountains, but I'll play along and agree that it was for Rusty. It sounds like the guys all had a good time, and here are pictures to prove that indeed they did. I intentionally left the blurry, off-center and slightly crooked pictures, because after hearing how much beer was consumed, I am pretty sure that's what the picture taker was seeing when he took the picture. And who am I to adjust his artistery? Here's the crew: Keith, Craig, Chad, Rusty, Scott and Joe all the way from Florida. and Buckley the Dawg!
It's taken me more than a week, but here you go-pictures of our vacation. There's 200 of them, so get yourself a drink and a snack, you're going to be here a while.
Monday, Victoria, Vancouver Island, BC Eager to get out of Vancouver, we were up early and drove to Tsawwassen, BC. Tsawwassen is the site of the BC ferry terminal we were riding to Vancouver Island at 10AM. Neither of us had been on a car-toting ferry, so we were excited to see what it was all about. The instructions said for us to be there 30 minutes ahead of time, and we had not made reservations ahead of time, so I was a little worried when we were approaching the terminal at 9:42AM. Not to worry, there were plenty of other slackers arriving about the same time, and we got tickets with no problems. We were directed into lane 41 with several other vehicles, and there we sat until it was time to drive aboard.
Let me tell you, there were several opportunities this trip to do people watching, and this was no exception. From our parked car we had a great view of a mud-caked SUV with two crazy-looking college kids inside. The driver clearly had ants in his pants and was in and about the vehicle several times during the 15 minutes we sat there waiting. A few Chinese fire drills, a trip to the concession stand, another to throw trash away, another to get a coffee, and then what I deem to be his personal low: spitting huge gobs of disgustingness all over the ground near the cars. I was entertained until that point, then he lost me. It doesn’t really bother me so much that he spat, but the sound effects that came along with the event were really disturbing. I made a mental note to teach G&C not to do that, at least not when in around masses of people.
OK, so back to the trip. We boarded, got out of the car and explored the ferry. Pretty nice gigs, I have to admit. Several different areas, a nice gift shop, a cafeteria, and even a playroom for kids. Our voyage was a little over an hour and a half and provided us with some nice views of the wooded islands dotting the BC/north Washington coast. Once we got to the harbor in Swartz Bay, the tip of Vancouver Island north of our destination, Victoria, BC, we drove off and headed to our hotel. This hotel was FANTASTIC! I don’t normally get too excited about hotels since we don’t spend much time at them, but this place was great. It’s called Swans hotel, and it’s a converted factory with tons of character. The hotel is named after the brewery its built above (and no, it wasn’t difficult to convinced Keith that we should stay at this hotel, it’s above a brewery, for crying out loud!), and is a nice combination of funky modern and historic. The fact that they give you vouchers to try the breweries’ beers for free was also well-received by Keith. Kudos to me for finding this place.We spent the rest of the afternoon (after a power nap) walking around the downtown area. Victoria is a cute little harbor town with tons of charm. We pretty much just meandered for a few hours while taking in the sights. Oddly, the Chinatown here is MUCH better than Vancouver. We did meet some cute locals, there were three of them: So at this point we’d been vacationing near the ocean for a few days and I had yet to eat fish n’ chips. And that’s just not right. We found a lively Irish pub that had a 2 for one special (it pays to vacation early in the week), so we partook in delicious food and local beverages. We always joke that my parents take a lot of pictures of their food on vacation, so mom and dad, this is for you.
Keith’s drinking a Drifwood Ale or Lighthouse IPA, and I’m having some local unoaked chardonnay. And no, I was not able to eat all that food. With our bellies full, we retired to the room to enjoy the view from the little balcony.
Today we found Vancouver’s sweet spot, and that’s just a little north of the city. We’d read about a hike up GrouseMountain that is supposed to be very popular, and since we both like hiking we thought we’d give the hike a try. So, across LionsGateBridge we went in search of the Grouse Grind. Along the way we found Dutch breakfast place, De PannekoekenHouse, which is pure heaven on earth if you’re an Afrikaaner. Pannekoeke! Pannekoeke for most of you will resemble crepes, except the batter is thicker and more yummy. And at De Pannekoeken House they come topped with all sorts of things, Keith went the meat route while I had apple & cheddar. It was a huge breakfast and we were feeling somewhat guilty for eating so much, but little did we know we’d be burning that all off in the next two hours. Just north from the breakfast place is the start of the hike. There were loads of people, all starting off the hike with a spring in their step. The hike is beautiful, with large trees & mosses and ferns creating a peaceful vibe. The trail itself is pretty much a stairway. From previous hikes we knew that some trails start with stairs, and then level out as it zigzags across the side of the mountain. Not this hike though. Whomever decided that instead of having the trail go back and forth, they’d rather just climb directly up the mountain. Seriously. It’s a stairway all the way up, with some smallish steps, some normal-ish, and then mostly a bunch of large double steps. With occasional boulders thrown in for good measure. At 30 minutes into the hike Keith jokingly said that he bets we’re 1/8 of the way there, and I said nooooooooo, I bet it’s more like halfway. 10 minutes later we passed the ¼ way sign. Damn. But we’re not quitters, so on we went! Took us about an hour and a half, but we finished it and didn’t even collapse when it was all said and done. We did take the airtram down because we weren’t sure our old knees would be able to handle the beating the downward hike would give.
The rest of the day was mostly spent at StanleyPark, a gorgeous urban park jutting out into a peninsula. It was a great way to wrap out an outdoorsy day.
