school's out

WOOO HOOO!!!!!!! No more school until september! It's way warmer here now than when I last posted, it's 25 degrees most days all we're wearing is shorts, t-shirts and flip-flops. our time in vancouver isn't total hell, it's actually really nice, we've made a bunch of new friends and they're all super nice. we're enjoying our summer here.

Summer Time

It is finally summer time in vancouver! School is out and we left with a huge water fight and an awesome dance. Bradley and I are going to Kits High in September and are very excited about that, and Richard is going back to False Creek for Grade 6.

We don't have a whole lot planned for summer, Bradley and I are going to do some diving and are hoping to join the sailing team at RVYC, we are also going to take Bronze 4, (You learn to use a Spinnaker). Richard doesn't have anything that I know of planned but he might do Bronze 4 with Bradley and I.

Later this month we might go up to shuswap lake to our cabin with our cousins but we are not used to planning quite that far ahead.

Anyways, that is all I know so far. 

Bye

-Tavish

HI, FROM BRAD

HI ALL,

 I HAVEN'T PUT ANYTHING UP HERE FOR A WHILE NOW.

    We're all in school now (my brothers and I), we're enjoying it. Track season just started and I'm looking forward to it. It's starting to get warmer here in Vancouver (10-15 degrees C) not as warm as I'd prefer but it'll have to do. Talk to ya later,

                     Brad

one year later

It is so hard to believe that a year ago Sue and Steve joined us on High Five in the BVI. They returned the hospitality last weekend and generously shared Steve's condo at whistler with us.

It was a great weekend made even better by Sue's daughter Hilary and her friend Dylan. Saturday we skied in fresh snow as it snowed all day. We may not have sea legs anymore but our ski legs felt very rusty!! We mostly skied cruiser runs on Blackcomb Mountain and saw each other getting more comfortable and improving through the day. We took a ride on the Peak to Peak gondola over to Whistler Mountain after lunch. This is the longest unsupported cable gondola in the world. In the middle of the ride Gary says " I would hate to have to do an air evacuation off of this." Seconds after the words were out of his mouth the gondola stopped!!! We were 1400 feet above the valley below, with the gondola car slowly bouncing with the cable. We couldn't believe Gary said that out loud. After what seemed like an hour but in reality was only five minutes the gondola commenced moving again and we all breathed a sigh of relief as the gondola moved to where it was only 50 feet off the ground.

We spent the rest of the day skiing Whistler Mountain until our legs were jelly. 

We were a quiet crew on Saturday night, but the kids did muster enough energy to walk into Whistler Village for some famous Cows ice cream. 

It snowed all night  and we awoke Sunday morning to glorious sunshine and not a cloud in the sky..a skiers dream day. We lathered our faces with sunscreen and hit the slopes! It was an amazing day. We were all more comfortable on our skiis and were able to take on some more challenging terrain. At the end of the day we rewarded ourselves with some cold beverages on the patio at the top of whistler. Beer was excellent, the scenery breath taking and the company fantastic. 

We returned to the condo to pack up, have some dinner and hit the highway back to Vancouver. On the ride home our faces all had big smiles remembering what a great time we had.

Thank you Sue and Steve for great weekend!

We added some links

We have added some links to blogs belonging to people we have met along the way. Maybe it will give you adventures to read about until we can resume our travels. We know it helps us on cold, wet days to read about our friends in warm places. 

Gary has commenced work on a new movie and Janine continues to work at Children's Hospital. We are living close enough to the hospital that she is able to walk to work and get some exercise in the process. The kids are enjoying their new school and have met some nice friends. The community center across the park has open gym with youth workers after school so the boys are working on their floor hockey and billiards skills. Bradley and Tavish have recommenced springboard diving and Janine has to hold her breathe with each dive! It is Springbreak in Vancouver this week so the boys and Janine will try to have some local adventures.

Hi from Richard

Hi I'm at the False Creek Community Centre with Bradley and Tavish's friends but we are going home soon,Bye!!

January in Vancouver

Here are some pictures of January in Vancouver

tag

Hello from Richard (again)

HI everybody we are staying at grandma and grandpa's condo in false creek and we are going to stay here untill further notice. ps bradley and tavish are in real school. sorry to be brief love Richard

Hello from Richard

Hello everybody! Just thought I should update you on were we are are and what we are doing. We are still living at the Cooks house but are going to go to N. Van over the christmas holidays Bye

Hello from Richard

Hello to everybody! Incase you didn't know I am currently taking Tae Kwon Do lessons at a place called Trancending Martial Arts. I have learnt a lot and have recently broken a board!!!

Hi Everybody

Hi everyone it's Brad. we're in the the middle of sailing lessons, but we get the weekend off so we're staying at the Cooks (Jim Tam James and Aidan)for the weekend, they're a lot of fun. Anyway I just thought i'd tell you where we were and what we were doing. Talk to ya later, Brad

We're back

Hi everyone this is Brad! After a very,very long flight we arrived at midnight (vancouver time, 3:00 am E.C. time) on the 25th. Grandma & Grandpa were there to pick us up and we're staying at their place for a couple of days. We're at the Grandparents place now and excited to see everyone. Talk to ya later Brad!

Turtles (click for link)

We toured to Levera Beach at the north end of the island twice, trying to see a nesting leatherback turtle. The second time we were rewarded with a 5 1/2 foot turtle crawling up the beach to select a nest site. Once the turtle started digging she seemed unconcerned with the humans standing around watching and the researchers let us approach very close. Unfortunatly this mom-to-be chose an area that was a bit wet and the nest kept caving in on her as she was digging. After trying 4 times and being out of the ocean for about 90 min she gave up and headed back into the surf, to try again another night. We then collected ourselves and headed back to the marina. The kids, were so excited about seeing the turtle, none slept on the way back. It was 3am before everyone was in bed.

Justice on the frontier (click here for Gouyave website)

Tuesday we all travelled back to the scene of the crime to get case numbers, and talk to the Sgt etc. Expecting North American efficency we were slow to realise that the 4 guys in the jail cell were our robbers. After an hour or so of "processing" for them and lunch for us, Denny and I were in an office with the police, the 4 guys and most (but not yet all) of our stuff. The court date is next Monday and the police were apologetic that it would be so long. While we were there one of the young men's memory improved and two officers stepped out and returned with a satt phone and a pair of binoculars. It turns out that Gouyave is not such a bad place after all. We will report after our court date.