Migratory Byrds

Migratory Byrds

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Salmon Arm long weekend, Post 1

On the Canada Day long weekend (June 28th to July 1st), we headed to the lakeside town of Salmon Arm, BC, to meet up with Roxy and Nathan. Salmon Arm is approximately halfway between Vancouver and Calgary, so it was was a perfect and very picturesque place to meet up.

Ben finished work a couple of hours early on Friday afternoon, and we set off on our drive. Between the slow traffic spots, a leisurely 3pm lunch stop at the Cactus Club in Abbotsford, and Finley's pit stops, the normally 5 hour drive to Salmon Arm took us 8 hours. Roxy and Nathan had been there for hours by the time we arrived, as they'd both been off work all week due to the flooding in Calgary!

We were extremely impressed by our room at the Podollan Inn. It was very spacious, and its second floor location at the front of the building meant we had gorgeous lake and mountain views. The inn also features a large heated free-form swimming pool, and Table 24, one of Salmon Arm's highest-ranked restaurants on TripAdvisor.

Here are a couple of photos from Friday night...

Finley getting reacquainted with Aunty Roxy

Roxy teaching Nathan a few chords on my guitar

The next day, Saturday, we enjoyed a lazy morning and then headed into downtown Salmon Arm to have lunch at The Shuswap Pie Company. Delicious!






After eating our fill of pie and chocolate cake, we went 5-pin bowling at "J" Lanes Bowling. We were the only customers there the entire time! We played two games, and it was a perfect way to escape the heat (in the high 30 degrees!) and chill out in the air con for a couple of hours.





Hehe!




Late that afternoon, we went for a swim in the pool back at the inn. Finley was able to show Daddy his skills from the month of swimming lessons he'd recently completed!












That night we had dinner at Hedi's Bistro, a small European restaurant in town. There were only two other people in the restaurant and we were served by the German husband and wife who own the place. The highlights of the meal were the complimentary hors d'oeuvres and the bacon-wrapped scallops and roasted garlic we shared for our appetizers. It was a relaxing and yummy way to end our day together.

And that was our first full day in Salmon Arm! To be continued...

Monday, July 22, 2013

More Aussie visitors

The week after Ben's parents left, we had some more Aussie visitors! Nicole and Lawrie arrived in Vancouver in mid June, and stayed with us for 6 days while they got some things sorted out for their 6 month working holiday in Canada. This included buying a van to go travelling in for a couple of months, and building a platform for a bed in the back of it. We were very impressed at how much they managed to accomplish in 6 days, since they also did some sightseeing and met many of our friends!

Nicole and Lawrie

On Friday night, we went to the Richmond Night Market, and Nicole and Lawrie met us there after they finished the day's tasks. We also met up with Meryl T, who was visiting from Australia, and Vic B. For dinner we tried out a few of the exotic food stalls - spicy fried chicken, mini teriyaki burgers, deep fried ice cream... yum!

We were amused by a huge yellow duck towering over the market... and a pool full of large, transparent, floating, person-containing spheres (similar to zorbs)! $10 a ride  - what a great idea! 

Below are a few phone snaps from our fun evening at the market...


I love this pic!






We had some Groupons for stand-up paddle boarding that we ran out of time to use when Jim and Jenny were here, so on Saturday we used them with Nicole and Lawrie instead. I took the photos below on Nicole and Lawrie's camera as they departed from and then returned to the dock at Granville Island. Ben fell in a couple of times in the meantime, but they all had fun!

While we waited for them, Finley and I hung out in the Public Market. We ate lunch and watched part of the 16th Annual Plywood Cup, where teams of 4 have 90 minutes and a few simple materials with which to build a boat that will carry one of them across False Creek in a race.

Later, as we were all getting ready to leave Granville Island, we were unsuspectingly treated to a ride-by of participants in the World Naked Bike Ride (no photos of that...)!



(Nicole's photo)

We didn't take too many other photos during Nicole and Lawrie's visit, but we also hosted a backyard potluck for our friends to meet them, went to Julia's 1st birthday party, and Ben took them to Queen Elizabeth Park to get some good views of Vancouver.

Vancouver, taken from Queen Elizabeth Park


Mount Baker in the USA, taken from Queen Elizabeth Park

We really enjoyed getting to know Nicole and Lawrie a little, and are looking forward to their return to Vancouver after their US travels!

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Overnight on Whidbey

On the second weekend in June (a few days after Jim and Jenny flew home), we headed across the border one Saturday afternoon for a quick visit to Kelly, Janae, Etta and Charlie on Whidbey Island. In addition to wanting to see them all, we had also been using them as our US mailing address for the previous couple of months, so quite a few parcels had accumulated for us!

We had a great time catching up with them... watching Etta drive around in her blue Mini (she has an awesome uncle!), going to the community swimming pool at a nearby beach, and eating scrumptious BBQ fish tacos.

Etta with her groovy ride!

Charlie and Finley catching up

Etta and Janae

Charlie and Etta

Big blue eyes!

Kelly cooking the fish for the tacos

It was a fun flying visit!

Friday, July 12, 2013

Finley's friends again

You may remember this post about Finley's friends back in March. Here are some of his more recent social engagements...

At Granville Island in May with 12 other mums and babes from my
online birth month group (all of these babies were due in Jan 2013!)

With his stroller gang

At Carrie's baby shower in June, L-R: Nicole and Cadi, Helene and Chloe,
Rach and Carrie, me and Finley

Cadi, Chloe, Carrie, Finley

Our little sweetheart put his arm around Carrie!

Lounging around with Charlie on Whidbey Island in June

A month of swimming lessons with Chloe and Cadi in June!