busy busy

Well, I know I have not been writing here enough because I can't remember everything that's happened since I last posted!

We had another "nothing" week last week, it was gloomy and rainy and we hardly saw Jeff again. We were going a bit crazy and biting each other's heads off all the time (well, not literally).

Friday my dad arrived from Toronto and we have been pretty busy since then, showing him around. It's been wonderful having him here and we hope that lots of other people will come and visit us (HINT, HINT!).

Sunday was Megan's ninth birthday and she was absolutely thrilled with the Nintendo Game Cube which we somehow coughed up the money for. She is now monopolizing "my" television since that is where we hooked it up. But before you think that I am suffering, let me tell you that as part of Megan's birthday, since she doesn't really know any kids around here to invite over for a party, I suggested that Jeff could take her out somewhere for the afternoon. She chose the movie, "Superbabies". Poor Jeff. At any rate, Megan is very happy about the new games, the great books my brother got her and the Cardcaptors movie courtesy of Grandma.

We've pretty much been sightseeing all week so far. Monday, we drove up to Squamish, stopping to gawk at the tiny little climbers on the Stawamus Chief (big huge granite rock next to the highway) and visited the West Coast Railway Heritage Park. There are many different kinds of out-of-service trains there, many of which you can go inside of. Of note is the really beautiful Royal Hudson steam locomotive. After you get tired of walking around looking at the insides and outsides of trains, you can ride on this little miniature train that goes around the park and stops at a couple of mock railway stations. It's pretty cute, and the kids got a kick out of all the gnomes and animal statues that had been hidden in the trees around the train track.

On our way home we decided to stop in Horseshoe Bay for ice cream and a stroll around. It's in West Vancouver but is a really nice little marine village where the BC Ferry terminal generates a lot of traffic back and forth. It's where you take the Ferry to Nanaimo, among other places.

Tuesday we decided that since we had gone north the day before, we would go east. The weather was absolutely co-operative for a day outdoors as we explored the area around Chilliwack (and no, we did not go to the Book Man this time!). We stopped at Bridal Veil falls to gawk at the gorgeous waterfall for a few minutes, then drove to Minter Gardens which is a very large show garden spread over 32 acres at the base of a mountain. They have really done a nice job and there's lots to see there. On the way home we took the scenic route and discovered the Harrison Hot Springs resort town which we had not known anything about before yesterday. Wow! It is a truly gorgeous place, nestled in the mountains on a beautiful green lake. It's sort of vaguely Austrian/Bavarian but at the same time Canadian. Definitely worth visiting again.

Today we drove south - to Seattle. We spent the afternoon at the amazing Museum of Flight which was worth the whole trip in and of itself. It's the sort of place where you run out of energy for looking before you run out of things to look at. We made sure that the first thing we looked at was the British Airways concorde jet - you can climb up into it and look around, though you can't sit in any of the chairs because they have put up big sheets of plexiglass around almost everything. Right next to the concorde is an older Air Force One jet which was actually more interesting to look at the inside of. Inside the museum itself there are all kinds of exhibits and of course, lots and lots of old airplanes and flying machines of every description.

We're spending the night in a hotel just a block or two from Seattle Centre, so you can see the Space Needle all lit up from the window right next to where I'm sitting. Tomorrow we are hoping to cram in more sightseeing and drive home exhausted! I really want to fit in a trip to the Archie McPhee store which I regretted not going to last time I came here, 6 years ago. If you don't know what Archie McPhee is, be sure to click on the link in the last sentence!

Time to get Calum his gameboy and get us all to bed so we can have an early start tomorrow!