Oregon coast

We headed to the Oregon coast recently for a long weekend. None of us had ever been there and we ended up with warm sunny early October weather that made for a great weekend, though it was a bit of a drive. We saw a Lewis and Clark IMAX a few months ago in Seattle so the kids were really excited to see the fort where they spent the winter. The recreation they had didn’t make it look like a lot of fun for its inhabitants. The beaches and dunes were great. The kids liked rolling around in the sand and we were probably potentially in violation of some Canadian agricultural rules with the amount of sand we ended up bringing back on the floor of the car.

Meet the mayor

Abby and Ben both read enough books this summer to qualify for the distinguished Super Reader Medal personally presented by the Most Honorable Mayor of Port Moody, British Columbia.  We had admittedly not heard of the Super Reader program before getting our library card soon after moving in, but it was quite an affair and everyone was excited.

Butchart Gardens

On our trip to Vancouver Island we made a stop at Butchart Gardens, a lovely garden created in an old stone quarry.  The grounds and summer flowers were beautiful and the day, like most days in British Columbia in the summer, was clear and mild.  

While I'm no connoisseur of gardens, I probably take a keener interest in these things than most Americans and while I wouldn't say that it’s on the same level as Keukenhof in the Netherlands or Sissinghurst in England, it’s close to that league.  

The kids liked it for a while, but eventually began to focus on where they could get an ice cream cone. 

Vancouver Island trip

We took a trip to Vancouver Island and the city of Victoria a few weeks back. It was a beautiful ferry ride over, a nice day in the pseudo-British town and then good trip to a very lonesome beach on the western side of the island. Once you get a little ways out of the city you realize that there is almost no civilization on this huge island, which is perhaps a bit more eerie feeling after being in China where it seems you are never more than a few feet from other people.

It was our first trip using our new minivan and tent. How about those for clear indicators that we’ve come back to North American reality?

Mount Rainier

We've been down to Seattle a few times this summer. Once we went hiking on Mt. Rainier.

Here's Abby's take on the whole experience -- "When we where hiking the snow didn't melt so we had a snow ball fight!!! After that we had more snowball fights and more hiking. Pretty soon my shoes started to hurt and I took them off. My Dad said my feet would get cut. But I said my feet really hurt. So he said O.k. Soon I tripped and my toe got cut and bled. I was crying beacause it hurt a lot. My dad carried me part way down. When we got to the car it was ok and we drove to the Hotel".

Aside from Abby's shoe travails, things were fine and it was a strikingly beautiful place. Wildflowers, meadows, glaciers. Ethan hiked basically the full 3 miles, which was pretty impressive for a 3 year old. In any case, here are some pics.