Tricking out my now OLD iPod Touch

... so Rae-Rae can have it. She's a lucky kid, that one.

Almost ready to head to Puerto Vallarta. Double-Virgo Redhead is kicking butt in prep.

Last Days in Victoria

Ok, tomorrow turned into the day after tomorrow, but nobody is following as of yet, so we're all good. Saturday morning Marc and I made a big pancake and bacon breakfast. Very yummy. After, the mom's headed out to do some shopping while the men-folk took the gaggle of kiddies to Sooke, which is about a 40-50 minute drive to the Southwest of Victoria.

There we visited "Big" Owen and his Will who is not quite two. Mama Al was in the states ... shopping. (You catching a thematic element here? ;-). There Owen and Will showed us around the place (very nice new digs out there), the kids watched Elf and the manly-men watched college football and drank Steinlagers.

We barbecued some dogs for the kids and some burgers for the adults. Lynn and Amanda walked in the door in the nick of time to have lunch. (Catching another thematic element?)

I drove the Wensauer's van with Kiefer in the back and Marc asleep up front. The girls were all in the same car along with "Little" Owen who was supposed to get a nap, but fat chance of that on the way back into Victoria.

When we got back Lynn and I took the Mackenzie, Rae and Sloane back to the Commonwealth Pool for a short swim while the boys took a nap.

We got out early from the swim, rushed back to the house, woke Owen up and made it to the Macaroni Grill for our 6PM reservation in the nick of time. We were celebrating our last evening together, but more importantly, Mackenzie's birthday (Dec 1) and Rae's birthday (Dec 8).

Wild Man Owen with Kiefer in the background

Dinner was pretty good, but what made it fun was a couple of the waitresses were trained Opera singers who sang arias a couple of times throughout our dining experience.

Marc and I shared a bottle of wine while Lynn whined that we should have shared the pitcher of sangria which the table next to us was enjoying. Next time, baby.

The Dads

At the end of the meal while our waitress brought out ice cream with candles in them. One of the other waitresses came back and sang the birthday song in Italian while they stood on their chairs.

The Birthday Girls

We all went home with happy tummies, put the boys to bed and watched A Christmas Story; this was a first time for the girls. They loved it--we're going to have to watch it every year now.

Lynn, Marc and I played a little more Password, the dads drank some scotch and then we went to bed.

Lynn and I roused ourselves early Sunday, got the car ready to go, then woke and fed the kids. We rolled out around 8:40 and made it to the ferry dock by 8:55. We had reservations again and made the 9AM cut off to make good on them.

I have to admit, this was a much easier way to travel due to customs being just a review at the dock Canada side and again stateside. Easy-sneezy. No lines at the truck crossing or Peace Arch.

The crossing was uneventful, save the same rollers we experienced heading up on Wednesday. We met a nice family who was heading to the Great Wolf Lodge. Their eldest daughter was just a tad younger than Rae, so they had lots of waterslide and wanding goodness to discuss. Owen was throwing down on snacks and grape juice and being his usual two-year-old self.

When we got back to Port Angeles, we stopped at the Wendys fueld up on fatty goodness but were concerned to see signs to "Save Our Pool" along the road. Lynn and I had swum at meets at the Port Angeles pool growing up--Lynn again in high school. I found something terribly awkward considering a storied port town losing their (currently) only means to teach future ship-fairing folk how to swim. Sad.

We drove back to Silverdale to Lynn's parent's place, picked up some stuff, and were back on the road again in less than 30 minutes. We finally made it back home around 3:30 PM. It was a relaxed all-day affair, for sure.

At 5, after showers, we walked to our friends, the Hundelt's, who have just had their kitchen remodeled. Great lasgna and salad and I was d-u-n, done eating. Well, that was until after the piece of pumpkin cheesecake I managed to ram in there somewhere.

We walked back home with our flashlights on, ooed an ahhed at the Christmas lights starting to appear in the neighborhood and snuggled up in our beds--happy to be home, but sad it would be another month to see Marc, Amanda, Mackenzie, Sloane and Kiefer.

American Thanksgiving in Canada Part 2

On Friday morning, Marc went off to work while the rest of us headed for the Empress Hotel for Miniature World and viewing all the Christmas trees in and around their lobby.

Miniature World was actually really great, even Owen (boy of 2) had a great time checking out the dioramas--especially the trains.

The trees were all themed differently and we took photos at several of the girls. Owen and Kiefer did fairly well in their strollers.

Afterwards we tried to make a go at Pagliacci's in downtown Victoria, but it was 12:20 by that time and it was an hour wait for our party of 8. Ah, well, some other time.

We ended up eating some lunch at the foodcourt at the mall. Kiefer napped while Owen and the kids scarfed up some chicken fingers and pizza.

Afterward, we stopped by the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Company where, I swear on my life, I had the best candied apple in the history of mankind. I'm seriously considering writing a short story where a man eats himself to death on a diet consisting mainly of Rocky Mountain Chocolate Company apples. They're that good. If only I could get them shipped to the states ... Argh.

When we got home we caught up with Marc and went to the Saanich Commonwealth Pool for two hours of splashy goodness. Friday night we had Thanksgiving leftovers and the adults played the game "Password" after the kids went to bed. I'd never played before and it was actually quite fun. It was the Men vs. the Women and, of course, the ladies won.

Tomorrow, notes on a trip to Sooke, the combined birthday dinner and coming home.

American Thanksgiving in Canada

"And how do you know the Wensauers?" the US Customs agent asked.
"They were our neighbors." I smiled.
"Really?" surprised, this agent from Port Angeles asked.
"Yep, they moved back to Canada a few months ago and we went to visit them."
"All right," the man said, "have a nice day."

It was a marvelous few days. Tuesday night Lynn and the kids picked me up from my outside the Columbia Tower and we drove straight down to the Ferry dock and made the 5:30 sailing to Bremerton.

We had a spaghetti dinner at Lynn's parent's place in Silverdale and spent the night there. We slept in, had a pancake and bacon breakfast and hit the road bound for Port Angeles and the 2:15 BlackBall ferry sailing to Victoria. We made it easily, walked around town and had lunch at the Downriggers restaurant. The food was decent and well-priced, but the service was mediocre and we had to wait 30 minutes so we felt a little rushed trying to make it back to our car by 1:30.

Santa Castle Made of Sand in PA

The sailing was smooth save for some rollers in the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the clear day made for great views of the Olympic Mountain range and the city of Victoria, B.C. as we approached.

I hadn't been to town since 2004 when I did the New Balance Half Ironman (the same year I did Ironman Wisconsin). We were visiting Marc, Amanda, Mackenzie, Sloane and Kiefer Wensauer and seeing their new house in West Saanich, just outside of Victoria. They live a 5 minute walk from the Commonwealth Pool (which was finished in 1997 for the Commonwealth Games). It is a great community center (or centre) with everything from spin classes, a birthday party room, dance studio, teen center, 10 meter platform diving board, 50-meter competition pool, water slide, wave pool, kid pool, hot tub, sauna, steam room, plus an additional shallow 25-meter pool, just for kicks and lessons.

We put Kiefer and Owen to bed around 8 and just made our reservation at the Med Grill just a few minutes down the road. It was great to catch up over a good meal and some yummy wine with just the adults.

Thursday saw Lynn and Amanda cooking for a fair part of the day while I scowled in front of the football games. Marc came home early and watched the tail-end of the Seahawks getting embarrassed (again) on national TV. At least we had some Belgian beer to soften the blow a bit.

That evening we had Owen, Allison, Will and their dog Scout over for dinner. We had some more tasty wine and a fabulous Thanksgiving meal shared by our Canadian friends. Turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, carrots and stuffing. Good times.

Amanda and Allison's parents joined us for a desert of pumpkin pie, fresh-whipped cream and vanilla ice cream. Gordon, the dad, tried to get me to go sailing with him on Sunday. He had a race and he needed some Rail Meat. I appologized that I was leaving Sunday morning back to the states. Pat, their mom, had a second helping of pumpkin pie, claiming it was the best she'd ever had--even better than her mother's.

It was darn fine pie--and I must admit, I've always been partial to my wife's too.

We chatted late into the evening and went to bed. I slept hard and well. Part two, next post.

Groton Trip - Days 1-3

Friday April 4, 2008 I took the kids, along with my mom, to Groton, CT to visit my sister and her family. Of course our red-eye flight out of Sea-Tac was 1.5 hours late and the kids were awake the whole time, so much for the sleepy red-eye. After finally leaving Sea-Tac we made it safely to MN and had about 20 minutes left of our 2 hour layover. After running through the airport with Owen in the stroller and loading mom and Rae on the airport cart we made our flight. The kids are great travelers and slept the whole second flight. Finally we made it to Groton, CT and were hungry. We found a McDonalds (with the help of the friendly GPS) and the kids were able to eat and play for awhile. The rest of Friday was spent helping my sister get ready for her garage sale.

Saturday 4/6 - Garage sale day!! Rae was a big help and she earned $5 for her sales services. We also went to the park and mini mart. This is a recurring theme of the trip. Lesley's house is very close to the park and mini-mart.


Sunday 4/7 - Today we went shopping at an Outlet mall and to Sydney's softball practice. Gordon kept Owen with him and mom, Lesley and I were able to go out to diner by ourselves.

Groton is an old navy town with not much else there, its pretty grey since there are no leaves on the trees but it is a cute town. I wish I could see it in the Fall with all the pretty colors.