February 2019
Spring seems to have arrived early
Queen Elizabeth Park
My kids have gymnastics on Saturday mornings
and Queen Elizabeth park is right next door. I like the walk
and it's sometimes surprising what turns up in the middle of the
city. One of the ornamental trees had Ruby Crowned
Kinglets looking for bugs.
Last week I saw a wren in the leaves and went back to see if I
could spot him again. I spotted him, but also spotted a
variable thrush in the trees. The Variable Thrust is
interesting - it comes to the city for the winter and heads up to
the mountains in the summer. I don't see it very often, but
because it's so showy, it stands out when you do rarely spot one.
Chinese New Years Parade
The kids really like the Chinatown
parade. The kids take Chinese classes at the Chinese
Cultural Center and this year we had the opportunity to walk in
parade - surprisingly they didn't want to walk. We followed
our usual strategy - arrive about an hour before the parade and
park a few blocks from the parade route.
Afternoon Snowfall
Our plan for Sunday afternoon was to visit
the boat show at Granville Island. We walked down in the
snow and found the Boat show had closed hours earlier because of
the snow. The kids didn't mind - walking in the snow was
fun.
Snowday!
Monday was a school day and Tuesday the
Vancouver School board declared a school day. Without
another parenting option, I decided to take the kids to work and
let them do their homework at my desk. Of course going
downtown in the snow is fun for the kids.
Queen Elizabeth Park Again
Every week, I have roughly an hour to walk
around the park. My hope is to find a Hummingbird nest, but
I have yet to have any luck. This week there was snow on the
ground and small birds were busier than normal. Much of
their usual food is covered up so the birds are pushed into the
smaller patches of bare ground under trees.
This week, I stood in one spot (a snow covered trail) for at least
half an hour watching the birds come and go. Four different
species came and went in that period of time.
James Playing Hockey
James's birthday is in February. His
weekend was peppered with games, but Sunday he had a game just
before lunch. We drove out to Aldergrove to see the game and
then join the Williams for lunch.
The league James is in plays half rink 3
vs 3 hockey with a substitution every 2 minutes. The kids
play two twenty minute halves and then they get a shoot out.
James team had a weaker time with the game but did well with the
shoot out. James was able to get 3 of 4 shots into the net!
RV Show in Abbotsford
We like going to the Boat Show in Vancouver
and we were already in Aldergrove for lunch, it was a short drive
over to Abbotsford to see the RV show. The RV show is
setup differently than the Boat show. At the boat show,
there are more than a dozen vendors showing boats, but each vendor
has a small number for sale. At the RV show, there were
about 4 vendors and each of them had RVs from entry level to house
replacements and everything in between. Of course the kids
love the giant ones with fireplaces and granite counter tops.
We live in a condo and I work all year
round so a RV doesn't make much sense for us. That said,
there were some interesting units. There were RV's designed
to fit in parking stalls (they pop up in the camp site) and the
there were RV's with roof top tents to give the kids an awesome
view for their fort. The kids still preferred the RV's
starting in the low 400's. At least they are cheaper than
the boats my kids like.
Hike On Bowen Island
I have always enjoyed a walk in the
woods. I have also enjoyed travel, even if it's just a short
way from home. The Vancouver Nature Society was doing a walk
on Bowen Island and I had the kids for the weekend so I decided to
take them to Bowen Island for a walk.
The plan was to walk around Killarney Lake and then back to the
ferry terminal looking a trees, fungus and such. We go to
the lake, but around the lake would have been too far for the
kids.
Our favorite spot turned out to be a swampy
part of the trail where there was ice for the kids to break.
Maple Ridge Lapidary Club Rock and Gem Show
We are going to Hong Kong for Spring break
and I noticed the Rock show we visited in previous years happens
while we are away. There is no shortage of rock and gem
shows so we picked the show in Maple Ridge to visit. The
show had lots of vendors, but they also had club members doing
demonstrations. One member was showing kids how to use the
grider to polish up a rock stuck on a stick. These are
skills needed to make a "cabochon" - a polish rock.
A second club member was showing how to
cast shapes using bismuth. The kids would press a toy block
with their initial into the green sand and then he would melt some
bismuth and pour it into the mold. After it cooled (he had a
tub of water) and the sand was removed, the kids got to take their
letter home. It was a super cool craft.
Tags: Queen Elizabeth Park(8), Vancouver Chinatown(8), snow(6), lion dance(5), dragon(3), parade(3)
People: Claira(7), Nara(7), Helen(1)
From: John Harvey Photo > Blogs for 2024 to 2005 > February 2019
Last Modified Sunday, January 22nd, 2023 at 00:03:25 Edit
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The parade has a
many different features - my favorites are the Lion dancers and
the dragons. Dragons are fun to watch, especially at the
start of the parade when people have lots of energy.
