bbq'in

Yesterday was a busy day of bbq's and sun for us. We spent the lunch time and afternoon at the beach with most of the members of our church, hanging out and catching some sun. There was a bbq there, along with the most important business of the day, the baptisms.


Everyone had a good time, playing in the sand, eating some food, splashing in the water. Not necessarily in that order mind you, but fun all the same.
After we managed to drag the kids out of the ocean, we headed of to the Benitez-Gomez family get together.


We saw some of Vanessa's family that we haven't had a chance to see in a while, and remark on how big her younger cousins are getting. It's kind of dating me, but I have to say I remember when they were just young pups, as old as my kids are now, when I met them. Now, they are all graduated, going to college/university, getting married, travelling the world. *sigh* as I get sentimental and comment on how quickly time seems to pass.

If you are tired of the "old age lamenting" I have to say be patient, it will pass. See, today is the day after my birthday, which traditionally has been equally if not more important than my actual birthday. So, given the fact that I have marked another year passing, so comes my momentary lamentations.


Awaiting the passport today, hoping it shows up so we can head down the visit the Messenger family tomorrow. Not sure why when Vanessa and I applied at the exact same time hers showed up last week and mine is MIA. There must be a reason for it, even if I am unaware. Until then, we're going to try to pack in secret and keep it quiet from the kids that we are going away.

trippin?

It turns out that Cultas Lake Waterpark cares much more about keeping it's grounds and water clean. Thank you to them that we did not pick up any new diseases while enjoying the waterslides.
It started off a bit cool, but the sun came out in the late afternoon to warm everyone up for the ride home.

After that, the holidays have consisted of sitting around the house, taking it easy. Eleanor was sick for most of Monday/Tuesday, but has rebounded well today. On Monday I did make a quick trip to work to compete in the drink competition that was being held, in which a partner and I made 3 drinks that may actually make it to the drink menu in the fall. The next stage of the competition takes place next Wednesday at a club called "the republic" in Vancouver. It's at 11am, so I don't know how hip and happening a place it will be, but nonetheless if we win, it's a decent prize. ($2000 travel voucher-giddy up!)

Possibly making a trip next week, looking forward to it if we can. I'll let you know dear internet, as soon as I find out (or weeks later, really, you know how consistent I am with the updates).

kick off to holidays

Today is the official start to the 2 week holiday session I am going to begin. A few things to get done over the break, like getting a visit in to Uncle Mark.
To start it off though, a day at the Cultas Lake Waterslides. Should be fun, except for the rain and the cold*. I'm looking forward to seeing how much cleaner the Cultas Lake park is going to be from the Tswassen slides that we were at last year. It was not pretty to go in the water, very yucky.


*most people wouldn't consider 23C cold, but I'm not most people.

ball time again

It's been another year, and with that year comes the annual work slo pitch tournament. This year saw cooler weather than last, which turned out to be ok as everyone was still overheated from the last week or so.
Our team did pretty well, although we lost in the quarter finals. Quarter finals? you say. How did you do well if you lost in the quarter finals?
The team we played in the quarter finals was the reigning champ from last year, and it was (and always is) our two stores that are heavily favored to win. (not both, just one of them).
This year our match up came early in the playoffs, and with much fought effort we fell by one run in the final inning.

The most interesting story of this day for me, is that in all three games that I played, I was the pitcher. And, considering I have only ever pitched one inning in an actual game before, I have to say I rocked it out. You could even say I followed in my Dad's footsteps. I was throwing spin, I was throwing inside and outside to control where the batter hit the ball, and I even knew how and when to throw the "dark one" to get a strike out or two.

I had a blast. And now, I am going to crash for the evening and sleep like a log.