This is going to be a long post that covers quite the range of topics! It’s been a busy couple of weeks for us and we’ve done a lot of different things! I bought a new bike; we went to both Whitecaps (soccer) and Canadians (baseball) games; we got the roof opened up, stopped at Reifel and we made a quick day trip to Galiano. Keep up - I’m going to move fast!
A New Road Bike!
I’m going to go back to a month ago when I used some of my tax return to buy myself a new road bike! My current bike, a Specialized Allez, was one of the first major purchases that I made when Justine and I started dating - so that’s going back a ways. It has lots of miles on it and has gotten me through many events including riding the Whistler Gran Fondo 3 times. It’s been a great bike, but it was time for something newer, lighter and more modern. Enter the Giant TCR!
I’ve only ridden it twice so far, but it’s really great! And I love the colour!
Time to Open the Roof
So far, we’ve had quite a nice spring. So last weekend we pressure washed the roof and got it all cleaned up. And we got out and bought some plants to fill the garden boxes. It was so nice to get this done at the end of April - at least a month and a half ahead of where we were last year!
The roof is open! Freshly planted and ready for summer.
So nice to be able to use it already.
Vancouver Spring Flowers
It’s been a fabulous sprint (I might have mentioned it) and we’ve been blessed with sunny days and lots of flowers in bloom. I thought I’d share some with you…
The cherry trees have been spectacular this year.
A Crazy Saturday
This past Saturday was absolutely bonkers. We crammed in way too much stuff for one day. And covered a lot of ground. It started fairly early in the morning with a drive to North Vancouver to watch Ethan play baseball and hang out with Addison and the family. It wasn’t the nicest day (overcast, cold and drizzly) but not enough to stop the game. Ethan was the hero with a base hit in the bottom of the last inning to win the game!
After the game was over we drove all the way down to Ladner to take care of a few things. We made a quick stop for lunch and then headed over to Reifel for a little bit. It had been ages since we had visited, and while it’s not the best time of year, it’s still pretty good. But did I ever make a rookie mistake - I forgot to charge the batteries for my new camera! So we had barely got past the entrance before my camera died. Luckily, Justine was much smarter than I and got some picks a few new and cool birds for us!
A spotted towhee in the apple blossoms.
Such amazing colours.
The tree swallows were hilarious!
Coming in for a landing!
A Common Yellowthroat - a new one!
Yellow-rumped warbler
Male Rufous Hummingbird.
After spending a couple of hours wandering around Reifel, we headed back towards the ferry and stopped by a couple of nurseries. We wanted to pick up some plants for both the roof and for Galiano, since we were headed there tomorrow. After making our purchases we headed home.
After getting back home, we quickly planted the plants for the roof - soome lupins for the last box and a series of herbs for my herb garden.
You would ave thought that was enough, but no. We then had to have some dinner, get cleaned up and head over to BC Place for a Whitecaps game!
The game was a good one, and not just because we won. But that certainly didn’t hurt. It was action-packed with lots of goals! The Whitecaps got out to a big lead and then help on through a wild finish for the win. Such a good night!
A Galiano Day Trip
We’ve been really busy and not really able to get to Galiano a lot. In looking at the calendar we might have been away for another month so we figured we should head over for the day on Sunday. It wouldn’t be a lot, but better than nothing. The ferry was around 9 a.m., which gave us some time to stop and pick up a few things that we needed and grab some breakfast to eat in the ferry line up.
The goal for the day was to get a lot of stuff planted, to check out how all the things we planted a couple of weeks ago were faring and to cut the grass!
This was what needed to be planted!
It was a beautiful day, but we didn’t really get a chance to enjoy it. BUt the grass looks good after being cut.
As I was checking out some of the blossoms, I noticed this very cool, very tiny white spider.
It was a bit of a whirlwind day. First priority was getting everything planted. We had some new trees and shrubs, as well as lots of starters for the veggie garden that I had started at home or bought on Saturday. Justine had lots of flowers to plant. We got that all done fairly quickly.
We had to replace a tree that had died the previous summer. The one in the middle. We’ll try and make sure it gets watered more frequently and hopefully this one will do better.
Justine added a couple of more lavender plants to the firepit garden. It’s looking very nice!
After getting everything planted I tackled cutting the grass. Our lawn isn’t very consistent - it’s bare in places, but gets very lush and overgrown in others. In some places I had to stop and clear the ejection slot as the grass was so think and heavy it kept clogging it up.
While I was at that, Justine was looking after our birds and the many. many feeders we have around. And stated to water a lot of the new plants we hand planted the previous week. We want all the little trees and shrubs to make it! The grass took a battery and a half, but it made a big difference. After the grass was cut and everything was watered, we barely had any time before it was time to run for the ferry!
So I ran around and took some pictures of the current state of the gardens and orchard. Sorry if it’s too much!
After that it was a mad dash to the ferry, after a quick visit with Dave and Tova. Hopefully everything survives while we’re away for a couple of weeks.
Vancouver Sunsets
We’ve been blessed with some very colourful and vibrant sunsets this week. Here’s a few shots from the roof.
Vancouver Canadians Baseball Game
The Vancouver Canadians are the A ball affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays and play at Swangard Stadium, not too far from where we live. It’s always fun to go to the games and last year I got to 3 or 4. Tuesday night we had some extra incentive - Ethan’s baseball team was going on the field with the team before the game! So we headed up and had a fun night with the kids at the ballpark!
The game got off to a good start with the Canadians quickly jumping out to a 4-0 first inning lead. Sadly, the other team had the deep ball going and hit a bunch of home runs and the home team eventually lost the decision. Still, it was great to hang out with the family and spend some time with the kids.