What I Did On My Summer Holidays…

Once I was going to write a blog about seasons, and how lovely it is to live in a country with some.  Then the weather went screwy, it rained for 6 months solid, and I thought I’d better keep quiet.  But the sun came out in July, just as the school holidays started, and we had 2 solid months of really hot sun, long days and warm nights.  The west coast is breezy and fresh, never humid, and there is always water to head to if the heat becomes too much.  Today the rain returned, for the first time since July 22nd, and I wanted to reflect on our lovely summer.  So, this is what we did during our summer holidays…

Dinner by the fire at Deception Pass, WA

Tie-dyeing teeshirts at the Township 7 Winery

Raccoon hats and strange machines at Fort Langley

A free Vancouver Symphony Orchestra concert at Deer Lake

Swimming and jumping off the dock and more swimming everywhere there was water….

Beachcombing at Porteau Cove

Sailing School at Port Moody

And enjoying our garden as it grew, and grew and grew!

What did you do this summer?

Here Be Whales!

Here be Whales!

Where did the summer holidays go?  We were looking forward to it so much – 10 weeks of lazy days and slow starts, picnics and barbeques and camping, and now it’s nearly over.  This was our third summer in Vancouver; our first year the older girls started school in April and finished in June, and neither Dim or I were working until late August so we had a blast.  The following year we joined the ranks of Happy Campers, booking the girls into a few activity camps, including their first residential.  This year, with both of us working Monday to Friday, we went a bit overboard, with the result that the girls are more tired than they were when they broke up; karate camp, riding camp, day camp, science camp, not to mention the cost.  I guess we’ll learn to balance it next year and give them a few days off.

One of the highlights for me was a whale watching trip from Steveston, Richmond.  Despite the rough start crossing the Gulf to the San Juan Islands (too rough to pour and drink a coffee – barbaric!), when we arrived at the Islands, the sea was like a millpond.  We joined the ranks of tourist boats watching a superpod of 40-50 orcas, fishing for Chinook salmon, and we watched for nearly an hour as they popped up, dived, played and fished.  We live in a truly fabulous place, and I have never felt so lucky.

We took the trip with Seabreeze Adventures who also do river trips looking for seals and sealions.