on our way...

We are on our way to the Island (Vancouver Island that is!) for the weekend. We're traveling with my mom (and how sweet -- it's Mother's Day weekend!) and going to visit both sides of my family. First we off to Campbell River to see my Granny (mom's mom) & that side of the family and then on Sunday we're headed to Victoria to see my Nanna (dad's mom) and that side of the family. It will be A LOT of new people for Ronel. He's only met my Granny so far of all the people we'll see this weekend! 

 okay and the cool thing... right now I'm at the ferry terminal, sitting in the car on our laptop about to board the ferry and I'm blogging... The world of mobile internet is still new to me  and I LOVE IT! I'll try to post photos this weekend if I can, but there will definitely be photos on Monday! Ronel is about to take his first ferry trip... and we're taking Coastal Renaissance, one of BC Ferries newer boats 


Have a great weekend! I'm sure we will!

home sick...

so I've been home sick since Friday.... spent most of my weekend in bed. Went to the doctor on Saturday and got some antibiotics and a throat swab. Today I got the results of that swab --- STREP THROAT!?  Saturday the doctor told me I had to stay home for a minimum of a week (I said... so a week??)

while a week at home sounds nice... on day 4 of being sick, achy, and all around miserable, the thought of 4 more days sounds painful!

Thankfully today I am starting to feel better (well, everywhere except my throat) thanks in large part I'm sure the Ensure beverages my mom brought me so that I could be getting some nutrients & protein. Liquids were all I was getting down up until today. I'm about to try and eat Ronel's delicious CSC rice, (chicken, shrimp & carrots)

I'm hoping that tomorrow is another good day and maybe I can do something around the house... play a game with Ronel, stamp, organize, something, anything!

Ronel says dinner is calling my name so I am off......

Our Easter weekend

First off, I hope you all had a wonderful Easter weekend. I'm off today for Easter Monday so our weekend is still happening!

We started off the weekend by heading downtown on Friday. Ronel's been wanting to ride the SkyTrain so we did. Our original plan was to go to Stanley Park and take a horse drawn carriage ride through the park, but Thursday night the forecast was yucky so we decided to wait for a nicer day. We drove to the Skytrain station and parked, then headed off on our adventure. It was COLD and rainy but we were determined not to let that stop us.

We took the Expo line all the way to Waterfront Station and were planning on jumping right onto the SeaBus, but because it was operating on weekend schedule (due to the holiday) we had a 25 minute wait, so we got a hot chocolate at Starbucks and headed out to Gastown to see the Steam Clock. We got there just minutes before the hour, so we decided to wait and actually see it go off. It's been many years since I have been to the clock so when Ronel asked me if it was loud, I had to tell him I didn't know but from what I could remember.... yes?! Well, we both had a good laugh when it went off because it really isn't that loud!

After we were done there, we still had some time so we strolled through some of the stores which still had TONS of Olympic stuff left, all on sale. We had never managed to find something Ronel liked (He really wanted some Olympic souvenir) Well, we found way more keychains, clothes & various other items than I'd ever seen this side of the river, so we picked up a nice keychain for Ronel and then headed back to the SeaBus. As we were nearing the SeaBus terminal, we saw the SeaBus head out...we missed the SeaBus by like 2 minutes so we headed off in the other direction and kept a better track of time! We stopped and took some photos, saw the Vancouver Lookout at the Harbour Center (where we've decided we will go on a nice clear day --- I discovered we have a coupon for it in our Entertainment Values book), wandered up and down some streets and then needed a washroom, but because very little was open we couldn't find one so we headed back to the SeaBus terminal. We had a good laugh when we discovered that there were washrooms inside the SeaBus waiting area (not any washrooms upstairs though just outside the Skytrain/SeaBus areas!)

We got on the SeaBus and went across the harbour to North Vancouver and the Lonsdale Quay. We were both hungry by this time, so we wandered the stores outside but didn't find anything appealling, so we stopped and took some photos looking from the Quay towards Vancouver. I even managed to get a photo with the SeaBus in the background!

We then headed inside the Market at the Quay and checked out all the wonderful stalls inside. I love Markets like this! Lots of fresh produce, seafood, meats, cheeses and lots of choices of prepared food as well. We grabbed some some lunch and took it to go as we realized that it was minutes till the next SeaBus. Once we got back to Vancouver, we took our lunch and headed back to this neat little covered plaze we had found just up from the terminal.

We ate lunch and then it was time for some more fun shots!

 

Even though we were FREEZING COLD! we still had a lot of fun (as you can tell by that gorgeous smile & laugh on Ronel's face!) Using my Nikon DSLR it is hard to take a photo of the two of us by myself, so we decided to use these large and very shine poles that were in the plaza area. 

After we had finished lunch, we headed off towards Canada Place. We wandered through the connecting mall/food court (and realized it would have been easier & warmer to have gotten lunch there -- lesson learned!) Wandered around the outside of Canada Place, took some more photos (yes, I enjoy taking photos and Ronel is a willing subject!!... well most of the time! )

We then decided that it was time to head towards home (we wanted to be back for our Good Friday service) and we headed towards the SkyTrain. We decided to take the scenic route home and switched trains at Commercial Station so that we could ride the Millennium Line home (this has been around for awhile but it was also a first time for me on these section of the SkyTrain route) We then switched back at Columbia Station so that we could take the Expo Line back into Surrey.

This is Ronel sitting at the front of the train at Waterfront Station, waiting to head home

Saturday, we headed out for more adventure.... this time to Bear Creek Park. It was much warmer on Saturday and so we were able to enjoy the outdoors more.

Bear Creek Park has a lovely garden area and we wandered around, saw an East Indian wedding party in all their traditional outfits. We strolled through the paths, stopped at one of the bridges over a small pond to see the ducks, saw some squirrels and enjoyed all the beautiful flowers that are already out in bloom.

I also got to play around with my camera using this gorgeous tree full of  blossoms.

Ronel gave the weekend TWO THUMBS UP!!and we're not finished yet! It is not even 8am yet and we have a whole day ahead of us! Ronel doesn't have English class tonight because it's Easter Monday so we're going to enjoy our day together!

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter and that you remember why we celebrate this holiday!

HE IS RISEN!!!

settling in

well, it has now been a full month that we've been living in our new home. We are almost completely settled in, my craft area still needs some work and we're still working on some storage solutions, but we're starting to feel at home in our home.  Because the house is really new (like 2 months brand new) there is some settling happening and so yesterday our landlord had a drywaller in to fix some of the cracks that are starting to show in the walls. So now we have white spotted walls and are waiting for the painter to come.

Now that the sun has started to shine more around here, Ronel & I are looking forward to getting out and exploring more of the greater Vancouver area. Sometime this spring/summer we're planning on trips to the Aquarium, Zoo, Science World, Stanley Park,  and somewhere in there we'll plan a trip to Vancouver Island to visit my dad's side of the family.


for those of you who still check in on this blog.... thanks and I'll try to post more often. 

special Sunday

Today was a great day as Ronel & I got the privilege of meeting our newest nephew today! My youngest sister & her husband welcomed their first child into this world this morning..... Ethan David Timothy was born this morning at 5:40am weighing 8lbs even. We headed over to the hospital after church and spent a couple hours cuddling the newest family member. 

Here are his gorgeous little toes!! (I'll ask my sister if I can share a photo of the rest of him soon!)

moving....

sorry the blog has been so quiet..... we've been packing & preparing to move. At the end of January we found out that we needed to be out of our current suite by Feb 28th. Our landlady is moving her family to California to be with her husband and is renting out the entire house. So, we spent the beginning of February looking at suites and we finally found one that would work for us, was still close to work, still in our price range and is actually brand new! The house was just finished in the middle of January and the owners just moved in at the beginning of February.

We then needed to start packing and also try to get rid of some items that won't fit in the new place.

I've had to work through some things, but I am finally looking forward to our new place. There are some definite perks - all new appliances (we've had issues with the stove here and the fridge is quite small), more cupboard space, nice new paint job, carpeted living room, but it is only one bedroom (which is larger than our current one) and the kitchen/living area is slightly smaller/different layout.

I've learned how to navigate Craigslist as we searched for a smaller kitchen table & chairs, plus listed some items we no longer need.

another way to help Haiti

<a href="http://aaronhale.bandcamp.com/track/got-a-lot-to-give">GOT A LOT TO GIVE by Aaron Hale</a>

This songwriter & singer has offered his newest single for download (set your own price) ALL proceeds go to help REAL HOPE FOR HAITI.
Check out Licia's blog here - RHFH Rescue Center

Check out this organization and see what this amazing family does! And download this song today! I just did, now it's your turn!

and check out more from this artist here Aaron Hale

10 by 10

IT’S 2010 — THE START OF A NEW DECADE, AND A TIME FOR CHANGE.

When you join the 10 by 10 challenge, you are joining a community of we thinkers around the world who are working to create a better global future. Take action on your commitments throughout the year, and watch as together we build a better world, 10 actions by 10 actions.

Now, thanks to the generous support of Aviva, your commitments will have an even greater impact. When you share your commitments on this website, Aviva will donate $10 on your behalf to a Free The Children community overseas. That means your actions will create change both here at home, and around the world. Simply by sharing your actions, we will be raising money $10 by $10 that will create great difference in the lives of tens of thousands of people. And, what started with you, will end up with we.

It’s as simple as that!

what are YOU waiting for??

Here are my 10 by 10 commitments to change for 2010

1. Turn off the lights
2. Drink water from a re-useable water bottle
3. Give a donation on someone’s behalf
4. Hug, hug, hug
5. Say thank you – in writing
6. Re-connect with an old friend
7. Hold the door
8. Look for local produce
9. Unplug appliances
10. Carry a re-useable bag

update

We still have not heard from any of Ronel's family or friends. I did hear back from the mission where I used to work and they are fine, there is some minor damage to the buildings there -- cracks in the walls and such that need to be repaired and they have a workteam with them right now who were going to be building an addition to one of the homes and are now focusing on repairs instead.

We are praying that Ronel's family in that same area are okay and have minimal damage to their homes as well. We are concerned about Ronel's siblings in Port-au-Prince and his father's family who live right near the epicenter.

We spent today praying and trying to get through to someone in Haiti, but so far we have not being able to get through on the phones. I did have a missionary friend say that her cell was back working but I think that the system is too overloaded for us to get through.

please keep praying.....

video on quake damage

Here's a video I found on the damage in Port-au-Prince.

This is just mind-boggling! I am so thankful that Ronel is here with me and not there but we continue to pray for all of those who are there in Haiti.