Our weekend on the Mainland......

My weekend on the mainland was fun. The weather was ....shall we say....a little of this and that. We arrived at my sisters by 5:30 and caught my future brother-in-law with a mop and rag in hand, stretching to reach hard to get places and dusting.....bless his heart. My sister was busy in the kitchen putting finishing touches on appies and dinner. My sister and her fiancee love to entertain and they are wonderful hosts. After dinner we sat around and nattered some more, talked about their up coming wedding and how their plans were coming, and of course how she was feeling. She was looking great. She has been given a date for her surgery of May 2nd. She's nervous and understandably so. She is such a trooper. She remains in a bit of denial, but that is bound to be expected. She is finally starting to read some of the literature she was given and trying to understand what she is in for. I think the plan of attack is to prepare for the worst and hope for the best.

Douglas and I awoke early on Saturday morning. The sun was shining and we got up and put on the coffee and just lazed for a little. My sister and her fiancee had an appointment with the caterer that morning, and I was going to show Douglas some of the surrounding areas before we headed off to my daughters recital, which as it turns out wasn't a recital but rather a dance competition.
I decided to take hubby to a place I used to take my girls for picnics. It's called Buntzen Lake, which is actually a reservoir created by a dam which provides hydro electric power to Vancouver. It's is surrounded by the local mountains and as I had recalled use to be a lovely drive. Much to my surprise, urban sprawl has made it's way up the mountain. What use to be a lovely mountainous drive with the odd house here and there is now just an extension of the surrounding community. I was so disappointed.....but once we got into the park and by the lake....it was still very pretty.

Buntzen Lake, Port Moody British Columbia

After leaving Buntzen we headed to Belcarra park. Belcarra park is a lovely setting. When you are on the dock you have a wonderful vantage point of viewing Deep Cove directly across from the dock....to the south you see Burnaby Mountain and Simon Fraser University....looking north you can see up Indian Arm. This is a great place for pleasure crafts to cruise up and down the inlet and drop anchor in some secluded cove. I can remember as a child spending many hours boating with my parents and doing just that....dropping anchor and rowing the dingy ashore or mooring the boat next to a log boom and making our way across the logs to shore. Ah what wonderful memories.

We left Belcarra and headed to my daughters dance. Her competition was at the Michael J. Fox Theater. Most of you I am sure have heard of Michael J Fox. He's the actor who stared in the Back to the Future movies or his sitcom Family ties. But did you know that he grew up in Burnaby. Yup, he grew up in my home town. Anyhow, we weren't allowed to take pictures while they were performing, but hubby got some shots of them on stage awaiting the awards and some of her outside.

On stage and awaiting the judges decision.

Proud mom and her daughter.

After the competition, Roisin had to do a few errands with her dad, so hubby and I went sightseeing again and we met up with Roisin later for dinner and a movie.

Our next stop was Deer Lake, Burnaby Village museum, Shadbolt center for the performing arts and the rhododendron gardens. Now I know this sounds like a lot but they are all within walking distance of each other. We parked the car at the Burnaby art Gallery and made our way down the path to Deer Lake. We walked along the lake path and made our way up to the Village museum. Unfortunately the museum isn't open yet, but we were able to look into the window of the building where they have a carousel that has been restored. It is truly lovely and I have photos of my girls riding the carousel when they were young. We then made our way up through the path towards the Shadbolt center and came across this lovely rhododendron and flowers....

from there we made our way to the rhododendron garden and the Peace pond.....and here is what we saw.....this amazing tree....

We left here and later picked up my daughter and went for a great Greek dinner and a movie. This morning we were up early and got on the 10:30 ferry home. Douglas's dad was making a Birthday dinner for Mother-in-laws birthday. And what a wonderful dinner it was. Mother-in-law was the recipient of one of my homemade cards and a dozen roses. So that was our weekend. Very full, but lots of fun. Hope you all had a fantastic weekend!

Cheers!