Our Adventures

The past couple months have been busy to say the least. We have been living in the basement since January while our ensuite bathroom was being fully gutted and renovated. There were quite a few hiccups along the way with running out of tile, new tile not matching, shower glass not fitting and also breaking and other little things in between. It is finally at the point where we can use it and we have been living in our own room again for a week now. All the dust is also cleaned up from the rest of the house (I think). We still have our guest bathroom to do a face lift on, not sure when that will start but hopefully it won't take longer than a couple of weeks. It has definitely been a learning process as far as how much a bathroom actually costs to renovate and how to deal with contractors.

Before and After of our Ensuite
At the end of February I was called into a grade 4 class to substitute. It was for the week and then it turned into the next week and now I am there the rest of the year. The situation wasn't the best for why I was there. The teacher found out her pregnancy was terminal and that the baby wouldn't survive once it was born. She induced about a week ago and her daughter lived for 15 minutes. The class was quite stressful at the beginning trying to figure out the routines and trying to get my own started with the class. Jumping in so late in the year is quite tricky because they have bad habits and since this teacher covered a lot of dance classes for other teachers (it's a fine arts school) the class had very little structure. I have gotten into somewhat of a groove but it will probably be impossible to cover everything I need to by the end of the year. The class has some great kids but there are definitely some brats in there too. I know how to handle the brats though so it's okay. The range of understanding and what they can do as far as assignments is very big, I have some kids that are at grade 1 level while others are probably above grade 4 learning. There has been lots to figure out but it has been a really good learning experience. I can't believe there are only 8 weeks left!

Before I found out for sure that I was going to be taking over for this grade 4 class we had our spring break. Chris parents flew out and we picked them up at the airport and took the ferry to Vancouver Island. The first night we spent in Victoria. We enjoyed supper at Earls and walked around a bit in the sunshine on the next day. Then we made the (longer than I thought) drive up to Ucluelet which is just south of Tofino on the west side of the Island. We of course had to make a pit stop at Coombs to get some delicious ice cream and pick up some breakfast and snack food. We didn't get to see any goats on the roof this time. We also stopped to have a look at the gigantic trees in Cathedral Grove. That evening we hiked around the Wild Pacific Trail and saw some great views of the ocean. There weren't many places open for supper in Ucluelet but we found one and the food was pretty good too. Then we relaxed at our place with a beautiful view of a harbour. The next day we relaxed in the morning and then went whale watching in Barkley Sound. Most of the boat ride was warmer and drier than we thought. We saw a few groups of grey whales but they don't show you very much of themselves because they're bottom feeders. The closest we got was probably around 25m but the most you saw of them was just their back and fin as they dove down. It would've been neat to see them really close up because they have barnacles that grow on them and they're super ugly. We also saw tonnes of seals grouped together to keep warm and about 50 bald eagles in some trees just across from where we were whale watching. Before heading out again we went back to our place to warm up and then we went up to Tofino to check out the beach. We walked around for a little bit but by then the rain was coming down more. We had some supper in Tofino and went back for another night of relaxation. The next day the sun came out but it was time for us to leave. We took one more look at the beach and then headed to the ferry in Nanaimo. On the way home we stopped in Burnaby to have supper with Chris' aunt and uncle. It was a great trip but next time we'll have to spend a little more time in one place and not drive so much.

Spring Fun
Other things that have happened lately. Baseball has started up for us again and so far we are undefeated. We've had a few stints of summer-like weather so we've taken advantage of it by taking our canoe out for he first time and going for bike rides by the river. I got Chris a new bike for his early 31st birthday present, exactly 6 months early (his "halfie" birthday). Of course, that's why he got me one for Christmas, so he could get one too. Well, I guess it worked. We had the chance to go up to Whistler with our friends Paul and Jamie and their twins Elijah and Finn in the middle of April. Our friends Jason and Wendy let us use their condo up there for two nights so we only had to pay for the cleaning and pet fee. Although the twins didn't sleep well it was great to have Paul and Jamie there for a night. Us girls and the twins hung out in the condo the next morning and strolled around Whistler village while the boys went snowboarding for the day on Paul's birthday. P and J left that next afternoon and then we had the place to ourselves for one night. We enjoyed the hot tub, some perogies and sausage for supper but didn't enjoy so much watching Anchorman 2. The last day there we relaxed in the morning and Chris went for a run while I did some school work before going home. Chris has been doing canoeing training with his outdoor ed kids. They have their big trip to Bowron Lakes in 3 weeks. Wish I could go with them. We have planned some things for summer already, including another canoe trip, meeting up with Chris' family in Invermere, heading to the farm and hopefully exploring the Sunshine Coast. So even though I want time to slow down to get through all the curriculum I need to with my kids I really wouldn't mind if these next two months go quickly so our summer adventures can begin!