Summer is here!

The weather here has been fantastic and we've already been out enjoying several activities on our summer " to do" list.

While Rob was in BC, my friend Becky flew out from Halifax to visit for the long May weekend.  We had a great time catching up mainly over drinks and food of course!!  We tried out several of the downtown patios and pubs, went to the Kitchener market, strolled around Waterloo park and went to see Shrek Forever After at the theater.  Monday morning we drove into Toronto to pick up Rob who had flew in from BC late the previous evening.  We parked down town and walked around to see the sites.  We went to the base of the CN tower (we have all been up before), and past the Rogers center.  We wanted to check out the Sleeman's brewery but we were an hour early before their scheduled opening so we continued on from there to the Distillery district as Rob has mentioned in the last blog entry, and found a little oyster bar where we enjoyed more delicious food and beer.  As always our trips and adventures always end up centered around eating! Afterward we drove Becky to the airport to say our goodbyes and returned to Kitchener to relax.

Wednesday my friend Liz came over for dinner; Robbie made a delicious chicken and pasta dish, and then we headed downtown Kitchener to meet up with some of her friends for drinks before proceeding to the Center in the Square where David Gray was performing.  He put on an excellent show, played for 2 hours straight, and even came out for an encore!

Yesterday we spent the entire day at Canada's Wonder Land.  Robbie has been itching to go since we moved to  Ontario, so we finally went.  Our deal was that I would go on one roller coaster with him and then we would spent the rest of the day in the water park.  Unfortunately we came to discover that the water park does not open until June 5 so we had to change our plans.  Despite this we had a fantastic time and although I am scared to death of heights and fast moving rides, I managed to go on few of the smaller tamer coasters and really enjoyed the White water canyon and Timberwolf Falls.  To make matters even better we discovered that our admission tickets are good for 2 trips to the park so we plan on going again later in the summer once the water park is open for FREE!! We took lots of pictures but not wanting to risk the digital camera being stolen we took them on my old film camera so we will have to wait to have them developed.

Today we don't plan on having any adventures but Robbie has already changed the tires on the car and has prepared a chili to cook in the slow cooker for this evening.  We have to go run some errands but then I am looking forward to sitting outside and reading a book.

Vancouver: I recommend it

So Vancouver was a fantastic experience. My only regret is that I did not have more time to see the attractions. Pesky conference getting in the way of my sightseeing. The conference was great. My presentation went fairly well. I would have preferred it earlier in the week (it was on the last day of the conference) so I could have had the week free without it looming, but c'est la vie. 

When I wasn't lollygagging on the beach conveniently located on the UBC campus, I managed to travel into the city. The waterfront was gorgeous with a backdrop of snowcapped mountains. The Vancouver aquarium was a lot of fun. Sea otters are every bit as much fun to watch in person as they are on nature documentaries. The dolphin show was also quite impressive. And the trees! They were huge. I mean, we get some big trees in New Brunswick but they are nothing compared to some of the trees located in the rainforests of BC.  

The city itself was alright. Pretty typical big city feel and look. With the exception of one street in China Town that we chose not to travel down (picture a prison court yard complete with shirtless gangs, drug addicts and shall we say, unsavory ladies?) many streets are very tourist friendly. There were many oriental people snapping pictures all over the place. Perhaps thats why there was a sushi restaurant on every street corner.

The accommodations on campus were great with a full breakfast of bacon, eggs, french toast, ham, sausages, fruit salad, pancakes and cereal, all for 42$ a night. My only injury during the week were some nasty cuts I received on the soles of my feet from some sharp barnacles while looking for crabs along the shore. 

It was good to get back to Ontario and I got to hang-out with Jenn's friend, Becky, who was visiting. So the three of us spent the day in Toronto and had great meal and equally good beer in the distillery district. As for this weekend Jenn and I are heading to Canada's Wonderland to capitalize on the heatwave we have been having. Luckily we don't live in Calgary where I hear they have been getting a dump of snow ; )