Last Day to Fish ...

August 16, 2015

A beautiful morning travelling out of the harbour ...

catching site of this tall sailing ship on shore ...

When we reached the area where we wanted to go fishing ...

there were hundreds of boats ...

apparently there was a fishing derby ...

I caught this salmon amongst all those boats ... was a great feeling ...

We then headed to a completely different area ...

to focus on catching Halibut ... which we did ...!!!

Mike actually caught a Stingray and a Ling Cod ...

Afternoon ... calm waters ... beautiful scenery ...

I remember when we were here a few years ago

this boat on shore had been beached for a number of years ... and never repaired ...

thought it was an interesting photo shot ...

Once on shore ... at the cleaning station ...

the fish were cleaned and filleted ...

we also fed the birds ... and this young Eagle ...

Later back at the hotel ...

the fish was cut and placed in vacuumed sealer bags ...

and taken to the quick freeze freezer ...

The view from our room of the other side of the harbour ... with a beautiful sunset ...

while we waited for the salmon to cook on the BBQ

Some cooked rice and vegetables made a delicious dinner ...

for our last meal on the Island ...

August 17, 2015

Packing up the fish into the insulated styrofoam coolers ...

making sure we did not go over 50lbs in each box.

Mike gave Ron a hand with getting the boat ready for him to head home as well ...

One last picture of the harbour in Ucluelet ...

before we made our way back to Nanaimo

Before heading to the airport ...

we were invited for lunch at Ron & Melinda's home ...

Ron and Mike have worked together on the projects up in Fort St. John ...

and have known each other for many years ...

I enjoyed seeing his container garden ... amazed at the growth of his vegetables ...

We had a lovely time ... !!!

Leaving Vancouver for home ...

a few shots from the window of the plane ...

Arriving home ... with all our frozen fish ... 130lbs ...

it took us awhile to pack the salmon and halibut into the freezer ...

well worth the time it took ...

for us to enjoy many delicious meals ...

What an awesome fishing trip ... !!!

Wishing my dear friend Dagmar ...

a Happy Birthday today ...

September 13, 2015

xoxo

 

 

 

Rough Seas ...

August 14, 2015

Our first morning out on the water ...

was a little rough ...

we did manage to land a few salmon and halibut ...

We also had a little yellow bird ...

perch on the fishing rod ... cold and tired from a long journey ...

Not knowing if it was coming or going ...

We were able to capture the bird ... it did stay on the boat ... until we reached shore ...

flying away once it was placed on the ground ...

We had a great fishing day ...

it felt good to sit down after getting all the fish packaged up ...

and in the freezer ...

 

August 15, 2015

Ron's boat was taken out of the water ...

to do some minor repairs ...

to the little motor ...

something to do with the steering module ...

A heavy fog was in the harbour ... good time to do the work ...

It turned out to be a beautiful sunny day ...

Ron and Mike relaxing after fixing the motor ...

waiting for that first bite on the line ...

We had another great fishing day on the ocean ...

 

 

To The Ocean ...

August 13, 2015

We spent a lovely evening and morning with Rob and Cindy ...

arriving at their home late the night before ...

Our flight was later getting into Nanaimo ...

It was wonderful to see them ... !!!

We headed to Ucluelet ...

travelling thru Port Alberni ...

stopping along the way at a lovely new restaurant...

Drinkwaters Social House ...

at Sproat Lake ...

The view was spectacular right on the lake ...

we also enjoyed a delicious meal for lunch ...

We arrived in Ucluelet earlier than we expected to ...

Ron and his family ... were still out fishing ...

we walked around the area until the crew arrived at the dock to pick us up ...

perfect timing to go gather up the crab traps ...

It was a good day ... out fishing and catching crabs ...

they cleaned the crabs ....

while the pot of water was starting to boil ...

ready for the first batch to be cooked ...

Oh my goodness ... it was a tasty dinner ... !!!!

We had a great time ... visiting with Ron ...

his daughter and her husband ...

All of us turning in early to get a goodnight's rest ...

we had to be up before the crack of dawn ...

to hit the open water ...

for a full day of fishing ... !!!!

 

Little Surfer Dude ...

October 4, 2014

Daigen had the opportunity to go surfing at Galveston Beach ...

The organization Waves of Impact ... 

put on these special surfing days ... and is sponsored by Billabong ...

All the trainers are volunteers ... Brittany was Daigens trainer ... and she loved working with him ...

I believe that he is going to be taking private lessons next ...

Daigen was just a natural at it ... he loved every moment of the weekend ... 

He was not ready to go home ... at the end of it ... !!

Nixon ... our little "Iron Man" ... just loves his costume ...

beware on Halloween ...

he will be in your neighbourhood ... !!!

So adorable ... !!!

Travelling To The Island ...

 July 31, 2014

Our two families decided to travel to Vancouver Island together ...

to attend Teresa's Celebration of Her Life Ceremony ...

We met in Golden ...

 Craig and Ella popped into our vehicle and travelled with us ...

James stayed in mom & dads car ... keeping Ruckus company ...

plus he had the whole back seat and videos all to himself ...

the other two were quite comfortable with us ...

After hours and hours of travelling ... with many stops along the way ...

we ended up staying in Chilliwack overnight ... 

Aug. 1, 2014

Early in the morning we were headed for Horseshoe Bay ...

to sail our way over to Nanaimo ...

Craig was intrigued with the Portman bridge ...

seeing all those cables ...

With it being the long weekend ... we had a 3 sailing wait ...

we ended up going to the Horseshoe Bay Park ...

to have a quick lunch ...

On the ferry ...

playing arcade games ... reading ... playing on the iPad ...

Grandpa and Ella ... tried to walk out on the deck ...

but the wind was so strong they were almost blown away ...

We were invited to the Roberts household for dinner ...

meeting everyone else there ...

There was plenty for all of us to eat ... salads ... buns ... goodies ...

Jacob was in charge of broiling up the burgers ...

Now ... a crisis had arisen ...

the moose was loose ... he doesn't know his own strength ...

Nathan had just gone in for a beer ...

on his way out ... he pulled the door open ... and it had come off the track ...

so you couldn't open it from the top or inward ...

so Nathan set his beer down on the floor ... to try and fix it ...

 (in my mind I thought someone was going to knock it over ...)

WELL ... Cindy came to see what all the commotion was about ...

and kicked the can of beer over ...

at the same time Jacob had a couple cheese burgers ready on the flipper ...

to give to Maren for the girls ...

and wouldn't you know it ... they never made it to the plate ...

they landed on the floor ... cheese side down ...

Oh my goodness ... what a gong show ... 

it then took 5 guys to figurer out how to get the door back on ...

Mike figured out that there was a speaker wire holding up the process ...

Eventually the door was fixed and back in normal working order ... 

After dinner the kids went out to have a game of tossing the football around ...

loosing it in the thick brush ... sending Nathan down the hill to try and find it ...

Craig taking Jacob by surprise with his martial arts moves ... 

Jacob was a little red-faced ...and out ...!!!

Later in the evening ...

 Craig and James helped Jacob with making Dan's favourite ...

 Chocolate Pudding Cake ... for his birthday ...

Children were tucked in bed ... adults sitting out on the deck ...

visiting and watching the beautiful sunset over the ocean ...

Strolling Along the Beach Front ...

May 26, 2014

Flowers blooming on the beach ... 

Authorities on horseback ... patrolling the beach ...

We walked along the Galveston strip ...

and stopped in at Murdoch's ... famous gift shop ...

that was rebuilt after Hurricane Ike damaged it ...

Grandpa decided to stick his face in the hole ...

and Daigen followed him and did same thing ...

so funny ... !!!

Since it was a day for the kids to have some fun ...

Ian took us to the Rainforest Cafe ... an amazing place ...

It is set up inside like you were in a rainforest ...

with animal sounds ... and thunderstorms ....

Ian made reservations for dinner here ...

we had about 30 minutes to browse around ...

thru the gift area and displays ...

Kendall and I took the boys on a river tour thru the Tropical Rainforest ...

we climbed into a boat ... that took us downstream ...

seeing different animals along the way ...

poor little Nixon looked a little frightened with some of the animals ...

We had a wonderful dinner ... inside this forest ... 

with the animals all around us ... birds singing ... gorillas moving and grunting ...

and then the lights flashed ... sounds of a thunderstorm ... loomed ...

rain was falling in the water beside us ...

this lasted a few minutes ...

and then there was a calmness once again ...

It was a great adventure ... !!!

Driving to Galveston ...

May 26, 2014

Heading to the Galveston Gulf of Mexico ...

this drive took us about an hour and 40 mins ...

It was a cloudy ... and extremely windy day ... 

(little did we know that a hurricane was brewing and there were flash flood warnings)

Grandpa and Ian took the children into the warm water ...

they loved jumping in the waves ...

Was surprised with amount of seaweed on the shore ... 

just mounds and mounds ...

Enjoying a lovely picnic lunch ... relaxing and playing in the sand ...

Daigen and Nixon having fun ...

knocking down some of the sandcastles ...

then Ian decided while they were playing that he would create a turtle ...

Ian's masterpiece ...

there were a lot of castles and sculptures ...

scattered around the beach ...

other kids were destroying them ...

so Ian decided he might as well let Daigen and Nixon ...

destroy the turtle ...

when we were leaving this beach area ...