How was your long weekend?

Ours was lovely!  We spent part of the weekend doing chores, but took all of Sunday to ourselves for a day off and a mini road trip.  Much needed!

We made a stop in cute little Cowichan Bay…where the views are perfect and the ice cream was seriously the best either of us has ever had. 

Then we dawdled down the back roads of Duncan where Michael showed me the farm he grew up on.  The cows were wondering what we were doing in their driveway.  Everybody wave!!!

Then it was down a steep trail to ‘Hell’s Gate’…where Michael and his siblings used to swim when they were kids.  Too icy cold for this gal, but I enjoyed watching Michael and his brother reminisce about their childhood.

On the way home we decided the day would be complete with a fresh crab dinner back in Cowichan Bay.  Nothing says Island living to me like a feast of crab just off the boat!

We stayed a little later than we’d planned, but the AMAZING sunset was worth it.  *sigh*

I love it when the weather and the traffic cooperate for a long weekend adventure!  What all did you kids get up to?

West Coast Getaway

Where the heck have I been?  Sorry!  I didn’t mean to abandon you!  It was a long weekend here in Canada and Michael and I took the opportunity to take a weeeee vacay! 

A few months ago we bought a great group buy for Black Rock Resort up island in Ucluelet, so we booked a room for this weekend, loaded the puppers and some fancy cheese into the car, and hit the road.  The weather didn’t cooperate fully but we didn’t let that stop us from a walk in the forest, a stroll along the beach, and a super delicious romantic dinner at the resort restaurant.  The soaker tub, king sized bed, bigass TV and cozy couch in our room didn’t hurt either.

The trail and beach around the resort…

The Lighthouse Loop…

Chesterman Beach…

Even in the rain the West Coast of the Island is truly one of my favourite places on Earth and it was a real joy to share it with Michael and our doggie brood.  If only we could stay longer.

Parmanfest 2011

This Saturday I had the opportunity to finally meet up with some very important long lost friends.  High school friends.  Easily some of the best friends a girl could ever have.

{bill, me, donnie, julie, dan, and christine – JBSS classes of 1992/1993}

Our friend Donnie’s family has been hosting BC Day reunion campouts on their property for the last four years, but of course prior to now I wasn’t living here and could not attend.  When this year’s invite went out I made sure to RSVP that I would definitely be there!

His folks have a gorgeous piece of property with acreage to host multiple campers…including beautiful landscaping, a massive tree fort for whatever kids happen to stop by, a hot tub, a soft sided pool, and for this weekend a freaking stage!  (Don’s a technical director and thus has connections for stage-type things!)

Oh right, don’t forget the horses.  :)

After a couple of Facebook messages it was clear that our whole little high school crew would be making an appearance.  So I combined my visit with my Mom with a day at the reunion.  Most of the day I sat in the grass catching up with everyone while kids played and dogs chased each other around.

Little did I know, Donnie’s Mom was putting on a whole dinner spread!!!

Sex in a Pan.  Need I say more?

Around dinner time, the band took to the stage.  They warmed up with a few songs to earn their dinner then after we’d all eaten they launched into their first set. 

They totally secured the under 3 years of age rock n’ roller vote.

Sadly I had another obligation back in Victoria that night so I couldn’t stay and party into the wee hours with everyone, but clearly I’ll be keeping the August long weekend free for this next year!

Good times.  Great to know that some friendships really never change.

side note:  if you’d asked me in high school i never would have guessed that i’d be the only one that isn’t married with kids at this stage in life!  Funny how things actually turn out.

Rewind: Friday

Friday ended up being a bit of a gong show.  The morning started off as planned…rise and shine nice and early, walk the doggies, coffee with Michael, and settling in for a nice morning of work on my laptop surrounded by the dogs.

Before packing up my stuff for the day I even found time to walk the dogs again and leave Michael a baked treat for his weekend.

Of course I stole two of the cookies for the road.

So glad I stole those cookies because after leaving his house to head up island to my Mom’s I made a wrong decision as far as which route to take and wound up stuck in long weekend traffic for over an hour.  I was starting to worry I was cooking poor Chibi it was sooooo hot in the car…and my AC picked right then to crap out.  Booooooo.

We finally hit the highway and got moving but I still decided to stop at the Malahat viewpoint for some fresh air and to let Chibi do some business.

And then we powered through for the next 1.25 hours to Mom’s house where I demanded immediate sustenance.  Hello Greek yogurt and berries!

Earlier in the week I had asked Mom if we could skip our usual ‘girl’s-night-in Chinese take-out’ and eat a healthy dinner so she stocked up on lemon chicken, new potatoes and salad fixin’s. 

Mama grilled the chicken and boiled the spuds while I compiled the bigass salad full of mixed greens, cukes, tomatoes, green onions & cheddar.

After dinner she surprised me with an ice creamy treat!  The infamous Magnum ice cream bars.  nom nom.

Quite deeeelish but you won’t catch me coughing up my hard earned piddly paycheque for these.  I’m not entirely sure how they decide ice cream prices but sometimes it’s a little crazy.

After dinner we settled in for a cozy night in the living room with a movie and the doggies.  Mom’s new little man Buster is quite a cuddler.  I asked him to teach Chibi a few cuddling skills.

I promptly fell asleep 30 minutes into our movie, so now I’ll never know what happened to poor Jake Gyllenhaal.  Sad.

Lazy Long Weekend

My friend Michael recently acquired his brother’s Harley.  It’s super shiny, covered in badass little skulls, and makes way more noise than any single vehicle should.  Plus, their passenger helmet makes me look WAY dorky.

I have no idea how he convinced me to go for a Saturday ride, but he did.  Probably because I thought I was going to look all cool and sexy in motorcycle gear (not!).  According to my Mom I haven’t been on a motorcycle since I was like 5 years old. 

We decided to make the ride out to Sooke but he gave me the option of stopping part way there to pick up his truck if I really wasn’t enjoying myself.  Turns out it was way comfier and far less scary than I thought.  :)  It was a great ride!  (Minus the watery eyes and runny nose!!  Glad I was smart enough to forego eye make-up!)

I didn’t freak out or die…so I say that’s a win!

I had mostly agreed to go all the way to Sooke because he promised we could go to The EdGe for lunch.  I was so excited to introduce him to the deeeelish pulled pork.  Sadly we missed out because they close between lunch and dinner service.  Boooo!

So we decided to just wander across the street to the Stone Pipe Grill.  Lunch was pretty good but it was definitely no EdGe.

Cup of seafood chowder and a Clubhouse with garden salad.

Pretty tasty…I liked that the club didn’t have a third piece of bread (so is it really a club??) but didn’t like the fake-tasting cheddar.  The salad was good but their house dressing is weird…Ginger Chipotle something…the flavours didn’t go together.  Michael’s curried pasta was a little odd too.  Not bad, but not what either of us was expecting.

After lunch we popped by to visit some of his friends, then on the ride back into the city was stopped to buy some shellfish and a couple of baked treats from a local farm stand.

Michael and his brother David cooked us up a feast of shrimp, scallops, corn on the cob, asparagus and chicken kabobs.

The seafood was started in the oven in a foil packet with butter, garlic and seasonings…then spent a few minutes in a hot sauté pan with some white wine added to the reducing liquid.  Holy yum!!

We dipped bread (and damn near everything else on our plates) in the leftover garlic buttery goodness.

I brought the beers.  My new favourite Summer beer…Phillips Raspberry Wheat. We also tried the Phillips Ginger Beer…which somehow escaped my camera.

Also escaping my camera was the homemade carrot cake we picked up from the farm stand lady.  Clearly if there is no photo evidence then it was calorie free.  Riiiight?!  :) 

After dinner I pretty much had to prop my eyes open with toothpicks.  The late Friday night, mild hangover, and extra pile of fresh air did me in.

Zzzzzzz.  Not that I’m complaining!