August 2022
And some clever quip...
Piper Spit, Burnaby
Helen had some errands to run in Burnaby but
she didn't need the kids to help so we had a few hours to kill in
Burnaby. I like Piper Spit because it has a nature house and
they are fine with feeding the birds. The lake is full of
invasives - carp, red eared sliders and himalayan balsam, but
there are still lots of things that do belong here - ducks and
insects.
First time here - there were three
Sandhill Cranes at the boardwalk! The usual place to see
these birds is Riefle Bird Sanctuary, but that isn't the only
place they live in the lower mainland. This is a mating pair
a single chick and the juvenile is still learning. Mom or
dad was feeding the juvenile things they found in the mud and the
the juvenile was always a few steps ahead or behind. I was
surprised how little these big birds cared that people were
around, but I guess you don't get this big trying to run away.
Family Get Together in Merville
My Aunt, Uncle and family has kindly put on
a family get together event at the farm in Merville. More
family help (bring meals, setup and tear down meals and much more)
so I really feel bad that my largest contribution is to bring my
family and take photos. This year had a few "remembering"
event - my Grandfather Philip passed away in March. Getting
together with family seam like a great way to remember the people
that are no longer with us.
The
2021 family get
together setup the template for this event, but many things
were new this year.
Helen's job requires you to book a vacation
day the previous November which is great for long trips in the
summer, but adding just a single Friday in August basically
doesn't happen. We arrived Friday night and stayed overnight
in our tent! The next morning breakfast was available for
everyone!
People arrive from their various hotels, tents and homes and
everyone gets to catch up with what has happened in the last year.
It doesn't take long for the kids to start playing together.
One of the kids favorites is the heavy
machinery. My uncle David has a large collection of antique
tractors and the kids generally love them. Nara is getting
to the age that she should be able to drive a tractor so David was
kind enough to give her some lessons (there are more pedals than a
car) so that she could safely drive a tractor.
Marcus and James already have some experience
on tractors, but they also needed a refresher course. When you
need the crops brought in, having more than one person that knows
how to operate the tractor helps out.
Other kids want a ride as well. They
are still too young to do all the driving themselves, but with a
bit of older cousin help, they can get around the field.
Tractors are awesome heavy machines.
ATV's on the other hand are much lighter and they aren't very
useful pulling farm implements, but they sure are fun to
ride! Kayla kindly gave a bunch of rides around the farm.
Victoria for a Weekend
The kids spend two weeks at their
Grandparents house over the summer. This was the end of the
first week so I came over to pick them up and bring them
home. I made a weekend out of the trip so I had all day
Saturday and some of Sunday. Nara wanted to walk up mount
Doug so we went out for a walk to the top and back.
I have taken both kids on Whale watching trips before - Nara in
July 2016 and Claira
in
April of 2019.
They both enjoyed their trips. Nara did a large project on
Orcas this year so I thought it would be good to go out again and
see if the kids can see some wildlife.
We booked an evening tour with Eagle Wing at the fishermans wharf
in Victoria. I would say the boat was about half full and a
different boat from our previous trips. Once we cleared the
breakwater the difference was immediate - we went so fast that it
was really hard to stand outside of the cabin. We rocketed
past Trial Island Lighthouse and we went into waters of the US.
Our first stop was near a buoy where there was a few flocks of
birds on the surface. Apparently there was a Minke whale
here but it was fast and never really came close to our
boat. We followed it around, but the whale stays down for a
long time and can come up a long way away.
Out next stop was close by - Whale Rocks in between San Juan
Island and Lopez Island. You can smell this place before you
hear the noise of the birds. One of the guides on the boat
started getting really excited about a blue footed booby because
apparently one was sighted roughly in this area and there was a
large white bird on the rocks, but we quick figured out it was
just a brown pelican.
This is a well known haul out for Sea Lions, but this is beach for
male bachelors, not a harem beach where you could find
females. For the most part the large mammals were
sleeping. One pair did have an argument about a rock, but
even that wasn't much more than a shouting match.
There are a lot of restrictions about how
close the whale watching boats can get Orca. The residents
Orca that used to live in Pugent sounds (eating salmon) have gone
on a long term vacation so we now only see transient (mammal
eating) Orca here.
Once the sun hits the horizon, you are
done whale watching. The boat came away from the near shore
area and we started the very fast run back Victoria.
As we came back to the breakwater we noticed that the number of
cruise ships had increases - there were now three parked
there. In Vancouver, the cruise ships usually leave sometime
around 4pm as they have a long trip up the Alaska ahead of
them. In Victoria, they often stay until after 9:30pm so
people can finish their city activities.
The ice cream place was still open when we got back - happy kids
and a short drive home!
Tags: tractor(6), marine mammal(2), cruise ship(2), game(2), Mount Douglas(1), sunset(1)
People: Marcus(7), Nara(7), Beau(7), Arabella(5), Kayla(5), Kaylee(5)
From: John Harvey Photo > Blogs for 2023 to 2005 > August 2022
Last Modified Sunday, January 29th, 2023 at 12:26:14 Edit
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