Gabriel the Builder

Building a crane.

Building a robot out of a pop can (careful, they can become sentient and rebel against their creators).

Building a princess castle for his little sister.

Gorge Waterway

The body of water known simply as “The Gorge” to Victoria locals is a narrow inlet that connects Victoria Harbour to Portage Inlet.... The Gorge has a rich history as an important spiritual place and fishing area for First Nations, and a fishing, bathing and recreational area for early Victoria residents.

The Selkirk train trestle has been converted to a pedestrian and cycle bridge that forms part of the highly used Galloping Goose multi-use trail.

Source

Last Sunday, we explored The Gorge on our bicycles.

Getting ready to cycle

Yes, CamelBaks do come in pink for the little princesses on your shopping list.

Off-roading?

U2 360° Tour

On July 8, we saw U2 perform for a crowd of 80,000 people in Montreal in an open-air stadium built just for them (funded in large part by U2’s own money). We arrived in Montreal a week before the concert and immediately felt how pumped the city was for their arrival.

Here is a picture of the balloon that they erected over one of the Metro stations close to the site of the show:

The public transportation was madness getting to/from the concert.

Léah was ecstatic that a last minute ticket became available for her to join us.

The centerpiece of the stadium consisted of a cylindrical video system of interlocking LED panels and a steel structure rising 150 feet from the floor over a massive stage with rotating bridges designed to give the titular 360 degree experience.

It was truly a spectacular show.

Strawberry Fields

During the summer, each month brings the availability of a different fruit or vegetable. On Vancouver Island, May/June is the time to go strawberry picking.

Strawberry Facts and Tips (source)

• Select plump, firm, fully red berries. The small berries are often the most flavourful.
• One cup of strawberries contains only 43 calories.
• Unripe berries will not ripen once picked.
• U-pick strawberries are much healthier than store-bought. Consumer reports says store bought strawberries have so many pesticide and fungicide residues on them that they don't recommend you eat them!
• It takes about 10 to 15 minutes to pick a quart, if the berries are reasonably plentiful.
• Strawberries were originally called “strewberries” because the fruit was “strewn” amongst the leaves of the plant. (When Léah was very little, she called them “straw babies”.)
• Cultivation of strawberries began in Europe in the 1300’s, but the berry only became very popular in the early 1900’s in California.
• You can easily freeze berries that you can not use right away - just wash, cut the hulls off and pop them into a Ziploc bag, removing as much air as possible. The berries will keep for many months frozen without air.

Curaçao

Curaçao is an island in the southern Caribbean Sea off the Venezuelan coast. It is the largest and most populous of the three ABC islands (Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao).

Curaçao features architecture that blends Dutch and Spanish colonial styles. The wide range of historic buildings in and around Willemstad earned the capital a place on UNESCO's world heritage list.

The Floating Market in Punda is one of Curaçao's most famous and picturesque sights. Venezuelan merchants sell their fresh produce from small fishing boats. During the days and nights that they spend on the island between their trips to and from Venezuela, their fishing boats double as living quarters.

Affectionately nicknamed the “Swinging Old Lady,” Queen Emma Bridge is one of the oldest and longest non-military pontoon bridges in the world. Its unique design was a necessity; by the time a bridge was contemplated, buildings covered every inch of shoreline on the Punda side of the channel and a traditional bridge would have required destruction of many structures. When the original 20-foot wide steam-powered pontoon bridge was completed in 1888, tolls were charged: two cents for pedestrians wearing shoes, ten cents for horses and, later, 25 cents for each car, but so many pedestrians removed their shoes and crossed barefoot that the toll was finally eliminated (reference).

When a boat needs to pass, the pontoon bridge is driven open to allow passage. When fully open, the bridge is parallel to the shore.

Relay For Life

This past Saturday, we had our 12th annual neighbourhood garage sale. The event is named “Garagellennium” and it is the ultimate garage sale - imagine tons of houses in one area having garage sales all at the same time. The community becomes one big open market for a day.

Our children decided that this year, we would have our own garage sale in front of our house and all of the proceeds would be donated to the Canadian Cancer Society for the Relay For Life this upcoming weekend. They worked extremely hard for 6 hours and raised over $200!

The kids sold a variety of items ranging from lemonade and cookies to organic zucchini plants and toys.

Naimah even donated her princess bicycle and playhouse to raise money.

The customers had a difficult time resisting the hard sell on the lemonade and cookies.

Naimah was so dedicated that she practically didn’t leave the cash register for the entire day.

Our three children put all their hearts into the project. Léah was the banker, Gabriel organized the inventory, and Naimah was the captain and anchor of the team.

Aruba

Aruba is a 33 km-long island of the Lesser Antilles in the southern Caribbean Sea, located 27 km north of the coast of Venezuela. Together with Bonaire and Curaçao, it forms a group referred to as the ABC islands.

Aruba is one of the four constituent countries that form the Kingdom of the Netherlands, together with the Netherlands, Curaçao, and Sint Maarten whose citizens share a single nationality: Dutch citizen. Unlike much of the Caribbean region, Aruba has a dry climate and an arid, cactus-strewn landscape. This climate has helped tourism as visitors to the island can reliably expect warm, sunny weather.

The joy of burying one’s brother in the sand.