Catching Up

We're back from a great visit with the Asbury's. I wish we were closer as we always have a great time hanging out with them.
This time our visit was spent mostly hanging around the house with not too many adventures. The Sunday after we arrived we were able to go down and cheer on Adrienne's half marathon. She did really great with a time of 1 hour 50 minutes, beating her (and our) expectations! She finished 999 of 5600, 316th of 3583 other females and 58th of 570 others in her division. Top 1000 in her first, maybe last, half marathon is amazing! We tried to meet her down at the finish line after seeing her pass the 11 mile mark, but road closures and construction foiled those plans.

Monday, Marn spent the afternoon with the Morrison family at the White Rock beach. I didn't feel like going as I was tired and wanted to rest/sleep. After 4-5 years, Marn finally got to meet Erin's kids! Brendan wasn't able to come due to a rehab appt.

Tuesday afternoon, Marn and I went to visit Bernadette and Don and the kids and stayed for dinner. Bern made a great meal - quite domesticated! The kiddies are too cute. Bodhi took a little while to warm up to us, but once he did, wow! He was right in there playing and chatting away with us. Rian was such a good baby also - until dinner time and screamed louder than I've heard in a while (making me second guess Marn's pregnancy!), right in Uncle Andrew's ears. I couldn't do anything for him. THE SECOND Bern took him, he stopped. Momma's boy... ;)

Adrienne, Parker, Mariner, Marn and I ventured over to Bowen Island on Wednesday via the ferry from Horseshoe Bay. Probably not a place I would go back to unless it was summer on a weekend. It is a sleepy cottage town nestled beside the mountains with stores mostly closed during the week. It had some nice trails and a lake apparently. We walked for 1.5 hours looking for it, but made a wrong turn and never did get to it. After seeing our mistake, it should have taken mo more than 20 minutes to get to from where we started. argh! It was a nice walk, but Marn wasn't enjoying it as much... Parker was an absolute trooper and didn't complain once all day. The views of the mountains from Bowen Island were fantastic.

On Friday afternoon, we rented a car so that we could travel into town for wedding events without hassle and also get back to the airport without having to bug Adrienne. That night Will and Nina had a pre-wedding cocktail party for out of town guests at the Macaroni Grill downtown Vancouver. It was fun as about 40-50 people came to it. About half were from Ontario, so we knew quite a few people there.
The wedding on Saturday was also fun, but cold. The rain held off until after the ceremony which was great, but not 5 minutes after, the skies opened and didn't stop most of the night. I think pretty much every woman in a dress was freezing. We brought a jacket for Marn just in case, and she had it draped over her legs most of the evening. The wedding was beautiful with a backdrop of the mountains and ocean, and the food was fantastic. Unfortunately the dinner started late and speeches were long (but great), so the party didn't end up starting until 11:30pm! We didn't end up staying too late with a 45 minute drive back to White Rock, but we still didn't get home until about 1:30.

Sunday, Mother's Day, was pretty lazy. We got up late and made the famous Simpson's Egg Benny for the family. It was a hit - except for Parker who ate his own thing. We then went out to some stores and ended up eating out at Milestones. After dinner, Marn and I planned on meeting up with Marn's friend Judith for coffee and/or dessert, so we rushed back out and met with her for a few hours. The visit was nice, but short, and rushed.
On our way back, we had a box of stuff to ship home on a truck, so I stopped in the Vancouver office to drop it off. Guess who set off the security alarm? Yup, I did... After listening to screeching alarms for 2 minutes, I figured out how to shut it off and reset it, then got outta there before the cops came. Just kidding - it's not monitored to send the police! It was nerve wracking, though! I couldn't find the "off" button that was required after punching the code! Anyway, it was no big deal. I called Ayr, who is notified when that happens, and told them it was me and that everything was under control. Kind of embarrassing, though!

It was a great mini-vacation, but always too short! Echo was boarded all week and had a great time, as usual. He stunk like crazy, though. We opted to not have them bathe him this time as they charge close to $40 for him. As soon as we got home on Monday I washed him on the back porch and I think he knew he needed it as he stood there pretty well. It took him until today (Thursday) to start "recovering" from all the playing. They told us that he plays really well with all the other dogs and just love him. So that's nice to hear!