Vancouver, Canada

We flew into Vancouver the night before our cruise.  A late flight became later as it was delayed. We finally got to our hotel by 1 AM in the morning and really ready for bed.  The next day we checked into the cruise around 10 AM and then headed back out to see a little of Vancouver.

I thought this city by the ocean was nice and would have liked to see more but we didn't have time and we were still tired from the late night before.

Main tourist spot, the steam powered clock.  I actually liked the old fashioned lights and hanging pots.

Cool architecture.  Michael took this picture for Jacob.  He thought Jacob would like to 3-D model this in Blender.

Wish our post office boxes were this cool.

The scene as we leave Vancouver and head to the inside passage for Alaska.  

Goodbye Mar Vista

After 12 years with Country Villa, I said goodbye to the staff on Thursday June 4th.  The staff could not have been nicer.  They had a breakfast party in my honor and said some really nice stuff about me.  The administrator got me a couple of gifts as well.  I will miss the people but I am looking forward to the change.

I started my new job on Friday June 5th, no rest for the weary.  I have hit the floor running and so far the staff is really supportive.  No buyers remorse yet.

Science Camp

Jacob survived 3 days of science camp in the Santa Monica Mountains and he took pictures to prove it.  Unfortunately his camera battery did not survive the 3 days.  Next camp we will send the charger with him.

Ocean

Mountains and clouds

Birds fighting

Hole

Scenery

Film crew

Green parrot

We are taking Jacob to an event this weekend to "gear up" for his next camp in June in Glendale.

Anniversary Celebrations

15 years of wedded bliss and a carrot cake bomb to boot.

We went to Joe's Restaurant in Venice for our anniversary meal.  Great as usual.  We ended our meal with this sugar bomb; carrot cake with caramel topping, rum raisin ice cream and something that tasted like frosting.  Looking forward to our Alaska cruise in June.

Birthday Celebrations

Work celebrated my birthday this year.  I got a very delicious mocha cake and a lunch of homemade enchiladas with mole sauce.

They surprised me pretty good and it was a nice gesture.

For my actual birthday I made Berry Surprise Cake.  It is a genoise cake hollowed out in the middle and filled with a cream cheese filling and raspberries.  It is topped with a whipped cream frosting.  I definitely need to learn more about genoise cakes and baking them properly.  Luckily frosting covers up a multitude of sins so it looked pretty good.  I was not happy with the individual components but the cake did come together nicely.  I think I liked it better the second day and maybe it will get made again.

Santa Monica Beach Day

We went to the beach with some friends recently.  Jacob had his hole digging agenda set before we got there.  The goal was to make it big enough for one of the kids to fit into.  

Jacob managed to get some help from the other kids and indeed you could fit a kid in the hole. We had him fill it in before we left so no one would trip.  We have vowed to make more trips to the beach this summer as our record has been pretty low.

GPA Award Ceremony

Jacob's school held a little ceremony for GPA excellence.  The room was packed with students and parents.  It started on time and lasted a whopping 20 minutes for his grade.  Despite this Jacob was annoyed that he had to go.  Semi-formal attire was encouraged for the students so I "made" Jacob where his suit jacket and a tie.  You can see how thrilled he was with this event.

Jacob received the Principal's Honor Roll for achieving a 4.0 GPA for the first semester.  And for once Jacob got to go first for his group, maybe they went in reverse alphabetical order.  The principal is on the right and vice principal on the left.  I love them both.

These were all the 4.0 GPA winners for first semester.  The tall gal with blond hair in the middle is from his elementary school.  It was nice to have 2 students from Coeur d'Alene be honored. Jacob has adapted very well to middle school and worked very hard.  We are so proud of him.