Beautiful Canada At Last !!!

Hi Again,
We are finally in Canada staying with Dennis and Viv Braam and their son Dylan in North Vancouver (Exchange teachers from a couple of years ago). It is great to have a real house to stay in again before we continue our motel journey. These guys have been so wonderful taking us in and showing us some of the sights in their free time. Not easy taking a family as big as ours in for a couple of weeks and still maintaining your sanity. Thank you so much!!!
We have yet to ski, however as the photos show we have tubed and played in the snow and the kids have finally seen it snowing. They are in love with the stuff that is for sure. The waterfall shots are taken at Multnomah Falls near Portland. Really amazing. The snow shots are at Mt Seymour and the river/ suspension bridge shots are the Lynn Gorge not far from where we are staying where we hiked with Andy on Sunday.
Today Alex elected to go to school with Jennifer while Jordan knocked back the offer to go with Andy to experience grade 6. Those from Mountain Creek will remember Andy from his exchange 6 years ago while Jen was at Mooloolaba. Alex was really excited to go to a new school. No nerves at all. Cant wait to hear how it went. This afternoon we are going ice skating. Should be interesting.
We are in the process of preparing for our skiing adventure, with the kids now kitted up with boots, skis and poles from a local 2nd hand dealer, while Suzi and I will hire. Excitement is building. Plan to do some local skiing at Cyprus with some day passes we scored thru Andy and Jen before we venture to Silverstar for 3-4 days to do the ski village thing. More tales to come I am sure
Vancouver is living up to all our expectations.
All for now.
Updated:-
Alex had a blast with his new found class mates. Enjoyed all the similarities and differences of school life in Canada. Played Football, (Grid Iron) or at least a version at such at lunch. He had a great day!  In the meantime we went down to the Cove and experienced the winds straight from the snowcapped mountains and across the Fjord.  Beautiful but COLD. Sam and Ben practiced for skating with a walk down the hill and across the grass with its hidden muddy treat. Very entertaining viewing for mum, Dad and Jord. After school we headed into the city to check out the steam powered clock with steam pipe chimes doing their thing grandfather clock style. Very interesting. Kids also purchased their 1st boggle head creature that they have been hanging for (A doll/ statue with head that jiggles when touched)-A black bear paddling a canoe. 
 
 Skating went well with Mum the star skater following on from her Xanadu skating days, although not in the same league as Dennis. Alex was the champion kiddly skater with Jordan close behind. Dad and Sam managed a few laps unassisted but Ben had difficulties even with skating frame. No weight to make decent contact on the ice. Dad had the opposite problem with gravity and ice teaching him a solid lesson. Could be some bruising tomorrow. Will report next on who is the champion skier after 1st visit tomorrow.

Love The Wockies

Canada a Day Away- Poolside in Portland.

Eureka... we have photo's!!! For those keen enough, we have figured how to resize our photos so they will upload and have put some up for the last 3 Posts and this one. We have not done Disneyland to the Canyon, so will plonk a bunch on this Post and wont bother to go back to old posts unless requested, so please let us know if you want to see more.

We have spent today in Portland having a look around the city and riding electric trams. We plan to check out some waterfalls nearby before doing the final haul to the Canadian border tomorrow, however have been warned that peak hour traffic thru the border can be ugly, so will see how the day pans out.  Also there is Seattle which is meant to be beautiful, so will play it by ear.  Unfortunately a lot of the scenery is in winter mode, so dead looking trees in many landscapes, including vineyards but cant have snow and leaves. We will just have to come back again  for a month or 2, next time maybe without kids? (Grandparents getting nervous)

We have been in shopping heaven for the last few days as Oregon has no taxes and we have tracked down some seriously cheap stores at last. Check out 'Ross Dress for Less' if in the US. The most disorganised store in the world, but even cheaper than Walmart, however with quality/name products. As a result we are sporting new Samsonite, Pierre Cardin and Swiss luggage, which is just as well as our old ones were held together by gaffer tape when we left.  Also a new range of shirts, jeans, swimwear and jumpers of various name brands and shoes from Nike and Doc Martins.  Suzi is delighted that some of my older wardrobe will be donated to charity as I stock up.We also discovered some of the discount grocer joints and picked up wine bargains from California and Australia and a range of other products. (All 1/4 price you pay in Oz)  Can assure you we are getting ripped off at home for appliances and electrical products.

We have been nagged daily about getting to Canada to get to the snow. Kids haven't quite figured (regardless of how many times told) that in Vancouver there is no snow usually, but 10 minutes up the mountain there is skiing. We are sure they will get enough once we get there, and will be over their desperation to belt each other with snowballs and ice it by the time they leave Oregon early next month.  In the meantime the little 3 continue to have fun in the heated pool and spa, shooting baskets, dropping backwards somersaults and generally lowering the waterline.

Hope you enjoy the attached photos as organised by Ross Dress for Less.
The Wockies

Living the Dream Each and Every Day

Well hello there you may have noticed our serious lack of blogging lately so please refer to the title. I didn’t think it possible but this trip just keeps getting better. After a stressful day spent at LAX boarding our flight to San Fran (ridiculous security which thankfully we had been warned about, but still got caught out with some items) we found ourselves in a bigger than originally paid for vehicle. We are now in a spacious GMC Yukon. Craig is enjoying driving a V8 and has taken to driving on the opposite side of the road.  Things could be dodgy when we eventually return to Oz.

Now for San Francisco our favourite city so far. We stayed for four nights, spending an extra day just so we could ride around on the Cable Cars (standing up on the outside rails of course). All of us loved the steep hills, amazing architecture, views and buzz of the city. After finding a groovy little hotel right at Fisherman’s Wharf, Craig skillfully maneuvered our Yukon through the switchbacks/hairpin turns of Lombard Street and around the streets of San Francisco. Our second day was spent at Alcatraz with the older three boys totally enthralled by the prison cells and the individual audio tour outlining the toughness of prison life and the many escape attempts. Ben was not so impressed with it all. In his words it was spooky and a bit boring. Luckily the Sea Lions at Pier 39 entertained him as did all the street performers and eccentric people who inhabitant Fisherman’s Wharf. Beggars everywhere, apparently much worse since GFC.

We were all fascinated with the place and spent four very busy days and late nights thoroughly enjoying our time there. As we reluctantly left on Tuesday morning the fog really put on a show particularly as we approached the Golden Gate Bridge. It cleared in time for us to drive across and then reappeared as we looked back from the Northern Side, an incredible sight.

The drive from San Fran north to Napa was very pretty. Craig and I enjoyed the surrounding countryside whilst the boys enjoyed watching a movie on the DVD player that came with the car (an added bonus as they really are doing some serious walking and sightseeing every day). They are still travelling well and for the most part the 6 of us are getting along extremely well. We stopped for a picnic in a park in Yountville (a little township in the Southern part of Napa Valley) and had a much needed game of tiggy and soccer before heading off for more wine tasting. The wineries are beautiful and we have enjoyed the tastings immensely. Craig and I have started a wish list and timeframe for when just the two of us will return. The list is getting quite long so we have warned the boys their inheritance is looking dodgy.

Tuesday night we stayed in St. Helena (Napa Valley) and enjoyed a yummy Mexican dinner. We picked a good night to stay in the township as there was a wine tasting event happening in the main street. Although we arrived late everything was open and the place was buzzing with atmosphere as all the locals were wandering amongst the gorgeous boutique shops wineglasses in hand. Wednesday morning I headed out for a run as it was a very safe, friendly town. It was a great way to see all the beautiful homes, bed and breakfasts and restaurants. As we drove out of town we spotted a spectacular winery. The original home was built in the 1800’s and has been lovingly restored. Several other buildings make up the estate as well as a series of caves which serve as wine storage and aging. It was a beautiful place and as we were leaving one of the employees informed us that it is owned by Fosters. Apparently Australian companies own several of the Napa wineries, nice to know that we Aussies own property in such a gorgeous place. Also visited an Italian Castle winery and watched the local Geyser as we had our picnic lunch and the kids fed the donkeys and goats.

Finally tonight we are in Eureka, Northern California after driving through the Avenue of the Giants (the Giants being massive Redwood trees). The scenery was breathtaking.  A short drive took hours as we stopped to wander the rocky river bed with crystal clear water and gape at the magnificence of the Redwoods as they disappeared into the heavens above the rainforest. Spectacular!

We are staying at the Best Western which is amazing value for the inclusions, with the Wockies taking a complimentary black stretch limo ride to the local Indian Restaurant for a buffet. Kids were wrapped! The boys still insisted on having a swim in the heated pool on our return until we were kicked out. 

Off to sleep now to get ready for our buffet breakfast and what tomorrow brings.

Til Next time.

The Wockies  

Jordans Report- The Grand Canyon

The grand canyon was a blast! I enjoyed the heights and the surroundings. I also found the way it was formed wasn't like my hypotheosis at all but I found it interesting. It was formed by a series of volcanoes being forced up by lava. Once that happened an inland sea slowly eroded the canyon.

We also saw a lot of wild life like Elk and Rabbits. We met

native americans as well they were nice but a little weird