I had a little trouble posting while we were in Abbotsford, so put this together here this morning:
On Thursday we went to the Planetarium in Vancouver. I don't have too many photos from our time as it was very dark inside most of the activities we took part in!Here's one of the boys out in front of that amazing crab sculpture.Inside we had 3 major activities: A day in space (where we got a chance to learn what it's like to do all the mundane daily things inside the space station - not mundane at all, as it turns out!), The planets - this was in the Star Theatre -( if you've never been, it's a huge dome screen with a 360 degree view, the horizon line being just above your head on which film presentations about space are projected),
and a Mars Flight simulator. I think the kids will remember the simulator forever! It really did feel like we were careening along a foreign planet's surface, knocking out asteroids and saving the day!After the pl
anetarium excitement, we walked over to English Bay. The boys had both brought bags with them intending to collect some shells. I took a ridiculous number of photos - mostly of the ground. I love repetitive geometry, especially natural forms. Mother Nature pulled out all the stops for us and we had wonderful vistas of rocks and waves, of shells, of the clouds and the skyline. It was beautiful.
Youngest son even found a complete crab shell - so delicate that the breeze blew it apart in his hand shortly after I snapped this photo.
We spent most of the day in Vancouver, a city that I love. I spent some of my formative years there and have always retained a rather soft spot for it (I imagine we all do for that place we were as we became more fully ourselves).
It was wonderful to get to share some of those amazing places and little memories with the boys.
No trip to stay with my parents would be complete without a few good hours spent in the playground at the school around the corner (where I happened to have attended in my elementary years). There is only one piece of playground equipment remaining from when I was little and many
other fun, new things to jump and swing on. The boys spent a goodly amount of time conquering the climbing wall.All the children in that school district were in school last week, so when they all came out for recess, we went inside and had a look at all the old photos of past classes on the walls. We found old pictures of me - I guess I haven't changed too much as the boys were able to pick me out of that sea of faces! Our oldest commented that everyone looked very '70's - uh, well, yeah - it WAS the '70's!
While we were there looking at the photos a young, willowy girl came to show her friend a photo of her dad. I asked her about it (he would have been just 2 years older than me, judging by the dates) and it turned out I did know him and his brother all through our school years. Although I was surprised at the time, later I thought I shouldn't have been. It's a farming community and some families remain there for many generations. Still, it was nice to see her, to make that connection with my own past.
Last of all, I put in a warning to parents in playgrounds with cameras. OBJECTS IN YOUR LENS ARE CLOSER THAN THEY APPEAR!
:)
Lisa
2 comments:
welcome home Lisa! looks like you had a great time. we've never been out to that dam, every year we say we are going and have yet to do it lol!
Thanks so much, Rhonda - it's good to be home.
We do so much more with the boys at the coast than we probably would if we lived there! It's easier to be a tourist when you don't live in the area. (We've never taken them to any of the dams on our lake, we somehow are always going somewhere else).
L
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