Family Fun and Ice Bucket Challenge

Since our return from the Vancouver Island motorcycle ride, we have lived an endless array of family activities; including a beach side visit, some baby sitting, golf, hike, motorcycling, dinner out, the ice bucket challenge, family visitors.....etc. And with very little time for blogging, or even to read blogs, the time has zoomed by so quickly.  We're catching up on our blog reading now!

White Rock Beach with the grand kids.

Last Thursday morning was dedicated to sharing some family fun with Easton, Brie and Owen (our grand kids) at White Rock Beach, BC.  Talk about fun in the sun.  The breeze was up near the Pacific Ocean but with light jackets, we enjoyed a lovely time hanging out and feasting on a nice lunch that Jeanette had prepared.

Owen (from Edmonton, Alberta) was visiting his maternal grandmother with his mom.

Owen and his mom Courtney were on the coast for a one week visit.  Courtney had registered to run a half marathon in downtown Vancouver, last Saturday, so she took advantage to spend the week with her mom.  Owen is a great little traveler.   They returned to Edmonton today (Tuesday).  We will see them all soon when they fly back in early September to attend a wedding.

Courtney with Owen.......

There was a lot of activity happening on the beach; including kite boarding.  Easton sure was taken with watching those water sports in action.

Owen taking a stroll with grand papa......

Following our Friday regular golf round, I got back home to change up and head to White Rock.  Jeanette and I chose to ride the motorcycle there. We joined our good friends, Lorne and Mariette, for dinner.  We also celebrated Lorne's birthday.  It was a beautiful evening.  An after dinner stroll led us to the very end of the long White Rock pier.

Lorne and Mariette on White Rock Pier.

We had some free time on Saturday.  That led Jeanette and I on a good long hike.  We opted to drive the few minutes to the lovely Aldergrove Park forest trails at Pepin Brook.

Groomed trails....

The nice trails through the heavy forest delivered the cooling effect we desired.  It was a pleasant 6.7 kilometre hike through the canopied trails and open meadows.  It was hot on the open meadow trails but so pleasantly cool in the heavily forested trails.

Huge cedar and hemlock trees.

Part of the long and varied trails in this park network offer some trails that are shared with trail riders on horseback.  We saw a few on Saturday.  

Jeanette is checking out some of the foliage.

Sunday morning saw me ride out to our favourite coffee spot in South Surrey for our regular Open Mike session.  It was a fun morning of banter and laughs.

Back home by noon, Trevor and Ginette dropped by with Easton and Brie.  We kept the kids while the parents headed out on a hike.  They would return later in the afternoon for dinner and to collect their kids.

Looking after Brie.  Such a sweetheart!

Back from their hike, Ginette and Trevor had to fulfill the ALS (Lou Gehrig Disease) ice bucket challenge.  Lorne and Mariette had challenged us to fulfill the challenge and once Trevor and Ginette took the ice bucket challenge, Jeanette and I fulfilled the challenge too.

Trevor and Ginette after the Ice Bucket ALS challenge

We have a very good friend who is living with ALS.  It was our pleasure to take on the Ice Bucket Challenge in his honor.  We challenged Jeanette's two sisters - and their spouses - to follow our lead.

Our Edmonton relatives arrived by dinner time on Sunday.

My nephew and his wife, Brad and Jamie, arrived from Edmonton around Sunday dinner time.  We had prepared a nice barbecue dinner and once they had settled in, we fired up the Napoleon BBQ.

Easton sure took a quick liking to Brad.  A motorcyclist too, Brad got down on all fours to play motorcycles with Easton.

Enjoying a lovely evening outdoors.

Jamie and Ginette

Following the Sunday dinner, Ginette and Trevor loaded up Easton and Brie for the drive back to their home.  Brad, Jamie, Jeanette and I continued our visit before calling it a night.  Mid-morning on Monday,  Brad and Jamie left for Seattle - to take in a ball game.  From Seattle, they are heading on a two week driving vacation through Washington State, the Oregon Coast, northern California and back.  On their way back home, they will overnight with us, for one or two nights, before collecting one of their daughters (who will have flown in) and returning back to Edmonton.

Yesterday was a relaxing day for Jeanette and I. We did not accomplish a whole lot....other than some small house chores and running a few errands.  A pleasant day it was.

And that is our story, these past several days.  Thanks for dropping by.