After some heavy snow in the mountains on the North Shore of Vancouver, the two of us and Java out with our pals Ted & Tina for a deep snow hike on top of Cypress Mountain. It was a blast in the deep powder. (Nice to have access to these mountains within 35 minutes drive from our house with the opportunity to golf the same weekend in Vancouver!)
In March of 2002 Vancouver got hit with more snow than we usually get. We took advantage of this in a big way and went to play on the UBC Golf Course with Java. For those from Quebec and Ontario looking at these photos you'll probably wonder what the big deal is... the big deal is that we usually can play the UBC golf course all winter long in comfort.. well at least in the rain. ;-)
In April of 2002 Nicole and I spent a few days at the Westin Mission Hills in Rancho Mirage, CA as part of an IBM sales reward trip. This area of California gets plenty of sunshine and has some wonderful golf courses. We played two rounds of golf but also had an opportunity to visit with Gord's brother while in Palm Springs. On our way home (we flew in/out of LA) we visited the North part of LA including Santa Monica, Beverley Hills, and the UCLA campus. The money was thick in this area.. almost as thick as the cosmetic surgery! :-o
- Dennis had a visit to Shawinigan with Grand-Papa & Grand-Maman in early June
- June visit from Nicole's family (cousin Troy and cousin Dana and their families)
- Canada Day long weekend golf trip to Southern Okanagan with Ted & Tina
- 2nd weekend in July visit from the Kelowna family for Kaitlin's highland dance competition
- August visit to Kelowna to watch Mike McIvor compete in Ironman
Here's a few photos from 4 different hiking trips from Spring/Summer 2002. There are some photos from Deep Cove lookout, from the Chief near Squamish , from the Diez Vistas hike near Bunsen Lake and from Lindeman Lake near Chilliwack. So much more hiking to be done around these parts! We are hoping to hike the West Coast Trail in Summer 2003 so we need to keep hiking this Winter.
Nicole's mom Sandy came for a visit to Vancouver in late July. Mom and I went on a road trip down the Oregon Coast to Cannon Beach . We stayed in the quaint Cannon Beach Hotel , explored Haystack Rock and did lots of window shopping in the galleries and shops. We then headed to Portland where we visited Portland State University , had dinner and drinks at the Rock Bottom Brewery and Pub, and went to the Portland Saturday Market . We returned to Canada via the ferry from Port Angeles to Victoria. We had the chance to stay at the fancy-shmancy Ocean Pointe Resort and had a fun time exploring downtown Victoria . Back in Vancouver we took Java for walks on the beach, visited the fishing village of Steveston and hung out on our back deck. It was a great visit and we can't wait for mom to come back at Christmas!
We headed back to Ontario over Labour Day weekend to celebrate weddings and babies! Mac Soccer friend Kristina "Dice" and her hubby Stephen "St-Croix" had their celebration in Burlington on Friday. It was a bit of a Mac Soccer reunion and a lot of fun (see link below for Tracy and Mick's wedding). We also had our first introduction to Jack Vokes, Brooke and Rob's beautiful little boy. A special thanks to Jack for showing up a bit early so he could meet Auntie Nic and Uncle Den!! On Saturday we headed out to Pickering to visit with Paul and Suzanne and their new little bundle of joy, Matthew. Ky and Andrea made the trip in from Ottawa and Sean and Joanne and their boys Aidan and Evan came in from Georgetown. We had a big BBQ and a fantastic visit with everyone. Dennis was most proud of his "mini keg" discovery... some things never change!
On Sunday of the Labour Day weekend we celebrated Tracy and Mick's wedding in Ancaster. The service was at the quaint St. Alban's church in Rockton and the reception was at The Old Mill in Ancaster. Tracy looked absolutely stunning and although Mick was a bit eager to get through his vows, the whole thing went off perfectly. :)
On a beautiful Thanksgiving weekend we headed to Washington State in the US to get a closer look at Mt. Baker which is always grand and visible from Vancouver. This was an impressive hike and the colours were great. It's one heck of a nice spot to go when you come visit us!
This set of photos includes a few highlights of a business trip Dennis took to Toronto where he spent the weekend and visited with some pals. You'll see that this was Halloween weekend and the impromptu costume he pulled together worked out quite well. There are also a few pictures of our friend Julie and her gorgeous baby boy Ben. Finally when the Queen visited BC she drove right in front of our house and Nicole clicked a couple of photos.
Nicole's Mom Sandy visited with us in BC for Christmas. Most of the photos here are from our visit to Kelowna during Christmas. We visited with Nicole's cousin Dana her husband Rob and their three girls Kaitlin, Madison and Emma. There are also a couple of photos of a visit we did to the top of Grouse mountain on a beautiful sunny day in Vancouver.
