Manning Park and I don't get along....

So we decided to do the Heather Trail hike in Manning Park and just be tough about the rain. We were a little worried about the severe thundershowers warning, but thought we try and play it by ear. So we arrived at the trail head around 1pm and procrastinated in the van until we finally braved the rain at about 1:30. It was windy and pretty chilly, but the rain eventually eased off and the sun came out! It was beautiful and we were hoping the rain would hold off. But poor Mel, she rolled her ankle in her trail runners a few km into the hike. It seemed pretty bad but she decided to keep going. Then a while later (probably a few more km) she rolled the same ankle again. Not good, so we decided to turn around. Jen and I took some weight for her and she used Jen's polls to hobble back to the van. She's still hobbly now and it's definitely swollen so it would have been horrible to wake up to a huge ankle and not be able to hike out. So we drove back to Vancouver.
At least I made it past Hope this time and actually into Manning Park. Once we got going it started pouring rain again so who knows what the weather is like up there on the mountain tonight. It sucks cause I probably won't get a chance to do that hike again this summer as pretty much all my weekends are full. Oh well, shit happens.
But we did stop in Langley and buy berries. I got 10lbs of blueberries! Yeah! There was no UPick for blueberries and they were sold out of raspberries. Might have to try again later. Blueberries freeze so well for smoothies and are so much cheaper ($2.20/lb) than the rest of the year that I might have to go buy some more.
Not sure what my plans are for the rest of my vacation. I can't believe I only have two days left off work! Hopefully I will do the Grind and/or yoga both days. Also need to work on my condo building website and want to go visit Renee and her baby Colin again. Seems so weird to be back at home now when we were just out in the woods hiking. Sort of anti-climactic. Oh well, as long as I get outside the next few days it will be okay. And we are going camping next weekend anyways. So much to do, so little time, especially if broken clutches and sprained ankles keep tharting me!

July 17th already!

Wow it's been over a month since my last post. I can't believe the summer is going by so fast already! It always does.
We've been super busy. Ty's grad show was on June 22nd so Jess, Chelsea and Erik came over for that and they all surprised him (including Jer). The show was okay but not enough game companies showed up as the Vancouver Film School had their show the same day. But Ty got a call from EA that morning before the show and interviewed with them the following week. He ended up getting a 6 week contract with them which is awesome. He was the first person in his class to get a job!
That weekend we headed to Victoria to go to Ty's grandpa's 80th surprise birthday party which was lots of fun, but made for a busy weekend. All his children showed up from out of town and there was lots of great gypsy music played and great food.
The next weekend we had plans to go to Manning Park camping with Jen and a lot of her friends. We were excited, Ty even bought a sleeping bag and thermarest. We left Friday after work in rush hour long weekend traffic. It was pretty bad, it took over 2 hours to get to Hope. But about 10 mins out of Hope on the #3 highway the car started to have troubles. I would floor it and it wouldn't seem to go any faster. I tried shifting down and nothing. It was pouring rain, getting dark and there weren't any shoulders to pull over onto. It was kind of sketchy. Finally I pulled over and we decided something was pretty wrong. We turned around and headed back to Hope to find a mechanic. Nothing was open on Friday night at 8pm though so we ended up camping in Hope (yeah!). Jen had all our food so we had to go out for dinner. It was pretty lame camping - set up the tent, go out for dinner, go to sleep, wake up, pack up the tent and leave. We had rice krispie squares for breakfast as that's all we took. It poured rain all night and we didn't even have a tarp/rope but the tent held up. There weren't any mechanics in Hope open on Saturday either so we packed it in and went back to Vancouver. We figured it was the clutch slipping on the hills and it is pretty much downhill into Vancouver so we risked it. And at least there were towns/service along the way, unlike on the way to Manning Park. We made it back safely to Vancouver and home but couldn't get the car in until after the long weekend. But now we have a new clutch and I feel like we can take it to the mountains or up to Squamish without worrying now. But that was $1100 we hadn't planned on spending! Good thing Ty got a job.
The next weekend we went to Victoria again for my birthday. Jen and Nicole came over with me and Ty as I was hosting a Pampered Chef show at my mum's house. We had a ton of fun - drinking at the beach on Friday night like we were 16, going for brunch at Rebar, getting massages/facials at Silk Road, and of course shopping downtown. It's a lot more fun being in Victoria with friends from Vancouver for some reason. The Pampered Chef show was a huge success. There were tons of people there and I don't think we stressed my mum out too much trying to have her kitchen ready for a party. I got lots of free stuff from it and am just waiting for it to arrive now.
This past week has been busy too. I volunteered at an event at the Vancover Yacht Club for the Weekend to End Breast Cancer on Monday night. Tuesday I was supposed to go kayaking but it was too windy so was cancelled. Wednesday we went to the U20 Spain vs. Brasil game which was pretty awesome. Thursday we went to the Tragically Hip concert with Ty's dad's tickets as he couldn't go (rehearsal dinner) and Friday we went out for a going away Fritz party. Saturday morning we caught the ferry (was there for the 9 but walk-ons were full so had to wait for the 10!) to Victoria for Jessica's wedding. Pretty much the whole weekend was wedding activities. We arrived at Laurel Pointe Inn around 2:30 to help get things ready. The ceremony was at 4:30 on the patio and then pictures with appetizers before dinner at 6pm. The wedding was lovely, except for the float planes which kept landing and taking off during the ceremony. Dinner was delicious and it was a pretty good celebration. Sunday we had the gift opening at the Woodburn's which was pretty crazy - a ton of people crammed into the house, but good food and a chance for Jess and Laird to talk to family a bit more.
Ty went back to Vancouver yesterday but I'm lucky enough to have this week off so I've stayed in Victoria. I bought my new bike over so went for a short ride in the morning and then shopping downtown with my mum. I found some natural non-chamomile bug spray so I'll try that out this week. I went for a longer bike ride to meet Tina coming up to my parent's from Esquimalt, but she was too tired, so it was an hour ride by myself. Oh well, it was nice.
Today I wanted to pick some berries, but it's raining. It's okay, I'll relax a bit and then maybe take an earlier ferry home. Supposed to be hiking in Manning Park tomorrow until Friday but it looks like rain. I'll have to see what Jen and Mel think about hiking in the rain. I'd love to go, but I'd also be happy with a few days off at home too - I could do the Grind a few more times and go to yoga etc. We'll see what the weather does.
No plans for next weekend yet, maybe do the Chief with Ty. My sister is considering coming to visit so that would be nice. Then last weekend in July we are supposed to be doing Joffre Lakes hikes and August long weekend not sure yet. I can't believe the summer seems to be going so fast and will be over soon! Need to take advantage of every moment!