Temperance Street Times

As the name would suggest Qualicum Beach has good beaches! (click on the image for full size picture)

The three main ones are Rathtrevor, Parksville and Qualicum Beach and over the last couple months we have spent time at all of them.  What do we at the beach?  Well, being that this is the east side of the island – not too much surfing. But playing in the sand, flying kites and paddle boarding have all rated quite highly…the paddle boarding in particular has been popular with all ages!

And yes, yes, yes – we never leave home without applying our 60SPF sun screen and hats! Aside from the beach we have also indulged in developing a new hobby (like Michele really needs another one..Ha!) Golf!  There are no fewer than five 18 hole golf courses with 10 minutes of our house here.  The closest one is the Qualicum Beach Memorial Golf Club, where we took lessons in June and have been attempting to master 9 holes in the evenings throughout July.  Michele’s scores have ranged 75-86 for the 9, while Imbaw’s have been in the 65-72 range.  Turns out we both like it a lot…and the scenery from Memorial doesn’t hurt either!

Together we have also been hiking!  Englishman River Falls, Little Qualicum Falls, Cathedral Grove and Notch Hill are 4 separate but equally interesting trails we have conquered, all with 20 minutes driving of the house.  On our last hike at Qualicum Falls Nathaniel actually hiked the whole loop himself on foot…not bad for 19 months!

OK what else…a little local travel has also ensued…Victoria, where we saw Bucchart Gardens, the rocky coast, a bit of the night life and even the BC cancer agency.

Abbotsford where we visited with family, some of whom are best photographed from a distance…

And Finally, Comox where we saw Kris Valka with kids Ella, Sadie and Jack as well as celebrated a family birthday party (63rd) in style, with good scenery, good food and even a round of Bocce!

Ah, Supernatural British Columbia!!  Whatever that means… 🙂

‘M’ is for Mother’s Day! The first Mother’s Day that Michele and her mom have spent together since she left home in 1993.  Michele’s Mom is holding her own these days…on a new fandango treatment called Iressa – a tyrosine kinase inhibitor targeting activated epidermal growth factor receptors.

‘M’ is for Michele’s 40th! Spent in Santa Fe, New Mexico!

‘M’ is for Mark Munk’s Marriage to Martina! That took place in Santa Fe, New Mexico, the day after Michele’s Birthday.

Other non-‘M’ related events in May included mainly birthdays: Imbaw on the 31st, Mark on the 25th, Alli on the 23rd, Julie on the 15th and Jasmine on the 8th…and that’s enough birthday cake for this month…

Lots more pics of these events and others posted in our albums, archives and even on facebook…drop us a line if you need a password…

Toward spending a little more time with Michele’s mom we decided to relocate for a few months out to Vancouver Island.  Michele and the two boys flew out April 22nd and Imbaw drove out two weeks later after finishing a fairly major bathroom reno in Saskatoon. We are located a 20 minute bike ride from my mom’s house and a 10 minute jog from the beach.

Our address for the next 4 months or so is:

512 Hawthorne Drive, Qualicum Beach, BC, V9K 1A5, Canada.  Phone (250) 594-8793

Things have been hectic so far, between spending time with ‘Grammie’, working full time remotely and all the usual daily stuff that can’t be ignored. Indeed shortly after our arrival, Thomas turned red and bumpy all over and was diagnosed with Scarlet Fever!  But 7 days of Amoxicilin and he is good to go again. Now with Imbaw here and things generally settling down, should anyone of you find yourselves in the area we’d love to see you!

On March 12th Thomas donned his first snowboard and took to the hills in New Hampshire…quite gleefully I might add! He rode the magic carpet with ease right from his very first time up and hit some pretty high speeds on the way down.  He pulled a couple 180’s, a full 360 roll and rode right over the front of some other dude’s snowboard…Not bad for a first time out!  CLick on teh Thumbs to see full size. Hard to catch the action in still photo’s – so Imbaw made a 3 minute movie that covers all the action. Follow the movie link and answer this question to get access ‘ Does Thomas like his cross country skiis or snowboard best?’