Tag: home

Victoria,BC

Place 70 – Day 36: Victoria, BC – Afternoon Tea & Goodbyes!

Kim & Curtis Hale

Packing Up

We got ourselves ready in the morning, had some breakfast, and got packed up and ready to go.

We changed the bed sheets and tidied up, as well as packed all of our stuff away.

Afternoon Tea

We took Linda for afternoon tea at 11:45.

The place seemed alright, but everything was just okay, which was pretty disappointing.

We headed back to Linda’s and hung out with her for a bit more before we had to leave and say goodbye until next time!

Leaving Victoria

We drove up to get our car cleaned at the car wash that we had bought a ticket for before but didn’t get to use on Wednesday.

We were waiting and a woman managed to make her car battery die right at the entrance to the car wash, so it took quite a while to actually get our car washed, so it was good that we left at such a good time!

We left the car wash after it was done and went to the supermarket and picked up a salad to eat on the boat.

We got onto the boat and got a pretty good spot! Masks are now mandatory again indoors, which includes the ferry, which is great!

We ate our salad and then we just relaxed. We were told there were whales, but we didn’t see them when we looked!

We got back to Vancouver and drove home, which took less time than expected.

We got back home and just did very little. Kim had a nice bath with bath salts she bought at her massage and we just relaxed.

Back to work tomorrow!

This Time Last Year

Mr And Mrs Hale

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Vancouver, BC

Place 72 – Day 931: Vancouver, BC – Wreck Beach

Kim & Curtis Hale

Breakfast & Wreck Beach

We had a good sleep and then woke up and had some breakfast. Kim went out to get croissants and we ate those and slowly got ourselves ready.

We went out to Wreck Beach, which is right by the university campus. This beach, it turns out, is actually clothing optional, though most people that go don’t go for that.

We drove out there and found ourselves some parking and then walked down the many steps through the trees to get to the beach.

The beach was nice and peaceful, with most people just lounging around. There are a lot of logs around, so we sat on one of those after having a walk around and just took in the air and the scenery. The weather wasn’t amazing, but not cold, so it gres to just sit and relax at the beach.

We walked a little more and then headed back up the many steps to get to the car. As we walked back to the car, another car drove very slowly beside us, trying to wait for us to leave our parking spot so they could take it. This was much to the dismay of other drivers who got very annoyed, so we intentionally just walked away and let the guy drive off so he didn’t hold up traffic.

A Surprise!

On the way home, Kim surprised Curtis by driving to the British shop, where we were able to buy a lot of British snacks, similar to what she did for his birthday!

We bought a lot of stuff there and then drove home.

Homemade Pizza

After relaxing at home a little, we went to the supermarket to buy everything we needed for a homemade pizza. We bought the dough this time, though, but it was fresh dough.

We made the pizza and it came out great, though quite soggy in the middle, so that’s something to work on, but it was very tasty!

After eating, we watched a film and had some of our snacks. After that, we watched some more TV but Kim also ordered herself a blanket she wanted to get.

This Time Last Year

Mr And Mrs Hale

Vancouver, BC

Place 72 – Day 409: Vancouver, BC – Shannon Falls & Porteau Cove Beach

Kim & Curtis Hale

Shannon Falls

We got up and Kim made some breakfast, and we relaxed for a short time whilst we ate this.

We got ourselves ready and hopped in the car for a 1 hour drive.

We drove up to Shannon Falls, which is almost in Whistler!

We got there and it seemed a little smokey again, which was unfortunate, but we continued anyway.

We saw the falls from the floor and from a small viewpoint and they were certainly pretty!

We continued walking towards a hiking trail, only to be stopped by a fence as the trail is closed for gondola repairs! We were going to do a nice hike, but due to this, we just left instead.

Some Beach Somewhere

Kim found a beach fairly close, so we drove onward to that as there are apparently seals there!

It took us down a strange gravel road which lead to a ‘beach’ right by some construction and logging sites!

It really wasn’t interesting at all, so we got back in the car and drove onward to another location.

Porteau Cove Beach

We drove to Porteau Cove which has a beach and a little pier. It’s mostly for people boating, but there is a beach which you can walk on.

The beach wasn’t sandy, it was just a lot of fallen trees and some rocks, but we made the most of it by walking up and down this for a very long time!

Kim climbed a large rock, only to get worried about getting down which was some entertainment for a bit, whilst she tried to get down safely (which she did!).

We got tired, hungry and thirsty, so we slowly made our way up to the car.

We drove back home and when we got back, we had some pizza and watched the film Brave.

We played some Crash Bandicoot and watched some more TV for the evening.

This Time Last Year!

Mr & Mrs Hale

Whistler, BC

Place 87 – Day 4: Whistler, BC – Quad Biking!

Kim & Curtis Hale

Breakfast, Of Course

We had a small breakfast from Purebred of just a coffee and a croissant.

We ate this quickly and finished off getting ready for the day, and then checked out, which we were able to do by phone, which was great.

We got everything into the car and then went for a bit of a final walk around Whistler.

We got ourselves some drinks for the day and the went back to the hotel to grab the car.

Alpha Lake & Nita Lake

We drove out to a couple of lakes near where we were going just to pass the time before our activity.

We just had a walk around and chatted for a bit, but it was actually a little cold.

Kim thought it was a good idea to go on the swing…But she then realised it was not.

We finished walking around these lakes and got back to the car to drive to the quad biking place.

The check engine light came on, which wasn’t ideal, but we managed to make it there fine.

Quad Biking!

For Curtis’ birthday, Kim got us a quad biking tour close to Whistler.

We got there and there was just 2 other people joining us for our tour, which was excellent!

We set off on some big quad bikes and did a bit of practice to acclimate to the bikes and ensure we were safe.

We began our tour and it was actually a little technical! There were a lot of stones around to navigate over, but we got to the first viewpoint pretty quickly.

Unfortunately, as with everything at the moment, the view wasn’t very good due to the smoke, but there was a nice river.

We continued on and went up a mountain which was pretty difficult with much larger rocks to get over and some steep hills but we made it to the top!

Again, there is meant to be a good view, but it’s not a very good time for views at the moment.

We had to ride back down the mountain and that was tough as we didn’t want to go too fast over the rocks, but it was incredibly fun and made us think and consentrate for sure.

We got down this part and had a nice flat part we could go fast on and then we came to a thin forest track which was challenging but great!

We then moved into a section that was in a forest still but with a lot of puddles on corners, which got us wet and dirty, especially the one big puddle!

We then headed back to the camp after around 1.5 hours of riding. We had a really great time overall and actually want to come back!

Home Time

We left here (with our check engine light on still) and drove home.

We got home in about 2 hours and were incredibly tired, but glad we got home even though we had a check engine light on.

We booked our car in for Wednesday and then we relaxed!

We had some frozen pizza for dinner, unpacked and relaxed for the evening.

This Time Last Year!

Mr & Mrs Hale

Comox,BC

Place 86 – Day 3: Comox, BC – Snowboarding & Spare Tyre!

Kim & Curtis Hale

Snowboarding

We were up at 07:00 to get up to the mountain at a good time.

Brody drove up to Mount Washington and there wasn’t too many people there when we arrived.

We got our snow gear on and walked up to the slopes!

Neither of us have done skiing or snowboarding before, so we were in new territory.

The slopes were 50% off for the day and we just needed a pass for the easy slopes. We got a half day pass each, which cost us around $15 each…Crazy cheap!

We got started but not very well. Brody was patient with us and taught us well, but it took us some time to get used to it.

We eventually got down the first bit of the mountain which is basically the ‘highway’ to get to a bunch of different slopes.

We went down there and headed into the easy slopes. These take you up on a conveyor, which makes things a lot easier than a ski lift!

We got to the top of the mountain and had some terrific views. The weather was impeccable today, with no cloud whatsoever!

We got to about halfway down, very slowly, but Kim had started figuring out some good techniques.

We got up to the next section and decided we would just stick with that short section of the mountain, which was also great as there wasn’t many people there.

We headed back to the main area, but you have to snowboard down on a fairly flat trail, which crossed over some of the mountain, so people were flying around at all directions.

Curtis got stuck and couldn’t get moving again on the flat part, so had to shimmy his way to the end.

At the end, there’s a large hill that you have to go down. Kim got down fairly easy, but Curtis did struggle a little, taking quite a while and getting a little frustrated.

We bought a drink and ditched some clothes and then went right back up to our preferred part of the mountain.

Kim started to really get the hang of it and gave Curtis some good pointers which helped him and before we knew it we were both doing pretty well.

Kim did a couple of runs from the top of the mountain all the way to the bottom which she felt great about.

We ended up spending way more time than the 1\2 day there, pretty much going non stop from 08:45 to 14:30!

We were tired and hurting but had a great time. We feel like we’d really like to go again and improve some more.

Light Snack

We got a light snack at a pub with Brody and some of his friends and Curtis got a well deserved beer too.

We then headed back to Brody’s place and got showered and changed before hitting the road to leave!

Puncture!

We made it a bit down the road and the tyre pressure light came on and it turned out we had a very flat tyre! We had filled it with air last night so we knew it must have an issue.

We started to get the spare tyre and jack from the back of the car but the jack was very rusted on so the gas station we were at gave us a few things to get it out.

The guy was really nice and gave us a bit of help with it and we were able to get that changed fairly quick (it was mostly Kim).

Back to Vancouver

We headed down to Nanaimo to catch the ferry, after our quick pitstop to change our tyre! We took it slow and made it with plenty of time.

We went for a walk and got some food and then headed back to the car and got onto the ferry.

The sailing was easy and then we got to the other side and drove back to Vancouver, which didn’t take long.

It was an amazing weekend but it’ll be nice to be home and back in our own bed.

This Time Last Year!

Mr & Mrs Hale

Vancouver, BC

Place 72 – Day 173: Vancouver, BC – Winners Dinner!

Kim & Curtis Hale

Curtis’ Day

Curtis had a lot of meetings planned for the day, 5 in total, so that was basically what he did!

There were also a lot of tickets coming in, so that kept Curtis busy in between meetings.

A meeting Curtis was meant to have in the afternoon got cancelled and he was able to welcome someone that traveled in from the Regina office and give them a little tour.

After that, Curtis finished the day with some training.

Kim’s Day

Kim came into work and had an email back from a venue she reached out to. It turns out that the company had way more venues than Kim initially realised so she looked through all the options and responded back for more information.

Kim then took a bit of time to organise other areas of the social planning. This came at a great time as it appears that all of Kim’s saved information had been corrupted so she had to start again with all of her notes on upcoming events.
Kim also scheduled a delivery pickup and cancelled some catering that no one made any choices on.

Kim then went on a donut date with a wonderful lady. They went and picked up a coffee and then came back to the office to have lunch together. It was so much fun and they talked about a load of different things.
When she got back to her desk Kim spent some time looking at catering options for breakfast for a meeting next week.

After this Kim had a catch up with someone in regards to their desk set up and then Kim had a catch up with someone in marketing to talk about sending some swag out. She then spent the rest of her afternoon saving invoices.

Winners Dinner!

Curtis had a quick dinner with all of his team from the Hackathon as one of them was in from the Regina office!

They went to a place called Pourhouse which was actually pretty quiet when they arrived.

Curtis had a burger and fries and a cheap beer (it was Happy Hour) and everyone just chatted, got to know eachother a bit more and just had a laugh together.

Curtis walked home and got home to Kim cleaning.

This Time Last Year!

Mr & Mrs Hale

Vancouver, BC

Place 72 – Day 153: Vancouver, BC – First Aid!

Kim & Curtis Hale

Curtis’ Day

Curtis was still feeling under the weather this morning, so he decided to work from home, mostly to stop himself getting anyone else sick.

Curtis’ day was productive, but not massively busy. He got a couple of hours of project work completed and also got a bunch of tickets sorted, too.

After working, Curtis watched hockey and got his stuff ready for his hockey game!

Kim’s Day

Kim ran out to the shop to pick up cream, but also grabbed a chocolate croissant for herself and a coffee for her colleague. Just after she got back she had a meeting with her teammate and it was really good.

They caught up on a few of Kim’s questions and got up to speed on a few things.

Kim then hopped on a coffee date with a remote worker and had a lovely chat with them.

After that call Kim had a call with the travel agency it go over an issue that cropped up yesterday.

In the afternoon Kim went into the first aid meeting but then no one showed up, so instead she emptied a bookcase and moved it into the kitchen to become a book swap and games area.

Kim would love for this to bring a new social aspect into the workplace!

First Aid

Curtis got picked up by a teammate to go to hockey as Kim had training (still in the same area, so she was able to see Curtis’ game after).

Kim arrived an hour early to pole and luckily there was pole free so she was able to take the earlier class. She did the exotic class and loved it and then did the 505 class, but she was quite tired so didn’t do great, but it was so much fun!

Curtis’ hockey game went really well! He got an assist from a hard working play and the team won 3-1! They’ve now beaten every team in the league.

Kim didn’t get to the rink until half way through the 2nd period as the snow was so heavy, she was being careful driving and she also got some food.

During the game, someone on the other team really hurt their ankle, so Kim did first aid on him for a long while.

After the game, Kim drove home and the snow was really coming down! It’s meant to snow overnight and all day tomorrow, so there’ll be plenty around tomorrow too.

This Time Last Year!

Mr & Mrs Hale

Vancouver, BC

Place 72 – Day 122: Vancouver, BC – Morning At Home

Kim & Curtis Hale

Curtis’ Day

Curtis, amongst doing tickets, spent most of the day researching for a project which is due in December. He felt that he had made good headway with it today, which was great.

Curtis’ colleague was on his last day today, so he had to say goodbye to him, as well, though he is not based in Vancouver, but in Regina.

Curtis left at 16:45 and walked home, thinking that Kim had already gone home, but she hadn’t!

Kim’s Day

Kim started her day at 8am on the dot, but at home! Kim had her remote quarterly new hire orentation meeting that lasted for most of the morning from 8-11. Kim had a small presentation segment too about the social team, so she was both host and attendee!

When Kim got into the office she started by catching up on her emails that she had missed from the morning. Kim then went and had a quicker lunch than usual!

After lunch Kim had a chat with the drinks delivery man and they tried to come up with a new plan to ensure that all deliveries are consistent, as they haven’t been for a few weeks.
Kim then spent some time confirming the catering she had enquired about yesterday afternoon and booked some catering in for our office in Ontario.
As 2 other people passed their first aid course last week Kim moved their monthly meeting from next week to today to ensure that all their questions and ideas were able to be put to use straight our of their brains.

It was a really successful and useful meeting where lots of good plans were made.

After the meeting Kim had a chat with her team mate about a little project they are taking on. They organised a plan and Kim tried to find some ways to make it quicker and easier.
Tonights class was perfect for Kim, she has finally found her right level and felt confident to do the moves but felt it could be challenging enough also!

More Exercise!

Once we were both home, Kim had some toast and Curtis had the leftover curry.

We watched some TV and then Kim drove down to do some exercise.

Once Kim got back, she had some tuna pasta and we chilled out watching some TV.

This Time Last Year!

Mr & Mrs Hale

Victoria,BC

Place 70 – Day 28: Victoria, BC – Brunch & Incredible Foot Massage!

Kim & Curtis Hale

Brunch

We were up at 09:00 to get ready for brunch/breakfast. By the time we both got ready it was around 10:30 and our brunch/breakfast time was at 11:00, so we all started the walk down.

Our brunch was in a hotel in the restaurant called Vista 18.

We got some coffee as well as a hot chocolate for Kim. This place was called Vista 18 due to being on the 18th floor, therefore it had some great views!

Curtis had eggs benedict with bacon & homemade breakfast potatoes, which were basically just potato chips.

Kim had a breakfast with bacon,eggs, pancakes and the same homemade potatoes.

Linda had the french toast which looked great! All of the portions were huge and it was an incredibly reasonable price.

Vista 18 | Victoria, BC

Rating:- 7/10

We were very full after breakfast and so we went for a walk downtown to burn it off.

We walked around a few shops to pass time and Kim also managed to buy some exercise gear she needed.

Foot Massage

Kim and Linda went for a foot massage at 13:00. The original booked time was 13:30, but they couldn’t wait so changed it to 13:00.

Whilst they did this, Curtis went back to the apartment and relaxed.

Time To Go

Once we were all back in the same room, we didn’t have long before we had to say goodbye to Linda and walk down to catch the bus.

We said our goodbyes and wandered to the bus station.Once at the station, we waited for a little bit and then boarded. The bus was very busy and very hot!

Once we arrived at the ferry port, everyone was way too hot so temporarily disembarked the bus to get some fresh air.

There was a small delay on the boat bring offloaded as the police were waiting for a car to speak to the driver, so we had to wait for that to be dealt with before we could board.

Ferry Ride

We got on the boat and sat charging our phones. We were able fully charge our phones, which was a result!

It was incredibly loud and busy on the boat, but it went quite fast.We loaded back onto the bus and headed towards home.We got back home and it was nice to be back, but we already miss spending time with Linda!

We stopped in at the supermarket for a bit to do a small weekly shop and to get some food for dinner.

We ate our dinner and caught up on some TV and YouTube videos before we went to bed, ready for work tomorrow.

This Time Last Year!

Mr & Mrs Hale

Vancouver, BC

Place 72 – Day 30: Vancouver,BC – Move In Completed!

Kim & Curtis Hale

Table & Chairs

We just had the table and chairs to build today, so after we got ready, Kim got onto that.

Whilst Kim did that, Curtis collated all of the rubbish into the required piles and then took out the paper pile and put it out in the bin.

Once Kim finished the table and one chair, we ate our leftover Chinese food from last night for lunch.

Internet Install

We should have been getting a technician from Shaw cable coming to install internet into the apartment, but we got a call during lunch saying that they would not be able to come today, so it has to be rescheduled.

As we are both new at work, we said we cannot do during the week but settled on tomorrow at between 18:00-20:00, which means Curtis will sort that out after work!

We finished our food and went out to the shops to get some more things. We got a recycling bin, some more cleaning supplies and a very nice cordless vacuum, which Kim is in love with!

We got a coffee from Starbucks whilst we were out, but Curtis had to wait for over 20 minutes for his as they forgot about him!

Last Chair!

We got the remaining chair built whilst the maintainance people for our apartment building installed blinds in our apartment.

We finished that and then everything was built!

First Food Shop

We got our first food shop done, getting a lot of spices and meat as well as sauces.

We bought a lot but it wasn’t too expensive.

Final Touches & Steak!

We got everything in the kitchen cleaned and put away in the correct place as well as figured out locations for everything else.

We vacuumed and got the place looking good! We then moved the sofa and TV to get them both in the perfect place.

We had already taken all the rubbish out and some things to our storage unit, so we were all ready and it was looking and feeling more like a home.

We had steak for dinner, but unfortunately it wasn’t a very good steak. We had great sides with it though and Kim made an incredible sauce, so it was pretty good. It was our first meal at our new table!

Hopefully Shaw come to install our internet tomorrow and then we are sorted. Kim starts work tomorrow too, and we plan to walk to work together!

This Time Last Year!

Mr & Mrs Hale