Tag: ice hockey

Sunshine Coast, BC

Place 91 – Sep 14 to Sep 18 2021: Sunshine Coast, BC ðŸ‡¨ðŸ‡¦

Kim & Curtis Hale

Day 1

We’re back! Hello! We went on a little trip to Sunshine Coast for Curtis’ birthday. You can read about it here.

On Tuesday 14th September, in the evening, we drove out to Horseshoe Bay to catch a ferry out to Sunshine Coast. Whilst it is not an island, it’s technically connected, there’s no other way to get there without a boat, so we took the ferry.

The ferry arrived late, but that didn’t make much difference to us, other than the fact we were hungry!

There weren’t many people on the boat, so it was quick and easy to get ourselves some food. We ate that and then the ride was pretty much over. (it’s only 40 minutes).

We drove off the boat and drove on to our first accomodation, which was a cute little cabin!

Here’s a low quality video of the cabin!

When we arrived, the cabin was incredibly cold as the windows were open, but after a bit of time with the fire on it got nice and toasty. We arrived fairly late, so once we got settled we watched a little bit of TV before sleeping.

Here’s another low quality video of the cabin!

Day 2

We woke up in the awesome cabin and drove down to Gibsons for a spot of breakfast.

We got a breakfast bagel each from a cafe there. The staff were wonderful (and one was British!) which made it a very nice experience.

Once we had our breakfast, we had heard that people were filming down the street for a holiday film! We went down to check that out, but not much was happening at the time, other than there being some fake snow on the floor.

We walked around Gibsons for a bit as there was a nice little marina area and the sun was shining!

After walking for a bit, we found a park to go to for a hike/walk!

We drove to Cliff Gilker Park where it said there were waterfalls and hiking trails, which sounded perfect.

The walk was through the forest with nice big trees and some really nice little wooden bridges!

We saw the waterfall, but it wasn’t really much of a waterfall, but still peaceful.

We walked around here for quite a while, mostly to just find all the bridges…we love bridges!

Once we left here, we drove to a petting zoo to let some animals, but unfortunately it was closed on that day, so we turned around and drove to something nearby that we found, called Robert’s Creek Pier.

Robert’s Creek is a small town with some nice little buildings that we looked at and when we went down to the pier we nearly got blown over it was so windy!

Wind!

We drove back to the cabin and had a look online for some places to get food and also a look for other things to do whilst we were in the area.

We eventually found a place for dinner, which was a Mexican place. Luckily, they were able to seat us once we got there (they were very busy!) And we grabbed ourselves some pretty tasty Mexican food!

We went back to the cabin and watched a bit of TV and relaxed.

Whilst relaxing, we heard some noises outside, so we checked and sure enough, it was a BEAR! We saw him right next to our cabin trying to get at the bins, but we think he scared himself away when he knocked over the bin.

It was our first time seeing a bear in the wild and it was pretty large and right outside!

Day 3 – Curtis’ Birthday!

We woke up, got ready and left the cabin to grab some breakfast.

We went to a cafe (after a bit of back and forth between two) and managed to get a seat. It was pretty small and busy!

We had to wait 45 minutes for our food, which seemed pretty long, and when we got the food it was…Alright. It looked good but wasn’t incredible. Curtis had a smoked salmon and dill cream eggs benedict whilst Kim had a breakfast bowl.

We left here and tried to go to a few cool looking spots with nice views, hikes and waterfalls, but they all seemed to be closed for some reason!

We ended up finding a park near the new cabin we were moving to, so we sat there for a bit and stared into the water.

We checked in to the new cabin and it was not quite as we thought. It looked like a cabin, but was pretty large. It was quite dark and just not as good as we hoped. But it did look cool!

Looks cool outside, right?

We relaxed for a bit once we got in. The weather had started to deteriate, which we knew was going to happen, so we prepared to just hunker down and do very little.

Kim found a really nice brewery called Batch44 and we headed there for some drinks and dinner. Kim also found out there was a quiz, so we entered that and didalright! We weren’t last, which is a win!

We headed back to the cabin and got some really good sleep.

Day 4

It was raining all day, so we just slept and stayed in, watching some TV and playing card games.

We went and got pizza for dinner. Nothing fancy but a bit of a tradition for lazy days!

There was a large wind/rain storm which blew over a power line! This caused us to have an outage and, as the power line was laying on the only bit of road in/out of the town, we were stuck in the dark!

We were able to get some candles from a neighbour and we spent the night playing cards and chatting. It was kinda nice, in a way.

We didn’t get too cold and headed to bed. We were however awoken around 02:00 when the power came back on! But we were glad that was able to get sorted.

Day 5 – The Final Day

We woke up and got some breakfast at a diner style place and then looked for something to do before we needed to catch our boat.

We found somewhere called secret beach (it was sign posted, so not very secret!) And we had a wander around on the beach and the logs that were on there.

Pretty nice place!

Kim found a nice rope swing and had some fun on that!

We took the ferry home and drove back. It seemed to take far less time!

We got home and made some dinner and then it was time for Curtis to play hockey. He’s finished his 3rd game now and is really enjoying being back out there on the ice.

Curtis has a goal and two assists already, all of which came from the last game!

And there we have it!

That was our sunshine coast trip. We hope you enjoyed having a blog to read again. We had some fun times and we were excited to share it with you.

Maybe we’ll have some other fun stuff coming up at some point, but we hope everyone is well.

Mr And Mrs Hale

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Vancouver, BC

Place 72 – Day 920: Vancouver, BC – Nearly Overslept!

Kim & Curtis Hale

Curtis’ Day

Curtis did indeed stay up and watch Great Britain play their final game. They ended up finishing 13/16 which was a huge achievement for them! The game last night ended 6-3 to Switzerland which was a much better result than anyone expected.

Whilst it was great to watch hockey, going to bed at 04:30 and waking at 08:30 wasn’t too great and Curtis paid the price today! He felt very tired in the morning but felt better as the day progressed, which was good, as it got busy!

It also didn’t help that we almost overslept as we forgot to set the right alarm!

Curtis had a bit of work to do in the morning and then had a call with Microsoft about a few different things.

After his call, he had a Norwegian lesson an it was really, really good! He was speaking without really thinking which was great.

After that, and for most of the rest of the day, he was in and out of meetings regarding one particular issue which he also had to write up some documentation for and make some notes.

He was able to get some tickets done in the afternoon as well as some other admin before calling it a day.

Kim’s Day

Today was a long and meeting filled day! Kim started her day having a chat about a trivia night that the company is parking up with another company for on Friday! She then gave a quick update at the finance meeting before having a quick chat with a new starter to see how their first week was.

After giving an update in the weekly meeting Kim joined a great meet the team to hang out with her new team members, it was awesome! She then had a connect with each of the new starters to give them an overview of the past few months or allocate work for the next couple of weeks.

To start the afternoon Kim joined a recruitment meeting and then went into a candidate review and mini forecast meeting. She was then able to get some admin done before showing her new teammate the folder structure and where they can find things.

In the late afternoon Kim sat down with a few executive members to discuss a new role. She then went into an interview and spent the evening working on some admin of emails and reorganising a couple of documents.

Evening

We had chicken burgers again, Kim made a bunch the other day so they’re nice and easy to have!

We had those with some leftover sweet potato fries and chilled out for the evening, along with a nice walk.

We were meant to be selling our old sofa tomorrow, but the person cancelled which is frustrating!

This Time Last Year

Mr And Mrs Hale

Vancouver, BC

Place 72 – Day 919: Vancouver, BC – And They’re Out

Kim & Curtis Hale

Curtis’ Day

Right at the start of the day, Curtis had an onboard orientation which went really well and the guy was really nice!

After that, Curtis had some other bits of work to do and then a team meeting. 

Curtis finished up some tickets until lunch and then post lunch he had a demo to attend for some software.

After the demo, he did more work and then watched the Leafs game.

The Leafs managed to lose, meaning they’re now out of the playoffs. Incredibly disappointing for Curtis.

Kim’s Day

Kim had only a few meetings today so she was able to get a lot of admin done. She spent some of the morning getting things ready for two new starters in her team for the next couple of weeks. Then she had a quick team meeting to get ready for the day before helping a few people with some IT stuff.

She finished the morning with more admin and then had a good collaborative work session with her colleague to clean up the department folders and get a little more organized.

In the late afternoon Kim ordered some chairs and contacted a vendor to see if they could support multiple orders to different addresses. She then had a quick hiring forecast meeting.

In the evening Kim spent time organising meetings, documents and contracts.

Evening

We had chilli for dinner and watched a bit of TV before Kim had to do a bit more work.

Curtis played some games whilst she did that.

Once Kim was done with work again, we watched a bit more TV and went for a nice night walk.

Curtis is debating if he should stay awake tonight to watch the final GB hockey game, but he’s unure yet as it’s a 2am start!

This Time Last Year

Mr And Mrs Hale

Vancouver, BC

Place 72 – Day 917: Vancouver, BC – Yet Another Game & New Tables

Kim & Curtis Hale

Hockey, Family Chat & Haircut

Curtis stayed awake until 04:30 and watched Great Britain lose pretty heavily to Czech Republic. Great Britain were tired and it was very obvious.

After waking up this morning, Kim had a chat with her family and Curtis went out to get his haircut.

Curtis’ barber, who has done a great job, is heading back to live in his home country, Australia, so it was the final cut before he leaves.

Kim spoke with her family the entire time Curtis was at his haircut and then once she was done, we went for a walk.

We got Vietnamese coffee and a duck banh mi which was alright.

We had our walk and once we got back home, Curtis watched hockey. The leafs lost, yet again, so they have just the one game remaining to get into the next round of the playoffs.

Kim watched a bit of TV whilst Curtis watched hockey and she did some admin.

We had leftover pasta for dinner an then we went out to get a couple of side tables that Kim found on Facebook. These are much nicer for our living room!

We then went to get a milkshake from McDonald’s and came to to relax for the evening, but then we had a long night walk!

This Time Last Year

Mr And Mrs Hale

Vancouver, BC

Place 72 – Day 914: Vancouver, BC – GB WIN! ðŸ‡¬ðŸ‡§

Kim & Curtis Hale

Curtis’ Day

Curtis had to walk down to the office to get a laptop setup and sent out.

Curtis got to the office and got the laptop which, luckily, most of the work had been done for so there was a little less for him to do.

Whilst he was setting the laptop up, he had the Great Britain v Belarus game on in the background. GB ended up winning that game which was awesome to see!

Curtis got a bit of work done whilst still at the office and then he headed home.

After lunch, Curtis had a quick meeting to discuss a project and then did some tickets before having a meeting which was ran by the CEO.

There were a few discussions to have after this meeting and then the day was done.

Kim’s Day

Kim had a super interesting day today. She started by getting organised, sening out meeting invites, sorting out a few recruitment things and getting general admin done.

She then had attended a meeting IT things before joining a weekly recruitment meeting. For the rest of the morning Kim did some collaborative work with her teammate to clean up, reorganise and move information in their team folder structure. They then both joined a meeting that only they turned up to, so they worked on a few more things and Kim rescheduled the meeting for next week and on.

In the afternoon Kim had a call with a new starter to discuss their home office set up and needs. She then had a check in with a colleague before joining an interview. After the interview they had a quick chat and review. Kim then hosted a forecasting meeting with a department and doubled the meeting up as Q&A with a new starter.

In the evening Kim got a lot of admin done and she set up there laptops for new starters for next week. She was super happy with all the IT stuff she was able to set up and get sorted!

Evening

We had the remainder of the leftover mac and cheese and then Kim had to do some more work.

Once Kim was done with that work, then watched a bit of TV before heading to bed. It was around 00:00 by the time Kim was done!

This Time Last Year

Mr And Mrs Hale

Vancouver, BC

Place 72- Day 911: Vancouver, BC – A Dog In A Lake

Kim & Curtis Hale

Early Hockey

Curtis managed to get a couple of hours of sleep before he woke up at 02:00 to watch Great Britain play hockey!

Curtis really enjoyed the game and Great Britain only lost 2-1 to Slovakia, which was a huge accomplishment.

Once the game was done, around 04:30, he went back to bed and got some good sleep in.

Finding A Sandwich

We woke up and had the same breakfast as yesterday and then got ourselves ready to head out for a walk.

We walked to Kitsilano beach again, but stopped a few times along the way to find a sandwich we could eat for lunch. Unfortunately, there were none we could find that we were interested in, so we didn’t bother in the end. We just got ourselves some coffees!

We walked around at the beach for a while and then it started to rain, so we walked back towards home.

We walked a long way back, to where we used to live, in our first apartment, just to give ourselves another route to walk around and a change of scenery.

A Dog In A Lake

As we were heading back home, we were distracted by a situation in which a dog had got into a lake and was chasing the ducks around. Dogs are meant to be on a leash in this area, so it was annoying a few people there. This went on for quite a while, until eventually the dog’s owner got into the lake and got the dog.

By this time, it was raining a little harder so we hurried back home, with a stop to a shop on the way back to get a few things.

Mac & Cheese

Kim made a terrific multi-cheese Mac and cheese for dinner which was great. We had that with a salad and homemade garlic bread and were thoroughly stuffed afterwards!

We went out for a bit of a walk and to get some things we forgot earlier from the shop, then when we got back home, Kim had a bath and relaxed.

We just relaxed for the rest of the night together and watched some TV before heading to bed. Curtis was noticeably tired today after his late night and early morning yesterday.

Tomorrow is a day off, in which we plan to do very little as the weather is not great.

This Time Last Year

Mr And Mrs Hale

Vancouver, BC

Place 72 – Day 908: Vancouver, BC – Back to Laptop Setups

Kim & Curtis Hale

Curtis’ Day

Curtis had a company wide meeting again this morning. This time it was more of a question session but it was very interesting.

Curtis got a lot of tickets and admin done in the remainder of the day, but he also had a meeting with someone to help them with setting up and using OneDrive.

Once he got that done, more tickets ensued until the end of the day.

After work, Curtis watched the first playoff game for the Leafs. Unfortunately, one of the players suffered a pretty nasty injury which was not great to watch. The Leafs ended up losing the game, too.

Kim’s Day

Kim had so much time not in meetings today! She had such a productive morning doing admin, research and updating job descriptions. She then joined a meeting with other department leaders to set up the structure for the new recurring meeting. She then had a quick hiring meeting.

To start the afternoon Kim joined the wellness break it was a follow on from last week where people are updating a world map with pins of where they grew up with photos and stories. It was so much fun.

She left the wellness break to go and pick up some equipment from a teammate. When she got home Kim worked on updating another job description and she started setting up a laptop to send out to a new starter.

She finished the day with a 1-1 with her teammate, that went over by nearly 45 minutes! She then had a really a nice chat with a good friend. After, she quickly finished setting up the laptop.

Evening

For dinner, we had curry that we had in the freezer and then we went out for a walk to both clear our heads after the day of work.

We got back home and relaxed, watched some TV and just decompressing.

This Time Last Year

Mr And Mrs Hale

Vancouver, BC

Place 72 – Day 902: Vancouver, BC – End of The Workshop

Kim & Curtis Hale

Curtis’ Day

Most of Curtis’ day was full from the Microsoft workshop again, which had its final day today.

Curtis learned a lot again today, but also had many questions which he was able to get answered easily.

Curtis also managed to get something else for a project completed. He needed to figure out how to write a script and was able to find enough things on Google to get one working, which felt really cool and he felt that he achieved.

The workshop ended quicker than expected, which meant Curtis was able to join the office based meeting which was a few updates and a few other bits of information.

Curtis then watched hockey, the final Leafs game of the regular season!

Kim’s Day

Kim had a few quick meetings to start her day and then had another smaller meeting about recruitment with a department leader. She then decided to join a Dev team meeting where people show what they have been working on. It was so cool to see new and exciting things!

She then joined a two hour meeting with department leaders and the executive team. Then she joined a chat to discuss different software options to make a system easier.

Kim then joined an interview and had a quick chat after to discuss next steps before having an end of week chat with her teammate to go over a couple of quick updates. After that Kim showed a colleague how to set a couple of things up on their Wiki pages and drive.

For the rest of the afternoon Kim worked with a couple of people to iron out a communication and survey for a team to complete. It was great to sit down and get it done with the help of two people who understand what we are trying to achieve a little more.

To finish the day Kim hosted an impromptu games night! It was so much fun and everyone had a great time. Once most people left a few stayed back and had a mini, accidental meeting. It was really nice to get some things sorted!

Evening

We ordered Korean chicken from our favourite Korean place and watched some TV and did absolutely nothing over the evening.

As of writing this, we are still waiting for our emails to get our first vaccination, but we are being patient and know we’ll get it at some point!

This Time Last Year

Mr And Mrs Hale

Vancouver, BC

Place 72 – Day 900: Vancouver, BC – 2 Years In Vancouver!

Kim & Curtis Hale

Curtis’ Day

Curtis finally managed to get the project from yesterday sorted! It took most of the day, but he did eventually get it sorted, which he was pleased about. He learned a lot, too.

Curtis had a couple of team meetings throughout the day, too, which were not particularly interesting but needed.

After lunch, and after Curtis had finished the project, he did some training he needed to do to get ready for his two long days ahead! He has 7 hours of straight meetings tomorrow and Friday with Microsoft. These are workshops and should be good, but it’ll be a busy one!

Curtis watched hockey after work whilst Kim had a couple of work meetings.

Kim’s Day

Kim had a long but interesting day! She started off by having to pop out and do a pick up / drop off of something, it was lovely to go for a bit of a drive.

Once she got home Kim got a little admin done before hosting a team meeting and then having a quick chat with a teammate to catch up on meetings she missed.

After the social call and lunch Kim had a quick HR meeting with a couple of the executive team members before having a chat with a teammate about projects going on.

Kim then joined an interview and the post interview chat which turned into planning time and getting a few other things organised, it was great!

In the evening Kim has a mix of short quick meetings, longer impromptu meetings and a little mentoring session before she reviewed and updated a job description with the hiring manager.

Evening

We had leftover delicious risotto with some nice bread for dinner and wtshcrd a bit of TV.

Curtis needs to be up a little earlier tomorrow, so it was a fairly routine early night, just eating, watching TV and doing a bit of cleaning around the apartment.

This Time Last Year

Mr And Mrs Hale

Vancouver, BC

Place 72 – Day 896: Vancouver, BC – Our First Art

Kim & Curtis Hale

We woke up at 09:45 and Curtis had to go and meet our landlord outside quick to give them their mail that was delivered here.

We were pretty awake after that, so we got up and had some breakfast. We had some scrambled eggs on toast and relaxed until we spoke with Kim’s family for a while.

After we spoke with Kim’s family, we got ourselves ready and went out to Homesense, grabbing a coffee on the way.

We got ourselves a few more items for the apartment, most notably a large canvas of a nice art piece! We will need to hang it, then we will show a picture then, but we think it’s going to look great.

Kim then went out to a few more shops to get a few other items and well as return a few things.

Whilst Kim was our doing this, Curtis watched hockey.

We ordered Thai food for dinner as we really fancied it after we saw it in a TV show yesterday. The food was pretty good!

We ate dinner and then for the remainder of the evening we watched TV.

This Time Last Year

Mr And Mrs Hale