29th Wedding Anniversary Vacation

Our 29th wedding anniversary was celebrated on a weekend trip to Pender Island (one of the southern Gulf Islands of Canada). Our flight arrived in Victoria, B.C., early enough in the day that we could see The Butchart Gardens before our ferry left for Pender Island. Here is Dave standing in front of the entrance to the gardens.

There were lots of these Painted Daisies (Cinerarea) planted in many of the flower beds. Butchart Gardens was started a little over 100 years ago by the Butchart Family. The property was a worked-out limestone quarry that was once used for cement making. It started as a family hobby to beautify the acreage by using plants they collected from all over the world. There is a Rose, Japanese, Italian, and Sunken Garden.

The tulips were in full bloom in the gardens with lovely English Daisies (Bellis) growing beneath them.
Mary Ann viewing the Ross Fountain where the water rises 70 feet and changes fountain patterns often.
A lovely combination of pink tulips with little blue flowers.
Posing by the Painted Daisies.

Enjoying the Sturgeon Fountain by the Rose Garden.
Blue Poppies with salmon colored Azaelas.
One of the many waterfall inside the Japanese Garden.
This was one of Mary Ann's favorite spots in the Sunken Garden.

Here we are finally on Pender Island. The sunsets at night were gorgeous. Here is a view of the harbor from the back of one of Poet's Cove hotel restaurants.

We enjoyed a delicious anniversary dinner of fresh halibut and scallops. They gave us a complimentary lemon tart dessert as a gift for our special occassion.
Since we had a rental car we were able to tour the island.
A view from the front of Poet's Cove resort.
Several float planes took off and landed during our stay. One evening two float planes delivered about 25 people for a company dinner at one of the resort's restaurants. On Saturday night there was a lovely wedding and reception taking place at the resort. We enjoyed dancing to their music close to the harbor.

Family Bike Ride

In April, our family went biking on the Portland Waterfront Bike Loop.

It was fun having Melinda and Aubrey join us. Melinda was home on vacation for a week from college. Aubrey is home with us for the summer working.

We saw a variety of scenery from the city view of Portland to geese and their goslings.

We rented a tandem cruiser bike from one of the waterfront bike shops.

When we were crossing the Steel Bridge, we had to wait for the raised bridge (a barge was passing through) to be lowered.

A view of Portland from the eastside of the Willamette River. It was overcast during our bike ride and started to sprinkle the last few minutes of our ride.

Riding along the westside of the Willamette River.

After our bike ride we strolled around the Saturday Market under the Burnside Bridge (a first for us). It really started to rain hard, so we stood and ate our International lunch under a nearby canopy near the food booths.

Melinda modeling the newest in biking gear.

Enjoying the ride along the waterfront.

Aubrey thought Dad was going to ride into the fountain but he changed his mind at the last second!

Sweet Baby Mylee

While we were at a restaurant with Blaine and Marissa and Mylee, I whipped out my cell phone and snapped this photo. Sorry that it's kind of blurry, but it was a very cute scene. Mylee is so expressive and vocal these days!

At the Thai Restaurant

On Saturday, May 3, we invited Blaine and his family to join us for a meal at a favorite Thai restaurant. It was the last chance we would have to go out for a meal together before Melinda would head back to Provo for the summer. Baby Mylee was so cute. She sat at the end of the table, sometimes by herself, and sometimes in her little high chair, and just enjoyed looking around, playing with toys and being the center of attention. She was amazingly good natured.

The food was actuall not as good as we had remembered. In past visits, the chef had kept things quite mild, but this time they put in too many red peppers and dishes that we had enjoyed before were a bit too spicy. We didn't finish everything, and didn't bring home any leftovers. Oh well, it was still great to be all together.

After our meal, Mary Ann and I took the girls to see "Be Kind, Rewind" at the local discount theater. Even though it starred Jack Black, it was a real dud. Mary Ann ended up sleeping through most of the back half.