Winning Over Gramma and Grandpa

Despite a jetlagged first week Nathan has now been pouring on the charm in an effort to win over his grandparents hearts. I think its working well.


Experiencing a Canadian kids rite of passage.


Chilling in the hotel.

Kamloops - Riverside Park

In Kamloops we headed down to the Riverside park to beat the heat. Although Kamloops is not blessed like Kelowna, Vernon or Penticton by being on the shores of a lake it does border the Thompson river. The Riverside park is a great little place with a small beach, waterpark and tons of grassy area for the kids to run until they drop.

Kamloops - The Hotel

We stayed at the Thompson Rivers University Residence and Conference Center. It was nice but not as grand as the title makes it seem. I got this shot of it from a flickr account but believe me it was NOT snowing when we arrived


The following pics show hotel life at its finest (well not really) including a shot of the view from our room. There were 4 rooms (shared by 2 families) and Carter loved having his own TV with his own remote control. Hardly heard a peep from him when he was in the hotel. (Open a Virtual Tour Here)

On The Road

The lack of recent posting activity is the result of me and the fam being on a little vacation .. yeah that's right a vacation within a summer vacation. We have travelled with my parents and nephew to Kamloops so that he can attend a hockey school. I used to live in Kamloops from 1993-1998 to attend university and it has been great to get back to the old stomping grounds. A great deal has changed since my time here but the community spirit and feeling remain alive and well as far as I am concerned.

We brought the camera but have taken frighteningly few photos .. oh well .. next time.

Billy Barker Days - The Parade

For 37 years running BBDays has hosted its annual parade and today was no different. We set up our lawn chairs outside of our friend Marge's shop "Expressions By Ewe" (yes its a hobby and craft shop) and with Robin's coffee and donuts firmly in hand we commenced observing. The promised thundershowers managed to hold off to create some beautiful parade viewing weather. I was particularly happy to see 2 bands (a marching band and a pipe band) as part of the route because to me no parade is complete without them.


3/4ths of the happy family


Marshall looking sooo cool in his new fedora bought in China


Carter was pretty happy to see Ronald (or Uncle McDonald as he is known in China)


Carter had been dying for days to meet this Billy Barker character we had been talking about.

Billy Barker Days - The Rides

In LeBourdais Park in the downtown core of Quesnel there is a midway with plenty of rides but only for BBDays. For $30 per day the kids (and adults too) can ride an unlimited number of rides. They have all the vomit inducing small town midway standards such as the Salt-N-Pepper Shaker, the Octopus, The Zipper, The Sizzler and Zero Gravity. In addition there are many small merry-go-round, airplane-go-round, funhouse, air filled bouncy slides and of course the Ferris Wheel for the kids

On Thursday we were in the park from 10 AM until 10:30 PM with only a small afternoon break for the kids nap. Actually only Alice and Nathan did the park that long as Carter, Marshall and I took in the Crash To Pass stockcar races for 3 hours. Friday was a 12 Noon to 8 PM shift only this time my brother Doug and his daughter Natasha joined us. Needless to say we were all pretty beat by Friday night and hit the hay as soon as we got home so that we could get up early on Saturday and go watch the BBDays Parade.

The Family in The Park


Alice and Carter on the Octopus



Nathan chilling out on a Merry-Go-Round.

He did the Ferris Wheel and another ride called the Monkey Barrel which is a few slides and then running through a huge rotating tube trying not to fall flat.

Carter Showing the lamest Monkey Barrel technique.

Come to think of it he does look like a monkey doing it.

Marshall and Carter on the Sizzler


I did not dub the music for this video this is what the carnies were playing

Billy Barker Days - Crash To Pass

In 1862 Billy Barker from Cambridgeshire, England struck gold in 1862 in what is now known as Barkerville. During its heyday it was reported that Barkerville was the largest city north of San Francisco and west of Chicago. Barkerville is located 90 km east of Quesnel and its existence eventually led to the formation of this humble little town of Quesnel. For 37 years and counting every 3rd week in July Quesnel pays homage to this humble gold miner in the form of Billy Barker Days.

There are many events that take place over the 4 days of the celebration but the main kickoff event is the Crash To Pass stock car races. Imagine old beater stock cars reinforced with ultraheavy duty roll cages and concrete in a no hits barred demolition derby. The rule is simple if you want to pass another car you MUST contact that car or you cannot be eligible to win your race. That 'contact' usually takes the form of a crash. There are many small races (6 to 8 cars on the track) but the main event is the 40 car Battle Royale .. it's simply mayhem and more fun to watch than you can imagine.

I forgot to bring my camera to last night's event but found this video on YouTube which captures the event fairly well.

Tour De Dandong Follow-Up

I'm dismayed that I didn't find the following video while blogging about the Tour De Dandong (to read about it again click here). Better late than never I guess. From Monty Python a tribute to our bicycle mechanics and to all those riders who did their own on the fly repairs

Trampoline!

The boys are loving Canada and I am sure a trampoline in Gramma and Grandpa's backyard doesn't hurt.

Sofa Surfer Girl

From the early 1980's I have been proud to call Scott Perry a good friend. Actually the summer of 1987 was a bit of an exception but merely a short respite. We had been roommates in our first year at UBC and we had enough of living together in the same jail cell sized room. However we returned the following year to the same floor in residence albeit in different rooms and all was cool. We spent a few nights and weekends jamming on our new guitars when we really should have been studying. I was merely a minor player and hanger-on to the greater talents of Scott, Jon Dawes and Dave Bessler. I knew then that Scotty had talent and definitely had desire and motivation to make his "music thing" work out.

He and Jon took that act down to Granville street for some weekend night busking. Some thought he had fallen on hard times and had resorted to this to make ends meet but that was far from the truth. It was a ton of fun and a great place to cut your musical chops. I hung with them a few nights but they were hardier souls than I and playing music really wasn't my thing anyway.

During that time he formed associations that later become the band Orbit in Bloom and they had a few great tunes (James Dean, In The Sun, I Hate Cops). Through these contacts Scott would eventually many years later find himself playing guitar for a band called The Orchid Highway. I may be incorrect on this point but I believe he was at first a drop in lead guitarist they tried out from time to time. His musical talent has now transformed that into a permanent spot in the band.

This past month they released the video "Sofa Surfer Girl" which has now been picked up and played on MuchMusic .. the Nation's Music Station. It is a great tune and I love the video as well.

Proud of ya Scotty!

Oh yeah .. Scotty is to your right with glasses, beard?, longish hair tied up and "something" in his hand

What Beast Strikes Fear In The Hearts of Men?

(Image in Photo Not Actual Size)

He is no bigger than a good sized New York City rat but this little creature has the potential to strike fear in the hearts of the Brown boys. Carter and Nathan have had to adapt to a new country, new culture, new time zone and also this fearsome beast you see in the picture above.

His name is Yoda but that name belies the exuberance he shows as he runs with toy in mouth from one boy to another in the hopes that they will play with him. The boys however do not come from a dog culture (Canada is just such a culture, China is not) and so they have been a tad afraid (to put it mildly) of the little beast.

A few days have now gone by since our arrival and Nathan has begun to show signs of warming up to Yoda however Carter still reserves his right to climb up on the table to avoid him. It's a mixture of both bemusement and frustration and yes as a father just a bit of disappointment. I guess we'll have to hit dog central - the park!

Jet Lag

We are back in Canada. We were tired. It was 8 pm.
We are still in Canada. Our body clocks are in China. We are not tired. We are wide awake. It is 1:30 AM.

Midwest Watches

Bye bye

Today we are embarking on our annual odyssey to Quesnel from Dalian via Tokyo via Vancouver. Here's hoping for minimal stress and tons o' fun. Alice's first trip to Canada as a permanent resident!

Le Tour - Stage 7

As alluded to in an earlier post I am a huge fan of the Tour De France. Tonight I caught the last 15 km of Stage 7. This was the first of 3 successive mountain stage in the Pyrenees and it was not short on drama. If you don't follow the Tour much you should know that the biggest drama so far this year has been the leadership of Team Astana which has Alberto Contador as the designated team leader. In a Tour team the other riders are supposed to be unselfish and do all they can to ensure their leader either wins or gets a spot on the podium. The problem with Astana is that Lance Armstrong, a former 7 time winner and the ONLY 7 time winner, joined the team and thus it raises questions about who is really leading the team. Prior to entering today's stage Armstrong held a 19 second lead over Contador after Armstrong selfishly broke away on a previous flat stage. The big question was could he hold that lead after the arduous mountain stages?


In Stage 7 Contador stamped his authority on the race as he easily sprinted away from the field during the final ascent. He let it be known that he is the team leader and Armstrong's days in the sun are over. I'm not selling Armstrong short because he rode phenomenally after a 3 year absence and at 37 years of age which is geriatric in cycling years. Although Armstrong only finished 22 seconds back of Contador he had no answer for Contador's breakaway sprint and now finds himself in 3rd place in the overall general classification. Tomorrow is another Pyrenees stage .. stay tuned.

I don't have stage 7 highlights on video so how about another Kraftwerk TDF song? This one written in 1983 and featured in the movie "Breakin'"

Happy Birthday Mr. E

Ya gotta be getting close to 40 by now right?? Anyhoodle .. hope there is a rum and coke in your hand and the love of your family warming your heart.

Cheers
Dalong

Nathan

Hi Magnus From Carter

I miss ya pengyou! Can't wait to play again in the fall.

Be careful .... I might sneak up on ya!

Where Art Thou Facebook?

As of this evening July 7th Facebook is the latest casualty in the Chinese Great Firewall blockade. When will it end????

Soooo glad to be leaving here in a few days.

Le Tour De Song Hai Li

Yesterday we took Carter out on his bike without training wheels. He was pretty scared to go on the bike at first but with enough threatening and coaxing and promising of treats he finally gave it a go. All of you have raised children know the routine
1) Ensure the child you are holding on.
2) Hold on as they continually check to see if you are upholding your end of the deal.
3) Let go slightly and grab whenever they check.
4) Run beside not holding at all but pretend you are.
5) Let go completely without faking like you are holding.
6) Watch the inevitable crash when they look back and realize the situation.
7) Make all kinds of promises in order to repeat steps 1 to 6.

Once Carter realized he could do it by himself however I then got curtly instructed to "Go away from me Daddy I can do it myself."

Attaboy!

Le Tour De France

Today began the grandest sporting event in the world .. Le Tour De France. Being a proud Canadian I should value the Stanley Cup above all else but I get the most thrill and excitement from following the Tour. I suppose it might be because I can ride a road bike with much more skill than I can play hockey.

What I love about the Tour is that it is a war fought over 23 stages throughout the French countryside. Each stage is a small battle in that war but it is the cyclist who prevails above all others that claims victory. The winner does not have to win every stage nor do they even have to win any of them but they must complete the race in the shortest possible time. The role of the team is paramount to an individual's success with each teammate playing an integral role (the climbers, the plodders, the sprinters etc). Lance Armstrong could not have won 7 in a row without the help of some excellent teammates.

Speaking of Lance Armstrong he has returned to this year's Tour at the ripe old age of 37 which puts him 1 year older than the oldest person to have ever won (Firmin Lambot age 36 in 1922). No one expects him to win again as he is merely doing this to raise more money and awareness for cancer research but he could grab a top 5 finish if all goes well.

Gotta head out now and watch Stage 1 the 15.5 km time trial.